If the background is predominantly low-key or dark the viewer will be attracted to lighter areas. It is the dominant background tone which creates the baseline for contrast in the photo. More importantly I realized that the key to controlling the strength of the attraction in a portrait wasn't the tone of the center of interest but rather the much larger background and clothing areas.Ī face will have no visual impact a dark background if there is a large white shirt beneath it. It was many years later that I realized there was a common thread in both of their approaches the use of contrast to lead the eye of the viewer.

I worked as his apprentice and assistant from 1972-4. In Monte's work the path of the viewers eye to the center of interest is like being shot out of a cannon towards a bulls-eye target. Monte Zucker revolutionized wedding photography in the 1970s by creating simple but elegant short-lit low-key background portraits which strongly isolate a single center of interest. They were my introduction to the concept of process control and the foundation of my photographic knowledge.

I was fortunate to find his five book basic photo series - Camera and Lens, The Negative, The Print, Natural Light Photography, and Artificial Light Photography - at my college bookstore in 1970. The journey of the viewer's eye in an Adams photo is like a leisurely stroll along a country road. Background and Clothing Considerations for PortraitsĪnsel Adams taught the world how to create an interesting visual path in a photograph with subtle tonal variation.

Green gray and black background