Photography; Seeing and Interpreting
Part 2
In part 1 of this blog topic I touched on the necessity for
the photographer to invoke his/her interpretation of a
scene that was captured with his/her digital camera. The
photographer's interpretation becomes an intrinsic element
of the work of art that is eventually produced from the
original file taken from the camera. Knowing that cameras
produce a limited representation of reality, the
photographer draws on his personal inner vision of how
he/she "sees" the end result of producing a Fine Art
photographic work. This art of "seeing" accrues from many
year's experience and practice.
Internationally acclaimed photographer, Ansel Adams,
referred to this process as "previsualization" - i.e. , seeing
in his mind's eye what the scene before him was to look
like when printed- and always used this as a starting point
for the realization of his Fine Art prints. In his day, the
interpretation that followed was achieved in his darkroom
using techniques that he had highly developed over time
based on his knowledge and understanding of the technical
principles involved (exposure limits, chemistry, film
characteristics, printing paper characteristics, etc) . His
most famous Fine Art photograph -"Moonrise Over
Hernandez" - was interpreted from a single original camera
negative that proved to be very difficult for him to print
because of the scene limitations. Only through his desire to
realize his previsualization and his persistence in the
darkroom was he able to produce this Fine Art photograph.
Follow this link to find more information about this work.
Original prints (20 X 24) of Adam's "Moonrise" have sold
the photographer to invoke his/her interpretation of a
scene that was captured with his/her digital camera. The
photographer's interpretation becomes an intrinsic element
of the work of art that is eventually produced from the
original file taken from the camera. Knowing that cameras
produce a limited representation of reality, the
photographer draws on his personal inner vision of how
he/she "sees" the end result of producing a Fine Art
photographic work. This art of "seeing" accrues from many
year's experience and practice.
Internationally acclaimed photographer, Ansel Adams,
referred to this process as "previsualization" - i.e. , seeing
in his mind's eye what the scene before him was to look
like when printed- and always used this as a starting point
for the realization of his Fine Art prints. In his day, the
interpretation that followed was achieved in his darkroom
using techniques that he had highly developed over time
based on his knowledge and understanding of the technical
principles involved (exposure limits, chemistry, film
characteristics, printing paper characteristics, etc) . His
most famous Fine Art photograph -"Moonrise Over
Hernandez" - was interpreted from a single original camera
negative that proved to be very difficult for him to print
because of the scene limitations. Only through his desire to
realize his previsualization and his persistence in the
darkroom was he able to produce this Fine Art photograph.
Follow this link to find more information about this work.
Original prints (20 X 24) of Adam's "Moonrise" have sold
for more than $115,000.
The image shown left
is the original camera
file from which I
interpreted my vision
of the "Sandhill Crane
In Flight" shown in
part 1 of this blog
topic (repeated below).
The example below shows The Artist’s Palette in Death Valley National Park. My vision was focused on the color portion of the original camera file. I was unable to crop that portion in the camera so depended on post interpretation to achieve my vision.
Original camera image, left, Interpretation of original camera image, below.
Thanks for your interest and undivided
attention. You may feel free to email me if you have questions. Also be sure to visit our web page to see the very fine art of all our members.
Richard
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