Freo Graphic

June 2021 FREO GRAPHIC 10 FREO EXTRAS in a process are often missing while they are essential to better understand and perhaps improve on the How. This article focuses on the Why, while also giving recommendations for the How, in such a way that it is largely software-independent and practical. A FEWTHOUGHTSONFINE ART You could even add to the complexity and confusion of the topic, by stating that we should establish first what fine art is. This post isn’t the place for that type of abstract and elaborate discussion. I’ve discussed that in several older blog posts on this website (here, here, and here for example) and I’ve just finished a new more concise article on what (fine) art is that will be posted soon (will insert link here when it’s posted *Update May 26, 2021: link to new post). But for the sake of some transparency and practicality of this post, let me be more specific by saying that when I talk about processing in fine art style, I mean to say the following: A style of processing in which we deliberately deviate from what was there in real life and what was recorded on your sensor (or film), to express and amplify a personal vision to establish a personal visual style, that could only be achieved by additional processing. A visual style that is not only aesthetic but also effective as a result of the aesthetic criteria we’ve chosen to support our artistic intentions and messages through the images we create. Even more simplified: anything that is not straight-out-of-camera and is aesthetic and effective. So, effective and aesthetic by way of post-processing. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as the saying goes, but throughout the history of photography and of the visual arts in general some concepts and high-level principles have been developed and have been proven to be effective and that should serve as guidelines for creating aesthetic and effective images. I would go as far as to say that an effective image is also aesthetic and vice versa. Let’s try and break down what those high-level principles are, derived frommy own personal experience which in turn is derived from, and inspired by, many great images and findings from the past and present in visual arts in general, and not just photography. Because, I believe strongly that in order to create images that can be considered authentic, meaningful, and aesthetic, we need to be visually articulate and literate. And for that, we need to study the masters of all visual expressions. In this analysis, I’m going to leave the meaning of images, or the artistic intention and message aside. I’m also going to leave out compositional principles like rules of thirds, golden ratio, leading lines. Those are important elements that come before post- processing the images and are out of scope for this article on post-processing. HIGH-LEVEL PRINCIPLES FOR CREATING AESTHETIC AND EFFECTIVE IMAGES 1. Selective (tonal) contrast: The eyes are always drawn to the element with the highest tonal contrast and brightest light: the Figure 2. The darkest tones are always in planes and objects closest to the observer: in and around the Figure 3. The lowest contrasts (tonal/ dimensional/colour contrasts) are always in planes and objects farthest away from the observer and have therefore fewer details: usually in the Ground. 4. The highest contrasts are always in objects/planes closest to the observer and therefore have the highest details: usually in/directly around the Figure 5. Dimensional depth perception by Creating Presence : a sense of perception of dimensional depth that is created by subtle transitions from dark to light and vice versa and defining edges. 6. Contrasting (depth) dimensionalities to enhance depth and isolate the most important elements we can use more than just tonal contrast (see 1 through 4), there’s also dimensional contrast: in the Figure alone or in Figure (more/less) and Ground (less/more) E.g. a 3-dimensional object (Figure) against a 2-dimensional sky (Ground) increases the contrast between figure and ground and therefore the effectivity of the image. 7. Contrasting colours vs analogous colours or neutral colours (for colour processing, will be discussed in future articles