Transcript Ansel Adams
The Art of Photography and the Range of Light The Grand Tetons and the Snake River (1942) Thundercloud, Lake Tahoe (1936) El Capitan, Winter Sunrise (Yosemite NP, 1968) Tenaya Creek, Dogwood, Rain (Yosemite NP, 1948) Mount Williamson, Sierra Nevada (from Manzanar, CA, 1945) “We all move on the fringes of eternity, and are sometimes granted vistas through the fabric of illusion.” 2/20/1902 – Born in San Francisco 1916 -– Family vacation in Yosemite National Park, photographs with first camera 1920 -– First of four summers in Yosemite as Sierra Club custodian 1927 –- First masterpiece and “visualization”: Monolith, The Face of Half Dome 1928 -– First solo exhibition at Sierra Club, San Francisco 1931 –- Solo exhibition at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC 1932 –- Founding of Group f/64; Frozen Lake and Cliffs 1936 –- NYC solo exhibit at Stieglitz’ An American Place Move to Yosemite to operate Best’s Studio, 5000 negatives destroyed in fire 1940 -- Development of the Zone System; Clearing Winter Storm 1941 –- Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico 1942 –- The Grand Tetons and the Snake River 1944 -– Winter Sunrise, Sierra Nevada, Lone Pine 1945 –- Mount Williamson from Manzanar 1948 –- Tenaya Creek, Dogwood, Rain; Yosemite and the High Sierra; Basic Photography Series 1968 –- El Capitan, Winter Sunrise 4/22/1984 -– Dies of heart failure aggravated by cancer “Stieglitz taught me what became my first commandment: Art is the affirmation of life.” “The only things in my life that compatibly exist with this grand universe are the creative works of the human spirit.” “The whole world … is very much “alive” – all … growing things, even … rocks. I can’t look at [anything] … without feeling the essential life [within].” “To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surface.” “Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film.” I. Composition: Viewer, Vision and Visualization 1. Go where your passion directs you to find inspiration. 2. Take multiple exposures and experiment freely. “A good photograph is knowing where to stand.” “A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, thereby, a true manifestation of what one feels about life in its entirety. [This] expression … should be set forth … [with] the utmost clarity and perfection possible under the conditions of creation and production. Simplicity … precision and patience, and devotion to the capacities of the craft, are of supreme importance.” “In photography, technique is frequently exalted for its own sake …. Of course, ‘seeing,’ or visualization, is the fundamentally important element. A photograph is not an accident – it is a concept. It exists at, or before, the moment of exposure of the negative. From that moment on … the process is chiefly one of craft … [wherein] the pre-visualized photograph is rendered in terms of the final print.” “For photographic compositions I think in terms of creating configurations [order] out of chaos, rather than following any conventional rules…. [In this way I have been] able to express … the monumental qualities of the subject that I responded to so intensely at first sight. . . . I have made thousands of photographs of the natural scene, but only those visualizations that were most intensely felt at the moment of exposure have survived the inevitable winnowing of time.” -- Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs (p. 11, 106). Monolith, The Face of Half Dome (Yosemite NP, 1927) Galen Rowell, Rainbow over the Potala Palace (1981) f/64 Philosophy: “Very Sharp Focus and Full Tonal Scale” 1. Maximize depth of field/focus by using a small aperture. 1. Maximize tonal detail: “expose for shadows and develop for highlights.” 2. Use Large/Medium Format. 2. Use the Zone System for exposure and development. 3. Integrate Hyperfocal Distance. Frozen Lake and Cliffs (Sequoia NP, 1932) “Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.” Moonrise (Hernandez, NM, 1941) 1. Take the time to make a great picture into a truly great one. 1. Don’t be discouraged—great photos are stunning precisely because they are so rare. 2. Push post processing to the limit. 2. “Twelve significant photographs in one year is a good crop.” 3. “Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer—and often the supreme disappointment.” Winter Sunrise, Sierra Nevada (from Lone Pine, CA,1944) Composition and Pre-visualization LCD and Histogram as visualization tools Equipment and Technique Helicon Focus and Focus Stacking Spot Metering and Exposure Compensation High Dynamic Range and Exposure Blending Post Processing and Printing Nondestructive Editing and Virtual Copies Photoshop: Curves and Levels for Overall Contrast and Layers for Selective Adjustments Lightroom: Blacks, Whites, Clarity and Contrast sliders Curves Adjustment Adjustment Brush for Fine Tuning