The process became instinctive to him when it mattered the most. So Ansel Adams very quickly calculated the exposure for the photo without any tools but his mind.Īs he went to capture a second “safety photo” after the first, the sun had gone from the gravestones in the foreground. And he didn’t have enough time to find his light reader. It was taken within a few seconds of pulling his car over to the side of the road he was driving along. He Was So In Tune With His Equipment, Taking Photos Became InstinctiveĪrguably his most famous photograph was Moonrise Over Hernandez. You can read more about horizon placement. This was in comparison to the sky that surrounded it. Placing the horizon so high in the frame helped the viewer realize the image’s scale. And they would often favor a much higher horizon. It’s widely regarded that his best work game in the decades to come. And it shouldn’t be looked down upon as a lesser art form.ĭuring his earlier work in the 1920s and 1930s, Adams would place the horizon very high in the frame. The lesson here is that processing is just as important as photo-taking. “Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.” And it produced some of the greatest landscape photography ever made. His ability to find perfection in the darkroom was coupled with his work behind a camera. He would paint onto the enlarger the areas of the photo he thought should be darker or lighter than others.

The technique is a systematic method that helps photographers to determine the optimal film exposure and development. He and Fred Archer formulated the Zone System.

Half of His Creative Process Occurred in the Dark RoomĪnsel Adams is well known for spending a whole day in the darkroom just to produce one print. Here are 10 photography lessons I learned from Ansel Adams.

Ansel adams photography