USE SPECIAL EFFECTS

Exposure, lighting and contrast choices all enrich atmosphere

One of the most important things novices learn about photography is that an effect or style is not reason enough for an image to exist. Any exposure, colour, lighting or composition choice should enhance the impact of a carefully selected and positioned subject, rather than becoming the main focus of the image in its own right. If the photographer approaches a shot with the intention of making the rule of thirds, a long exposure or a colour effect the subject of the composition, then the resulting photograph will likely fail to capture the imagination.

In a similar way, black and white conversions (or the use of a camera’s monochrome picture style) must also be thought of as a means to an end, rather than the main purpose of any shot. A great way to add value to a monochrome frame is to introduce other photographic effects to the mix, which may help justify the photographer’s choice to create a black and white image. The lack of colour may then feel less jarring to the viewer, who will be encouraged to look past it as a defining feature of the composition and think of the monochrome nature of the frame as its native state. In essence we need to make modern audiences temporarily forget they are used to seeing brightly coloured photographs, so we can steer them to notice the aspects that encouraged us to make the image in the first place.

Once we have removed the colour from a scene, we can experiment with lighting ratios and contrast in ways that do not work successfully when colour information can ‘contaminate’ the balance. If we underexpose to create an ultra-high-contrast image, for example, this may increase colour saturation to unattractive extremes. In a black and white landscape, meanwhile, we only have luminance information present.

Try varying your position relative to the light source and working to enhance the most effective characteristics of a monochrome image – the cinematic feel, filmic texture and less-familiar tonal rendition, as dictated by the range of colours present.

Above URBAN FORMS Coastal landscapes and urban environments are two of the most conducive to ultra-long exposures, as they contain static elements in close proximity to moving features, such as water or clouds