Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Contrast

In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours.
~Mark Twain

Unfurling, delicate spring fern covered in snow.

We tend to think of contrast as involving the interplay of light and dark. But there are many other kinds of contrast that we can capture: smooth/rough, hard/soft, still/moving, much/little, horizontal/vertical, liquid/solid, high/low, straight/curved, warm/cold, blurred/sharp, etc. As Michael Freeman points out in his excellent book, The Photographer's Eye, it's not just a contrast of light that can be depicted, but of shapes, color, even sensations can be the basis for a composition.

2 comments:

  1. As a potter, I often think of things that way as I compose a pot with varying parts of texture contrasted with the smooth skin of the clay. And m time outdoors with my camera certainly inspires my work in the studio! Love the picture!

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  2. I love the picture of the fern. They are so pretty and delicate as they pop out of the ground and unfurl their beauty in the spring.

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