1. 3,000 Word Essay: CONTRASTS
‘Contrasts’ is an interesting topic to study for photography. Unlike Multiple Imagery or
FashionPhotography, „Contrasts’ is not a specific genre or technique associated with
photography; it is “the state of being strikingly different from something else, typically
something in juxtaposition or close association” or, in terms of photography, it is “the
relative difference between light and dark areas of a print or negative.”1 A theme of
Contrasts in photography can be explored in a variety of means; it is all down to the
imagination and creativity of the photographer and being able to justify an idea or
development. The theme of Contrasts can also come from the simple ideas of
„opposites‟ or „differences‟ most children are exposed to in primary education –the
two different sides to something and juxtaposing them, they can be as simple as
short and tall, fat and thin, boy and girl. The theme of „Contrasts’is not just an
important topic in photography, but in society too. Without contrasts in our everyday
day-to-day life, everything, or everyone, would be the same – life would be much
more boring and unoriginal without them. For example, in terms of colour, if there
was no contrast in the world, everything would look the same colour and nobody
would be able to see anything, as the colours would just blur together. In terms of
people, everyone will be the same – it will be like everyone is mass-produced, just
like robots – either we‟ll be all male or all female; we‟ll look identical in terms of
weight, height, shape etc. and nobody will be able to express emotions because
there would be no difference between happy or sad. Without contrasts, there is no
diversification, and diversification is essential for us in this day-and-age, otherwise
we wouldn‟t know how to interact properly with people and we wouldn‟t learn about
the world we live in and the different cultures that surround us.
Whilst exploring the topic/theme of Contrasts, from a photographic point of view, this
can take on a variety of forms. For example, with fashion photography, the idea of
contrasts might be looked at by researching the very origins of fashion photography
in up-market fashion magazines and
brands such as Vogue, Chanel and Dior,
where all images would have been
processed in black and white – the most
basic contrast widely used within
photography. Or alternatively, the physical
content could be contrasted, such as male
and female fashion, someone wearing a
purple dress with bold yellow makeup,
vintage fashion and modern fashion etc. With fashion photography in mind, contrasts
are important to make the actual image more vibrant, or more eye-catching, often
encoding specific messages or meanings, to encourage purchases of that particular
fashion, product or brand.
Landscape photography is also often very reliant on the theme of contrasts, whether
the images are in black or white or in full colour. Black and white, a very common
contrast technique, will be used more for architectural work, or dramatic scenery to
make the landscape have a certain mood or tone. More modern landscape
photographers may alternatively use a technique known as HDR (high-dynamic
range) photography. HDR photography is used to “capture a greater dynamic
range thebetween lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard
digital imaging methods or photographic methods.”2 Although not technically a
method of enhancing the contrast within an image, it does increase the
1http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/contrast
2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_imaging

2. contrastbetween the dark and light areas, like stated above, which would be
important to any photographer, let alone landscape photographers as it adds mood
and tone to any photo, making it much more appealing and eye-catching, thus
helping to sell more of that particular image whether it be used as part of an
advertising campaign, within a book, or just a simple print or canvas. It becomes
more important to study the art of HDR photography as more and more people in
society get the technique so badly wrong, that it no longer looks professional. At one
point, this stunning technique was sought out to be just a „fad‟ amongst
photographers as it was often over-used, creating „grungy‟ effects, which is not the
purpose at all of this technique.3
As previously stated, there is no real genre as „Contrast Photography’, and so the
history of this topic comes from individual styles of photography which visually
undertake Contrasts, such as Black and White Photography. Black and White
Photography is one of the most classic examples of Contrast in imagery, as of
course, at the very start of the history of photography in general, there was no
developing in colour, and everything was shot and printed in black and white.
Technically, „Black and White Photography’ is referred to as monochrome
photography – where the camera captures a single hue – normally greys – rather
than a whole colour spectrum, whilst the development of Full-Colour Photography
only really came into perspective in the middle 20th century. The idea of photography
commenced in 1790 when Thomas Wedgwood invented and developed the camera
and the idea of creating permanent images. Since this very early start in the world of
photography, there have been lists of photographers who have made an impact on
the way we operate as a society and the media as we see it today. Toni Frissell was
a female American photographer, famous for her work on
fashion photography and World War II portraits – all of which
were developed in black and white. She lived from 1907 to
1988 in New York, working for big name clients such as
Vogue in its earlier days. She later also photographed for
Harper‟s Bazaar, but most notably are her fashion photos of
evening gowns, as she unusually shot in outside locations,
emphasizing the active lifestyle of women. Although
obviously not out of choice, the use of black and white
imagery actually made Toni‟s work all the more dramatic,
and especially in her War works, it made the tone all the
more serious. Also as a War photographer, Toni was left, not
out of choice, to pose these much like her works with
fashion, as at the very start of photography and the development of the camera,
exposure times were typically a lot longer than how we know them now, and so this
made „action‟ or „movement‟ pictures impossible.
However, with the development of technology in our society, it wasn‟t long before fullcolour cameras were developed. With the first colour-cameras, the colours captured
weren‟t all that true to life, and so it was often that
photographers chose to stick with Black and White
Photography as the images looked all the more
professional than those that were off-colour. Colour
photography was first attempted in the 1840‟s where
inventors began looking for a „chameleon-like
substance‟, which would assume the colour of the light
falling upon it. However, it wasn‟t considered a good3http://www.ianplant.com/blog/2012/09/12/hdr-images-the-importance-of-preserving-
relative-luminosity-tones/

3. quality success until the mid-20th century, where the use of colour-capable cameras
became more and more common with the development of new photographic styles
and techniques, such as HDR photography. Although first experimented with in the
1850‟s, HDR photography didn‟t become desirable until 1980, and this was due to
the recent improvement of computer technology, which is now the main method of
creating this technique. In 1850, Gustave Le Gray, who was considered to be the
most important French Photographer of the 19th century, first made HDR
Photography possible. The luminance of the photographing world was always too
extreme to be able to cope with the rendering of exposures needed to produce the
HDR effect, so Le Gray used one negative for the sky of a seascape he was working
on, and another with a long exposure for the sea, and combined them both into one
positive. Between the mid-20th century and 1980, the technique was improved once
the technology was developed by applying the concept of tone mapping to cameras,
so that it was possible for a Photographer to capture different exposures at once and
combine them into one image.
Two current photographers you might place under
the category of working with „Contrasts’ are Mary
Ellen Mark and Mark Laita. Mary Ellen Mark is an
American photographer best known for her
portraiture, photojournalism and advertising work.
Mark focuses mostly on children, exploring
themes such as homelessness, addiction,
prostitution etc. The photograph on the right
shows a child, Amanda, and her cousin Amy.
Although the photograph typically shows the visual contrast of black and white in the
image‟s toning, the picture clearly shows the contrast between adult life and
childhood in this modern society we live in. The dramatic themes of this photograph
force the viewers to consider the humanity of our modern society and how the media
is having strong implications on the youngest generations. The girl in the foreground
is dressed in skimpy clothes, smoking and is positioned in a manner that makes her
appear to be superior to the girl in the background, who is noticeably larger, fully
clothed and appears to be quite vulnerable. This immoral contrast shows just how
strong of an impact modern media can have on younger children, as they grow up
believing that acting like „adults‟ or bullies, will make them the stronger, better people.
Although initially quite disturbing, the real-life contrasts of society that Mary Ellen
Mark presents to us are truthful and tell a shocking story of what direction our society
Is heading in contrast to how our ancestors would have grown up. Mary Ellen Mark
also presents this idea in various other photographs of hers, including this image of
two circus performers on the left. Again, aside from
her use of visual contrast in the form of a black and
white image, which I feel is to add drama and emotion
to the tone of the photo, the encoded messages also
hold strong contrasts, which viewers should also
listen to. The overall contrast here is that of the
distinct differences between the animal and human
kingdoms. However, what is particularly shocking
about this photo of Mary‟s is that she is also highlighting the similarities here, and
therefore shows how their should be contrast between these two different kingdoms
in our society, but there isn‟t. The two people pictured in the photo are dwarves, and
the use of costume and setting of the tents within the background would suggest that
they are being used as circus performers.This idea should in fact shock viewers into
seeing that these two human beings are being treated like animals just because they
are physically different from what is deemed the „norm‟ in our society today. Mary
Ellen Mark highlights this issue by showing that they shouldbe treated like normal

4. human beings by having one of them holding a puppy in the cradling position,
insinuating the idea that they should be free to have children too, but instead they are
given the chore of looking after animals and performing instead.4
Another interesting modern development into the world of
„Contrast’ photographers comes with the combination of current
art and design techniques, such as in the form of photographer
Danielle Tunstall. Danielle is a graphic design and horror
photographer from the UK. She likes to incorporate the graphicdesign part of her life with her photography work, making good
use of her excellent and eye-catching
Photoshop skills. With the increasing use
of modern technology, we now have the advantage of being
able to apply unique and creative elements to photography, in
comparison to the limitations they had decades ago. Danielle
evokes the idea of „Contrast’ in her work by visually
implementing the idea of gore and horror within the most
innocent of all of today‟s generations – young children and
babies. Without the modernization of technology and
photography, this wouldn‟t be made possible as Danielle uses
a combination of dramatic makeup and costume technique
and layers and overtones in Photoshop. This photograph on
the right shows contrast through the important use of props and makeup, like stated
before. The symbolic use of flowers and brighter colours of blue and pink suggest
purity and beauty, whilst accompanying skull-makeup and darkened levels and
curves suggest to the viewers that the model has a darker, twisted side. This is an
effective technique to employ as it forces the viewer into becoming confused on how
to express emotions over the photo, as the imaging creates a mixed-up tone of
feelings and expressions due to the visual contrasts. 5
I feel I have so far worked quite well under the theme of „Contrasts’ as I have
explored it both visually and in a much more complex manner where I have
attempted to encode the ideas mentally to be decoded and
interpreted in various ways by different viewers. It has also
been important for me to include as many techniques as
possible to vary the standards set by my portfolio, and to
give it a creative and unique edge. This photo of mine on the
left was based around the contrast of hot and cold, or some
people might interpret it as solid and liquids. I wanted to
create something that wasn‟t completely visual, I wanted viewers to have to really
look at it to understand the meaning of Contrasts behind it. Whilst the ice, which
would usually melt quite quickly, is completely solid in the hand, I wanted to use the
liquify tool in Photoshop to give the hand the appearance of melting liquid, and thus
showing the Contrast. Personally, I am quite pleased with this concept as it is quite
different to any examples of Contrast Photography I may have looked at during my
research stages, and I feel it has the potential to inspire other shoots in the future on
a much bigger scale. In my portfolio I really wanted to bring a unique and modern
take to the theme of Contrasts to my work, and I have so far mostly done this through
Photoshop and various different editing techniques. Whilst the majority of Contrast
4http://www.maryellenmark.com/
5http://www.behance.net/danielletunstall

5. Photography’s history comes from the very basics of Photography, exploring the
development of camera exposure modes and the differences in colour, I wanted to
use the more extreme contrasts we see in our every-day lives in this modern society.
Danielle Tunstall remained one of my biggest inspirations during a
lot of my personal shoots, including both the photos on the left,
and on the right. The photograph on the right was inspired by the
idea of new and old photography, which I also learnt a lot about in
my research. The idea was to photograph my model – a
stereotypical budding photographer – with a modern, advanced
camera, and alter the final images to have a vintage appearance
to them, by, with this image in particular, creating a Polaroid collage. For me,
personally this technique looks really effective and stands out completely from
anything I have ever completed for A-Level Photography.
Whilst I think that the traditional contrast idea of black and white photography will
gradually fizzle out as the future progresses, considering the history of HDR
photography for example, I believe that cameras and other technology will begin to
be produced in the future where the curves and levels of an image enhance
automatically when an image is taken, rather then having to be done in Photoshop,
so that the colours are naturally produced with a higher contrast. Also, aside from the
traditions of the visuals associated with photography, with the diversification of the
media and our society, I feel like ideas such as poverty/wealth, children/adults etc.
will become more popular with the photographers of the future. Considering our
current society and means of civilization, our lives are only set to change dramatically
in the next 50 – 100 years, with the idea of political
and environmental issues such as the MiddleEastern wars, terrorism and climate change all likely
to dominate the news, and essentially, our everyday
lives. Photographers of the future are then only likely
to use such issues as their muse, and I believe
Contrast will begin to develop when we discover
what we used to have, and what we will have in the
future.
Despite the major changes in the themes of Contrast photography throughout
the development of the art, Contrasts will forevermore stay an important part in
the imaging world, as without them, we would see no diversification, and it is
important to us in the future so that we can see how our world and society is
changing and developing. Photography will indefinitely develop and diversify in
the future, but it is also particularly essential for us to fully compre hend and
practice the theme of Contrasts now, in able for us to better understand the
world around us. The idea of Contrast Photography additionally allows us as
artists to develop our creativity and imagination, looking at new concepts that
revolve around the everyday differences we see all around us, and in ourselves
as well.
Bibliography of all sources used:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/contrast
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_imaging
http://www.ianplant.com/blog/2012/09/12/hdr-images-theimportance-of-preserving-relative-luminosity-tones/
http://www.maryellenmark.com/
http://www.behance.net/danielletunstall

6. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100227135715AAwy
wOP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrast_(vision)
http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/examples-of-beautiful-contrastin-photography
http://www.contrastphotographyuk.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wedgwood_(photographer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Frissell
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/gustave-le-grey-exhibition/
http://www.marklaita.com/
http://danielletunstall.tumblr.com/
http://www.behance.net/danielletunstall
http://laurenbarretta2photography.blogspot.co.uk/