Chiaroscuro

[Fogey]

I was having a conversation in another photography forum, when I mentioned the chiaroscuro, (a concept I learned of when I was studying fine art, back in the day), a photograph was displaying.

When I was asked for an explanation I gave the translation of the Italian word ‘chiaroscuro’, as ‘Light and Shade’; a concept the artisans of the renaissance used to give solidity and depth to the paintings they produced.

One member dismissed the explanation stating that photographers had enjoyed low key photography for many years and that this was nothing new.
However, for those of you that are interested, this is the difference between chiaroscuro and low key.

This image is of a painting of St Matthew, by Guido Reni, (1621) using Chiaroscuro........

​

While this is a low key image of a figurine.

​

​

 

[West Coast Birder]

Well, as we know, Rembrandt was a Renaissance master of chiaroscuro and he is remembered in the photography/portraiture community with the illumination technique in his name - Rembrandt lighting.

 

[ShipleyNW]

I've got no formal art training (a hole in my education) so I never learned how to categorize genre and technique. Because of that, I see things on a spectrum. There's no line between where one technique ends and another begins.

In the examples you gave, both have the main light from above and to the (camera) left. The difference is the shadow detail in the Remi work (fabulous, BTW) provided by the fill light reflected from the open book, opening up detail in St Matthew's neck and the child's face.

From that observation, we'd probably define the picture below as low-key, correct? If I had added some fill, ideally a soft, reflected fill, to give some depth to his face, would that move it towards chiaroscuro?



I shot this picture in the '80s. I was sent to a pipe-smoking contest outside a tobacco store, inside a mall. It was lit by a single Vivitar 283 on a 10' PC cord held by a reporter standing behind the guy. Slow news day.

 

[Fogey]

Indeed, Rembrandt Lighting is also one of the most commonly used tools of the film noir genre; all of which, from master to pupil through the ages from Da Vinci to present day has been based on the Fibonacci sequence.

If I was forced into a corner, I would describe both low and high key photography as either the highlights or shadows lost to the background, forcing the viewer's eye to put together the entire image.

(both stock images that have a hint of the Rembrandt triangle).

The gradual move to from high and low key to Chairoscuro would involve Film Noir through to Rembrandt Lighting. Chairoscuro, through shadow and light, both in mono and colour, gives a solidity to any image, whether portrait, architecture, macro, landscape, action shots or whatever.

I am continually striving, (with little success), to achieve the same sort of quality we see in the Old Masters.

 

[Fogey]

I've got no formal art training (a hole in my education) so I never learned how to categorize genre and technique. Because of that, I see things on a spectrum. There's no line between where one technique ends and another begins.

In the examples you gave, both have the main light from above and to the (camera) left. The difference is the shadow detail in the Remi work (fabulous, BTW) provided by the fill light reflected from the open book, opening up detail in St Matthew's neck and the child's face.

From that observation, we'd probably define the picture below as low-key, correct? If I had added some fill, ideally a soft, reflected fill, to give some depth to his face, would that move it towards chiaroscuro?

View attachment 62281

I shot this picture in the '80s. I was sent to a pipe-smoking contest outside a tobacco store, inside a mall. It was lit by a single Vivitar 283 on a 10' PC cord held by a reporter standing behind the guy. Slow news day.

Spot on.

 

[ShipleyNW]

 

[Tom Reichner]

I remember years ago back on POTN, using chiaroscuro as a theme for one of the weekly photo competition threads. Sadly, those archives are inaccessible to us and we can not go back and see the entries

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

I remember years ago back on POTN, using chiaroscuro as a theme for one of the weekly photo competition threads. Sadly, those archives are inaccessible to us and we can not go back and see the entries

I looked it up in the Wayback Machine, Tom. Here is your thread:

DSLR Speed Challenge #371: Chiaroscuro -- Competitions in photography-on-the.net forums

DSLR Speed Challenge #371: Chiaroscuro in Competitions

web.archive.org

 

[Tom Reichner]

I looked it up in the Wayback Machine, Tom. Here is your thread:

DSLR Speed Challenge #371: Chiaroscuro -- Competitions in photography-on-the.net forums

DSLR Speed Challenge #371: Chiaroscuro in Competitions

web.archive.org

Wow! Thank you! I had no idea that the Wayback Machine was so thorough. Now that I know, I'll probably start spending way too much time there looking at old POTN stuff.

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

Wow! Thank you! I had no idea that the Wayback Machine was so thorough. Now that I know, I'll probably start spending way too much time there looking at old POTN stuff.

Isn’t it great? It’s a bit slow to navigate and you can’t use Search (because you need to be logged in for that, which you obviously can’t do anymore), but still very useful. So it’s not all lost.