Franco Fontana: The Master of Color and Abstraction
Introduction
Franco Fontana is an Italian photographer renowned for his bold use of color, geometric compositions, and abstract approach to landscape and urban photography. Born in 1933, Fontana transformed the way color photography was perceived in the 1960s and 1970s, blending fine art with commercial photography. His work is celebrated for its vibrant hues, minimalist aesthetic, and ability to turn everyday scenes into striking visual statements. Fontana’s influence extends beyond photography into advertising, fashion, and design, making him a defining figure in modern visual culture.
Vision & Visual Philosophy
Fontana emerged during a time when fine art photography was still dominated by black and white. He embraced color early—once saying: Photography should not reproduce the visible; it should make the invisible visible.
He often works from telephoto viewpoints, compressing terrain and flattening form to create chromatic bands of fields, sky, and architecture—shaping large-scale landscapes into abstract imagery.
Camera Gear: Proven Choices for Saturated Colour
Fontana’s equipment was practical yet powerful, enabling his signature visual style:
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35 mm Canon film camera (Canon Eos 1), paired with just three focal lengths:
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17–35 mm zoom
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35–300 mm zoom
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14 mm prime for wide, abstract geometry
These lenses helped him control perspective, isolate color planes, and sense structure across the scene.
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| Canon Eos 1 |
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Film Stocks:
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Kodachrome 25 and Ektachrome 64 slide films—favored for their saturated tones, archival quality, and color fidelity.
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Fontana routinely underexposed by one stop to further intensify color saturation.
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Technique:
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Avoided filters—choosing instead to control color and form through exposure and composition.
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Often shot handheld, embracing natural light and sweeping geometry to guide his compositions.
The Work & Its Legacy
Fontana’s most famous series include:
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Puglia and Basilicata landscapes—sun‑lit farmlands reduced to rhythmic color bands.
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Asfalto—street surfaces photographed from above, turning patches of asphalt into geometric textures.
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Urban and seascape studies in Ibiza, Havana, Los Angeles—each stripped into formal, graphic statements of hue and line.
How to Imitate His Style in Post Production
You can use Pixlr, a really powerful and cost-effective software, to emulate Fontana’s signature look. Pixlr offers advanced editing tools, an intuitive interface, and cloud-based accessibility, making it ideal for both beginners and professionals. To recreate Fontana’s style:
- Start with a color image and boost saturation to enhance the vibrant, bold hues that define his work.
- Increase contrast to create a graphic, almost surreal quality, emphasizing the separation between colors and shapes.
- Use the color balance tool to intensify specific hues—Fontana often favored deep blues, fiery reds, and bright yellows to create visual impact.
- Crop tightly to focus on geometric patterns and abstract forms, removing any distractions from the composition.
- Add a subtle sharpening effect to enhance the crispness and clarity of lines, replicating the precision of his medium-format prints.
How to Shoot Like Franco Fontana
- Focus on color and form – Fontana’s work is all about transforming ordinary scenes through bold colors and strong compositions. Look for vibrant hues and graphic shapes in your environment.
- Use a medium-format camera – If possible, shoot with a medium-format camera like the Hasselblad to achieve the rich detail and tonal range that define Fontana’s images.
- Shoot in strong, natural light – Fontana often used the golden hours of early morning or late afternoon to enhance the saturation and contrast in his images.
- Experiment with abstraction – Don’t be afraid to crop tightly or shoot from unusual angles to create abstract, minimalist compositions.
- Embrace simplicity – Fontana’s images often feature clean, uncluttered backgrounds. Focus on isolating your subject and eliminating distractions.
- Use a telephoto lens for compression – A longer lens, like a 150mm, can help compress space and emphasize graphic patterns, a technique Fontana frequently employed.
Conclusion
Franco Fontana’s photography is a masterclass in seeing the world through the lens of color and abstraction. His ability to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary reminds us that photography is not just about capturing what we see, but about reimagining it. Fontana’s work challenges viewers to look beyond the literal and embrace the emotional and artistic potential of the medium. His bold, graphic style continues to inspire photographers to push the boundaries of creativity and redefine the possibilities of color photography.
Books featuring Franco Fontana's work
America : see it on Amazon
