Tonal Structure
It occurred to me that we should view the painting without people to see if it still works and also to view the tonal structure without the impact of the figures.
Well, it is a bit boring in the foreground, but the structure
still seems to stand up.
| What happens if we attempt to colour the
image in those 5 stop bands?
Well, it looks like this (using Jacobs Ladder with 'normal' curves) and confirms the tonal structure that is obvious. However, thinking of (my) normal photographs, I would not expect to see this pattern and thus the picture would not have this cohesive structure that binds it all together.
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| Here it is with the people, showing how they
break up the relative empty foreground.
There does not seem to be any particular structure to the placement of the figures apart from the concern of the group towards the abduction on the right. |
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| The image in b&w, but blurring the image,
so that all detail is lost.
I can imagine that if one turned this image upside down, it would be a similar tonal pattern to a dark alley way, with light spilling on to the floor and interesting (heaven know what) objects hanging from the roof of the arch over it! I just can not imagine a scene, one could capture with a camera, that had this dark area at the bottom! |
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