April Challenge DISCUSSION - Chiaroscuro

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I'm feeling similarly challenged this month, and having seen tomtommacute's entry the bar has been set pretty damn high already!

A few thoughts however....

The clue's in the name: chiaro = bright, scuro = dark. So in a way all you need is areas of bright, and areas of dark. It is in a way a study in black and white photography, because its concern is light and shadow, but it can certainly work in colour too. And the bright/dark thing isn't exclusive, it can very much be about the subtle changes in shadow values as light skirts a curved subject, for instance, in which case a lot of the skill is in correctly exposing the subject matter so that detail is recorded in the right areas of the image. But it's probably correct to say you should aim to have strong dark and strong light areas in the photo.

I don't think it's too tightly defined, to be honest, but as has been suggested, low key, directional lighting is a good way to achieve it, which I guess can include artificial light sources as well as directional natural light. Probably best to think in terms of available light, or setting up directional lighting, rather than using flash.

Having said all that, I don't have a single clue what I'm going to enter myself...
 
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The first entry will take some beating, terrific
 
this month has quite a bit of potential to photocheat! :)

Having said that its summit I don't like to do, cropping is about the only thing I ever do (and maybe turning it to B&W occasionally), makes me be much more careful when taking my pics.

Just to be clear not having a go at anyone with this comment, I just personally like to see a well taken photo without any photocheat software being used.
 
Hue Jorgan said:
this month has quite a bit of potential to photocheat! :)

Having said that its summit I don't like to do, cropping is about the only thing I ever do (and maybe turning it to B&W occasionally), makes me be much more careful when taking my pics.

Just to be clear not having a go at anyone with this comment, I just personally like to see a well taken photo without any photocheat software being used.
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Aye, it's going to be a very PP heavy month alright.

I like these themes as it's an excuse to learn a new technique, so I'm going to try and do it properly - at first at least. ;)
 
Great challenge this month. I'm hoping that this month will be my first film entry...unless it goes horribly wrong!
 
Hue Jorgan said:
this month has quite a bit of potential to photocheat! :)

Having said that its summit I don't like to do, cropping is about the only thing I ever do (and maybe turning it to B&W occasionally), makes me be much more careful when taking my pics.

Just to be clear not having a go at anyone with this comment, I just personally like to see a well taken photo without any photocheat software being used.
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I agree with your comments. I do think the art of photography is different from the art of taking a photograph and then altering it on a computer. They are two different skills. I am older though and to me the more advanced you got as a photographer meant you knew how your end result was going to look before you took the picture ie you'd judge the light and know what filters to use, you'd learn all your settings ie when to over expose the film and when to under expose etc etc. Now you can take a picture and then alter it to suit afterwards. Nothing wrong with this at all, but it isn't actually photography imho.

The big photo competitions seem to specify how much altering of an image is allowed.

As an aside I've just been through six photography books and not one of them has chiaroscuro mentioned in the index or glossary. More research needed. Low-key photography comes up a bit though, is this the same anybody?
 
Well mine's in. For the Dr Who aficionados amongst you, I nearly called it "Blink".
 
peachbum said:
182?





I couldn't find the technical info on Flikr. Did you just use a flash?
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What's 182?

If you go to Flickr, immediately above the photo there's a button saying "Actions". If you pull down the menu from this, you will see an option saying "View Exif info" - choose this.

No flash. I've had a happy hour or two crawling round the living room floor with a spot light ...
 
janiep said:
What's 182?

If you go to Flickr, immediately above the photo there's a button saying "Actions". If you pull down the menu from this, you will see an option saying "View Exif info" - choose this.

No flash. I've had a happy hour or two crawling round the living room floor with a spot light ...
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Blink 182 is a band. I'm not a Dr Who fan really.

I shall try actions - thanks.
 
not spavin said:
Aye, it's going to be a very PP heavy month alright.

I like these themes as it's an excuse to learn a new technique, so I'm going to try and do it properly - at first at least. ;)
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Funnily enough I was thinking the same thing, I am going to try and do Zero post processing on my entry - I was planning to try a film entry this month but am not going to have a chance to get the photo taken and processed. I have a few ideas but not sure if I can get them sorted out.
 
My entry was showing up fine on my laptop at home, but not on my work PC.

Can anyone else see it?
 
i can see it either, same as spav said, checked your flickr too and its only visible to friends.
 
Thanks guys, I've checked Flickr and it's not there any more.

If it's all right with everyone, I will re-post it tonight.
 
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