I was looking for a lower-right quadrant "ideal film".
Then I could tell if placing shadows on the toe is desirable (if the ideal film curve includes a toe). But if the ideal film is a straight line, then it may reinforce my desire to place my exposures on the straight line.
Last night I was thinking what Mark said about his intent, and mentioned before that I was unsatisfied doing the same.
Then again I realised I often do something similar.
When photographing with 35mm I sometimes raise the exposure a lot to try and blow the lights in an attempt to give the backlighting a soft look. Like an archway where I want the back white and soft.
I think this is somehow similar to what Mark is getting at.
??
Last night I was thinking what Mark said about his intent, and mentioned before that I was unsatisfied doing the same.
Then again I realised I often do something similar.
When photographing with 35mm I sometimes raise the exposure a lot to try and blow the lights in an attempt to give the backlighting a soft look. Like an archway where I want the back white and soft.
I think this is somehow similar to what Mark is getting at.
??
To build on that thought a bit Andreas "Photography is a subtractive art. Painting is an additive art."
Don't know where I found that saying but it is true in my world.
The reasons this topic has interest to me is because just like choosing a point of view, a crop, and limiting depth of field for a given shot creative exposure placement is a tool I can use to minimize or eliminate unwanted detail from a composition.
Well, as far as sculpture being subtractive. Say you are whittling a piece of wood into a boat. The form of the boat already exists within that piece of wood and you are removing or subtracting physical material in order to expose it.
I believe a photograph is extractive because you are focusing in on one area of a whole and extracting just that one square/rectangle. You are not physically subtracting what's outside of that square but choosing NOT to extract it.
This is not my idea, I have also read this somewhere but I'm not sure of the source. It might have been "Art & Fear" by David Bayles and Ted Orland...