Assignment 3: Monochrome

Introduction

This assignment explores the creative process of monochrome; from deciding upon a suitable subject, photographing the subject taking account of the lighting / weather conditions and processing the image using software to bring out the form, tonal contrast, texture and if possible key of the image. To develop my understanding of the subject of monochrome, this assignment will investigate why I chose the particular subject, what I set out to achieve and how successful I think I was in my quest.

Having revisited the work of Edward Weston and Henri Cartier Bresson to look at monochrome, I thought I would use the opportunity to look an historic building as an interesting subject area. Following recommendation from my tutor as a starting point, I looked at the work of Bernd and Hilla Bercher. I remember seeing their work previously and being drawn to it from a straight forward, organised, representational and graphic style of photography. They showed the form of the buildings they photographed. I liked the fact that their images did not include movement or people – personally I thought their photographs were about the building and not about how people related to or with the building. I decided to include this piece of their style in this assignment.

Another photographer I was encouraged to research was Eugine Atget. I had heard of him but not studied his work. In my opinion everything seemed balanced, even if it was asymmetrical. His photographs always had somewhere for the viewers eyes to go, and on closer viewing found something you didn’t know was there immediately.

Berenice Abbott, when photographing New York in the 1930’s demonstrated use of tone and form, simplicity and few people on the streets. I like Abbot’s photograph of ““El” second and third avenue lines” taken between 1935-9 which shows patterns, lines, shadows and curves. In my opinion this image is very high in contrast and works because of the graphic nature and patterns of the image. I looked at using this type of image with Sutton Scarsdale Hall, and did not include it because I felt it did not fit with the rest of my images.

Why I chose this subject?

Considerations for this assignment were varied. I thought about a working model, pit head winding mechanisms, sculptures, pumping stations, cooling towers and historic buildings. I dismissed the model because there was no tonal colour, the pit head winding mechanism on access grounds, sculptures on tonal colour, pumping station on opening times and cooling towers on the fact that I was too late because it was demolished last year. This left me with historic buildings which would challenge me as I don’t have a tilt and shift lens.

Having researched images on the web of local historic houses with access and examined web sites for photographic policies, I recalled visiting a derelict house in the hands of English Heritage with access during the day and very few visitors. I had a few images which had been taken with a wide angle lens stored on an external hard drive so was able to experiment with black and white conversions and altering the perspective of the vertical columns on the house before my visit.

Sutton Scarsdale Hall, Derbyshire served a long history and has been rebuilt a few times since the 12^th century. The last remodel was in 1724 when an architect named Smith incorporated his new Baroque style design into the existing 15^th century house for the 4^th Earl of Scarsdale. The stonework was carved by Edward Paynton of Nottingham and Italian stucco plasterwork for which the house became well known was detailed by Arturi and Vasalli. By 1919, the house was bought and the interior sold to asset strippers who rebuilt it as a film set in America. In 1946, to save the house from demolition, it was bought and later given to the Department of the Environment for preservation.

I decided that this would be a good subject to explore because I was excited by the classical columns and all three elements I needed for my assignment were present – form, texture and tones. There was a potential to experiment with key depending on the weather conditions.

What did I want to achieve?

I was hoping to show the grandeur and importance of the house in its previous life, but also how ethereal it looks now providing I could get it right. I considered revealing the remains of the inside decoration in high contrast so that the plaster detailing showed up brightly against the red bricks to portray the opulence that was once on show. The remains of the weathered classical columns and baroque style façade showed great texture, and the corridor style house revealed itself in skeleton with a series of archways providing volume. In all, I felt that this was a house waiting to be explored and offered potential especially with its melancholy feel and some of the images I found on the internet did not embody the atmosphere of the building. The limitation of this building was that some rooms were locked and images had to be taken through the railings.

The Rear Exterior

This image shows the rear of the house and gardens (previously formal) which extend to the ha-ha boundary and commands extensive views of the countryside and the neighboring castle at Bolsover.

1/45 F16 ISO200 Focal length 18mm (x1.6 crop factor)

The panorama was taken as a series of 3 images and amalgamated in Photoshop before converting to black and white. The verticals were straightened using lens distortion as a smart layer before cropping. The position of the sun was to my left hence the strong shadow across the grass although the building was mainly in sunlight. The countryside was very bright and I set the camera so that it would be overexposed to give a feeling of lightness / ghostliness to represent what once belonged to the landowners. I found that as I altered the black and white colour sliders, the house windows and grass became darker or lighter. To achieve this image I started with the preset high contrast red and increased the red, yellow and green values.

1/350 F13 ISO200 32mm (x1.6 crop factor)

Sutton Scarsdale Hall has 4 classical columns in the centre of the rear exterior. At the time of shooting they were in the sun, although did not remain in the sun for long.

What I aimed for was elegant, straight pillars which showed strength, texture and tones. I noticed that each stone which made up the pillar contained different tones. In colour, the sandstone looked warm, and I tried to recreate this by taking it with the sunlight on it. I also thought the sun would cast a shadow to help define each pillar rather than have baroque work in between distracting the viewer. I experimented with three and four columns and decided to leave number four in. The height made a difference to the elegance. To crop out the fourth looked like I lost height.

I spent time straightening this image because the curved shadow works like an optical illusion. After converting the image to black and white, I created a new adjustment layer for levels, set the black and white point and slid the level slider from 1 to 0.65 (towards the right). This darkened the shadows and made the columns stand out.

 1/250 F11 ISO100 18mm (x1.6 crop factor)

By looking upwards I gained a different perspective on a singular column to show contrast in the weathered sandstone column and the smooth baroque exterior.

Using Photoshop, I straightened and cropped the image to ensure that maximum graphical impact was gained and converted the image to greyscale using a new adjustment layer. I adjusted the values of orange and yellow to give more contrast and decreased the blue slider to darken the blue sky. 

1/180 F16 ISO200 90mm (x1.6 crop factor)

Using a carved stone block on the door surround I was able to take the photograph so that the histogram showed it was fairly low key. The technical challenge was not to overexpose the stonework because I wanted it to retain as much detail as possible.

I first converted this to black and white and brought out the detail by increasing the red, decreasing the yellow and increasing the green slightly, leaving blue cyan and magenta unchanged. I created a new adjustment layer for levels and set the black and white points (0 and 204 respectively) and slid the middle value to 0.43 which increased the black tones so the background became darker.

1/10 F16 ISO100 10mm (x1.6 crop factor)

When I took this image, the sun was casting a dappled shadow across the drive. I thought that the amount of detail in the shadow and house detracted from the image. In moving the sliders to decrease the contrast of the shadow, the drive became lighter and a small branch was visible which I had not noticed when I set the camera up on the tripod. I was able to manipulate the grass so it became lighter and the side of the church (which was in deep shadow) became visible.

1/30 F16 ISO200 10mm (x1.6 crop factor)

Having set the camera to overexpose this image, I knew it would be possible to turn it into a high key image and enhance ethereal qualities. I achieved this by using the levels slider. By setting the black and white points to 5 and 255 respectively, I decreased the contrast from 1 to 1.53 creating a luminous landscape and building where not everything is visible.

The interior

1/350 F5.6 ISO400 70mm (x1.6 crop factor)

This piece of plasterwork was hidden inside a locked room and visible through a hole in the brickwork. I considered using the same method as above for bringing out the plasterwork but there was too much brick and my image was slightly underexposed. By increasing the exposure values in RAW by +0.5 and setting the black and white points I was able to slide the orange and yellow colours to enhance the brightness of the plasterwork and contrast the brickwork against it.

1/60 F6.7 ISO400 70mm (x1.6 crop factor)

I deliberately left the plaster on this wall as bright as possible because I thought it should be reminiscent of its former glory. Once again the technical challenge was the optical illusion created by the corner and vertical columns of the plaster. I left the archways in this image to add depth and volume to the skeleton. I was unable to achieve my desired effect with the colour sliders so converted the image to JPEG and with a new adjustment layer for curves, I increased the contrast to make an “S” curve.

1/45 F8 ISO400 70mm (x1.6 crop factor)

I aimed to show that this corridor ran through the house by distinguishing the different wall partitions as a series of arches. The concrete floor was different shades of green. After straightening and converting to black and white with a new adjustment layer I decreased the red and increased the yellow which lightened the path and added more highlights. I opened a new adjustment layer for curves and created an “S” curve.

1/350 F16 ISO400 28mm (x1.6 crop factor)

I poked my camera through the railings to enable me to take the view through the window. I considered lightening the brickwork but I thought it detracted from the image. Once cropped and straightened, I converted the image into greyscale using a new adjustment layer, then a new adjustment layer for levels and set the black and white points. By sliding the mid point to 0.85, the edge of the window became darker.

How successful do I think I was?

The three key areas I planned to show were texture (detail), volume (form) and tonal contrast and if possible, high or low key. Taking each individual image in turn, I looked at how successful each one was.

Image 1 Panorama

· Landscape shows volume.

· House is two dimensional which shows the shape

· House darker (but not too dark) and garden /countryside lighter suggests low contrast and subdued image which is synonymous with the cheerless feeling one feels when visiting the ruin.

I wanted my establishing shot to show space and loneliness. It could be improved by having a more interesting sky such as storm clouds. Freeman (2009) states “across a wide area, such as with a clear sky through a wide angled lens, any hint of banding is almost possible to remove.” One solution would be to take another sky and insert it as a layer because I could illustrate a representation of what I saw, which I am looking forward to exploring in part 4 of this course. I think this image worked but could be improved. I left it in because I was able to demonstrate my learning.

Image 2 Columns

· Texture of base of first column visible

· Form shown by using four columns which appear rounded

· Sun at fairly low angle (raking light) which shows off texture

· Graphic image

I think this image worked. It did not show tonal range. I could have lightened the colour of the grass but I decided to concentrate on texture and form. This image would not show texture and form so well if the light was diffused such as on an overcast day or taken with the building in shadow.

Image 3 Single Column

· Texture of gritty sandstone column shown by using raking light

· Form shown by selecting one column and picking out the detail.

· Graphic image using converging lines

I considered whether this image would look different without the shadows. I think they add interest. The texture would not show up as well on a cloudy day.

Image 4 Door Scroll

· High key

· Shows texture and form

· Strong shape although leaves the viewer guessing what it might be

I am pleased with this image and think it worked. There is a suggestion that the image is not two dimensional because the side is visible.

Image 5 Rear of House adjoining Church

· High contrast shows texture and form of house

· Distracting shadow eliminated from foreground

· Lightened grass shows more detail in shadow area

This image could be improved by taking on an overcast day which would even the lighting tones and create less shadow. I would expect the reflective surface of the puddle to become less distracting. I think this does work.

Image 6 High Key

This was an experiment to bring out the mysterious and luminous qualities of the building

· Shape shown as two dimensional image

· Texture decreased as brightness is increased which is what I expected

I consider this to be the least successful of my images. Banding has appeared in the sky which is distracting. Although the drive curves round and does join up with the house, it gets lost in the brightness. So I think the composition of this as a black and white image is not strong enough.

Image 7 Plaster

· Rich tone of brickwork contrasts with bright plaster work

· Volume shown with brickwork

· Form (detail) of three dimensional plasterwork visible

This image shows what I set out to achieve. I think it was successful.

Image 8 Relief work though opening

· Shows form (three dimensional shape visible through two dimensional shape)

· Contrast between brickwork and plaster

· No distracting shadows on relief work

I think this image works although I did consider creating more contrast between the bricks and plaster.

Image 9 Down the Corridor

· Volume shown with a slight change in tone for each room

· Lighting through windows and overhead enhanced brightness of corridor

· Graphic image

I deliberated whether to remove the puddle but it adds interest and shows that the house is not watertight. I was pleased with this image and thought it successful.

Image 10 Through the Window

· Volume shown in countryside

· Tonal contrast in countryside contrasts with the window

· Graphic image when window bars are used

I was pleased with this image and thought it successful.

Conclusion

This assignment investigated my creative process of monochrome; from deciding upon a suitable subject, photographing the subject taking account of the lighting / weather conditions and processing the image using software to bring out the form, tonal contrast, texture and if possible key of the image. I explained why I chose to illustrate this particular subject, explored how I achieved what I had set out achieve and what how successful I think I was in my quest.

Key learning points from assignment

As a starting point for monochrome, I have learnt what makes a good subject and what methods I can use to creatively process an image. I feel that I learnt a great deal from this assignment and am glad that I had spent time viewing monochrome photographs at the exhibitions I visited in the summer. I know that the next time I view digital monochromatic photographs I will have an appreciation for the composition and creative processes used. As this was an area relatively new to me, I have been able to look at the workflow I used previously and understand where perhaps I could alter my workflow so that the image was preserved rather than destructed.

Areas for further development

· Composition

I visited on a bright sunny day which is what I wanted for the columns and working in a dark, shadowy area using only natural lighting. I could revisit on a cloudy day and take a similar image to image 5 (rear of the house) and compare without the shadow. I could too, return on a day with clouds to achieve a different effect for image 1 (panorama)

· Continue working with monochrome to develop more of an intuition of what will work

· Continue developing creative processing skills

· Try out using 50mm lens for buildings

Reference

Freeman, M (2008) Mastering Digital Photography, Ilex Press, Lewes, UK p76

Bibliography

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/sutton-scarsdale-hall/history-and-research/ accessed 11/11/13

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/raking-light accessed 6/11/13

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/atget/atget_articles3.html accessed 6/11/13

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/abbott/abbott_articles3.html accessed 6/11/13

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/bernd-becher-and-hilla-becher-718 accessed 6/11/13

http://www.photography-now.net/bernd_and_hilla_becher/portfolio1.html accessed 6/11/13

http://www.americanphotomag.com/article/2011/11/instant-expert-bernd-and-hilla-becher accessed 6/11/13

http://suncalc.net (accessed 6/11/13)

Beardsworth, J (2012) Advanced digital black and white photography, Ilex Press, Lewes, UK

Cartier Bresson, H, (1996) The mind's eye, Aperture foundation, New York

Freeman, M (2007) The photographer’s eye, Ilex Press, Lewes, UK

Freeman, M (2008) Mastering Digital Photography, Ilex Press, Lewes, UK

Freeman, M (2011) The digital SLR handbook, Ilex Press, Lewes, UK

Heiting, M (2001) Edward Weston, Taschen, Italy

Williams, V (2012) What makes great photography 80masterpieces explained, Quintessence Editions Ltd, London, UK

Black and White Photography Issue 156 November 2013 GMC Publications Lewes, UK

Reflection – assess against course criteria

Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills – My research and analysis of my photos helped me develop visual awareness skills. By completing the exercises prior to the assignment, I developed an understanding of the technical skills required for creative processing in monochrome. There is much I can learn from this area and take forward to the next course.

Quality of outcome - I have increased my knowledge, and related what I have learnt to past images I have taken. I have presented this as coherently as possible so that it fits the assignment and also is useful for me to revisit when necessary. I have asked myself questions, read around the subject and previously visited exhibitions knowing that monochrome would be an area I would be studying, and relating what I see to my own work.

Demonstration of creativity – I thought about what I was going to take and how it may look once processed to enable me to use a variety of available methods. The photographs in my assignment include a variety of the methods learnt from the course exercises.

Context – I read widely around the subject of monochrome and what makes a good subject, looking at existing images to see if what I thought would work did work. I experimented with different creative techniques in processing and reflected on each photograph to see if I thought it worked.