Sunday, August 31, 2008

Copy Test

So this assignment was to literally photograph a photograph. Apparently having the ability to successfully copy items can get you a $35,000 freelance job - or so i've been told. Basically using a system of lights you cancel out any glare and produce a nice copy of the photograph. It's often used to copy pieces of artwork for publication purposes. User beware; make sure you credit the photographer. It's a valuable skill but a dangerous one. Don't steal. Anyway, our assignment was to find two photos to copy. One was to be a photo in which the lighting really adds to the mood or overall feeling of the photograph. I chose a photograph by Ashley Gilbertson. Photographer and author of a great photographic chronicle of the Iraq war called "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot". You'll have to read it to figure out what that means. 


Photo © Ashley Gilbertson from Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
It's an amazing book with even more amazing photographs like this one. I wanted a different photograph but it was flush with the binding of the book so there was a glare (couldn't flatten the book well enough without ruining it). This is my second choice. The lighting, probably sunrise or sunset, gives it sort of a peacefulness among rugged, war hardened situations. Any other lighting situation would not have made this photo as great.
This second photograph is for the "Stump-the-Chump" assignment. The great Rita Reed is supposed to be able to tell us exactly how these photos were created. I pulled one from my "100 Photographs That Changed the World" by LIFE. It's a photograph taken by Harold Edgerton in 1931 titled "Milkdrop Coronet".  It's visually stunning and was probably shot with multiple light sources. I'll let you try and decide.



Photo by Harold Edgerton ©Harold & Esther Edgerton Foundation 

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