» Daily Photo – Leslie at the Wall

Daily Photo – Leslie at the Wall

The Daily Photo series focuses on the two or three key creative choices, in terms of composition and processing, that go into creating an image. Specific technical details about the shot have been left out — you won’t hear me talking about tone curve adjustments and whatnot unless it was a key component of the end result.

Leslie adjusts her shirt in the late afternoon light.

Exposure

Shutter: 1/250
Aperture: f/2
ISO: 400
Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM

Composition and Processing

I don’t have a particular preference for the type processing in this shot. It’s more about the use of negative space than anything else. But I found it interesting how the blank area transitions from “wall” to “empty space” as you go from the color to the high contrast black and white version (it’s particularly hard to see a surface in the black and white one, except immediately around Leslie).
The subject here is a small part of the frame, making the shot mostly about the relationship of the subject to the space. By cropping out the legs, the brain fills in the gaps not just for how much further Leslie extends below the bottom, but by association how much further the wall extends in all directions. We end up imagining the wall is much larger than the segment we see here, creating the illusion of size without having to show it literally.

Color: