It’s an age-old exercise but I’ve never completed it . . . so, I thought I’d take the holidays to work my way through the list of Itten’s Contrasts, inspired by Michael Freeman and his book The Photographer’s Eye. (I wrote a bit more about Itten’s Contrasts here.)

Itten’s Contrasts

Here’s the list of Itten’s Contrasts if you want to explore this exercise yourself. You find or take three photographs — one representing each element of contrast, and the third photo containing both elements.

  • Point/Line
  • Area/Line
  • Plane/Volume
  • Area/Body
  • Large/Small
  • Line/Body
  • High/Low
  • Smooth/Rough
  • Long/Short
  • Hard/Soft
  • Broad/Narrow
  • Still/Moving
  • Thick/Thin
  • Light/Heavy
  • Light/Dark
  • Transparent/Opaque
  • Black/White
  • Continuous/Intermittent
  • Much/Little
  • Liquid/Solid
  • Straight/Curved
  • Sweet/Sour
  • Pointed/Blunt
  • Strong/Weak
  • Horizontal/Vertical
  • Loud/Soft
  • Diagonal/Circular

I’m starting with one of Freeman’s own contrasts — one/many — only because when I was at UC Berkeley Botanical Garden last week, I just happened to see this particular illustration.

One:

One - UC Berkeley Botanical Garden - ©ingridtaylar

One - UC Berkeley Botanical Garden - ©ingridtaylar

Many:

Many - UC Berkeley Botanical Garden - ©ingridtaylar

Many - UC Berkeley Botanical Garden - ©ingridtaylar

One and Many:
One and Many - ©ingridtaylar

Posts on Itten’s Contrasts – by Keyword: Itten’s Contrasts

Related Posts:

  1. It’s Not Imbalanced, It’s Itten
  2. Itten’s Contrasts: Day 1
  3. Itten’s Contrasts – Day 2: Heavy/Light
  4. Itten’s Contrasts – Day 3: Transparent/Opaque
  5. Itten’s Contrasts – Day 4: Straight/Curved
  6. Itten’s Contrasts – Day 5: Moving/Still
  7. Itten’s Contrasts – Day 6: Much/Little
  8. Itten’s Contrasts – Day 7: Smooth/Rough
  9. Itten’s Contrasts – Day 8: High/Low