5. Main Function of Art Albert Bierstadt's Among the Sierra Nevada, California symbols of hearth and abundance http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bierstadt.html#images
Even one of the masters in photography, Ansel Adams, didn’t expect to get more than 12 great photographs each year. How can anyone expect more? Take a look at your last year in photos – do you really see 12 photos that stand out from the rest?
Photography took over what previously had been one of the main functions of art – the recording of factual visual information. Immense in scale to create the effect of awe and grandor. Beirstadt freely altered details of landscape to create the this effect. "Bierstadt's paintings began to attract adverse criticism in the mid-1860s.
There had always been drawings portraying unfamiliar places, but they were an artist’s personal vision. The Pacific Railway Act of 1862 (12 Statutes at Large, 489)[1], as enacted by the United States Congress, was approved and signed into law by the President, Abraham Lincoln, on July 1, 1862. Officially entitled "AN ACT to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes," In the 1860’s the first transcontiental railroad was the greatest most daring engineering effort the country had yet seen. From Omaha to Scaramento the railroad crossed the most difficult terrian, which was considered “ruinous space” by a Boston paper. The road established a transcontinental mechanized transportation network that revolutionized the population and economy of the American West . Thomas Moran who was an established painter had not yet crossed the Miss River and arranged a government-sponsored survey of Yellowstone. Promote the newly completed transcontinental railroad.
Photography was a critical marketing tool for financing with transcontinental railroad bonds – both the CPRR and UPRR hired photographers to document the progress of construction. The camera equipment of the day was so large and heavy that a photo wagon was needed. Wet glass plate collodion negatives had to be produced in the field, required long exposures, and albumen paper required 20 minutes in sunlight to make photo prints. Thomas Moran worked with William Henry Jackson, the expedition photographer. Jackson was commissioned by the UPR to document the scenery along their route for promotional purposes. Jackson captured the first photographs of legendary landmarks of he West.
As a result of his efforts Jackson came back with photographic evidence of western landscapes that had previously seemed a rumor.
William Henry Jackson’s photographs of Yellowstone helped convince Congress to set the area aside as a national park
The first thing you see is the face of Half Dome, shining in the late afternoon sun. The low illumination highlights every detail. Across the valley to your left is the shaded silhouette of Washington Column. Between the two shapes, shining white in the evening sky, is the nearly full moon. Ansel Adams found the scene at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley, in 1963, and reached for his ever ready Hasselblad. Parking his car, he took camera and tripod and walked into the meadow, looking for the exact spot where the three elements would come together and the composition would be perfect. Orange filter. Modest telephoto. Careful metering. The photograph he took that day became a classic --certainly one of the best loved and most famous black-and-white pictures ever made. Today it bears the title “Moon And Half Dome” and is available in books and posters. And for the thousands who visit Yosemite National Park with a camera every year, there is always the hope that they can duplicate the picture of the moon and the mountain. “The shot that Ansel Adams made!” In his book, Examples; The Making of Forty Photographs, Adams tells how he made the shot. If you want to try for the same scene, there are three elements that must come together for you to be successful. They are: the light, the moon, and the shadow. The light shining on the face of Half Dome is the easiest of the three; it is present most days in Yosemite the year round. The face of Half Dome, however, looks nearly north, so the crisp, detailed illumination of the Adams shot occurs only when the afternoon sun has come around from behind Glacier Point and is shining up the length of the Valley. Your rule of thumb should be: don’t take pictures of Half Dome before 3:00 or 4:00 pm! Close examination shows that the moon in the famous scene is less than full; it’s not a perfect circle. The sunshine on the cliffs confirms the fact; the full moon, which is 180 degrees across the sky from the sun, rises as the sun sets. Ansel’s moon is ten or twenty degrees above the horizon; it had risen an hour or two before sunset. If you try to duplicate the scene with a full moon, the mountain will be dark by the time the moon is high enough. But the nearly-full moon does not always appear at that exact spot. Adams reports that he was on his way to the Ahwahnee Hotel to rehearse for the famous Bracebridge Dinner when he noticed the moon and the sun shining on Half Dome. He made his famous photograph in December!
Geometric shapes – By placing subject at points of geometric shape helps balance the composition. (triangle so three objects in a frame positioned with one to each side and one more in the central) Diagonal Lines – draw the eye into the main focal point (path, line of trees, a fence, river) Rule of Thirds – can create dramatic and interesting shots. Gives balance Framing- Adding points of interest to a foreground is an important technique for adding interest to landscape shots
The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. Studies have shown that when viewing images that people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the center of the shot - using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it.
Early morning, late evening deepest tones. Try taking dozens of photos. As the sun sinks lower in the sky, larger particles closer to the earth's surface block shorter light wavelengths and scatter longer ones - hence the beautiful yellow and red light at sunrise and sunset! Sunrise sunset are a dime a dozen. Get a reaction from someone watching the sunset. Have them silhouetted. It’s better to underexpose. The colors will be much more vibrant and saturated than a photo overexposed. When light is barely visible
When doing night photography, realize that the stars and moon move very quickly. Depending in your lens length, 15 seconds can begin to blur celestial objects.
If light is present, limit each exposure to 30 sec.
One of the most challenging problems in photography is getting a photo in a dimly lit stadiums. Increase ISO Open Aperture Fast lens
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