Contre Jour - Nerja, Costa del Sol, Spain




Nerja, Spain

 

I have always been a fan of Contre-Jour or 'into the light' photography. I love the dynamic and bold shapes that it can create. An early morning walk on this beach in Spain meant that people were just arriving onto the beach after breakfast for an early bit of exercise or a session of yoga. The sun, though warm, was still low in the sky and reflecting wonderfully on the sea. Digital cameras seem to handle this sort of shot so well. I did nothing but point and shoot - all in a matter of seconds, to get this evocative shot. This has had no retouching or cropping at all. This is the great advantage of the compact digital camera - small enough to carry in a pocket or the palm of one's hand - and no messing about with lenses, apertures and shutter speeds, just pot and shoot!

Summer boat

A quick shot of a boat on the south coast of England during a recent sunny spell of weather. Shooting into the sun like this is known as contre-jour, and it can give some quite nice effects as the sunlight reflecting on the waves in this shot. This picture was an opportunistic one, taken very quickly using the automatic light meter settings. If the picture looks too dark, using the adjust setting on the camera, if you have one, and opening up the f/stop by one or two will usually give the right effect. If you are unsure and have the opportunity, take two or three shots at different f settings and select the best one later. It is almost impossible to get the horizon square and level, but of course the sea horizon is ALWAYS level, so once the shot is selected, rotaing the shot in software such as Photoshop is vital. Go to Image/rotateimage/arbitary and enter a number (in this case 2) to rotate the image clockwise or anticlockwise by that number of degrees.

Cyclist

cyclist, originally uploaded by foto-art.

I find that when I go out with my camera, a certain amount of spontaneity is required. I do not usually go out to take a particular, planned image, but rather to walk with my camera, having a more open, receptive mind than usual; with a sensitivity, openness and awareness to images, shapes and colours around me. This is just such a spontaneous shot, the whole thing taken in less than a second. I walked to the side of this guy, became aware that he would soon be in silhouette, stopped at the right the moment, turned and snapped this contre-jour shot. I seem to be in a black and white phase so the image is black and white and not in colour. In Photoshop, I went on to Images/Adjust/Auto Contrast and this made the image even more dynamic.

Misty trees

Misty trees, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Misty winter sunrise near Rode Heath, Cheshire, England.

Stile and sky - A look at minimalism

Stile and sky, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Stile and sky near near Rode Heath, South Cheshire. Another minimalist shot. This was taken with a red filter to enhance contrast. Many of my photographs are what might be called ‘Minimalist’. This is a term that was coined in the mid 20th century to apply to a movement of abstract artists and sculptures. It is an approach that makes use of uncluttered images and formal composition of elements which may even constitute near geometric shapes in a formal, impersonal arrangement. A person in a minimalist photograph is not portrayed as a personality, but as a formal element that makes up part of the composition. It advocates a severe simplicity of style which is achieved by using a few, very simple elements to maximum effect.

Sand dune fence

Sand dune fence, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Sand dune fence at Formby Point. This is an into the light or contre-jour shot and I do not think that I used any filters for this. This is about strong composition using strong shapes to create the effect. Notice also again the use of the rule of thirds, wuth the horizon about one third up and the main vertical posts being positioned also approximately at one third divisions.

Stile

Stile, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Stile and fence in the Peak District National Park. Contre-Jour or into-the-light shots like this demand strong elements and good composition. The focal element here is the stile, which I have positioned just in front of the sun to help cut down too much flare and, using the rule of thirds, at about one third into the picture from the left. The remaining fence leads the eye down the picture to the gate, which stops the eye from moving out of the frame. The use of strong elements and composition like this is essential in good photography, whether contre-jour or not. It is where most amateurs fail. It is a good exercise to do some contre-jour work to learn to see such bold elements and learn how to frame them and compose them in the picture, because similar rules apply to othe types of image too.

Windswept tree 2

Windswept tree 2, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Windswept tree near Mow Cop, South Cheshire. A contre-Jour or into-the-light shot. Once again use of the rule of thirds is made. If I were to do anything more to this shot it would be to remove the branches on the expreme left of the picture by cropping or pixel cloning. If I chose cropping, I would be careful not to spoil the balance and arrangements of the elements, say by leaving the sun too far to the left. Cropping may demand some removal of the image all around to maintain this balance. The reflection of the sun on the lens at the right of the tree I am not sure about...I might try and remove it by pixel cloning and see if the picture looked better.

Winter nights

Well, over here in England, the dark nights have arrived and the leaves have virtually fallen off the trees. For me this is a time when my photography goes into low gear. I love those bright days, with plenty of colour, but alas, in Britain, we just do not get that all the year round. Even on clear, bright, sunny days the light intensity is nowhere near as much as similar days in October or March, and pictures reflect that with a cold, bluish cast. Perhaps an orange filter such as an 85B helps to counter this, but still I find the landscape a bit too bleak for me. If we get some snow, that can be quite good, and contre-jour or into-the-light shots of bare trees are also pretty good with the low sun at this time of year. Years ago I used to try a bit of indoor work with portrait photography, but it was never my forte and always a bit hit and miss. To be honest, I am not a 'people person' and do not particularly enjoy first or new encounters with people. It is however a great time for night photography so I am hoping to do some night work shortly...but of course, the hectic lead-up to Christmas tends to make other demands. For me and my photography at this time of the year its definitely 'play with Photoshop and roll on spring'!

Sunset on ship

sunset on ship, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Evening on the Queen Mary II. A spur-of-the-moment shot capturing something of the romantic relaxation of life on board ship. This contre-jour image has not been modified in any way, and used the meter settings of the camera. Bold shapes are a necessity for such a shot.

Queen Mary 2 - Evening at sea

Queen Mary 2 - Evening at sea, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Early evening on a Trans-Atlantic crossing. This image combines two of my favourite themes...contre-jour or 'into the light' and the use of geometric shapes, in this case the railings and shadows on the deck.

Malta hotel sunbeds 2

malta hotel sunbeds 2, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Contre-Jour shot of hotel sunbeds. I love into-the-light or contre-jour images. I guess they have a similarity to the minimalist images eleswhere on this blog. Contre-jour images tend, like minimalist shots, to be simple and uncluttered, but whereas in minimalist shots, use might be made of bold colour, in contre-jour shots, use is made of bold shapes, which are usually silhouettes. It can be quite useful to obscure the sun in these kinds of images, as I have here by hiding it behind a flagpole. Nothing else was done with this image, it was taken using the camera meter reading as it was.