The last week or so has been somewhat of a conundrum for me,
the bigger shoots I planed didn’t produce the results I was looking for, but I
did find a couple of shots with my phone that gave me some food for thought.
Here are some beach treasures that I brought home from my
last trip to Galveston. Sitting at my kitchen table, I found myself arranging
the pieces until I found a nice balance.
Someone asked me the other day about how I decided on when
to make a photo black & white, I answered that the photo usually lets me
know. Images with high contrast usually
like it when you take away the color. The fun part of playing with black and
white images for me is the discovery of available textures. The drift wood,
coral and shell are just teeming with crevices and curves. I love the variances
in light and contrasts between the smooth wood and the sharp edges of the
shell.
The past few months have found me focusing on my use of
light and paying attention to how my subject is shadowed. I went to a local artist, Sue Bown, and received some
drawing tips that I hope to keep practicing in order to improve my photos. She is amazing and I look forward to spending
some more time with her.
It has been interesting to practice the concept of thinking
in terms of only what you can draw (the dark or shadow on white paper) not
intentionally trying to draw everything as a finished product. This really
messed with my brain, but I think the process and change in focus really improved
how I see things. By drawing the shades
of dark the image will take care of itself.
The same concept works with photography. Focusing on the shell, it is given its shape
by looking at the dark lines, the shadow coming from underneath defines the
curve and gives it depth. You can tell
where the light was for this photo…coming from the left and overhead (the
window to the left and the ceiling fan light above) It makes for a really
minimal shadow but you still have a guide to define the elements of the photo
and it also distinctly separate the items from each other.
This cell phone study, if you will, gives me a guide for how
I want to set up my studio lights to really make all of elements pop in my
images.
The next shot, again taken with my cell phone, is of some
items I keep on my desk. They remind me
to look at the light. They help me to recognize the way the shadows define the
perspective of the shapes and give the items depth and definition.
Again, black and white is the perfect medium for this type
of shot. I focused on the base piece
with triangle shapes. By bumping up the brightness and the contrast, I was able
to pull the grain out of the wood and give some rough texture and contrast to
the triangle and squares while leaving the circles smooth and softened on
focus. I like how the effect came out.
I think this has really given me some food for thought and
over the next few weeks I want to explore more black and white images with my
studio lighting…I’ll let you know how it turns out.
