What do you see in this black and white photograph? What is the subject?
In the era of black and white photographs, the burst of the sun rising and the pink and blue sky wasn't captured in color palette. See how easily we find the subject when color is added.The experiment was simple, step out on the front step and snap the picture which I saw from the sun room while on the computer recently. It is home like. It is not professional. I did not play with the light and enhance the area over the tops of the houses to bring your sight to the morning sun.
There are hundreds of thousands of professional black and white photographs available to view and buy on the Internet. They offer a dramatic look of any subject one can name. Pine Forest in Snow, Yosemite National Park, 1932 by Ansel Adams comes to mind.
Adams invented the zone system which is a technique for photographers to translate the light they see into specific densities on negatives and paper, thus giving them better control over finished photographs. Adams also pioneered the idea of visualization of the finished print based upon the measured light values in the scene being photographed. One sees this in his work. He was a master of photography and alternated two professions, one as a photographer and the other as a concert pianist. Obviously he had someone nurturing his talents!
Do you, as a photographer visualize your finished product? Do you think about the backgrounds and what they are telling us about the picture? Certainly my friend Ellen was dating the season when she emailed pictures of her grand children sitting in maple tree framed in red leaves. Show Tom a picture of a person holding a fish and he can tell you where and when.
Check the backgrounds of your old pictures. Look for puffs of clouds captured. Enjoy their beauty. We don't know if it was accidental, we just know that clouds, wind, and sunshine make an interesting picture beyond the subject of two people standing next to an old car from California.
The question is, who's car is it?
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