Michael - enlightenment is somewhat above my pay grade - but if you cite say three photographs that made you wonder - I'll talk to my assistant and see what we can come up with :) I wouldn't really choose the recent infrared stuff or phone stuff because that's what I would call neo- non-realistic or something like that.
In general I think you're asking about what I'd call either light sources, or specular highlights (fountain).
In other words, just because you can get everything within the printable range - as you realize - there's more to it than that. If you were (IMHO) to burn in the stream of headlights in FDR Underpass - no picture. That sense of liquidn light flowing through the infrastructure (probably done to death) is what I like about it.
Brilliant Night: I like it when lights (esp. at night) are blown out. It seems more natural to me.
In Ansel's world (and I subscribe to it) - he didn't come across as many specular lights in Yosemite - but when he did - he usually let them blow out if they weren't very prominent in the shot.
Street light in Night Storm is totally blown out - and could have been burnt in a bit - but there's no point to it. The effect itself helps with the fairy tale feeling.
In short - you get free rein to let light sources or small bits of specular light blow out (though I dislike the effect with digital capture) - when it adds to the mood.
And it may be done on purpose - or maybe it was a goof up in the shooting (in the pictures you mention it was intentional). In fact when I was shooting Fountain - I had to move to just the right spot to get that effect.
It's done in movies all the time to give a mystical effect. Look at the end of Close Encounters for an example. Almost the whole ending is visually about what you can do with lights pointing straight at the camera.
(Anyway - that's my assistants' take on it - and I'll have to agree with him on this one.) :)
2 comments:
Michael - enlightenment is somewhat above my pay grade - but if you cite say three photographs that made you wonder - I'll talk to my assistant and see what we can come up with :) I wouldn't really choose the recent infrared stuff or phone stuff because that's what I would call neo- non-realistic or something like that.
In general I think you're asking about what I'd call either light sources, or specular highlights (fountain).
In other words, just because you can get everything within the printable range - as you realize - there's more to it than that. If you were (IMHO) to burn in the stream of headlights in FDR Underpass - no picture. That sense of liquidn light flowing through the infrastructure (probably done to death) is what I like about it.
Brilliant Night: I like it when lights (esp. at night) are blown out. It seems more natural to me.
In Ansel's world (and I subscribe to it) - he didn't come across as many specular lights in Yosemite - but when he did - he usually let them blow out if they weren't very prominent in the shot.
Street light in Night Storm is totally blown out - and could have been burnt in a bit - but there's no point to it. The effect itself helps with the fairy tale feeling.
In short - you get free rein to let light sources or small bits of specular light blow out (though I dislike the effect with digital capture) - when it adds to the mood.
And it may be done on purpose - or maybe it was a goof up in the shooting (in the pictures you mention it was intentional). In fact when I was shooting Fountain - I had to move to just the right spot to get that effect.
It's done in movies all the time to give a mystical effect. Look at the end of Close Encounters for an example. Almost the whole ending is visually about what you can do with lights pointing straight at the camera.
(Anyway - that's my assistants' take on it - and I'll have to agree with him on this one.) :)
Post a Comment