architecture assignment

location 3: my house, interior

location 1: big picture, my neighbors house

location 3: big picture, the back of my house

location 2: detail shot: trimming at my theatre

location 3: detail: trimming in my house

Chapter 9: Landscape Photography

• there was already a tradition of landscape painting when photography was invented in 1839
• Carleton E Watkins wanted to capture the grandeur of the American West
• Ansel Adams was also inspired by the Yosemite Valley
• took some of the most famous pictures of Yosemite in black and white
• composition is one of the most important aspects of landscape photography and viewpoint is the most important part of composition
• value, and image's light and dark areas, is especially important in black and white landscape photography
• images with a wide range of tones can be more dramatic while those with a narrower range seem quieter and more comtemplative
• one goal of good composition is to achieve a balance b/w unity and variety
• unity results when all the individual parts of your image come together and support eachother
• makes one cohesive image
• variety refers to all the diverse art elements found in a picture
• such as: light and dark
• big and small
• smooth and rough
• with totaly variety, nothing fits or goes together
• most landscape photography has been characterized by maximum depth of field
• stop down a lens as far as it will go
• choosing small f-stops will result in longer shutter speeds
• a tripod is necessary for sharp, vibration-free images
• just after sunrise and just before sunset 
• two times during the day when a landscape photographer should do most of their work
• it's easier to deal with direct lighting for distant subjects than it is for closer subjects. 
• in Grand Landscape photographs
• direct lighting creates the highlights and shadows that have no detail.
• detail oriented shots like landscape photographs need to record as much information as possible
• black and white photography is still the look of choice for the type of images Ansel Adams made. 
• showcases line, value, shape, texture, and pattern
• landscape photographers prefer to use wide angle lenses that capture more of the scene
• on concentrating on details or areas in the distance:
• some photographers use a telephoto lens
• allows you to capture scenes and objects that you can't get physically close to
• filters are usually a big part of the landscape photographer's bag of tricks
• at least using a yellow filter, just to bring out clouds
• when you combine slow films and small f-stops
• you get slow shutter speeds
• grand landscape: the "big view" for pictures of the great outdoors
• grand landscapes always include a large expanse of the scene, and wide-angle lenses will give you the wider view that you need
• the sky most always figures prominently in photographs of large landscapes
• grand landscape images can be overwhelming 
• direct sun in wooded areas (like a park or garden) create difficult lighting conditions for the photographer
• many photographers prefer to shoot in cloudy or overcast conditions
• light meters are designed to create an exposure that makes medium or middle gray out of the scene being metered.
• attracted elements: images composed of lines, shapes, values, and textures
• one of the best ways to get an abstract image is to get really really close to your subject and photograph only a small part of it. 

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams was born on February 20, 1902 and died on April 22, 1984. He is best known for his black and white photographs of Yosemite. He mostly shot in black and white. He developed the Zone System to determine proper exposure and also to adjust the contrast of the final picture. He also founded the Group f/64 with other photographers, which in turn made the Museum of Modern Art's department of photography. He was born in San Francisco.


(fun fact: he has the same birthday as myself, Michelle Kwong, and Briana McTiernan. except obviously not the date.)

The Face of Half Dome
One artistic element in one of Adam's most famous pictures, is the use of black and white. Another principle is the rule of thirds. Adams chose not to put Half Dome directly in the center, which is why the picture speaks out more. He also used the elements of light and dark, with the top of the picture being dark, and then at the bottom it becomes light.



Chapter 8 notes: Architecture and Urban Landscapes

• indirect portraits: when you take pictures of the buildings and homes in your neighbothoods, otwns, and cities
• pictures of buildings and cities in modern societies can also give us clues about our own lives
• it is a great way to examine the formal aspects of design
• people created the buildings that make up our cities and towns
• they used the elements of art and principles of design
• architectural photography can be formal or informal
• LOOKING BACK
• Charles Negre began to use photography to create studies for his paintings
• Frederick H. Evans
• one of the greatest architectural photographers in the history of the medium
• Eugene Atget
• self taught photographer in the late 1890's
• THINKING ARTISTICALLY
• can be a casual "sketch" of a place, or and exploration of abstract details
• you use the line to lead the viewer's eye through an architectural image
• observe the sapce that surrounds the objects or buildings in your photographs
• a building's visual relationship to things around it can also reveal a great deal about its "personality"
• pattern: the repetition of any elements of art
• CAMERA SETTINGS
• selecting a smaller f-stop gives a greater depth of field
• use a bigger camera format for the most detailed images
• bigger the negative, the more detail it will capture
• FILM
• architectural photographs can either be black and white or color
• color emphasizes color and setting
• black and white emphasizes values, shapes, and textures
• can be divided into two types: commercial and artistic
• commercial: magazines and brochures
• usually shot in color
• artistic: black and white is usually the medium of chouse
• LIGHTING
• very important in interior architectural photography
• inside buildings many different kinds of lighting are used
• film can't adjust to these differences in color
• LENSES
• wide angle lenses are very useful for doing the "big view"
• the wider the lense, the more distortion you get
• CAMERA SUPPORT
• when walking around taking snapshots of buildings, you can get away without a tripod
• if you like slow fine grained film, better off using a tripod because you will be using a much slower shutter speed
• monopods might work for walking around and shooting details
• will not work for interior photographs
• you will find yourself using very slow shutter speeds
• FILTERS
• when doing big views, you frequently include the sky
• using a yellow or orange filter will separate the clouds from the sky in a black and white photograph
• THE BIG VIEW
• the wide angle, overall view
• it shows the whole building
• has a few drawbacks
• perspective distorion:  appears as strong converging lines in a building
• the farther you are from a building, the less distortion you will see
• photographer must also decide whether to shoot the picture straight on from the front of from slightly to the side
• SHADOWS
• make an interesting subject all by themselves
• instead of photographing actual objects, capture the shadows that they cast
• pay attention to the lines, shapes and values
• THE DETAIL SHOT
• features the individual architectural elements of a building's interior or exterior
• these details become indirect portraits of the craftspeople who made them. 
• INTERIOR VIEWS
• you can record overall shots of whole rooms
• or can focus on smaller details
• if room is small, won't be able to back up enough to get the entire room into the frame
• when taking detail pictures, you need to think about depth of field and the f-stop on your lens
• will be reasonably close to your subject
• closer you are the subject, more depth of field you need



detail architecture



disneland, wide view "big view" architecture photography

architectural photography

• not just a sense of line shape or form
• want a sense of the place, sense of personality, what people do there, etc.
• not just shooting a building
• cropping a a major point
• semetrical balance
• if people in photos, make sure they are not taking anything away from the shot
• buildings a perfect subject for old films because photos don't move
• elements you need in photos are all already in architecture buildings
• Frederick H. Evans
• he didn't just shoot buildings, he focused on bringing out emotion in his photographs
• worked primarily in platinum papers
• platnotype: gave deeper value to photographs and level of detail than previous photography methods
• took away platinum; only could be used for bombs now in WW2.
• gave photography up forever
• detail shot:
• focusing in on a specific portion of the architecture
• big picture and interior are the other 2 types of shots
• ezra stoller:
• originally an architect, switched over to photography
• focused on line space shape and light
• you can focus on the full view of the space and the emotions connected to it
• like a portrait
• you can also focus on the idea
• personality of the space and relationship of the building
• patterns dominate almost every part of the image

movie notes

- first paper to seel itself on the basis of pictures
- daily news = oldest newspaper
- on the front page, it needed a picture of something that needed to attract people's attention so they would buy the paper
- hard not to have a good newsday in the 2920's
- tabloid wars: newspapers competed for the most sells
- evening graphic: worst tabloid in the history of america
- staged photographs: showed people complete lies.
- daily news photographer stuck a hidden camera in during the electrocution of a woman who killed her husband. horrible picture
- without photographers advertising would be in a lot of trouble
- people believed photographs were true: knew that drawing could lie but didn't think photographs could
- photography added a new definition to fame
- people could become famous as long as they looked good in pictures
- sports stars became superstars, etc.
- photographers defined a star
- the loss of a celebrity seen only in pictures was as real, or perhaps as real as the loss of a family member
- astronamors used to draw what theysaw in the sky
- photography has enabled humans to see things faster than what we would normally see