Masters of Photography--Philippe Halsman

1.

  

Edits:

Exposure: -0.50

Contrast: +49

Highlights: -68

Shadows -48

Whites: +41

Blacks: -13

Clarity: +2

Vibrance and Saturation: -100

Cropped

2.

Edits:

Exposure: +0.60

Contrast: +3

Highlights: +73

Shadows: +17

Whites: +44

Blacks: -52

Clarity: +100

Vibrance and Saturation: -100

Cropped

3.

Edits:

Exposure: +0.65

Contrast: +30

Highlights: -83

Shadows: -50

Whites: +10

Blacks: -50

Clarity: +11

Vibrance and Saturation: -100

4.

Edits:

Exposure: +0.65

Contrast: +30

Highlights: -83

Shadows: -50

Whites: +10

Blacks: -50

Clarity: +11

Vibrance and Saturation: -100

5.

Edits:

Exposure: +0.05

Contrast: +23

Highlights: +32

Shadows: -32

Whites: +33

Blacks: -48

Clarity: +23

Vibrance and Saturation: -100

About Philippe Halsman:

Philippe Halsman was a popular portrait photographer in the mid- 20th century. Although he was American, most of his life was spent in northern and eastern Europe. He is well known for his photographs of Salvador Dali, people, and experiments with light. Philippe Halsman was unique because of how in many of his photographs, he asked people to jump, making the portrait uniquely informal. 

My View:

I chose this photographer because of how he pushed against the status quo by not taking entirely posed pictures, but if anything, spontaneous shots. It was clear in many of his pictures that his subjects were caught by surprise, yet decided to go with his instruction and have fun while they were at it. His collaboration with Salvador Dali produced surrealist photos much like Dali's original style. He inspired me to be more carefree with photos, to capture what I can rather than forcing a position that I think looks good. We also had a lot more fun than I expected because we had to convince each other to jump in interesting positions. I didn't think at first that the jumps could look good on camera, but the light-hearted attitude encourages the subject to act more natural for the camera.