Learning the Basics Of Contrast

If you want to be a good photographer, there are some basic tips that you can learn to help you get better pictures. If you can understand about the technical elements of a good picture and how they interact with each other, you can take a great photo no matter what type of equipment you have. These elements are composition,depth of field, color balance, and contrast. Learn about what contrast is and how to use it skillfully and you will be pleased at the quality of the photos that you can shoot.

Contrast?

Contrast is very simply the range of difference between the different tones in a picture. In black and white photographs, contrast defines the grayscale, and is the difference between the darkest tones and the lightest tones in the picture. When referring to color photography, contrast indicates how sharply the colors stand out from each other.

Controlling Contrast

If you want to control the contrast in your photograph there are several ways you can do it. The simplest way is to import your pictures into a digital photo-editing suite and find the contrast button, then drag the slider until you are happy with the image. If you are using a darkroom you can increase the level of contrast in the picture by using filters on the enlarger, remembering that the higer the filter number you use, the higher will the contrast be. The ability to control contrast in the camera can be challanging as it depends on available light, the lens filters, and exposure time. It's usually a good idea to shoot with a little caution and opt for less contrast than more since you can always increase the contrast later without losing quality.

A Good Quality of Contrast

While opinions differ on how much contrast is "just right," a good general rule of thumb is that your tones should run the gamut from very dark to very bright, with every level in between represented in the photograph. The best way to understand this is by thinking of a black and white photograph, where you desire to have a pure black, a pure white, and every possible shade of grey represented in each picture. A good level of contrast is when your colors "pop" or your subjects look clearly defined.

Fine-Tuning

One of the classic tricks in the photographer's toolbox is dodging and burning photographs. This is the way that you can adjust the contrast of individual parts of the picture, not the whole image. This helps in highlighting the subject (for example, lightening the eyes) or modifying the composition (perhaps darkening the background) and can improve the overall appearance of the image. One trick that photographers can do in the darkroom is to create a complex stencil that is placed on top of the blank photo paper. These stencils block off certain parts of the photograph and allows them to be exposed for different amounts of time than others, which gives the photographer more control over the contrast of the whole image. Fortunately, this process has been greatly simplified in most photo editing suites and areas of interest can be dodged or burned with a mouse pointer.

When you "dodge" a photograph in a darkroom, you are exposing areas to light for shorter periods of time, or, for digital editing, an image will be lightened and lose contrast. Places in your picture that are "burned" will have higher contrast and the grain will be darker.

Learning to control the contrast in your photos can be a tricky skill, but practice at burning and dodging will soon make it second nature. Good contrast helps your photograph tell a better story by making the important images stand out and making the less important things just fade away. When you are taking your photos, try to imagine before you take your shot what your contrast options will be, and be creative when photo editing in the darkroom or on the computer. As with all other good things in life, practice makes perfect!


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Autumn Lockwood is a writer for Your Picture Frames. Shop online and see our selection of 4x6 picture frames in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Visit our website to see our quality 4x6 picture frames now or call 1-800-780-0699.