Country lane, Wiltshire, December 2007For Christmas I received a copy of the book "Ansel Adams 400 Photographs". One thing that struck me about many of the photographs was the almost full tonal range of most if not all of the images and particularly the depth of black.
I was reminded of this when considering the first portfolio in LensWork 74 (Barry Wolf "Just Like Me"). In his images, Wolf has presented all in very dark tones, much of the image disappearing to "pure" black with only the key features in lighter tones.
In both cases, with very different subject matter, I was struck by the level of expression that was able to be achieved by allowing areas to disappear into the shadows in this way. It seems to help draw the critical parts of the images forward. Instead of highlighting the subject, the non-subject is low-lighted.
It's something I've always been wary of with my work but I might try some ideas along these lines to see what it brings, all part of the learning process.
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