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Quotes from Pictorial Composition in Photography — Arthur Hammond

1880–1962

← All quotes by Arthur Hammond

44 quotes

A view or a landscape will impress different people in different ways, just as a human individual will.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

Plates and films possess great latitude, it is true, but too short an exposure always has a tendency to cause a loss of atmosphere.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

Practically speaking, the securing of true tones in a photograph depends entirely upon the exposure.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

The treatment of the subject is considered to be more important than the subject itself.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

There is as much difference in the meaning of the words tone and tones as there is in the words nerve and nerves.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

To learn to see pictorially is the first essential duty of the would-be picture-maker.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

Too many lines and too many objects of equal importance in a picture will cause confusion, discomfort and eye-strain.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

Just because a picture is unusually low in tone, it is not necessarily pictorial.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

Lines have expression, and by the use of lines alone we can suggest impressions.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

There should be no very violent contrasts and no spottiness of light and shade, and, above all, the tones must be right.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

The laws of principality and unity, harmony and balance, must always be observed. The picture should tell one story, and only one.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

A. J. Anderson says: "Expose for the tones that are most desired."

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

This is composition; knowing what to select, how to arrange, what to emphasize or eliminate and how to do it...

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

The areas of tones are called masses and, whatever the subject of picture may be, its success as a picture depends very largely on the effectiveness of the spacing and massing.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

So photography, having a place among artistic processes, has its own distinguishing quality which cannot be duplicated by any other medium.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

The main object of interest should not be in the exact centre of picture-space, because that is where we imagine the fulcrum of the steelyard balance to be.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

The lack of hard edges and the entire absence of that biting hardness of definition that is unavoidable with some lenses is just what the picture maker wants.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

A curved line, as a rule, will convey an impression of beauty more strongly than a straight line; a curve can be vastly more satisfying and pleasing than a tangent.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

I do want to make it clear that the success of the picture does not depend entirely upon the beauty of the subject, but mainly upon the manner in which the picture-maker uses his pictorial material.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

The success of the picture depends entirely upon the exposure; very little can be done in development to correct errors in timing, and it is the shadows that must be considered in judging the exposure.

Pictorial Composition in Photography (1920)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Arthur Hammond (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.