Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams (1902-1984) created some of the best black and white photographs the world has seen. His photographs are not just brilliant because they are technically spot on and the scenes he capture are fascinating, but because they are timeless and will never go out of fashion.

Ansel Adams was not only a photographer but also an environmentalist and so the bulk of his photographs feature landscapes in the American West where he lived and especially in Yosemite national park.

Ansel Adams photographed a number of very iconic American scenes like the above but he also encaptured the bleak and undiscovered vast landscapes of America. I like his images because of this and also the feeling of ambitiousness and adventure in his photographs.

Applying Mathmatical Theory to Photography

The golden Triangle rule is a practical spin off of the golden section rule and is used effectively where a scene is comprised of many diagonal lines. When taking a photo using the golden Triangle you should imagine a line going diagonally from one corner to another. Then with the two remaining corners, a perpindicular line is drawn off the diagonal into the two corners.

I found a diagram visually explaining this on google images, here is the example:





'The Golden Spiral':
The Golden Spiral is another mathematical equation that can be applied to photography to create brilliant photographs. The Golden Spiral has been used for hundreds of years in architecture and art however one of the most interesting artists that used it was Salvador Dali, it was most famously used in his piece 'The Sacrement of the Last Supper'.

I'm not going to try and explain it in its mathematical form but this photograph and diagram over the top explains it beautifully.