m I The Art of Photography Revised tcii^on 90 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 w.ai The Art of Photography time. Other Publications: DD3 THE CIVIL WAR PLANET EARTH COLLECTOR'S LIBRARY OF THE CIVIL WAR LIBRARY OF HEALTH CLASSICS OF THE OLD WEST THE EPIC OF FLIGHT THE GOOD COOK THE SEAFARERS THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COLLECTIBLES THE GREAT CITIES WORLD WAR II HOME REPAIR AND IMPROVEMENT THE WORLD'S WILD PLACES THE TIME-LIFE LIBRARY OF BOATING HUMAN BEHAVIOR THE ART OF SEWING THE OLD WEST THE EMERGENCE OF MAN THE AMERICAN WILDERNESS THE TIME-LIFE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GARDENING THIS FABULOUS CENTURY FOODS OF THE WORLD TIME-LIFE LIBRARY OF AMERICA TIME-LIFE LIBRARY OF ART GREAT AGES OF MAN LIFE SCIENCE LIBRARY THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TIME READING PROGRAM LIFE NATURE LIBRARY LIFE WORLD LIBRARY FAMILY LIBRARY; HOW THINGS WORK IN YOUR HOME THE TIME-LIFE BOOK OF THE FAMILY CAR THE TIME-LIFE FAMILY LEGAL GUIDE THE TIME-LIFE BOOK OF FAMILY FINANCE This volume is one of a series devoted to the art and technology of photography The books present pictures by outstanding photographers ot today and the past, relate the history of photography and provide practical instruction in the use of equipment and materials LIFE LIBRARY OF PHOTOGRAPHY The Art of Photography Revised Edition BY THE EDITORS OF TIME-LIFE BOOKS TIME-LIFE BOOKS. ALEXANDRIA. VIRGINIA e 1981 Time-Life Books Inc. ON THE COVER: Looking through All rights reserved. the lens of a camera and visualizing in No part olthis book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical his mind's eye a picture (also means, including information storage and reproduced on page 135), the retrieval devices or systems, without prior photographer himself — not his written permission from the publisher, except is that brief passages may be quoted for reviews equipment — the most important Revised Edition Second printing, 1983. element in the art of photography. His Printed in USA. unique vision of the world, his Published simultaneously in Canada. School and library distribution by Silver Burden experiences and memories, as much as Company, Mornstown, New Jersey 07960. his skills, are his real creative tools. With them he selects and organizes the raw materials before him, creating a For information about any Time-Life book, please write: photograph to which others can respond. Reader Information, Time-Life Books, 541 Nonh Fairbanks Court, Chicago, Illinois 60611. TIME-LIFE is a trademark of Time Incorporated U.S.A. Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Main entry under title: The Art of photography. (Life library of photography) Bibliography p. Includes index 1. Photography, Artistic. I. Time-Life Books II. Series. TR642.A76 1981 779 81-14433 ISBN 0-8094-41 72-1 AACR2 ISBN 0-8094-4170-5 (retail ed.) ISBN 0-8094-4171-3 (lib. bdg.) Contents Introduction 7 What the Camera Sees 9 Principles of Design 57 Responding to the Subject 75 Photography and Time 113 Challenging the Traditions 145 The Principles at Work EDITORIAL STAFF FOR Time-Life Books Inc THE REVISED EDITION OF is a wholly owned subsidiary of ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TIME INCORPORATED THE EDITOR Edward Brash FOUNDER: Henry R. Luce 1898-1967 Designer/Picture Editor: Sally Collins Chief Researcher Jo Thomson Editor-in-Chief: Henry Anatole Grunwald Text Editor: John Manners President: J. Richard Munro Researchers: Rhawn Anderson, Diane Brimijoin, Chairman of the Board: Ralph P. Davidson Elise Ritter Gibson, Charlotte Marine Executive Vice President: Clifford J. Grum Assistant Designer: Kenneth E Hancock Editorial Director Ralph Graves Art Assistant: Carol Pommer Group Vice President, Books: Joan D. Manley Editorial Assistant: Jane H. Cody TIME-LIFE BOOKS INC. Special Contributors: EDITOR: George Constable John Neary, Gene Thornton (text) Executive Editor: George Daniels Design: Louis Klein Director of EDITORIAL OPERATIONS Board of Editors: Dale M. Brown. Thomas A. Lewis, Design: Arnold C. Holeywell (assistant director): Martin Mann, Robert G. Mason, John Paul Porter, Anne B. Landry (art coordinator), James J, Cox Gerry Schremp, Gerald Simons, (quality control) Rosalind Stubenberg, Kit van Tulleken Research: Jane Edwin (assistant director), Director of Administration: David L. Harrison Louise D, Forstall Director of Research: Carolyn L. Sackett Copy Room: Susan Galloway Goldberg (director), Director of Photography: John Conrad Weiser Celia Beattie Production: Feliciano Madrid (director), PRESIDENT: Reginald K. Brack Jr. Gordon E, Buck, Peter Inchauteguiz Executive Vice Presidents: John Steven Maxwell, David J, Walsh CORRESPONDENTS: Vice Presidents: George Artandi, Stephen L. Bair, Elisabeth Kraemer (Bonn), Margot Hapgood. Peter G. Barnes, Nicholas Benton, John L. Canova, Dorothy Bacon, Lesley Coleman (London): Susan Beatrice T Dobie, James L. Mercer, Paul R. Stewart Jonas, Lucy T. Voulgaris (New York); Maria Vincenza Aloisi, Josephine du Brusle (Paris); Ann Natanson assistance was also provided by: LIFE LIBRARY OF PHOTOGRAPHY (Rome). Valuable T. Chubet, Miriam EDITORIAL STAFF FOR Judy Aspinall (London); Carolyn Mimi THE ORIGINAL EDITION OF Hsia, Christina Lieberman (New York); THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Murphy (Rome). EDITOR: Richard L. Williams are indebted to the following individuals Picture Editor Carole Kismaric The editors Herbert Orth. Chief, Time-Life Photo Text Editor: Jay Brennan of Time Inc.: Peter Christopoulos, Deputy Designers. Sheldon Cotler, Raymond Ripper Lab, New York City: Time-Life Photo Lab, New York City: Melvm L Assistant Designer: Herbert H Quarmby Chief. Assistant Picture Editor, Life, New York City: Staff Writers: John von Hartz, Bryce S, Walker Scott, Supervisor. Albert Schneider, Chief Researcher: Peggy Bushong Photo Equipment Technician, Mike Miller: Color Lab Researchers Sondra Albert, Frances Gardner, Equipment Ron Trimarchi, Black-and-White Kathryn Ritchell Supervisor, Carmine Ercolano. Art Assistants Patricia Byrne, Lee Wilfert Supervisor. Introduction There is no question that photography is phy is all about— creating a picture." the first time, abandons the conventional a popular hobby, a craft, a trade for That is also what this book is about: camera altogether and employs the of- many, a profession for some, a tool of sci- creativity and esthetics, not metering and fice copy machine, with magical results ence and very likely a science in itself. f-stops. The vocabulary of esthetics is (pages 166-172). The principles apply to Whether it is also an art used to be a different from the vocabulary of technol- its products as well as to pictures made question, but that argument is over. The ogy, and both take getting used to, but with ordinary cameras. To be sure, sim- use of a camera does not disqualify a one is no more mysterious than the other. ply learning the principles and seeing photographer from being taken seriously In this volume there is a good deal of ma- how they operate will not assure you a as an artist, any more than the use of a terial, both visual and verbal, that seeks place among great artists, but, by show- typewriter disqualifies a poet, playwright to explain how some of the fundamental ing you why good pictures are good, the or novelist. principles of esthetics apply to photogra- information will free you to make better Neither does the camera or typewriter, phy. The principles are not confining but pictures of your own. As Carl Mydans however expensive, make the artist; they liberating; they allow for many individual also put it, "one is not really a photog- are conveniences. Sophisticated equip- approaches to art, from the dutifully con- rapher until preoccupation with learning ment, as Carl Mydans once said, simply ventional to the convention-defying. has been outgrown and the camera in his "frees us from the tyranny of technique One unusual picturemaking technique, hands is an extension of himself. There is and enables us to turn to what photogra- which appears in this revised edition for where creativity begins." What the Camera Sees D The Making of a Fine Photograph 12 The Visual Elements: Shape 22 Revealing Texture 24 Portraying Form 27 Recording Color 28 The Elements on Display: Shape 30 Strong Patterns 34 Sensual Textures 36 Vivid Forms 38 Arresting Colors 42 The Visual Elements in Combination 48 RALPH WEISS Oyster Mushrooms, 1969 What the Camera Sees The Making of a Fine Photograph Scenario 1: A businessman is half a continent from home, walking through a ANSEL ADAMS I have often thought that if city with in his hand. His appointments for the day are over. Rather a camera photography were difficult in the true sense of the term — that than sit in his hotel room and read until dinnertime, he has decided to devote meaning the creation of a simple photograph would entail as much time and effort the rest of the afternoon to his new hobby — photography. On this crisp af- as the production of a good watercolor or etching — there would be a vast improvement in total ternoon, the city is even more photogenic than he had expected. Sunlight is output. The sheer ease with which we can sparking off cars and buildings, and a gentle wind is riffling flags and coats. produce a superficial image often leads to creative disaster. We must remember that a Strolling toward the heart of the business district, he keeps his eyes alert photograph can hold just as much as we for promising subjects. Many sights tempt him: a cluster of street signs put into it, and no one has ever approached the full possibilities of the medium. mounted on a single pole; a newspaper vendor with narrowed, cynical eyes; a moving van debouching desks and chairs; a helicopter clattering over the roofs of the city. But each of these subjects seems too limited. His attention is arrested by one huge new office building. Gleaming and stark, it looks more like a machine than a place where human beings spend their days.