The Command to Look by William Mortensen

Author:William Mortensen [Mortensen, William; Dunham, George]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781627310055
Publisher: Feral House

Fig. 9

Fig. 10

Probably they look like Figure 9. Or possibly they resemble Figure 10.

Pictures that lack IMPACT are probably marked by one of the three following characteristics:

1.Scattered or speckled blacks and whites. There is no dominating pattern. This is the special fault of Figure 9. This is a frequent failing in landscapes.

2.General lack of contrast. The picture, in other words, is grey all over. Pattern, if it is there, is not conspicuous enough. This is the fault demonstrated in Figure 10.

3.More specifically, the complete absence of any of the four basic picture patterns: DIAGONAL, S-CURVE, TRIANGLES, or DOMINANT MASS.

Of the four basic patterns, DOMINANT MASS is undoubtedly of the most frequent occurrence. Often, among pictures that are lacking in IMPACT, one may detect traces of incipient Dominant Mass—that is, of would-be Dominant Mass that for some reason fails to dominate.

Failures of Dominant Mass may be due to various causes. Here are some of them:

1.Lack of size. In order to dominate, a figure must seem formidable and impressive. A small figure in a large area of picture dominates with difficulty.

2.Lack of unity. Instead of a single mass, there may be several unrelated and unconnected masses.

3.Lack of cohesion. A mass will not dominate if it spreads about instead of being concentrated.

4.Lack of stability. Form loses its ability to dominate if it does not appear firmly planted and stable. Forms that dominate are usually broader at the base than at the top.

5.Lack of isolation. Forms are strongest when they stand alone. The isolation of the central form may be damaged by subsidiary forms that crowd in upon it from the sides or by over-insistent backgrounds.

The method of eliminating these faults is, I believe, largely self-evident—i.e., conscientious endeavor to keep them out of your pictures. There are at least five different stages in the making of a photograph when you have the opportunity to eliminate these and similar faults, and to ensure your picture having the best possible qualities of IMPACT. These are the five stages:

1.Preliminary planning. A picture that is thought out in advance and possibly planned in a thumbnail sketch can avoid many of the faults that weaken the IMPACT of a casual, unplanned potshot.

2.During shooting. In this stage the essentials of the picture are set and established, so when you look at the potential picture on the ground-glass or in the finder of your camera, make sure that it contains elements of IMPACT.5

3.Selection of proofs. In weeding out the proofs, opportunity is given both to eliminate those that are hopelessly deficient in IMPACT and to pick out those in which the IMPACT may be strengthened by subsequent operations.

4.During projection printing. Various types of control applied during projection—local printing, dodging, vignetting, elongation, etc.—offer opportunity for enhancing or altering the quality of the IMPACT.6

5.Control processes. Such processes as the Paper Negative and Bromoil Transfer allow much control in dealing with factors of the IMPACT.

APPLYING THE SECOND PHASE

In this roundabout manner we return to the experiment that we started a couple of pages back with a dozen of your prints.

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