Saul Leiter

Saul Leiter, an American photographer, was born in Pittsburgh in 1923. He moved to New York City and starts his painting career in 1946. Later, he was inspired by his friends and photography exhibitions in New York and started exploring with color photography. Saul Leiter’s contribution to photography was enormous. His unique compositions in photographs, such as the use of natural framing, had brought innovative ideas to photography. There was not a specific collection of his work that inspired me, but Saul Leiter’s works with reflection had inspired me a lot. The picture above are some examples of Saul Leiter’s work with reflection through windows. His unique way of compositions captured people’s eye at first sight. His use of natural framing skillfully combined two different scene together in one image, creating interesting visual effects.

Analysis of the photograph

Visual

This photograph shows a reflection through windows. The main focus of this photograph is the plant’s leaves overlap with two women’s back. The picture is taken at night, with a soft lighting at the background and a harsh lighting at the foreground. The warm orange light on the leaves makes a strong contrast between the orange light and blue shadow. Colors in this photo plays a important role in making a strong contrast. Orange and blue are complimentary colors, which can create a high contrast when used together. In this photograph, because it is taken at night, the light part are orange and the shadow are blue, conveying a feeling of warm and calm to the audience. Furthermore, the wide range of tones from dark to light in this picture also creates contrast. Because the other parts of the image are blue, the separated lines created by the leaves and the lights seem like fireworks, which grabbed my attention when first time look at this picture. Additionally, the composition in the picture is a foreground and background. There is a depth in the image since the picture include two layers—things see through the window and the reflection in the window. The overlap of layers in one photograph creates a deep depth in this image while making people cannot tell which is which layer. Moreover, since the figure of the two women’s back is the reflection in the window, it change from 3D to 2D in the photo, whereas the leaves are in 3D. This integrate the two layers together, and the unusual dimensions of objects make a interested visual effect. Lastly, the women on the street implied that they are moving when the picture is taken, which adds movement to the photograph.

Technical

Since the photograph is taken at night, the light sources in this image are street lights at the back and a light inside window. A wide aperture is used since there is a blurred background in the image and only the leaves in the window is in focus. The shutter speed should be high since there isn’t a motion blur of women walking at the background. In addition, a slightly high ISO might be used because the image is taken at night and there are noise dots in the image.

Conceptual

Saul Leiter was known for his work shooting through windows. He became the pioneer of color photography, and made enormous contribution to the development of color photography. His use of natural framing shows people a new composition in photographs, making simple everyday-life objects became interesting. As a painter, Saul Leiter’s use of distinctively subdued color in his photos also shows a influence from painting. For instance, the use of complimentary colors in this image is also an painting skill, which makes a high contrast and a strong visual effect in the image.

Vision  

In this set, the message I will convey through my photographs is still the world’s novelty, and I will continue explore the relationship between city and nature or city and people. However, getting inspiration from Saul Leiter, I will achieve my goal by capturing reflection through window. I will apply his use of natural framing and colors to make contrasts in my photographs that can catch my audiences’ view at first sight. In addition, I want to convey a sense of novelty to my audience. Two scenes that take place at the same time will overlap because of reflections, and I will capture that moment. It provide a new perspective to look at the world around us. I will achieve this in Saul Leiter’s style, using unique compositions that combine the overlaps of reflections together.

Conclusion

Saul Leiter’s works inspired me to work with different types of composition and framing in my photographs. Window reflections allows two different views overlap in one flat surface, which provide a new view of the world. My aim is to capture these window reflections. Inspired by Saul Leiter, I will include the use of natural framing and unique compositions in my photos to create a strong visual effects on my audience.