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© Lloyd Godman 

 

However when we take photographs there is no interactive brain to react to the projected image - the world is simply reduced to 2 dimensions, and a corresponding series of tones and colours. The recording medium gives large and dangerous objects no more importance than the leaves on the tree or the street curb, - consequently cars etc. become much more indistinguishable among the pattern of light and dark than our real life experience. In fact when we look at the resulting image we may find the areas of most visual importance are the largest areas of highlight on the road and the cars etc. are somewhat obscure.

 

This is why so many people are often disappointed with their photographs. The image does not match their memory of the experience which has certain elements heightened by the brain. While a painter is able to express themselves with paint on the canvas from their emotional experience of a place, person or event, in photography we have to visualize how the subject can be isolated in a graphic manner within the frame of the camera from the visual disorder around us.

So, when taking photographs, the more effectively we can visually isolate the important objects in the scene we are photographing and visualize how they will actually record in the photograph the more graphically successful our images will be.

 

 

For the Body Symbols project I used oblique lighting angles to create an abstraction when the shadows on the body merged with the black background.

 

We might have to alter the lighting, or wait for a cloud or come back at a different time of day to capture the image we are after.

 

View point

Perspective

Focus

 

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