Research - Theme 1 - Ansel Adams

Having recently looked at my images from my nature photography I have noticed that there are alot of interuptions in my photographs. For example I have pictures of trees which are distracted by other tree in the shot. This is not what I intend to do I aim to get the whole object into the photograph without any other objects taking the main focal point away from the shot. To show what I mean I have researched photographer Ansel Adams. His work is mainly in black and white but the main thing is that the main focal point in his focal point is deeply concentrated with nothing else pulling it away.

This is the first photograph I have chosen. Straight away looking at this photograph the first thing I say to myself is that the main focal point is the huge tree in in the centre of the photograph. Now I am obviously stating the obvious but the way he is positioned for the shot means there are no interuptions pulling the focal point away. Also with the sun forward facing onto the tree makes the tree appear alot more bolder making it stand out alot more than it would if there was no sun shining onto it.

This is also another one of my favourite photographs from Adam's collection. Again the main focal point is placed directly in the middle of the photograph. There is a small amount of foliage surrounding the main focal point but not enough to distract the viewers eye from the cactus. This is mostly because of how the object covers alot of the photograph from top to bottom. A great value of colour is also expressed in this shot. With the sky having a wide range of colours the black and white in the photograph shows this off beautifully with the top being practically black gradually getting brighter as it moves down the photograph.

This photograph is slightly different to the other two photograph I have chosen but uses the same idea. The main focal point is placed right in the middle of the photograph almost splitting the image into two so a small amount of symmetry is also used here. What also catches the viewers eye here is how as you look deeper into the photograph it gradually gets darker.

Where as this photograph does have the main focal point centered in the photograph but I feel that he has taken this photograph purely due to the shape of the tree as it is quite peculiar. With there being more white than black in the photograph this suggests that the surrounding light was quite bright which is great for the photograph as it makes the main focal point stand out a lot more. Also with the main focal point being bright white it creates a strong opposing black colour from the shadow of the tree.



These two photographs are a different take to the other photographs I have taken. These concentrate more closer to the subject and there is more than one subject in the photograph. With both of these styles put together he creates a pattern effect from the branches on the trees in the top photograph and the tree barks left to right on the second photograph. The top photograph is a little different to the second because brightness is more emphasized due to the snow on the branches making it more white than black where as the bottom photograph has more black than white due to the background being in focus with a deep depth of field.

This photograph has the same sort of style as the first photographs I have chosen except there is more white than black in the picture due to the amount of snow that has covered the tree and surrounding areas. This in my opinion creates a completely different feel to the shot than if it was taken without it. Shadows are also used here with the sun facing either east or west shining onto the subject so natural light would've been quite strong here. Quite a high F-Stop would've also been used as the towering cliff in the background is in focus in the photograph.

This photograph is fantastic as there is surrounding shrubery and trees which range from small bushes to towering trees that tower over the photograph from bottom to top. This is great becuse what he has done here is he has stood in a postion so that the greenery is around the sides of the photograph. This creates lines to guide the eye effect in the middle of the photograph which leads around a corner. This then leads you to look down this path whilst viewing the trees and bushes on the way.

This photograph is similar to the two patterned photographs I chose earlier in this post. This one was taken at a different height and distance than the other two. As you can see the pattern arises in the middle of the photograph with bushes covering the bottom of the trees. This creates a pattern in the middle of the photograph from left to right as the background above the tops of the trees is almost an equal distance from the edge of the photograph as the bushes at the bottom.

Something a little different of Ansel's work. This photgoraph still uses the same style as the other photographs although the subject is alot closer than the others. The angle that the flower is placed creates and equal balance of black and white across the whole of the pettel. With the background being slightly darker than normal this makes the subject stand out even more. As you can see this is a similar style to his other work because no matter how close or how far away the subject is he always manages to make the main subject in his photogtaphs the main focal point for the viewer to notice.