Fine Art

Summary:

The photography that Fred Picker printed in the previous film in carefully analysed. He is able, once again, to find new possible improvements in some small areas of the photography. He takes notes of this new burning and dodging necessities, and he makes the new print. This one is finally accepted as the one that he visualized when he took the picture.

However, everything is not done yet. He explains the effect of the dray down factor, and how it should be compensated. At the end of the film, Fred Picker mentioned the importance of a good washer process and the convenience of toning the photography.

Fred Picker was involved in manufacturing of 4 x 5 and 8 x 10 large format field cameras.. He taught a highly successful photography class known as "The Zone VI Workshop," and authored a book by the same name that has become recognized as the golden standard of photographic instruction. His uncanny sense of "photographer's intuition” and his passion for the art was a unique combination. Always opinionated and oft times controversial, his dedication to large format and black and white photography was unsurpassed.

Summary:

So far, Fred Picker has shown us how he gets a correct basic exposure, find the right high value, make pilot prints and then choose the appropriate contrast paper from a negative.

In this film, he carefully examines the pilot print that he had previously chosen and finds ways to improve the photograph. He suggests that the photograph be printed in different tones of Black and White, usually fifteen, from his experience. He derives these different tones by increasing the exposure time from the standard 27 seconds in increments of 3. He chooses the area of the picture he wants to compare and makes prints by increasing the exposure time. He then places the result over the chosen pilot print and does a comparative study on the tones and colours of the result with that of the pilot print. Its interesting to note his comments on the various black, white and grey tones. He repeats this process as much as it is needed. It is also important to observe how he systematically notes down all the variables in the comparative test. This work system allows him to get the best possible result.

Summary:

In the previous film, Fred Picker explored where the high value was correctly exposed in each test strip for both grade 2 and grade 3 papers. In this one, he will simply make Pilot Prints for each paper grade. It means he will make unmanipulated print of the two papers to see which one has the best atmosphere according with what he visualized when he took the photography.

He insists that it is much safer to make pilot prints instead of trusting in his own experience, and he recommends keeping always this system. He puts a special attention to the way he works with the print timer in order to keep the same procedure that he used to evaluate the correct print time when he made the initial test strip.

Picker was involved in manufacturing of 4 x 5 and 8 x 10 large format field cameras.. He taught a highly successful photography class known as "The Zone VI Workshop," and authored a book by the same name that has become recognized as the golden standard of photographic instruction. His uncanny sense of "photographer's intuition” and his passion for the art was a unique combination. Always opinionated and oft times controversial, his dedication to large format and black and white photography was unsurpassed.

Summary:

In this film, portrait photographer Fabien Breuvart discusses a recent large scale project entitled, "Sit and look at the sky", an impressive wall of over 290 photos.

Breuvart is also a collector and seller of antique photographic images, mostly work from unknown or amateur photographers. He owns a fantastic selection of old Paris pictures of anonymous Parisians from the 1920’s to the late seventies, and pictures of some French icons.

Breuvart describes his photography collection of amateur works as being real, wild, and describing a fleeting moment. For his own photography work in the studio, Breuvart uses a simple lighting approach, never attempting to beautify his subjects. He would like his sitters to recognize their personality when they see their photos, something, which he believes, his customers highly value.

For Breuvart, photos are the means to come into contact with other people. You can browse his extensive collection in his store, "Chacun son image", or have your unique portrait taken in the adjacent studio.