Stieglitz (1864-1946)

My tutor has suggest that I look at Stieglitz photographs in relation to his use of light at  different times of the day.

Albert Stieglitz was a very significant American photographer who was a pioneer over his fifty year career in making phtography an art form.  He was"determined to prove photogrpahy was a medium capable of artistic expression as painting or sculpture"

He witnessed New York change from a city with cobblestones to a modern metropolis with skyscrapers.  His most famous photogrphs were the Terminal, the Steerage and the O'Keefe portraits.

Edward Weston

 

Edward Weston (1886-1958) was a 20th century American photographer.  He was considered "one of the most innovative and influential photographers.  He photographed a wide range of subject such as still lifes, nudes, landscapes, portraits etc. He wrote something as ordinary or extraordinary as a pepper "takes one beyond the world of the conscious mind".  His still life photographs of vegetables inspired me to take some of my own photographs of vegetables and fruit above, something which I have never done before.

The first two photographs were taken using a side light with no diffusion to provide high contrast.  I particularly like the abstract nature of the second photograph.  The others were taken using a light tent with a low lamp lighting the subjects from the side to emphasise texture.   I think the diffused light also produces interesting photographs.

 

Contrast and shadow fill

 

 

For this exercise I set up a simple still-life and placed a desk light at right angles to my camera which was on a tripod and which was level with the still-life. The photos above are in order of contrast, without a diffuser, with white card two feet away, with white card one foot away, with a shiny foil reflector, with a dull foil reflector and with a crumpled foil reflector and with diffused light using a light tent.  I think if I had used a stronger light source the differences might be more obvious. It is however interesting how shadow can be filled using reflectors.  Although the diffused photos shows less contrast and is flat it does have very little detail lost in the shadows.  I will use what I have learnt above when preparing for my assignment.