Have you ever gotten home after spending a day out shooting
really excited to look at the images that you just took
just to find out that they are not nearly as good as you were expecting them to be?
They probably lack contrast
Contrast is one of the most important elements in photography
and here I'm not talking only about the slider in Lightroom to increase or decrease the contrast
Let's see what contrast is, why it's important and how we can add more of it into our images
Contrast means difference
to me is what separates the subject, what we are trying to capture, from everything else
It's the main tool we have to tell stories with our images
one of the most common mistakes in photography is to expect what we see with our eyes
to feel the same in an image
The thing is, a camera doesn't see things the same way that we do with our eyes
not only because there are physical differences, but because of the brain and senses
the brain interprets what is getting from the eyes
and the senses add a context to what we are seeing
it might be hard to notice, but when you are looking at something
that little something is the only thing in focus in your vision
and everything else is out of focus, it's still there because you need to be aware of your surroundings
just in case something happens
but your brain and your eyes are completely focused on that thing that you are looking at
This is why depth of field is really important in photography, it kind of does the same
it helps us isolate things from others that are further away or closer to us
what happens is, if we are walking through the woods, for example, and we see something that we like
a tree in the distance, and we like the way that tree looks
chances are that we aren't going to be able to make a good image of that tree
unless it's separated by some distance from the other trees, it has a clean background
so we can use a fast lens to actually isolate that tree
otherwise, there's going to be too much noise, it's not going to be enough contrast between the subject and everything else
The idea behind contrast is to help the viewer and to give them an anchor, a place to look at at first
when they first look at the image, and from there they can expand to the rest of the image if they want to
and if the image calls for that
but at least to have something to look at
when there's not enough contrast in the image
it's very hard to make the viewer pay attention to just that one thing that you were trying to show
We need to understand that sometimes, we just can't create enough contrast to make a good image
and we just need to move on
What I'm looking for in my images is usually to have a high contrast between the subject
and the background, foreground, whatever it is that is not the actual subject that I'm trying to capture
and that could be achieved in different ways
with shapes, textures, and of course the difference in color, black and white, luminance
now, we are going to look at some sample images that I have here
to try to clarify these concepts that I'm talking about
so these first 2 images are just to show you that, as I said, we need contrast between the subject and everything else
we don't want contrast, or as little as possible happening in the background or the foreground, and within the subject itself
this was at Lago di Garda, and we have this platform
one of the images is just a snapshot, I froze the movement of the water so you can see the waves
even though there's contrast between the platform and everything else, the image is not bad per se
There's contrast in the water, between the waves and the parts where the water is more still and calm
and there's contrast against the mountains in the background as well
one of the ways to decrease the contrast in the background is to use long exposures
I love using long exposures, and what that did, as you can see in this image
is to remove all the details in the water, so that increases the contrast between the water and the actual subject
We don't need long exposures all the time, for example in these images that I'm showing you now
Here, I'm using the shape of a dock
it's the same concept, the water was very, very calm at this lake, Lago di Varese
it was foggy as well, you know where I'm going
you need to use the weather to your advantage: foggy weather, snow, stuff that declutters the background
and adds contrast between the subject and everything else
This other example of the ducks at sunrise
once again, the background disappears because of the fog, and that adds contrast between the background
and the subject, the ducks
because it decreases the contrast in the background
Otherwise, we'd have some mountains, some trees, some houses in the background
that right now you cannot see
that increases the contrast between the subject and the background
I'm showing you more examples now, but I hope it's clear what I'm trying to say here
another trick that I use to add contrast between the subject and everything else is
I crash the blacks, it's pretty obvious
I remove as much detail as possible in the shadows, you can see here this path in the Cies Islands
it was to make the path stand out from everything else
if I were to show every single leave, tree, and bush around the path, the path would stand out less
and it'd make, in my opinion, for a slightly worse image because the eye doesn't directly go there, to the path
Another of my favorites is to use silhouettes
as you can see here in this photo of New York, or the photos that I made in Washington DC
it's always contrasting a bright background against a dark subject, and just hint what that subject is
without showing all the details in the subject
the contrast between that subject and the background is huge here, and it doesn't work for everything
only for some things like buildings, because you can still see what they are, you can have an idea
sometimes it might be just too much, for other situations
Another idea I suggested was to use shapes, and something I like to do is to place poles, trees, vertical stuff
against further away backgrounds
as you can see here, I think I made this image in New Mexico
or the ones that I made at the Golden Gate bridge, like that telephone pole against the bridge
then, textures!
Textures are very important as well, as you can see here
I have the grass in the foreground and showing the deer in the background
of course, we have the classic contrast that we are looking for when using Black and White
that is white vs black, like this example of this horse that I took in Northern Spain
another image I made, of these 3 trees in the snow
all of those work because it's white vs black, and that works very well always
of course there are exceptions to this rule and sometimes I'm looking for contrast, but very subtle
And the best example is the image I made at the White Dunes in New Mexico
as you can see, there's contrast between the dunes and the Moon, the main subjects I'm trying to capture
they are brighter than the sky, slightly darker but the contrast here is much more subtle
and this works very well, when it works, it works very well
even more than having higher contrast between the elements in the photo
but you have to be careful, make sure that the viewer is going to understand what they are looking at
or at least have an idea
because they might lose interest if they don't have an anchor to look at
one thing that we can do to check if the image has enough contrast is to blur out the image applying a filter
this image doesn't have any filter applied to it, this was almost straight out of camera that way
but as you can see, you are still able to recognize what the subject is, even if the subject is a little bit abstract
you don't know what it is, or what is going on here
you still see clearly from the beginning, this is the subject and everything else is the background, or the foreground
the context for that subject
if we blur out our images and we are still able to see that, that's a good sign
These were just a few examples of how I create and increase contrast in my images
of course I also use the slider in Lightroom, my images are very high contrasty in that sense as well
but that's to crash the blacks and to make those whites a little bit brighter
to remove details on both sides of the histogram
so the subject can stand out even more
That's all I had about this, I hope this video was helpful
Thank you so much for watching, and see you in the next one!