Keld Helmer-Petersen
Keld Helmer-Petersen born 1920 and died 2013, was a Danish photographer who has spent most of his working life as an architectural photographer. Although famous for his coloured photography work, also created images in purely black & white. Petersen used a very high contrast to achieve the look, and published books designated to this particular type of abstract photography. Often, the photos were so highly contrasted that the subject was hard to make out. Below are some photos from Petersen's "Black Noise" and "Back To Black": |
My Response
Following on from Keld Helmer-Petersen, I was inspired to also create my own miniature book using high contrast to create an abstract style of photo. Taking photos from my Albert Renger-Patzsch "The World Is Beautiful" project, I selected a few photos and put them into photoshop to alter the contrast and get rid of any grey tones to a more simple two-tone photo.
In order to achieve the high contrast, when in photoshop I went to the adjustment settings and then levels and then changed the output levels so the darker tones were black and the lighter tones and grey became white. This allowed for a high contrast much the same as Keld Helmer-Petersen's work.
Once finished and completed roughly 7 photos, I then made a small book like "Back To Black" and "Black Noise". I noticed that some of the photos were so highly contrasted that it was hard to establish the original subject.
Once finished and completed roughly 7 photos, I then made a small book like "Back To Black" and "Black Noise". I noticed that some of the photos were so highly contrasted that it was hard to establish the original subject.