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Challenge #105 High Key - thoughts?
Jenn
Registered Users Posts: 1,009 Major grins
Which one is the best? thanks! 
1. Crown of Thorns
2. Crown of Thorns
3. Crown of Thorns
1. Crown of Thorns
2. Crown of Thorns
3. Crown of Thorns
Jenn (from Oklahoma)
Panasonic Lumix 10x DMC-TZ3 :photo
Leica Mega O.I.S./28mm WIDE :smile6
Panasonic Lumix 10x DMC-TZ3 :photo
Leica Mega O.I.S./28mm WIDE :smile6
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I did a search on high key images and here are some like I did:
http://www.google.com/search?q=high+key+photography&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7DBUS_en&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=TJPoT5vdAYji2QW9vPnZCQ&ved=0CFQQ_AUoAQ&biw=1147&bih=773
Also this link:
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=high+key+black+background&qpvt=high+key+black+background&FORM=IGRE
Some are black bg's with white as the foreground color. Is this search wrong?
Panasonic Lumix 10x DMC-TZ3 :photo
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Your search has low key elements mixed in. So the darker backgrounds with white/lighter images is considered low key not high key.
I don't understand because in all the searches I pulled up for high key images, all of the searches showed some black bg's with white foregrounds.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=high+key+black+background&view=detail&id=C43F86C8A7146B595DFD13592EC5E22B5A407A43&qpvt=high+key+black+background
Is the opposite a hard and fast rule?
Panasonic Lumix 10x DMC-TZ3 :photo
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Well, it's all interpretation, and i said in another thread that there are as many interpretations as there are photographers.
My thoughts. The daisy subject that's the first hit in your second link is a high contrast, mostly high key subject on a black background, so I can definitely see that interpretation, but most of the rest of the images just look like high contrast subjects, not high key subjects, regardless of the background. If you were going to run with that interpretation, I think you'd need a really strong subject that had a wide range of light tonal values, set off starkly against the dark background, I think that could work. As is it, your plant is mostly median values, even inverted until you stretch the contrast, and the pot is just a high contrast subject, either way you display it.
In your second link the second image of the women just looks high contrast to me, not high key. The next family has a lot of light tonal values in their clothing, with their skin and hair as accents, so that looks like a solid high key image to me. The leopard is just high contrast, get rid of the blown out background and the histogram would be bimodal.
Think of the histograms.
A normal averages out to 18% gray scene, will have a histogram peaking in the middle of the the histogram, and values spread out between 0 and 255.
A high key image will have the bulk of the pixel values to the right of 127.
A low key image will have the bulk of the pixel values to the left of 127.
A high contrast image will have a bimodal distribution of values clustered closer to 0 and 255.
Those are the general rules, but that leaves a lot of room to play for interpretation.
If you just blow out the background, and have an average subject against an expanse of white, is that high key? Some say yes, because the histogram will have a peak around 255 if the background is big enough, but the subject values will be spread around 127. I tend to think not, in my interpretation the subject itself needs to have high key tonal values.
I'm looking at the histogram for the #2 image and not really sure what I'm reading ..
Source: Entire Image
Mean: 49.32
Median: 0
I figure my #1 image is just a boring version of what everyone else has done already in the gallery although it has the bright white and contrast going on ... I don't have any babies or fantastic ideas, either .. lol I'm not sure why #2 wouldn't be high key because of the contrast... Is it not the contrast between the blacks and whites that make it high key?
Panasonic Lumix 10x DMC-TZ3 :photo
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I agree... even some of the entries currently posted are more like normal subjects on a white background... which to me isn't high key. It's just a picture on a white background! The potted plants on the black background doesn't hit the definition of high key for me. I've done several searches and looked at lots of examples and not one had a dark background. So,
www.lisaspeakmanphotography.com
Did you look at the links I posted that showed images that supposedly were high key with black bgs? I'm confused now.
Panasonic Lumix 10x DMC-TZ3 :photo
Leica Mega O.I.S./28mm WIDE :smile6
Actually yes... and they are just searches for images with that tag... doesn't mean that they necessarily are. Think of it this way... I take a picture, I tag it with key words and it will show up in a search. So... if you do a google search for "high key photography" and look at images come up... anything with any combination of those words can come up. When looking at your link... even picture of "keys" came up. So, you have to be careful when doing a search of that nature. Just because you used those specific words doesn't mean that's all you'll get.... and just because someone key words a photo with "high key" doesn't necessarily make it so.
www.lisaspeakmanphotography.com
The horizontal axis on the image histogram is the pixel values. The vertical axis is the number of pixels that have that value. Just to be pedantic, black is 0, white is 255. (if you are adjusting levels, the vertical axis is the output value you are changing the input pixel value to, slightly different).
Medium gray is 127.
A "normal" or "average" image has an ~ gaussian distribution of pixel values centered around 127, basically, a hill in the middle of the histogram.
A high key image will have most of the pixel values over on the right, with an average value above 127.
A low key image will have most of the pixel values over on the left, with an average value below 127.
A high contrast image will have two bumps, one on the left near 0 (black) and one on the right, near 255 (white).
An image with over-exposed, blown out pixels will have a peak that rises towards 255 and is cut off abruptly on the right.
Does this help clarify the difference between high key and high contrast?
And yes, there are several images in the gallery that are 'average' subjects against a blown out background. You can get a browser plugin that lets you see image histograms with the exif. But you can't right click the gallery images. You can look at the images in these threads, and see their histograms.
I love the cormorant shot, and think it's one of the strongest images in general in there, but I personally don't think it's high key, nor the camera, nor the girl in the chair, and there are a few more (In my personal opinion, interpretation!). They are all great shots, probably better than I could do with those subjects, but not what I think of as high key. I suspect that some people might think my cat shots are not high key.
OK .. so does my #1 image qualify as high key or is it just an average image on a white bg?
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If you go by the examples that JAG posted, and the general theme of the images currently in the gallery, then yes.
What do you think looking at the histogram?
I think I finally got the histogram to work right ... looking at that the # is 214.94 .. so it's above the 127 that you said ... so it would be then.. right?
Do you think the composition is good?
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Can you see a graph for the histogram? A graphical depiction of your pixel values? What does the shape look like? What program do you use?
The 214 median or mean is averaging in your white background. By my interpretation, if you look at the values for all the non-background pixels, your subject has a normal or average distribution of values across the spectrum, not high key. BUt, by the examples that JAG posted, and a common interpretation in the gallery, then it qualifies.
As to composition, I'm probably the last person to give you a lot of advice on that, I'm good with the technical stuff though. It's a little flat, straight on.
For high key with common stuff-
Have you seen all the art-in-a-cappuchino cup stuff people post on in the internet/facebook these days? Where barristas draw designs in a cappuchino with the cream? I was thinking of doing something like that, a pale creamy cappuchino, patterns in the cream, in a pale coffee cup, on a pale tablecloth or light wood table.
Well .. if I'm close I guess it's all good because I won't probably get that many votes anyway!
I don't think I've seen the barristas your talking about, tho... and btw .. I use Photoshop, but I have 3 different pc's and the image I create always looks different on each monitor so I try to produce an image on my work pc because it seems closest to the best image between the 3 that I have.
Panasonic Lumix 10x DMC-TZ3 :photo
Leica Mega O.I.S./28mm WIDE :smile6