W/NW Chiaroscuro

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Awesome thread!
I had to research on the term...
it seems that one tip might be to meter for the highlights... more less as we do in slide film...
and let not that much of information on the dark areas...
 
varchs said:
Awesome thread!
I had to research on the term...
it seems that one tip might be to meter for the highlights... more less as we do in slide film...
and let not that much of information on the dark areas...
Click to expand...

That is pretty much correct - meter for highlights. Its all so easy today as most cameras have a spot metering option and of course if you are shooting digital you can instantly see what you are getting.

Also we should not forget that its not a sin to enhance shadows (i.e. in this case deepen them) in post processing. I am not ashamed to admit that I frequently add some vignette to my images as well. I am always of the view that the test of a good final image is not how sharp it is, or how well exposed, necessarily. The key thing is how it looks.

I always aim for "character" and "feel" in my images rather than technical perfection. That is what art is all about. I am also of the view that image making is partly what you capture and how you capture it. But its also about what you do with it afterwards in post processing. After all, even diamonds straight from the ground are still in the rough and need work to bring out their best qualities. :p

Some really fantastic images here incidentally. Well done all.

A few afterthoughts / late additions from me:

Singing like he means it by yoyomaoz, on Flickr

Counting pennies by yoyomaoz, on Flickr

I suppose this one qualifies although its more shadow and reflections than light. I love it anyway.........

Layers in time and space by yoyomaoz, on Flickr

Concentration x2 by yoyomaoz, on Flickr

Cafe Study 1 by yoyomaoz, on Flickr
 
Dp2M
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XE1 50 1.5 Sonnar
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XE1 35 1.4
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There's more than one way to understand and practice chiaroscuro (lots of roads lead to Rome, i.e.), but my preference is to start with darkness/shadows, and wring the most light from the least possible illumination to highlight the subject. With people, I want to show how the person is like a flickering candle, a personal flashlght in the impersonal darkness.

In Caravaggio and those he influenced, the illumination may come from a candle, a torch, a a high window (The Calling of Saint Matthew), or door flung open from a bright outdoors into a dim interior. Substitute a smartphone screen or overhead light in an Airbus overnight flight, you still have manifold possibilities for dramatizing the intersections of light and darkness in a person, a family, an intimate or ceremonial space.


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GRD3 (evening light coming in from glass doors facing a river)
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rhl-oregon said:
Dp2M
XE1 50 1.5 Sonnar
XE1 35 1.4

There's more than one way to understand and practice chiaroscuro (lots of roads lead to Rome, i.e.), but my preference is to start with darkness/shadows, and wring the most light from the least possible illumination to highlight the subject. With people, I want to show how the person is like a flickering candle, a personal flashlght in the impersonal darkness.

In Caravaggio and those he influenced, the illumination may come from a candle, a torch, a a high window (The Calling of Saint Matthew), or door flung open from a bright outdoors into a dim interior. Substitute a smartphone screen or overhead light in an Airbus overnight flight, you still have manifold possibilities for dramatizing the intersections of light and darkness in a person, a family, an intimate or ceremonial space.

GRD3 (evening light coming in from glass doors facing a river)
Click to expand...

great contemporary analogies!
interesting and inspiring thoughts!!! Thank you!
 
 
Thanks Lynn. Taken in the summer of 1996 whilst bumming around Greece after leaving college. My old and much loved Minolta XG1 (if I remember the model designation correctly! )

Making me feel far older than I am :D
 
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