Musty Moldy Bound Fragile Ethereal Crumbly Green Reverence Knowledge Ancient
When I first saw this photograph, I could almost smell the musty, perhaps moldy, pages of these three volumes. I wanted to open them to read what knowledge they might contain, but at the same time felt a kind of humility and reverence for them, like no one should open them except perhaps scholars with white gloves and surgical masks, lest they crumble in one’s hands and be lost forever.
These larger-than-life books are made more imposing by the impressive detail in this photograph. The shallow depth of field serves to accentuate the detail of the yellow/tan pages in the middle volume, and the green binding on top and back binding on bottom. It also helped put the focus on the fragility of the books; one didn’t need everything to be in focus to gain an appreciation for that. My only criticism for the depth of field is that the middle volume fades from in-focus to out of focus, then back again (to the right); it’s a bit distracting, but I am not sure anything is to be done about it
The dark background serves to keep the viewer’s gaze on the subjects; the single light from in front and above help emphasize the stark contrast between the pages, the creases in the green volume, and the texture of the book at the bottom. More light from different angles would lessen the photograph’s impact.
There seems to be a bit of bokeh(?) in the upper left, and perhaps lens flare in the middle of the green book’s pages, but I’m not sure of that. Both were a bit distracting, but did not take away from the impact of the image. Great shot. DB
Musty
ReplyDeleteMoldy
Bound
Fragile
Ethereal
Crumbly
Green
Reverence
Knowledge
Ancient
When I first saw this photograph, I could almost smell the musty, perhaps moldy, pages of these three volumes. I wanted to open them to read what knowledge they might contain, but at the same time felt a kind of humility and reverence for them, like no one should open them except perhaps scholars with white gloves and surgical masks, lest they crumble in one’s hands and be lost forever.
These larger-than-life books are made more imposing by the impressive detail in this photograph. The shallow depth of field serves to accentuate the detail of the yellow/tan pages in the middle volume, and the green binding on top and back binding on bottom. It also helped put the focus on the fragility of the books; one didn’t need everything to be in focus to gain an appreciation for that. My only criticism for the depth of field is that the middle volume fades from in-focus to out of focus, then back again (to the right); it’s a bit distracting, but I am not sure anything is to be done about it
The dark background serves to keep the viewer’s gaze on the subjects; the single light from in front and above help emphasize the stark contrast between the pages, the creases in the green volume, and the texture of the book at the bottom. More light from different angles would lessen the photograph’s impact.
There seems to be a bit of bokeh(?) in the upper left, and perhaps lens flare in the middle of the green book’s pages, but I’m not sure of that. Both were a bit distracting, but did not take away from the impact of the image. Great shot. DB