Fine Art Photography Workshop -My thoughts

[TheBigE]

All,

I just finished another photography workshop - this one called Fine Art Photography and it was lead by Alexander Ehhalt and Bruce Barnbaum. The format was over 4 days with time in classroom and in the field, and 12 particpants. I thought I would summarize my experience below for others.

Each participant was asked to bring a portfolio of their work (10 Prints) to the workshop and as a class we reviewed each persons portfolio. This exercise really encompassed the major portion of the workshop. At first, I was not sure how this would go or the results - in looking back I will say it was an extremely helpful and insightful excercise. Each person's portfolio was reviewed by the group over about 45-60 mins of time. Bruce lead the discussion with input from the class. I learned just as much from other work as during my own review, the exchange of ideas and discussion were extremely valuable. Bruce was very open with his ideas and thoughts and frankly just a plain joy to be around for the 4 days.

We did do some time in the field, but I felt this was a bit too hap hazard and lacking strong focus. It was refreshing to see Bruce’s and other people take on what they found to be be compelling image. Also Bruce shared some of his work and the background behind the images. A couple images that i made are shown below.

I did realize that i need to spend some time and focus on Printing my work. Bruce had a great quote - the photo itself is the score, but the printed image is the performance. I think I had a strong body of work, but my presentation could be improved. Furthermore, I have really learned how important it is to the artistic process to print your work - it takes on another dimension and really allows one to dig deeper into the image. I was able to ask some good questions on printing with other class mates and have line of site for printing my own work at home.

One thing I did struggle with during the workshop was that I feel, that often the term Fine Art Photography is synonomous with Black and White photography. Just because I take color photos (I do have B&W in my portfolio) does that mean I cannot do Fine Art Photography?? I think not.....but this is a deeper discussion.

I continue to find that spending time and money on workshops to be a very valuable investiment on this journey. Each workshop is different, and here I did not come back with l memory cards full of images, but rather a deeper understanding into making a compelling and deep image. I feel this was just as valuable of a result.

[Shadowman]

Hi Erik,

Thanks for the review, you mentioned your portfolio used as review were the images posted on a board or viewed from the portfolio. I ask because either method will give the viewer closer access to the work but a horizontal format might restraint the judges from getting too close to the image.

Regarding "Fine Art", I've seen quite a few captures of the Grand Canyon in color that has qualified as fine art.

[pnodrog]

Thanks for your thoughts. Glad you got a lot out of it. I have plenty of scores but probably neglect the performance too often. Interesting comment.

I always like city dusk shots and the lights lead my eyes around the photograph very well. The stream is pleasant and you handled the DOF/focus very well.

Fine Art Photography is certainly not limited to B&W regardless of the current big interest in it.

[TheBigE]

Hi Erik,

Thanks for the review, you mentioned your portfolio used as review were the images posted on a board or viewed from the portfolio. I ask because either method will give the viewer closer access to the work but a horizontal format might restraint the judges from getting too close to the image.

Regarding "Fine Art", I've seen quite a few captures of the Grand Canyon in color that has qualified as fine art.

John,

The prints were placed on a board/table under constant light. Everyone was to review the work up close and then we set down in a group and discussed each image. It all started with asking the person whose work was on display - What are you goals and trying to say with these photos.

[TheBigE]

Thanks for your thoughts. Glad you got a lot out of it. I have plenty of scores but probably neglect the performance too often. Interesting comment.

I always like city dusk shots and the lights lead my eyes around the photograph very well. The stream is pleasant and you handled the DOF/focus very well.

Fine Art Photography is certainly not limited to B&W regardless of the current big interest in it.

Thanks Paul - I focused stacked the stream. From the review and discussion, it just seems that one would have.a hard time with a Vibrant Color Photo being considered as Fine Art Photography. We had some good discussion on this topic during the workshop - I will try to summarize later.

[pnodrog]

Thanks Paul - I focused stacked the stream. From the review and discussion, it just seems that one would have.a hard time with a Vibrant Color Photo being considered as Fine Art Photography. We had some good discussion on this topic during the workshop - I will try to summarize later.

The top 25 priced photographs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ve_photographs seems to feature slightly more B&W photographs than colour but it appears to be largely due to the historic photographs in the mix.

[Manfred M]

Fine art photography is a term that seems to have a rather fluid definition. Everyone seems to have a different view as to what this genre is.

I personally favour a very simple definition; it is a photograph that can be found in a gallery (or gallery like setting) and this implies it is a physical print, rather than an image that one views on a computer screen. Mounting with or without a frame would be part and parcel of what a fine art image is.

With respect to B&W, I personally find that those of us who started as B&W film photographers don't necessarily look at this genre quite in the same way as people who started using it as digital photographers. I personally love a great B&W print, but I also find doing them is really easy, once you have trained yourself to be able to visualize in B&W. One of the most important compositional tools around is "simplification" and throwing away all the colour data is certainly one very powerful way of simplifying an image. The problem with throwing away all the colour data is that you also throw away some of the essence of the image, and that should only be done after very thoughtful and careful consideration. I personally find doing a great colour image is much more difficult than creating a strong monochrome one. As I like a challenge, I tend to work in colour....

If you like what Bruce Barnbaum is saying, his "The Art of Photography" is one of my favourite books on photography. It is well worth the read. I find I probably like it because Bruce does not have an art background, but comes at photography from a math / systems background and I can relate to that path into the photography world.

[TheBigE]

Fine art photography is a term that seems to have a rather fluid definition. Everyone seems to have a different view as to what this genre is.

I personally favour a very simple definition; it is a photograph that can be found in a gallery (or gallery like setting) and this implies it is a physical print, rather than an image that one views on a computer screen. Mounting with or without a frame would be part and parcel of what a fine art image is.

With respect to B&W, I personally find that those of us who started as B&W film photographers don't necessarily look at this genre quite in the same way as people who started using it as digital photographers. I personally love a great B&W print, but I also find doing them is really easy, once you have trained yourself to be able to visualize in B&W. One of the most important compositional tools around is "simplification" and throwing away all the colour data is certainly one very powerful way of simplifying an image. The problem with throwing away all the colour data is that you also throw away some of the essence of the image, and that should only be done after very thoughtful and careful consideration. I personally find doing a great colour image is much more difficult than creating a strong monochrome one. As I like a challenge, I tend to work in colour....

If you like what Bruce Barnbaum is saying, his "The Art of Photography" is one of my favourite books on photography. It is well worth the read. I find I probably like it because Bruce does not have an art background, but comes at photography from a math / systems background and I can relate to that path into the photography world.

Thanks Manfried - I do like your definition of Fine Art.

On the subject of color - from my time in this workshop I realized color is very polarizing. I drew some comparisons to politics, and how color can impact how your feel and what you think of a person. Even for the Germans - I noticed that riding home on the bus one day (public transportation) - it used the word Schwarzfahrer (literally dranslated Black Rider). This word in German represents someone who rides public transportation without a ticket. I thougt it was a good example of how color can take on a great meaning and context. Interesting that color crossing many cultures.

Your conclusion that color image is more difficult than Monochrome, I think can partially be attributed to the Polarizing nature of color. You have added another dimension to the photograph that may not appeal to the masses. With B&W there is more a focus on the image, the shapes, textures, light and shadows. It was clear this was the case in Bruce's work he showed during the Workshop.

I had read Bruce's book before the workshop (and now have a signed copy). His approach in the book and in the workshop are very similar. OF notes, he told me to focus more on B&W as two of my 10 photos I showed were B&W and in his works "those are you best work and there is something there". So there is that and it has made me reconsider my approach a bit.

I am challenged to 'see" in B&W. I find my self drawn to color and texture, and shifting to only B&W could be a challenge. There was some good recommendations in the class and one that I thought was a good one - start in monochrome and never see the B&W image. In other words, set your DSLR so it only shows MOnochorome in Live View and also exstablish an import present in LR that automatically converts the image to B&W....these seems like it might work, and of course there was a suggestion to buy a B&W camera only...I am not sure I am ready for that level of commitment.

[Jeff S]

If memory serves me well, I believe the "score" and "performance" quote mentioned by Bruce was one of Ansel Adams' remarks back in the day. I don't know whether Adams borrowed it from someone else or whether it was his original idea. In any case, it's a good one.

[Donald]

The problem with throwing away all the colour data is that you also throw away some of the essence of the image

The above if from Manfred's post. I don't know what is meant by the 'essence of the image'. I'd (and lots of professional photographers) argue that excluding the colour data ensures that attention is focused on the form, shape and tonality of the scene being formed.

Manfred says he likes a challenge so makes colour images. Each to his own. I like the challenge of discarding the colour information and giving attention to line, shape, tone and texture. His suggestion that B & W is very easy compared to colour is one we could debate at some length.

[pnodrog]

.........I am challenged to 'see" in B&W. I find my self drawn to color and texture, and shifting to only B&W could be a challenge............................

Don't limit your photography to B&W just because it is fashionable or that it is the preferred form of expression used by some photographers.

Drawn to colour implies expressing yourself in colour. Drawn to texture or shape/form and lighting is applicable to both colour and B&W. I think the moment you realise that the colour elements or colour harmony are not essential to your interest in photographing the scene you are on the way to prioritising the evaluation of the tonal relationships rather than the hue.

I have never seen in B&W but I can look at tones while ignoring hues. Actually you always need to remain aware of hues if you want to make good use of colour filter options when taking a photograph. (in saying colour filter I also refer to possibilities available in PP editing) It is probably only about 15% of the photographs I take that are taken solely with the intent of creating a B&W image. However very few of the other photographs I take will ultimately be used as B&W images. When doing portraiture (including musicians) or street photography the intent to take B&W images leaps to about 80% but overall I tend to take far more colour.

Sometimes you can produce a successful B&W image out of one that failed to work as a colour image but usually it just ends up being a failed B&W as well. Most good photographers progress to the point where they know at the time they take the photograph whether it is destined to be in colour or B&W and starting at the time of exposure adjust their technique accordingly.

[Manfred M]

Thanks Manfried - I do like your definition of Fine Art.

On the subject of color - from my time in this workshop I realized color is very polarizing. I drew some comparisons to politics, and how color can impact how your feel and what you think of a person. Even for the Germans - I noticed that riding home on the bus one day (public transportation) - it used the word Schwarzfahrer (literally dranslated Black Rider). This word in German represents someone who rides public transportation without a ticket. I thougt it was a good example of how color can take on a great meaning and context. Interesting that color crossing many cultures.

In that case, use the term monochrome as it sounds more techie and does not conjure up any illusions of the old black versus white issues that you mention. In physics, black is simply the absence of colour and white is what you get when you mix equal amounts of the primaries red, green and blue.

Your conclusion that color image is more difficult than Monochrome, I think can partially be attributed to the Polarizing nature of color. You have added another dimension to the photograph that may not appeal to the masses. With B&W there is more a focus on the image, the shapes, textures, light and shadows. It was clear this was the case in Bruce's work he showed during the Workshop.

You have nicely explained part of why B&W is, in my view, easier to do. Effectively you are dealing with tonality and contrast. That is quite simple and simplifies the image making. When you add colour, you add the complexity of getting the image to "look right"; something often referred to as white balance or setting the correct colour temperature. On top of that you have to deal with how colours affect mood; warm tones or cool tones; this is really why photographers colour grade.

In a jpeg, you have about 16.8 million colours that can be reproduced. Change that the B&W, there are only 256 available shades; pure black, pure white and 254 shades of gray. To me that simplifies a lot; throwing away 99.85% of the data will do that. That is also why I question myself on what is lost in an image when I do that.

I had read Bruce's book before the workshop (and now have a signed copy). His approach in the book and in the workshop are very similar. OF notes, he told me to focus more on B&W as two of my 10 photos I showed were B&W and in his works "those are you best work and there is something there". So there is that and it has made me reconsider my approach a bit.

I think Bruce makes a good point. For the first two years where I was into serious photography, I shot pretty well nothing other than B&W. Doing this is a great foundation for developing your photographic skills as it removes what I refer to the "complexity of colour". It lets you deal with exposure, composition, tonal values and contrast. If you do that for an extended period, then you might be ready for the challenge of colour...

This is what happened to me.

I am challenged to 'see" in B&W. I find my self drawn to color and texture, and shifting to only B&W could be a challenge. There was some good recommendations in the class and one that I thought was a good one - start in monochrome and never see the B&W image. In other words, set your DSLR so it only shows MOnochorome in Live View and also exstablish an import present in LR that automatically converts the image to B&W....these seems like it might work, and of course there was a suggestion to buy a B&W camera only...I am not sure I am ready for that level of commitment.

That is a trick I have heard from others too and I think it might be a good thing to do. By "seeing in B&W", what I am really trying to say is learning to understand how different colours will look like in a B&W image when you look at a scene that is in colour. If you are observant and analytical, that will happen as you work in the medium.

If you want to add another constraint, shoot in B&W jpeg, as that will definitely constrain you. You can't play around with individual colour channels in PP and it will make you work harder at understand what will look good as B&W and what will not work as well.