Art 6 Midterm For my midterm paper I decided to choose Ansel Adams' photograph, Moonrise. I decided to choose this because it seemed interesting and we haven't looked over much photography in class so I thought it would be fun to look at it more in-depth. From the picture I can see a graveyard and a small town. The gravestones and the towns are seen very vividly in the scene and the lines which make them up are also very visible. What I found interesting was how the lines, which make up the gravestones and the buildings, are very short and subtle. They are almost like how an artist would paint a piece would use his or her pen to finely create the outline of a distant object. Looking at the piece in more depth I realized that the piece …show more content…
The white color of the clouds, gravestones, and moon make the image seem as if it were taken during the daytime and the clouds were casting a shadow over the town and barren landscape. However, upon further inspection the viewer can see that sky is dark with a few minute starts and the “sun” is small which means it is actually the moon. During my research of the photo, I discovered an article by Daniel Grant, a contributing editor of the American Artist Magazine, who talks about the history of “Moonrise.” He states, “according to his grandson Matthew Adams, and so the photographer tinkered with them in the darkroom, producing more than 900 prints over the course of 40 years” which would explain the perfection of the contrast in the final photograph. The greys, whites, and blacks of the image have a wide variety of value to them. A good example is the clouds have a very high value because they are almost completely white and the sky has an extremely low value because it is almost completely dark. The use of the variety of value helps bring out the main themes of the photo including the rising of the moon and the re birth of the other part of the day, the night. The contrast also helps to bring out the repetition of the main colors which are white, black, and gray. The repetition of these colors allow the viewer to feel more relaxed and used to the subject of the photo to see the fine details that the elements mentioned in the past bring out. Such as the lines and the contrast. The contrast of the main colors also help in the balance and unity of the photo. Since the contrast is so good, there is just enough white, black and gray in each part, so that each shape is not over highlighted or under appreciated in the photo. Simply the main point is highlighted and the other parts are neutral and united in perfect harmony. There isn't much gradation in the image but where it is most prevalent is on the horizon.