DigaPixBlog

Some images work better in black and white than they do in color and there are others that cry out to be shot in all their brilliant hues.  It takes a good eye to make the decision at the time the scene is being photographed.  But with the computer software now in use we can experiment after the fact.

This photo is defiantly one of those that are enhanced with the use of quality black and white.  The image makes use of the complete gray scale all the way from the rich blacks in the foreground to the subtle detail in whites and grays of the distant cliffs.  The composition is defined by the dominate subjects in the foreground that give the scene scale and depth.  I particularly like the cropping of the bolder at the bottom left side.  By not showing all the stones the viewer can imagine there to be many more than shown in the frame.

There is a mood of quietness in the photograph with the low hanging fog and the almost still water.  The viewer can feel the dampness and chill in the air as the water gently flows around the rocks to the quiet beach.

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I enjoy photographs that evoke a story, a feelings or a mood.  Perhaps we will not all see the same tale or feel the same atmosphere, depending on ones life experience, but some images have the ability to effect a great many viewers with a feeling of recognition and understanding.

To me this is one of those photographs.  Perhaps I have never been to this location but I can feel the dampness in the air, the chill of morning and smell the sea.  This composition evokes all three; story, feeling and mood, patricianly mood.

The general composition is interesting on a number of levels.  The photo-artist has cropped the image in such a way that the viewer does not see the water only wet sand and rocks.  The subject is completely stranded.  The cropping allows the viewer to wonder just how far the boat is from the sea.  We are allowed to ask how far has the tide receded?  The distant horizon is on the center line of the composition giving a balance that adds to the tranquility of the illustration.  The wet sand or shallow water in the foreground make the subject appear to be on an island and therefore even more isolated.

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We often see night photographs taken just after the sun sets but very seldom an image taken at night just before sunrise.  Perhaps because it takes a little more dedication to be up at 4:00am to shoot the moon as it sets.

This image has nice exposure balance.  The buildings and the surface of the water have just enough light to give detail while appearing to be taken at night.  The moon has left its foot print on the surface of the sea as it passes over the natural quay of stone jutting into the water.  There is a pleasant quietness about this image.

I am fond of the semi panoramic format of the composition however I would have liked to see the moon and its light track a little more to the right to take it further off the center line.

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Black and white photography has been the foundation of the art form for the past 175 years.  It is vision at its most fundamental.  Printing of B&W is an art form unto itself, the print is what we see and if that is not done well the best composition and subject matter will be squandered.

The image presented here has a strong subject, the power of the sea over the stability of the rock.  I like the triangle pattern of small stones in the lower left hand corner.  This has added a strong texture element leading into the clash of our two subject elements.  The exposure time was such that the wave was not stopped but allowed to blur a little thus giving if a feeling of movement rather than frozen in mid air.

I do have some suggestions that I would like to make.  In this photograph the horizon could be eliminated.  This would bring us closer to the subject and not cause our eye to venture deeper into the composition where there is nothing to see.  The print as presented here appears to be a little muddy in the whites without detail in the shadow areas.  This can be altered by bringing up the white end of the levels graph and a little dodging of the shadows.

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Combining two or more images using computer software can be fun and sometimes rewarding.  The trick is to find pictures that complement each other and have similar lighting to prevent the observer from thinking that these are photographs pasted together.

The whimsical image presented here has taken the opposite approach.  The photo-artist has deliberately used two images that have different characteristics to give a fantasy feeling to his composition.  This illustration has a dream like quality.

This composition and layout would work well for the cover of a novel.  But it may have too much of a contrived feeling to it for some views. 

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      The Novel 

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There are times when we come across a scene that just screams history.  And we try to set the photograph in such a way to make it appear like an old image.  The first thing that must be done is to remove any trace of modern life form the scene.  This often involves isolating the subject.

The photograph submitted here of the old sailing ship does an excellent job of isolating the object of our attention.  I particularly like the second old ship in the distance.  Obviously if there had been a modern boat back there this could have turned into a record shot of the foreground vassal.  Lighting on the sales gives detail in the whites which stands off quite well from the background sky.  The white line down the side of the ship adds information.  Otherwise the boat would have been nothing more than a black silhouette.  I like the reflection in the smooth water next to the subject.

I might suggest to the photo-artist that they remove a little of the foreground water and make the horizon one third of the way from the bottom of the frame.  This will make the scene more traditional and at the same time make the viewer feel they are closer to the ship.

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       Cropped 

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This image taken at the Ventura Pier has a nice feeling of a vintage photograph.  The use of the forced one point perspective of the pier give a three dimensional effect while at the same time appears to foreshorten its length. The repeating and diminishing pattern of the light standers helps to contribute to this illusion.

We see a family of three people on the beach enjoying the day.  Their positions and captured actions give life and interest to what could have been just an ordinary pear picture.

The photo-artist has converted the image to a sepia toned black and white and added a cloud filter on the computer in an attempt to alter the overall mood of the original photograph.  This has created a vintage feel to the image.  However the cloud filter as applied looks unnatural around the family on the beach, like there is a hole in the fog extending the length of the pier.  Otherwise this was is a nice use of computer manipulation.

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