Elements of Good Photography - Contrast
Posted: Saturday, October 23, 2010
by Autumn Lockwood
YourPictureFrames.com
If you want to be a good photographer, there are some basic tips that you can learn to help you get better pictures. If you can understand about the technical elements of a good picture and how they interact with each other, you can take a great photo no matter what type of equipment you have. These elements are composition,depth of field, color balance, and contrast. Learn about what contrast is and how to use it skillfully and you will be pleased at the quality of the photos that you can shoot.
Contrast is the range of difference between different tones in a photograph. In black and white photographs, contrast defines the grayscale, and is the difference between the darkest tones and the lightest tones in the picture. When referring to color photography, contrast indicates how sharply the colors stand out from each other.
Controlling Contrast
If you want to control the contrast in your photograph there are several ways you can do it. Most simply, you can import your photographs into any digital photo-editing suite, find the contrast button, and drag the slider around until you get the desired result. When you're in the darkroom, you can use filters on the enlarger and increase the level of contrast in the picture (remember the higher the filter number the higher the contrast). The ability to control contrast in the camera can be challanging as it depends on available light, the lens filters, and exposure time. It's usually a good idea to shoot with a little caution and opt for less contrast than more since you can always increase the contrast later without losing quality.
A Good Quality of Contrast
While opinions differ on how much contrast is "just right," a good general rule of thumb is that your tones should run the gamut from very dark to very bright, with every level in between represented in the photograph. This is best understood in black and white photographs, as you would want a pure white, a pure black, and every shade of grey possible represented in every photograph. You can tell if you have achieved good contrast when your subjects look clearly defined and your colors "pop".
Fine-Tuning
One of the classic tricks in the photographer's toolbox is dodging and burning photographs. This is a method for adjusting the contrast of individual parts of an image, as opposed to the entire thing. This helps in modifying the composition (like darkening the background) and highlighting the subject (like lightening their eyes) or improving the overall appearance of the image. One trick that photographers can do in the darkroom is to create a complex stencil that is placed on top of the blank photo paper. These stencils block off certain parts of the photograph and allows them to be exposed for different amounts of time than others, which gives the photographer more control over the contrast of the whole image. Technology has enabled us to use the photo editing suites to dodge or burn areas of interest with a mouse pointer.
Areas of a photograph that are "dodged" will be exposed to light for shorter periods of time, or in the case of digital editing will be lightened and lose contrast. Places in your picture that are "burned" will have higher contrast and the grain will be darker.
Learning to control the contrast in your photos can be a tricky skill, but practice at burning and dodging will soon make it second nature. Good contrast contributes to the narrative of your photograph and helps to make the important things stand out while the less important things fade away. When you are taking your photos, try to imagine before you take your shot what your contrast options will be, and be creative when photo editing in the darkroom or on the computer. As with all other good things in life, practice makes perfect!
Autumn Lockwood is a writer for Your Picture Frames. Shop online and see our selection of 4x6 picture frames in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Visit our website to see our quality 4x6 picture frames now or call 1-800-780-0699.
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