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02/28/2005 01:03:03 AM · #26 |
Originally posted by lentil:
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Originally posted by lentil:
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Ansel Adams did a LOT more than just landscapes. Unfortunately, landscapes are what comes to mind when his name is mentioned. |
what else did he do? i will look him up in google in a minute. Just wouldnt mind your intake on him |
He did a good bit of still life and portrait work as well :) |
well, this covers alot doesnt it. :o) |
It does, but to score in this challenge I would stick to a full tonal range in B/W and find a big mountain. That is what people think about when his name is mentioned. That is what he did best and was most famous for.
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02/28/2005 01:10:08 AM · #27 |
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Ansel Adams did a LOT more than just landscapes. Unfortunately, landscapes are what comes to mind when his name is mentioned. |
Your right, he did much more than just landscapes. Besides Moonrise one of the photos that come to mind when I think of Adams is a 35mm portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe.
Also although he was often critized during the depression for making escapism "pretty pictures" while others were covering the plight of the Nation, I feel one of his most moving works was the covering of the Japanese internment camps during WWII.
Another part of the description of the challenge that I feel was too narrow was to call Adams a Black n' White photographer. Adams often stated that he would actually perfer color if he had more control over the medium. In fact one of the most beautiful landscape photography books in existence was his color landscape book he did later in his career using a hasselbald. It wasn't accepted very well at the time because after all it wasn't what the public expected, but it really stands on its on today. |
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02/28/2005 01:42:35 AM · #28 |
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02/28/2005 01:45:44 AM · #29 |
Photograph what you like but the only type of image that is going to do well in the challenge are contrasty B&W images of epic landscapes. All else will be sub 5 level.
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02/28/2005 01:51:41 AM · #30 |
The Challenge: Take a photograph in the style of this famous black & white photographer.
In a sense, it can't be much clearer than that. Google Ansel Adams, look at his B/W images, and try to define his "style", then replicate it. Of all the great photographers (with the possible exception of Cartier-Bresson) Ansel had a recognizable, trademark "style". The style is an offshoot of his particular technical mastery; he originated and taught the "Zone System", which is all about a stunningly clear and evocative expression of the full tonal range of the image in Black and White. He was also noted for the very profound depth of field in his images; he stopped WAY down. His images have phenomenal detail right from a few feet in front of the cxamera clear to infinity.
A perfect emulation of Adams will show a full range of tonalities from pure black to pure white, with all significant bright areas showing at least a trace of detail and all significant dark areas showing a definite sense of texture and detail. While he is best-known for his expansive landscapes, nevertheless many of his finest images are of details; rocks, trees, water.
It is difficult to find really good captures of his work on the web; the prints are much more impressive than the copies of them online. Here's an archetypal Adams image of the Snake River and the teton mountains:
//www.andrewsmithgallery.com/exhibitions/anseladams/aa_1430.html
Here's his famous "Aspens" picture:
//rock.cs.unitn.it/lgaio/pictures/adams/aspens.jpg
Here's a much closer shot:
//www.adhikara.com/ansel-adams/foto.html
a shot of a barn:
//www.ku.edu/~sma/collection/photography/adams.html
An architectural detail:
//www.andrewsmithgallery.com/exhibitions/anseladams/aa_1293.html
Google him, there are many, many of his images available to study. Use the google images engine, see thumbnails of all.
Almost certainly, to finish well in this challenge you'll have to shoot somehting "natural", as opposed to a portrait or a still life say, although he did both of those.
Robt.
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02/28/2005 01:56:46 AM · #31 |
Thanks for that, Rob....that'll be very helpful. :)
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02/28/2005 01:58:10 AM · #32 |
bear_music, I was waiting for you to turn up here : )
I got to visit his house/studio once, but not long enough to rub up against the equipment and absorb some talent.
Message edited by author 2005-02-28 01:58:28. |
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02/28/2005 02:00:47 AM · #33 |
Originally posted by hyperfocal:
Your right, he did much more than just landscapes. Besides Moonrise one of the photos that come to mind when I think of Adams is a 35mm portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe.
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Ever wonder why he did that portrait? ;) |
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02/28/2005 02:01:48 AM · #34 |
Yeah, very contrasty indeed.
I like this shot..but not nearly contrasty enough...
But read this - Old Ansel could be hired for a day, in TODAYS money, for $270 AND you get the rights to the pics he took...
Now to continue my PS search for duplicating his look...
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02/28/2005 02:03:09 AM · #35 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
But read this - Old Ansel could be hired for a day, in TODAYS money, for $270 AND you get the rights to the pics he took... |
Yep, just another hack for hire ... |
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02/28/2005 02:06:49 AM · #36 |
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02/28/2005 02:15:25 AM · #37 |
GIS for Ansel Adams:
I have no idea.... |
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02/28/2005 02:57:45 AM · #38 |
Originally posted by jonr:
GIS for Ansel Adams:
I have no idea.... |
Now all the fish are going to smell like that.
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02/28/2005 03:02:10 AM · #39 |
Originally posted by jonr:
GIS for Ansel Adams:
I have no idea.... |
That image, in situ, is captioned:
Subject: Renny T.
Photographer: Unknown Date: July 5, 2003
Location: Ansel Adams Wilderness, California
Mystery solved. Good illustration of how dumb a search engine is.
Robt.
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02/28/2005 03:03:37 AM · #40 |
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02/28/2005 03:11:43 AM · #41 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Yeah, very contrasty indeed.
I like this shot..but not nearly contrasty enough...
But read this - Old Ansel could be hired for a day, in TODAYS money, for $270 AND you get the rights to the pics he took...
Now to continue my PS search for duplicating his look... |
Here ya go, Prof: I Anseled it for you :-)
Robt.
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02/28/2005 03:32:39 AM · #42 |
Originally posted by Artyste:
Who knows. I'm skipping it. I hate challenges like this. |
..I'm still curious to know why you hate challenges like this....
I don't understand!
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02/28/2005 03:44:09 AM · #43 |
Originally posted by jbeazell:
Originally posted by Artyste:
Who knows. I'm skipping it. I hate challenges like this. |
..I'm still curious to know why you hate challenges like this....
I don't understand! |
Because nobody can ever agree on anything, the voting is all over the place, if you like one aspect of a photographer's work that is different from the views of anyone else, you get ostracized for it (Some of my favorite Adams work are his portraitures, but hell, just read this thread, I think they've been mentioned once), and.. to be honest.. I hate trying to emulate others' work. Just a personal thing.
Everyone else can go to town though.. it'll be interesting to vote on
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02/28/2005 03:52:25 AM · #44 |
Originally posted by Artyste:
Originally posted by jbeazell:
Originally posted by Artyste:
Who knows. I'm skipping it. I hate challenges like this. |
..I'm still curious to know why you hate challenges like this....
I don't understand! |
Because nobody can ever agree on anything, the voting is all over the place, if you like one aspect of a photographer's work that is different from the views of anyone else, you get ostracized for it (Some of my favorite Adams work are his portraitures, but hell, just read this thread, I think they've been mentioned once), and.. to be honest.. I hate trying to emulate others' work. Just a personal thing.
Everyone else can go to town though.. it'll be interesting to vote on |
I don't quite see it that way myself. If the target photographer were Avedon, say, or Cartier-Bresson, or Diane Arbus, I'd say you had a point with the emulation business. But this challenge is essentially telling us: "Take a strong, rich, full tonal-value B/W image of the natural world, with natural light." I got no problem with that. It's a useful exercise.
Remember, the essence of Adams is basically technical; as such he's a fitting model to learn from, and in fact he's been being taught for decades now.
Robt.
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02/28/2005 03:58:36 AM · #45 |
Originally posted by bear_music:
Originally posted by Artyste:
Originally posted by jbeazell:
Originally posted by Artyste:
Who knows. I'm skipping it. I hate challenges like this. |
..I'm still curious to know why you hate challenges like this....
I don't understand! |
Because nobody can ever agree on anything, the voting is all over the place, if you like one aspect of a photographer's work that is different from the views of anyone else, you get ostracized for it (Some of my favorite Adams work are his portraitures, but hell, just read this thread, I think they've been mentioned once), and.. to be honest.. I hate trying to emulate others' work. Just a personal thing.
Everyone else can go to town though.. it'll be interesting to vote on |
I don't quite see it that way myself. If the target photographer were Avedon, say, or Cartier-Bresson, or Diane Arbus, I'd say you had a point with the emulation business. But this challenge is essentially telling us: "Take a strong, rich, full tonal-value B/W image of the natural world, with natural light." I got no problem with that. It's a useful exercise.
Remember, the essence of Adams is basically technical; as such he's a fitting model to learn from, and in fact he's been being taught for decades now.
Robt. |
Well, it helps that I hate landscapes then, doesn't it ;)
Anyway, it's not a challenge that calls to me, so I'll sit it out.
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02/28/2005 04:12:16 AM · #46 |
I 4 ansel prints in my guest bedroom, one of which is not a landscape. It is a close up of some leaves, but it has the same "look" as the mountainscape hanging next to it; a lot of black, a lot of white, greys are used sparingly. The leaf print is interesting in that the leaves are white, but there is a lot of empty black space behind them. I really am not sure how he got that exposure. I had never really thought about it til now. Guess it's time to figure it out, eh.
I am going to attempt to sum up his style in one sentence (silly, I know): He was into bold contrast, had an excellent eye for composition in 3 dimensions, and he brought it all together nicely with an uncanny ability to break rules unobtrusively. |
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02/28/2005 04:22:43 AM · #47 |
He "got the exposure" by metering the dark areas and the bright areas separately. He exposed to place the dark areas on Zone III and then processed the film so the bright areas fell on Zone VII. In processing B/W negatives, the thinner portions of the negative (the dark areas) reach their fullest possible density quite early in the processing time. Zone System precisely quantifies, for any given film/developer combination, how long you need to process the film for the bright areas to reach the desired density.
If the original scene is "flat" (not very contrasty) you push the development well past nominal to increase density in the highlights and expand the tonal range of the image. If the original scene is contrasty, you pull the film early in the development process so the bright areas are not blocked up, resulting in a compression of the tonal ranges in the image.
Theoretically, any Zone System negative can be printed on normal contrast paper at a "normal" exposure time and show the full range of tones the paper is capable of expressing, with no blown-out highlights and no blocked-up shadow areas.
The analogous process in digital photography is to expose for the highlights (because we make positive images, not negatives) and use the histograms (via levels or curves) to expand or compress the tonal range so it is fully expressed.
Robt.
Message edited by author 2005-02-28 04:24:08.
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02/28/2005 09:00:10 AM · #48 |
Originally posted by Artyste:
Because nobody can ever agree on anything, the voting is all over the place, if you like one aspect of a photographer's work that is different from the views of anyone else, you get ostracized for it (Some of my favorite Adams work are his portraitures, but hell, just read this thread, I think they've been mentioned once), and.. to be honest.. I hate trying to emulate others' work. Just a personal thing.
Everyone else can go to town though.. it'll be interesting to vote on |
I can relate to your feelings Artyste. If you don't like to emulate another person's work, it doesn't matter who's work it is that you are asked to emulate.
I really don't care for B&W; and I think B&W is especially inappropriate for landscape photography in the age of digital. And this is going to be much more of a post-processing challenge than a photographry challenge, with a big advantage going to people who live near the Adams-style majestic landscapes.
I'll be sitting this one out too.
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02/28/2005 09:13:51 AM · #49 |
Originally posted by coolhar:
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with a big advantage going to people who live near the Adams-style majestic landscapes.
I'll be sitting this one out too.
Amen!
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02/28/2005 09:18:56 AM · #50 |
Originally posted by coolhar:
with a big advantage going to people who live near the Adams-style majestic landscapes. |
surely there's a tree standing by itself near you. for the most part, i don't like ansel's stuff at all, but i think finding subject matter should be fairly easy to do (even though we don't all live near halfdome). |
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