Architecture...Let the Buildings Speak!

Location 1: Big Picture
Random house on a street in the City.

Location 2: Detail
A railing outside of City Hall in the City.

Location 3: Big Picture
The Mark Hopkins Hotel in the City.

Location 3: Detail
On the walls outside of the Mark Hopkins Hotel in the City. 

Location 3: Interior
The lobby of the Mark Hopkins Hotel in the City.

Blog Notes 208-217

Chapter 9 - Landscapes

• Camera Settings
• most landscape photography has been characterized by maximum depth of field
• stop down a lens as far as it will go
• a tripod is necessary for sharp, vibration-free images
• Light
• just before sunrise and just before sunset ---PERFECT TIMES TO SHOOT!
• the quality of light at these times is perfect
• warm gold light = looks beautiful
• it's easier to deal with direct lighting for distant subjects that it is for closer subjects
• Example:

Beautiful lighting present at sunrise.
http://fxpaper.fatalsystem.com/wallpaper/Sunrise-38/

• Film
• use a 100 ISO film with 35mm cameras to capture all the details, or try a medium or large format camera to get even sharper results
• some people prefer color, while others prefer black and white
• color can sometimes overpower other elements of art
• Lenses
• as a general rule, it is best to use wide-angle lenses to capture more of the scene
• allows for close objects and far objects in the same shot
• for details - some use telephoto lens
• really close-up = macro lens
• Filters
• a big part of the landscape photographer's bag of tricks
• everything from yellow to red to blue filters are available
• these make for a dramatic image that will really grab the viewer's attention
• Example:

A shot both before and after filters were applied.
http://www.photoshopphotography.com/graduated-nd-filter-effect-in-photoshop/

• The Grand Landscape
• the "big view" for pictures of the great outdoors---wide-open expanses that showcase the majesty of the natural world
• national, state, or city parks are great locations to explore landscape photography
• will generally be very wide shots (use wide-angle lens)
• the sky plays a major part in these shots
• use filters to make the clouds stand out
• the rule of thirds comes into play; especially with the horizon present in shots
• Example:

The luminous white clouds and sand dunes are in contrast to the deep black sky.
http://www.afterimagegallery.com/witherill.htm

• Landscape Details and Close-ups
• often inviting and more comfortable than the "big view"
• great subjects include meandering streams, small waterfalls, and Japanese gardens
• many photographers prefer to shoot in cloudy or overcast conditions that even out the light, eliminating harsh shadows 
• Example:

Depth of field and emphasis to capture a lot of detail.
http://www.craigbarber.com/gallery/gardens/gardens2.html

• Abstracted Elements in the Landscape
• images composed of lines, shapes, values, and textures
• one of the best ways to turn an ordinary scene into an abstract image is to get really close to your subject and photograph only a small part of it
• use either a telephoto lens or a macro lens
• look for interesting shapes and forms
• the closer you get, the more choices you will have
• Example:

Eliminated everything but the foxtails, looks like brushstrokes in a painting.
http://www.craigbarber.com/gallery/gardens/gardens2.html

Blog Notes 202-207

Chapter 9 - Landscapes

• the subject of landscape photography is a place, and it can be firmly located in the real world, filled with ecological devastation and human artifacts, or it can portray an idealized version of what we want nature to be - pure and magnificent.
• three types
• the grand landscape
• details
• abstract
• Landmarks in Landscape Photography
• when photographers first looked for inspiration for what to shoot, they looked to paintings and land
• Carleton E Watkins (1829-1916) - wanted to capture the grandeur of the American West
• his huge landscape photographs were among the first to be made as art
• Ansel Adams (1902-1984)
• inspired by Yosemite Valley
• see previous post
• Example:

Ansel Adams - Mount Williamson
http://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Artwork_Detail.asp?G=&gid=118598&which=&aid=656266&wid=424136490&source=inventory&rta=http://www.artnet.com

• Timothy O'Sullivan (U.S., 1840-1882)
• learned photography by for Matthew Brady
• was sent by Brady to photograph the Civil War
• after the war, he was the lead photographer on the first U.S. government photography survey of the lands west of the Mississippi River
• he used large, heavy cameras and equipment, and glass-plate negatives
• was the first photographer to capture many of the now familiar sights in the American west (Grand Canyon, Colorado River, Canyon de Chelly, etc.)
• his shots were straightforward documentary of extraordinary landscapes
• he inspired many photographers in the 60s and 70s
• Example:

Timothy O'Sullivan - Canyon de Chelle
http://americanart.si.edu/helios/AmericanPhotographs/obosult03.html

• Thinking Artistically
• composition is one of the most important aspects of landscape photography and viewpoint is the most important part of composition
• pay close attention to where you position your camera because an inch or two in either direction can cause for a significant change
• value, an image's light and dark areas, is very important in black-and-white landscape photography
• images with a wide variety of tones can be very dramatic
• try to achieve a balance between unity and variety
• Example - see below

• Composition, Balance, and the Rule of Thirds
• one challenge is where to place the objects in the frame or space of the image - composition
• balance - how the objects relate to each other in size, value, color, and location
•  symmetrical - asymmetrical - radial
• remember - sometimes rules are meant to be broken
• Example:

Composition, rule of thirds, value, and unity
http://full-screen-mode.blogspot.com/p/links-de-fotografos.html

Ansel Adams

Landscape Photographer Bio
Classic: Ansel Adams

• February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984
• During his early life he enjoyed taking pictures during the summer and in 1921 his first photographs were published and Best's Studio began selling his Yosemite prints the following year. At first his photos showed careful composition and sensitivity to tonal balance and he later developed into soft-focus, etching, Bromoil Process, and other techniques of the pictorial photographers. He contracted for his first portfolio, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras, in 1927.
• He is famous for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, particularly his pictures of Yosemite National Park.
• Famous photographs:

Monolith, The Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, 1927
http://www.afterimagegallery.com/adamsmonolith.htm 

Rose and Driftwood, San Francisco, California, 1932
http://www.pc-gallery.net/exhibition_photo_c.php?pid=37

Winter Sunrise, Sierra Nevada, from Lone Pine, California, 1944
The framing of the shot allows for a picture that covers everything from the ground to the clouds in the sky. There  is value in the shot with the light hills and the dark sky and shadow. The rule of thirds is present in multiple parts of the shot and and there is a sense of symmetrical balance present as well. 
http://leclownlyrique.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/

Reading Notes-pg. 194-197: Architecture

• Interior Views
• interiors can be just as interesting as the exteriors
• can be broken into overall room shots or detail shots
• can be seen as concentrating on the presence of the people who live in and use the rooms
• wide-angle lens for the entire room shots
• photographer is always limited as to where to place the camera
• if room is small---won't be able to back up to get the whole room
• normal lenses work well for detail shots
• use greater depth of field for interior, more specifically detail, shots so that everything is in detail
• remember---the higher the f-stop number, the greater depth of field
• may need a tripod for certain shots
• Berenice Abbott (United States, 1898-1991)
• an independent and individualistic woman who ignored what other photographers did and firmly believed in the value of being a self-taught artist
• blazed a path to a style of photography that was new to the twentieth century
• her work was characterized by exquisite lighting, interesting poses, and precise, formal compositions
• when she met Eugene Atget her time was devoted to photographing architectural subjects

Reading Notes-pg. 190-193: Architecture

• The Big View
• the wide-angle, overall view
• most commercial architectural photography relies on it
• shows you the hole building
• perspective distortion appears as strong converging lines in a building, where the sides of the building angle in toward each other instead of looking parallel as they are in reality
• farther from building = less distortion
• photographer must decide whether to shoot the picture straight on form the front or from slightly to the side of the building
• straight on creates a two-dimensional view, while shooting from the side naturally creates a three-dimensional view
• Shadows
• a great way to tune in to the visual world around us
• pay attention to lines, shapes, and values of an object's shadows
• The Detail Shot
• features the individual architectural elements of a building's interior or exterior
• these shots become indirect portraits to the people who made them
• telephoto lens may help because some are so high
• both older and modern details all work
• modern can be interesting because one may not know what he or she is looking at

Reading Notes-pg. 184-189: Architecture

• Camera Settings
• have as much sharpness as possible and present even the smallest details
• selecting a smaller f-stop gives a greater depth of field, bringing more of the scene into focus
• the bigger the camera format, the smaller the f-stop has to be for the most depth of field
• use a bigger camera format for the most detailed images
• the bigger the negative, the more detail it will capture
• Value and Texture
• value refers to how light or dark the colors or shades of grey are in the image
• for B&W photography, value is one of the most important elements
• value helps to determine the shapes of objects
• highlights and shadows reveal forms and the direction of an image's light source
• contrast-the difference or range of values in a photo
• high contrast=biggest difference between the blacks and the whites
• difference in tonal values accentuates texture
• the tactile or "touchable" quality of a surface
• the relationship of texture and value are critical elements in an image
• Film
• color films-emphasize color and setting
• b&w films-emphasize values, shapes, and textures
• architectural photography broken into two types:
• commercial ( magazines and brochures); generally in color
• artistic; generally b&w is the medium of choice
• Lighting
• lighting, or more precisely, the color of the lighting, is very important in interior architectural photography
• inside buildings different kinds of light are used:
• incandescent (regular household bulbs)-slightly more orange
• quartz (modern spotlights)-somewhat yellow
• fluorescent-greener
• daylight-has a lot more blue in it
• our eyes automatically adjust for the difference, making the various types of light all seem like plain white
• Lenses
• in doing the big view and wide interior shots, wide-angle lenses are very useful
• because you can't get back far enough to get the entire scene you want with normal lenses
• Camera Support
• for waling around snapshots, tripods aren't needed
• tripods-for slow, fine-grained film and lots of depth of field
• you always have to balance probability and stability
• monopods (single-legged camera supports) may work; but not for interior shots
• Filters
• particularly in B&W, filters are helpful
• yellow or orange filters will separate the clouds from the sky
• will also bring out the textures in stone and concrete, bringing a more tactile, or touchable, quality to your prints
• polarizer
• can darken blue sky to increase the separation between clouds and sky

Reading Notes-pg. 179-183: Architecture

Architecture and Urban Landscapes

• indirect portraits-created of the people when you take pictures of the buildings and homes in your neighborhoods, towns, and cities
• architectural photography is a great way to examine the formal aspects of design
• because through elements of art and principles people created the buildings that make up our cities and towns
• Looking Back
• towards the beginning of photography, architecture was a popular subject for photographers
• two reasons
• early films were really slow
• buildings were stationary
• Charles Negre (1840s)-began to use photography to create studies for his paintings.
• Frederick H. Evans (1890s-1920s)-considered one of the greatest architectural photographers in the history of medium.
• Eugene Atget (1890s)-photographed Paris and its surrounding towns and produced about 10,000 images.
• Photographing the Built Environment
• Thinking Artistically
• architecture photography can be an exploration of abstract images
• you can use line to lead the viewer's eye through the photo
• a structure's setting is an important consideration when composing an architectural image
• "personality" - relationship between building and the things around it
• pattern-the repetition of any of the elements of art
• usually a part of every image; we should learn to look for them

American Photography

• Daily News was the first newspaper to sell itself on the basis of pictures
• pictures are used to attract attention (cover)
• in photography, and life, fantasy is always more interesting than the truth
• 1920s---photographs began taking the place of drawings and the public responded in a positive was as they believed the photographs were completely true; not just drawn
• photography was used to turn boring objects into objects of desire
• the media celebrity---photography added a new element to fame
• sports stars became superstars---Babe Ruth was the first person to have his picture sold as a commodity; as a celebrity he made millions
• photographs help humans place themselves in cosmic times; Pluto and other planets were first seen through photographs
• people were able to draw what they thought was on Mars simply by looking at photograhps and drawing what they saw
• what the human eye sees doesn't compare to what you can grab through a photograph; it has enabled our five senses to be broadened and expanded
• photographs began to influence every aspect of American life; they traveled around the world over telephone lines and picture magazines unified the world---"The Golden Age of photography was about to begin!"