https://jennifernicholewells.com/2017/02/28/color-your-world-robin-egg-blue-2/
Tag: sculpture
Contrasts in light and texture
Cee’s Compose Yourself has turned to black and white photography this month.
Textures can make a black and white photo work. Furs and feathers of animals can thus show off in a black and white picture.
In this picture, the different textures of the individual light feathers and the skin of the dark comb and wattle are effectively juxtaposed.
This pony stands out from the blur of the background. It works well in monochrome because of the colour differences in the coat and mane but equally because the longer, curlier hair of the mane creates a different texture as shorter coat. The background stays a ablur.
The detail of this sculpture is completely different as it is made up of hard metal.
Yet it works because the roughness and flaking of the material creates an interesting texture that becomes visible in the monochrome.
Three different textures dominate in this picture – the polished plastic of the spectacle frames next to the soft smoothness of the skin next to the frizzy hair accentuate this portrait.
The same effect can be seen here – smooth skin next to hair. I find that often portraits work better in black and white, they can be much more flattering to the subject.
And here a last example of difference in texture, again facial hair but it is juxtaposed with the shiny silver beads.
Contrast can of course also come from light differences. In the above pictures this was a visible component as well but it is more pronounced in the following ones.
The bright white bench surrounded by dark, almost black foliage. Contrast doesn’t come much harder than this.
The colour version of this photo shows off the newer, lighter green gingko leaves against the older, darker ones. It works well in green but I think is more dramatic in black and white.
This gerbera also contrasts the front petals with the dark stem and leaves but has shades of grey to offer as well.
This filled tulip stands out against the dark background but the leaves show contrast in themselves – the grey feathery details almost look as if drawn with a thin brush.
Cee’s Compose Yourself Challenge: #23 Black and White: The Basics
Higher and higher
“Vertical lines” – #7 from Cee’s Compose Yourself. I thought photographs for this challenge might be easy to find in my “archives” but … not so much.
This face of a building is interesting but I needed to crop it to get rid of the cars driving in front of it. Keeping the same dimensions as the original,the windows to the right and left are distracting. I have the same problem with many photos of similar buildings (usually in fairly narrow streets) but this style fascinates me, nevertheless, it is typical for inner city buildings in the west of Germany, dating from around 1900.
This strange sculpture of two naked children was difficult to photograph as there was no suitable background on any side (cheap grocery stores etc., all in this not very attractive architectural style). The tree trunk in front of it doesn’t help either but it strengthens the vertical line.
Street lamps are usually thin and pointing upwards,
so are church spires.
This picture of this flaming orange tulip works in landscape format because of the close-up.
But even though the background is more cluttered in this portrait shot, I think the picture works better that way..
After having snapped the first shot of my husband walking between these houses in Sunderland, UK, I tried to align the lamps so that only the front one showed (husband plodding along unawares). No question which is the better photo, is it?
This a man-made attraction is highest cold-water geysir in the world. The Andernach geysir shoots water up to 60 metres high at regular interval during summer. It’s situated on a peninsula and ships bring about 300 tourists at a time, they watch the eruption and go back. In the first shot it looks pretty unspectacular, the vertical line isn’t strong and it basically just shows people milling around a fountain. D’oh. The second shot is still nothing spectacular.
In the third shot – again I switched to portrait format to show off the fountain – the viewer joins the crowd in watching the fountain go up, enhanced by many of the onlookers pointing their own cameras upwards.
I prefer the close up of the erupting geysir itself, though, with nothing distracting from the water.
Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge: Week #7 Vertical Lines
pictures imperfect blog 