Rembrandt. So many photographers use his lighting, or try to. Not many actually understand it. Caravaggio may have mastered chiaroscuro but Rembrandt perfected it.
There’s a saying I heard years ago that goes something like this: amateur photographers think about gear; pros think about work; artists think about light.
Friend of mine years ago, when I was just an early hobbiest, showed me a stunning picture of a leaf, and I remarked, the lighting is amazing, and his reply was, "that's the whole thing, isn't it?" and that stuck with me
When someone asks, "How do I learn photography?" I always tell them, go to a museum and look at how painters use light. Without light there is nothing.
Dear Tatiana, please, please do not use gothic fonts only in capitals. this is almost a typographical crime. especially since nobody used gothic fonts in italy during the renaissance.
Loved this. I always look at painters work for references. I would recommend to everyone in the comments to check out John Milton’s work on Paradise lost and Frank Frazetta.
Thank you for a wonderful video. I actually saw my first Caravaggio here in Rome just yesterday on my travels! It was the first one you highlighted with Matthew- I was very moved and it was quite a powerful moment I was not expecting! I also did not expect to see a video on your channel about it the next day. On my way back to Rome next week I plan to visit the Borghese to see more.
Thanks for the video, I am a big fan of Caravaggio & always mesmerised by how he directed attention to the light/subject using dark shadows. I think the next closest to Caravaggio is Artemisia Gentileschi.
Thank you for this video. I certainly like this style of image consideration and analysis. I firmly believe that great painters can teach us a lot about the use of light and space in an image. Certainly, when I was self-studying photography before I embarked on it as a career many decades ago, I spent a lot of time in art galleries and museums just sitting and pondering over how an image is considered and composed. For me, the big difference is that a painting is constructed by adding to a blank canvas the elements one wants to express; while for a lot of photography it is often a subtractive art - reducing down existing elements to concentrate the viewer on what the photographer wants to express. In that respect techniques like chiaroscuro become very powerful - those shadows frame and shape the light by which we sense and see the material presented.
Great points Trevor. I agree with you in many of them and same with me, when I began taking photography more seriously, I started looking at movies, painting and other sources to understand light. Thank you for watching!
I absolutely love your work on this subject , Painting with light and what apply to photographer's work . True artists look at the light and the source of artistic mind flourish . I follow your work with pleasure and learning experience .
Tatiana, it is such a pleasure to have a cultural person like you in the low-brow photography circles. I am totally fed up with the megapixel monomanes and Leica fetishists. You tell me things I did not know! I can hear that you actually prepare your presentations. You learn, I learn, world gets slightly better. Beauty is God. Stay awesome, OK? A question: How would you approach chiaroscuro with the equipment you have? I am tickling with the thought of doing sfumato, chiaroscuro, naturaliistic, Academic, impressionist series in a group. Could you make a workshop like that? Is it an idea?
For some reason I can’t edit my comment, yes that would be a great idea, I’m tackling with some ideas for workshops / courses for this year still… so that’s a good idea thank you!
You are an amazing presenter and teacher. I value your video’s greatly. Your research analysis and how you present is so unique and thorough. Thank you for what you do.
Caravaggio,you could easily make a 60 minute video about his influences and techniques. To me the light is theatrical from a modern point of view. It was certainly controversial when his works were produced. I think his style brought the viewer into the scene being depicted.
Great video. You have such an easy way of bringing art history to light (pun intended). Seeing some of your photographs makes me think it would be nice for you to present your own portfolio and your inspirations.
After the episode on Ripley this is a must. I'd studied classic painting when I was young but I was'n't specially drawn to Caravaggio. Years later now, with some life perspective I'm able to really appreciate the dramatic and raw beauty of his paintings. Thank you for this .
Really great video. Caravaggio is one of those painters with the ability to literally take your breath away when you stand in front of one of his works. Some photographers immediately spring to mind who's work echoes his. Alex Webb is the first - he even called his collected works 'The Suffering of Light'. Probably the most Caravaggio-esque of them all! Fan Ho - worked in black and white but his use of light with deep shadows and bright highlights in the streets of Hong Kong is similar. Luc Delahaye's monograph 'Winterreise', photographs of post-Soviet Russia, depends a lot on light and shade. Stunning. There must be plenty more I guess in photography 'high contrast' could be a synonym for chiaroscuro, but I think there's more to it than that. Have to give that some thought. More videos like this - yes please! Possible subjects? Edward Hopper (American vernacular with echoes in the likes of Walker Evans) would be a great choice. Keep up the great work!
Excellent exposé on light and contrast! Great paintings. Jamie Windsor did a video some time ago regarding 'chiaroscuro'. I will have to re-watch that, as well. Thanks!
wonderful video. One of my photography mentors here in Trinidad Desmond Clark introduced me to Caravaggio decades ago when he encouraged us to study the work of the Master Painters. I have been lucky to see a few of his works in person over the years. Thanks Tatiana!
Great video ! I have maybe a special one to request, Charles Matton, because he was not only a painter but had also explored sculpture, illustration, photography, video....
Hello Tatiana, Jose from Puerto Rico. I really enjoyed this one. Caravaggio was a master at his craft and one of my favorite painters. David Hockney, the British painter has a theory that the old masters used Chiaro Oscuro and the camera lucida instrument to make their paintings so precise. There is a video titled "Secret Knowledge" where he explains his theory.
Thank you Jose, I must watch that video because it most definitely sounds like I would take something from it and also because I watched a documentary with Hockney before and I enjoyed his takes on art and life. Thank you for watching and much love to Puerto Rico!
Many years ago, when I was struggling with my lighting I started looking to the renaissance time period, and Carrivagio defiantly became my favourite. Some of my work is defiantly influenced by his work. Last year I got to visit Rome and the highlight for me was to see his works in person. Thank you for this video, well done
« Please sir, I want some more. », said Oliver Twist. The music, the visuals [paintings and clips from the Derek Jarman film [1986]), the commentary and paintings are all of a piece. A transgressive artist. See the influence of his work in the Netflix series Ripley. After all photography has been referred to as « painting with light » [Katja Michael]
This is terrific mini documentary about n amazing renaissance painter. Caravaggio learned how to capture light onto the canvas. No doubt Caravaggio was an inspiration to photographer George Hurrell. Your recommendation of John Alton's tutorial on cinematography is a good one. As with Caravaggio, John Alton knew how use to light in setting the mood or atmosphere in such film noir movies as T-Men, Raw Deal (1948), He Walked by Night, The Amazing Mr. X and my favorite film noir movie; 'The Big Combo'.
Yes! I’m such a big fan of film noir and for me it was like a must to mention John Alton in the end, he has a fantastic body of work many of which you pointed out there and he was influenced by this tenebrism / chiaroscuro technique. Thank you so much for watching! 🙏🏻
Great video Tatiana. I have always been a fan of Caravaggio's work since high school. You pointed out many key points that I found interesting as well as intriguing that makes me want to look into a bit more. I would also love to see you pursue this series of painters and there works. On a side note, I watched a very interesting Orson Wells film called "The Trial" (1962) the other night, it was very abstract and the lighting was totally amazing. Thought you may like to check it out if you haven't already. Not sure where you can watch it where you are at but if you can find it you may just like it. Another one I watched was "The Third Man" that Orson Wells was involved in also. Please disregard if you have already made videos on these, it's hard for me to keep up sometimes. 😊
Thank you Rich! The Trial is one of my favourite movies by Orson Welles, I read the novel and so I was very interested in the movie! Appreciate your comment and insights as always, much appreciated! 🙏🏻
Excellent! I enjoy your videos with regard to painters very much. The lighting is so helpful in photography to me. I watched Ripley & the lighting was superb.
Yes, this was great! As a photographer, I've long since learned to study great painters in order to enhance my photography and general appreciation of art and life. A painter I would like to recommend is one who is my favorite. That is Andrew Wyeth. His compositional style, how he highlights his subjects, the level to which he uses texture and mood, sometimes using a minimalist aesthetic, really resonates with me. Just a suggestion.
Oh yes Andrew Wyeth is one of my personal favourites too, appreciate the suggestion and I definitely need to talk about him here on the channel, thank you so much for watching & commenting!
What a beautiful video Tatiana, thank you so much, moving stuff! I would suggest you diving into Pieter Bruegel the Elder! You can connect it to your beloved Tarkovsky which you made references in the past… see I pay attention to class 😂 Or making a list for us of painters we can follow something like that!
Ahaha well done A+ my friend. Really good idea and actually the list would make it more accessible to touch on different painters, thank you for watching and for your support 🙏🏻
I think that's all I have to say. I am an academic photographer who has been on exhibition and is working on my master's thesis. Because I studied photography at university, I always recommend going to university if you want to do photography properly. All of this is taught in the first year. Classical art is a no-brainer. Most people think they are photographers, but university is great because you don't pick up a camera for the first few weeks while you learn about masters. Today's photographers aren't educated that way. They just click here and there. However, there is no story, composition, or point of departure.It is good you are helping out the amateur RU-vid photographers.
