Workshop Experience : Photography Studies College Week #10
Well the four assignments we had due are all loaded up and done, so a collective sigh of relief went through the class this week. Great to get to a sense of achievement although we are yet to get the feedback and critique ! And actually thats what the best parts of the semester have been - when either the tutor or fellow class mates give direct and improvement feedback on an image. Its hard to hear sometimes but it teaches us the art of self critique, filtering of images, and detachment to the image. After all, its more about the emotion and story we evoke in others after it has evoked emotion in us that makes a frame standout.
© Simon Schluter
Light, light, light. This week Scott took us through the one and only aspect of photography that we are all endeavouring to capture in a compelling and emotive way - light. Thats all there is to it - let it hit your sensor in the way that you want it to, press the shutter release, and seal the frame in to memory. Easy - not!
As they say (well Vernon Trent said and many repeat) :
“Amateurs worry about the gear, Professionals worry about the money, and Masters worry about the light””
Scott being the lead Fairfax photographer and magazine front cover image maker knows only to well about the creative use of light. He is amazing at problem solving out on the street and positioning the subject, or moving to get the right light, to ensure an emotive frame.
Scott let us know that in his opinion, there should only ever be one main right source - sun or otherwise - and that other light sources (flash, set lights, etc) should only be Haddon and supportive to the main source. So if you are outside at daytime, the sun is your main, and any use of flash or other lights should only compliment and Haddon to the main source; not try and over power it.
We discussed how to identify hard and soft light (look for the shadows - well defined = hard, furry = soft); Direction and Quantity of light (Front (subject pops), Side (lecture pops), Backlit (seperation achieved), Top and Bottom.
The closer you are to the source the more dramatic, harsher the subject will appear; further away and you get a more even light fill.
Sources are important - the smaller they are, the higher contrast and harder the light will be; the larger the source, the softer contrast you will see, and much softer lighting overall.
We then discussed the link between exposure control and light of course and how generally you under expose fro creativity. That said, have look through any Trent Parke portfolio and you will see his amazing over exposure skills at play. What a master.
And not a digital meter in sight !
Its all about problem solving and waiting for the right subject to enter the light and for you to control the camera to give the frame that you have imagined. And a small few people are very damn good at it indeed and offer constant inspiration and challenge.
Leica M6 frame and light meter triangles
I picked up a film Leica M6 camera way before I should of and started taking images. Self taught mostly through reading and using, I for the life of me really struggled getting the types of exposure I thought I was seeing. Every trip to the film develop lab was filled with anticipation, but I could tell on the business owners face when I picked up the negatives that they were "supportive" in my endeavours ! And when you only have a red triangle and a dot to meter, well i now know I was well out of my depth - and my images showed it ! Still, it was and is a great way to learn how to set the exposures you want to capture the particular mood you are after for a scene.
In the digital world, we have so much information available to us through the viewfinder and or back screen, and some of it is actually useful and critical !
Typical DSLR meter view
Owning a Leica I was well used to manual settings - there isn't anything else on the good models ! But with modern DSLR's its easy to get lazy, its easy to get confused by the technology, and forget what is actually important information that can really help you capture what it is you want to. But despite whatever camera you use, film or digital, cheap or expensive, it is only as good as what you tell it to capture, period. And that is where the art comes in, That blend of creativity and technical know how. Some say its a 70 30 split towards creativity, I would say its 90 10 to creativity, once you have some of the manual basics of exposure nailed.
Read Bryan Petersons "Understanding Exposure", coupled with his "Learning to see Creatively" (soon to be reviewed) and you have a good overview of the basics to master around exposure control.
Critical to all of this is exposure control - metering for the "correct exposure" being 18% gray, then adjusting that exposure to what it is you actually want to capture, and the gray scale (or zone) you want the various elements of your frame to be on. Understanding this and being able to do it has rally unlocked my enthusiasm and creative control - but again, its a never ending quest.
I love the challenge, the problem solving, the process, and even some of the results !
As a perfect extension to this topic and session, on the Thursday with Lucia we went through Tone. This was really cool and inspiring. When we think of tone, we talk in terms of Key, Contrast and Value. Our eyes can see many many tones, our cameras are limited to about 20 tones, with most of those tones being towards the back range. Hence we talk about tone intervals, equivalent to Exposure Value, and that the number of intervals is the number of tones - 1. Hence in a ten tone image, there would be a range of 9 tone intervals.
Tonal Contrast images come in High (light lights and dark darks), Broad (mix of tones evenly distributed) and Low(only light/only dark/only mid). It is definitely a skill to analyse images in terms of Tone, and to see in tones is even more challenging, but a fantastic way to view the world for creative image taking.
Ansel Adams is the clear master in this and has published many fantastic reference books and videos. This video about Ansel's Zone process is a cracker.
To finish up Lucia touché don Gestalt Theory. I bought a book ages ago that went it to this and I got to chapter 2 and lost it with it, but now I think I understand enough to be dangerous and will get back in to it. Its all about the psychology behind what makes a great image, and how our brains interpret information and shape and form. It's all about Symmetry, Simplicity, Proximity, Continuity, Common Fate, Closure, Regularity.
Another great session.