Stephen Shore like colors

Quality of light?

Quality of light?

Could y'all please discuss more about what makes the 'flat' light of Shore's photographs unique?

Is it simply related to time of day and/or weather conditions? I.e no sharp, taking light from sunrise or sunset?

I love Shore's work- it got me hooked and thinking about photography on a more serious level.

The three photos above look great- especially the last.
 
Could y'all please discuss more about what makes the 'flat' light of Shore's photographs unique?

Is it simply related to time of day and/or weather conditions? I.e no sharp, taking light from sunrise or sunset?

Location matters too when it comes to light.
 
Could y'all please discuss more about what makes the 'flat' light of Shore's photographs unique?

Is it simply related to time of day and/or weather conditions? I.e no sharp, taking light from sunrise or sunset?

I love Shore's work- it got me hooked and thinking about photography on a more serious level.

The three photos above look great- especially the last.

Shore's work has also inspired me. I think Eggleston is more known for shooting in flat light than Shore. Definitely wouldn't describe it as flat myself.

I think mid afternoon - evening, or early morning is the best. Sometimes shooting in the fall can be difficult, as the sun's angle can give some very high contrast, but when it's right it's perfect. Moderate cloud cover can also help reduce midday contrast so you can shoot longer.

I heard once that someone becomes a photographer when they stop paying attention to color and start paying attention to light. This would be my advice on getting the tones you want. Even a fairly "uninteresting" subject can be brilliant with proper lighting, so pay close attention to light even when you don't have a camera.
 
Many things create nice light, Time of day, Humidity, fog, dust in the air, sunlight being bounced back off a bank of clouds, etc etc, but if you look at any photograph, and look at the shadows and look at the sky, you will be able to see the light it was shot in!

And as was said above paying close attention to conditions even if you don't have a camera will teach you how light works and perhaps be able to predict it. or better still always have a camera, so when you are in that great light you will get the shot!

One thing all great photographers have in common is they spend a lot of time out there making pictures, and at the end of the day if you want your pictures to look like Shore's or anybody else's, you have to be there at 'the' moment with a camera with film in it!
 
I would use fuji 400H, very neutral, natural saturation. But it's pretty grainy in 35mm, I think you could get the colors with it, but you'd need a bigger negative to get the smoothness.
 
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