HDR portrait
Has it really all been done before?
Thursday, August 19, 2010
On one hand you could say that there is nothing new under the sun, and that it all has been done before. But is that really true? My guess, is that it all depends on your perspective. It’s kind of like looking at the glass half full or half empty.
During my college years I was a die hard landscape shooter. It was the love of the outdoors that originally drew me into photography in the first place and you could say that at the time my biggest influence was the father of landscape photography, Ansel Adams. As I went out into the field to create images, my goal was to pull off a grand black and white landscape similar to my mentor. At the time many of my fellow students and critics would say, “Ansel has already done that, so why even bother”.
Fortunately that type of reasoning never detoured me and I would bet everything I own on the fact that those critics are not making a living in photographer today. Yes, in a way everything to some degree has been done before, but not by me, or not by you. I will repeat myself again and again, a true artist is keenly aware of what has been done in the past, but always builds on the foundation that they are unique and that there is no one on the planet just like them. So yes, Ansel Adams photographed the Half Dome in Yosemite, but you may not have. And who isn’t to say that with your vision and uniqueness, you couldn’t pull off an images that stands as an even greater master piece than Ansel Adams. Ansel wasn’t the first to photograph Half Dome, and as long as there is a Half Dome, he will not be the last.
The reason why the critics say that it has all been done before, is because they don’t have the fortitude and vision to explore new territory and are not willing to place their neck on the chopping block and create. Forge ahead with no inhibitions. Take what has been done before and work with your uniqueness and make it your own.
The ring light I am using is distributed by Personal Touch and if you email Brain Crussell at order@ptps.com and use the promotional code “joelgrimes10” you can get a %10 discount.
I am still exploring and trying new lighting techniques. Here I have used one continuous source ring light and captured this portrait using three exposures, creating an HDR final image. (see info below) You can see that his white jacket has retained detail that might otherwise be lost in a one capture image. I some ways this approach gives a 3D feeling of depth.
