Photographic observation - photography and digital art
Traditional photography was a fairly limited means of faithfully recording a scene where the lighting, colour, tones, lines and shapes made the image. Digital tools and techniques raised the bar and now offer us an unlimited potential for creative expression because straight photographs taken with a camera can end up looking like something completely different. For a creative landscape photographer this gives opens up new creative possibilities where photography merges with art.
Becoming aware of the quality of light as it changes thoughout the seasons increases the creative potential of any artist. Knowing that the sun sets on a very different part of the horizon during the summer solstice than it does at the winter solstice means we know at what times of the year our favourite locations are in their prime.
Landscape photography demands the patience of a saint. When the light is far from perfect it is all too easy to become disheartened and stop looking at the light. I would often feel that way back when I used colour slide film but with digital I find that I can work away in any light and still manage to produce something interesting.
A good image begins in the mind because there is something inside that makes you want to take a photograph. Sometimes you look at a place and right away you can see what your finished image will look like but most of the time life is not that simple. This is where you need to consider the unlimited ways in which a scene can be interpreted and later manipulated in an image editor.
Mini projects such as photographing a garden tree each month of the year helps bring discipline and order to your photography. Observing how light affects the atmosphere and creates moods at various times of the day throughout the year is done constantly by wildlife, landscape and nature photographers.
By collecting the photographs of the garden tree into an album we start a process that brings discipline and clarity to our work. Grouping related images together into a portfilio makes it simpler for ourselves and our audience to see the quality of our work and any trends that are emerging in our style. We begin to notice patterns and what types of scenes we are attracted to. This is important because it is those trends that will influence the type of images we will be making in the future.
For example tools like Photoshop, Artrage and Painter can produce fantastic landscape art that looks superb on an A3 inkjet print. Photography is merging with the digital equivalents of more traditional art forms like oil, pastel and watercolour. Inkjet art is now popular and is accepted for viewing and sale in some of the more progressive art galleries.
For photographers there are now no boundaries at all to our creative experimentation and we can produce any kind of images we want if we have the courage to learn with an open mind and break with conventions. Opening the mind is always the hardest part however.
If like me you were fascinated by light as a child then you already have a creative vision but maybe just stopped using it. You can do that by looking at the world through fresh eyes and applying a bit of discipline in how you approach your photography.
Looking at art books and studying paintings can teach photographers a lot about abstract colour, form and composition. Pictures that stand out usually strike you through the use of balanced composition enhanced with interesting contrasts created using light and colour. Photographs can more powerful than paintings because they are less abstract. The answer has to be yes.
The artist has usually made effective use of contrast and tone and the image can be broken visually into blocks that are interrelated, with each block complimenting the others.
Being Photographers we don't have the artistic licence to move our subjects around on our canvas changing the composition as we please. So what can we do about it?
We need to exploit our human and technical limitations.
We can learn about light and recognize how it transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.
If you have ever had the feeling that you see things in a different way to everyone else then you have a head start already and you can develop what you see into photography and digital art that will please many people.
We all have powers of photographic observation and can use them if we want to. It all depends on how much we want to personally express ourselves.
