The Art of photography

The

PrinciplesatWork

InPursuitof

Excellence

Overthealtarofa

churchinVenicehangsaRenaissancepaintingthatis

clearlyamasterpiece.For 100 lire(lessthanthepriceofa

packageofciga-

rettes),atouristcouldputonearphonesandlistenastherecorded

voiceofan

artcriticexplainingthesignificanceoftheworkannounced,"Thisisthegreat-

est

paintingintheworld."Sucharecklessstatementmighthaveledthe

knowledgeabletouristtoaskforhis 100

lireback.Andyet,despitethefact

thatworksofartcannotberankedonanyabsolute

anduniversallyaccept-

ablescale,likediamondsoreggs,judgmentsofartisticmeritarecontinu-

allybeingmade.

Thephotographer,wheneverhelooksthroughhisviewfinderorexamines

hisnegativesinthedarkroom,mustchooseone

picture

out

ofallthepossibili-

ties;hemustbeabletodecidewhichexposuresarebetterthanothers—and

understand,intuitivelyorlogically,why.Ifhecannotemployprinciplesofpho-

tographytorecognizeexcellence,hecannevermakeagoodphotograph

—

except

by

luck.

Thisbookhasapproachedthedifficultquestionofgaugingsuccessinpho-

tographybyexploringtheprincipaloptionsinvolvedincreatingapicture.Ev-

eryobjecttobephotographedcanbeanalyzedforanumberofcharacteris-

tics.Itmayexhibitoneormoreofthebasiccomponentsofvision—suchas

shape,texture,formandcolor—andthecomponentscanbearranged

within

thepictureframetogeneratevisualinteractionsthatsuggestsuchqualitiesas

balance,rhythm,proportion,dominanceandsubordination.Inthehumorous

photographofaParisiancafedancerontheprecedingpage,forexample,

AndreKerteszemployedthecontrastsbetweendarkandlighttomakean

abstractdesignatthesametimethattheyfocusattentiononthedancerand

thepiecesofsculpturethatflankher.Thewittyparallelsbetweenthedancer's

poseandthesculpturewerealsodeliberatelysetuptocreateasenseoffun,

satirizing
theexaggeratedshapesandgesturesofthestatues,forarrange-

ments

ofvisualelementscanbe(andgenerallyare)manipulatedtoshowa

certainresponseonthepartofthephotographer—thatis,hisinterpretationof

themeaningofthesubject.

Thephotographer

also

may

indicatehisintentthroughhisrepresentationof

asenseof

time—acleverlyseizedinstantofaction,forexample,orarandomly

chosenmoment—orhemayachievehispurposebyhisbasicapproachto

photography,choosingeithertheorthodoxideaofphotographs

as

small,flat

objectsthatdepictreality
by

recordinglight

on

film,

orsomenewerscheme

such
asscratchingonrawfilm,aprocessthatdoesnotdependonlightand

disregardsreality.

All

theseconsiderationsareanalogoustoamapofphotographicpossibli-

ties.Thephotographerwhoisawareoftheregionsdescribed
by

thismapis

muchmorelikely

toreachhisgoalofexcellencethantheonewhoproceeds