Photography 101 - Learning About Contrast

When learning photography, you'll discover there are lots of different elements that make an photograph appear the way it does. Exposure, film speed, camera quality, framing and printing method all have an impact on the quality of your final print. Contrast is one of the most important and easily manipulated elements of a photograph and, when used properly, can take your images to a whole new level.

Contrast is simply the difference between the darks and light in your photographs. In terms or black and white photography, high contrast prints have very dark black and super bright whites with no shades in between, while low contrast images will have more grey. In color photographs, contrast can be used to describe the intensity of the colors and how they stand out in relation to each other. While there is no ideal amount of contrast in any one photo, a good rule of thumb is to create images with pure white, pure black and every shade in between. However, this is more challenging than it sounds!

Contrast in Action
As a photographer, you'll have a preference on the amount of contrast that you like in your prints. Some prefer high contrast, some prefer low, but remember that it’s all about what works for you. As long as your images convey the message you want to pass on, no one is going to call you on the phone and tell you to change your photographs around.

If you want to see some examples of excellent normal contrast just look at the work by Ansel Adams. His landscape black and white pictures are so powerful because they cover every possible shade of grey, black and white. As an example of high contrast, films like Sin City and The Spirit used high contrast imagery to tell their story.

Adjusting Contrast
There are several ways you can adjust the contrast of your photograph. Different kinds of film or digital settings will result in images with a higher or lower contrast (for instance, slide film has a high contrast ratio compared to regular film). You can also increase the time your film develops or "push" your film so that your images will have more contrast. Be careful not to over-develop your film; while you can always make new prints your actual shot film is irreplaceable and cannot be fixed after you break it.

In the darkroom, you can apply a filter to your enlarger to change the contrast of your images. A #1 filter will be a slight contrast bump, whereas a #4 filter will dramatically increase the level of contrast in the final image. If you’re using digital, most photo editing software has a contrast option built in that will allow you to mimic darkroom filters and adjustments for similar results. Contrast is infinite in the options it can provide so take it to the limit and then take it one more step just to see what happens.

Contrast can also change what your viewers look at in your photograph. It can help better define important parts of a picture and creates a better final product when it is present in the right levels. Use the "pure white, pure black" rule in every picture and you'll see a huge difference in the prints you will produce. Once you understand what degree of contrast works in your photos, you'll start to see how you can use contrast in the real world to shoot even better pictures. As always, the best way to get better is to keep practicing!