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Final Composition

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The below selection of photos are my final photos and composition. I have chosen these photos as they all link into each other and link to genres such as typology and minimalism whilst exploring colour and texture.

I took inspiration for the bright colour scheme from Franco Fontana and the idea for the use of texture from Aaron Siskind. The idea to present my work as a typology of similar photos came from Bernd and Hilla Becher. I tried to present these images in the same style as Mark Rothko – blocky images stacked on top of each other with spaces in between.

I chose this composition above the others due to the way it makes the photos look more collective and together than the others. The repetition of the lines and continuous direction makes the composition appealing to me. By using this composition, the pictures remain abstract but intriguing.

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Homework Assignment 5 – Color

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Julian Schulze

Julian Schulze is a Berlin based photographer which has an abstract and minimalist approach to photography.  He is mainly focusing on the Abstract & Surreal genre of photography and it appears that he loves bold colors as well as color combinations and compositions. “I like the simple things in everyday life”. One of the most important things seen in Schulze approach is to identify freedom.

Analysis Of Photo

This image clearly shows a supposedly isolated man in what looks like an urban area between some interesting and abstract architecture. This image is aesthetically pleasing to view as it has a clear use of the rule of thirds. The image is split into three sections, the patio making up the bottom sector, the first part of the wall creating the second and the different part of the wall creating the third. Located within the bottom right box there is a fence which is used as a natural line to focus and lead us to the main subject of the man. Also the end of the fence is positioned of one of the focus points within the rule of thirds which helps to further guide the viewer deeper down the picture. This image has used natural lighting and appears that the lighting and colors have not been changed too much in the editing process leading to a extremely ‘real’ picture. I believe this image gives a sense of isolation and intimidation. This is due to the man being all alone and surrounded by buildings which appear to look down upon him creating an almost threatening approach. All this image contains is man made structures, no sights of the natural elements in our earth. I believe this shot is an indication of the rapid urbanization around the world and this is leading to humans destroying nature, plants and vegetation. It appears that the man is walking into the light and moving away from the darker place behind him. This is a clear relation to the contrast between good and bad as lightness relates and good and darkness relates to bad/evil. Perhaps this is suggesting the man has changed around his life and is moving on for the better or he is just heading into a much happier place compared to where he was before. It could also be seen that he has a ‘bright future’ as this is literally portrayed in this photo. However, on the floor we can see how the lighting has created different shaded shadows on the floor along where the man is walking. In the picture, he is walking on the darkest part of the shadow which could imply, he is not currently on the path for success but is heading in the right direction.

Photo shoot for Julian Schulze

Edits ( Minimalistic ) In the style of Julian Schulze

I believe these images strongly relate to Julian Schulz’s work in the sense that they capture a true response to minimalism with a strong demonstration of contrast. Also they have clearly got a sense of color which was the main focus of this shoot. I think what went well with these images is the composition I was able to achieve to allow a much more aesthetically pleasing image and the simply, yet interesting lines which separate color creating a natural, strong contrast. However I believe i could have improved the surrealism within the images to better portray the abstract theme and create an even more interesting photograph.

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Minimalism Photography

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What is Minimalism photography?

Minimalism is a style used by many 20th Century artists, using a minimum amount of components such as colour, shape, line and texture. Within the art world it is considered an very subjective concept, leaving interpretation and meaning up to the viewers perception of the work.

Examples of minimalism photography

Image result for minimalist photography

Image result for minimalist photography

Julian Schulze

Schulze describes himself as “focused on geometric abstraction and minimalist compositions.” His images varey from simple shots of everyday scenes made up of just one or two things to photos where you have to look twice and that will leave you wondering which way is up. Each shot is  composed, using light, shadow, and colour to create a 2D picture out of a 3D scene.

Examples of Julian’s work

 

Analysing Julian’s work

 

Image result for Julian Schulze

This image is of multiple coloured buildings. The three separate buildings create a sense of depth as it creates layers to the image. However, the bold colours from each building and the way the photo is present on an angle confuses the view as it really makes the viewer think as to which way the buildings are meant to be and which one is at the front.  This image effectively exemplifies colour within Julian’s minimalistic work. For example, his use of colour and tone is particularly successful, the orange, red and white all compliment eachother while contrasting with the grey on the windows, this makes me think that Schulze wants the audience to perceive these subjects as three different components of the image.

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My interpretations

Analysis, AO2 Explore Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Knowledge and Understanding, Uncategorized

Bokeh

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What is Bokeh?

Bokeh, also known as “Boke” is one of the most popular subjects in photography ever. The reason why this technique is so popular, is because Bokeh makes photographs visually appealing, forcing us to focus our attention on a particular area of the image. The word comes from Japanese language, which literally translates as “blur” which is exactly what it is.

Image result for what is Bokeh
Basically, bokeh is the quality of out-of-focus or “blurry” parts of the image rendered by a camera lens, – it is NOT the blur itself or the amount of blur in the foreground or the background of a subject. The blur that you are so used to seeing in photography, that separates a subject from the background, is the result of shallow “depth of field”, and is generally simply called “background blur”. The quality and feel of the background/foreground blur and reflected points of light, however, is what photographers call Bokeh.


To achieve this effect, you must select a large aperture about f/2.8, 1.8 and 1.4, then get up close to the subject, and focus on what you wish to be 'sharp' whilst making the subject far from the background you want blurred out.

I really liked the way many photographers used the use of making lights into almost circular spheres, and decided to have a go at trying out the effect, by putting a clean glass over my lens to take the pictures it created the desired outcome, these were my results:
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Experimenting With Layout Composition

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In this post I am looking at ways to present my final piece. Below are the three photographs that I am planning on presenting after deciding how I will present them. I am going to look at different ways of cropping and rotating them to find the most effective way of presenting them.

Square Cropping

Here I have taken each photo and cropped them to a square to see how it may look.

Circular Cropping

Here I have cropped the three images into circles to contrast the round edges of the circle with the sharp lines in the image.

Rotation

Here I have cropped the first image into a square and looked at the four possible ways of rotating it.

Below is the second image which i have cropped into a square and  explored rotating it to see the effects.

The set of images below show the third image cropped to a square and rotated, from these rotations I hope to gain an understanding of how I want to rotate it in my final piece.

Here I have taken the first image and rotated it in four different ways to see which way works best.

The below images are the second image which I have rotated in four different ways to find the most effective composition.

This is the third image rotated in different ways so I can decide which way will be most suitable for my final piece.

In these images I have cropped the image into a circle and rotated it in different ways to see the different effects.

The below images show the second image rotated in different ways to help me decide which rotation I will use.

 

The below shows the third image cropped into a circle and rotated so that I can explore different styles of composition.

Composition

Composition 1

In this composition I took the three original images and lined them up horizontally so the lines were far apart to separate the images from each other.  I don’t like how separated the lines are, they appear too far apart.

Composition 2

In this composition, I swapped image one and three to bring the lines closer together to create a sense of togetherness and to link the images. Due to this link and closeness between the images, I like this composition more.

Composition 3

In this composition I pieced the images together to make a continuous line and bring the photos together to be one. In my opinion, this is one of my more creative compositions as it makes one image out of three images.

Composition 4

In this composition I rotated composition three to see the effects of the line going horizontally instead of vertically. I think that it looks better standing vertically as when standing vertically it looks less odd.

 

Composition 5

In this composition I rotated composition 2 to make the lines run horizontally to create a different effect. I like this composition because of the togetherness of the lines and the direction of them.

Composition 6

In this composition I rotated composition 1 to make the lines run horizontally to see what it would look like. As with composition 1, I do not like how far apart the lines are.

Composition 7

In this composition I have copied composition 1 but cropped the images to squares. I think it looks better in the original form than in square form

Composition 8

In this composition I have copied composition 2 but cropped the images to squares. In square form I cannot appreciate the togetherness of the lines as much as I believe the lines are cut too short.

Composition 9

In this composition I have taken inspiration from  composition 3, I like the style of it but in my opinion it looks better with the original images as the line appears longer.

Composition 10

In this composition I have rotated composition 9 to make the line run horizontally. As I said about composition 4, I think the line looks better running vertically.

Composition 11

In this composition I have copied composition 5 but I have cropped it to a square. I still like the style but I think due to the square cropping, the lines do not appear longer enough.

Composition 12

In this composition I have copied composition 6 but the images are cropped to squares. I do not think it works as the lines are too far apart and not long enough.

Composition 13

In this composition I have copied composition 1 but cropped the images into circles. I think this helps to reduce the problem with the lines appearing too far apart.

Composition 14

In this composition I have copied composition 2 but cropped the images into circles. I think this takes away from the image as the lines seem completely separated and due to the cropping in the first image, it is not obvious that it is a straight line.

Composition 15

In this composition I have rotated composition 14 to make the lines run horizontally. I think this works better as the middle image is a clear focus point in this composition.

Composition 16

In this composition I have rotated composition 13 the make the lines run horizontally. I think that the images look too separated in this composition due to the cropping and positioning.

Composition 17

In this composition I have taken inspiration from composition 3 to bring all of the images together to create one image. I like the style of the composition but I think the outline of the shape is too abnormal.

Composition 18

In this composition I have again taken inspiration from composition 3 but used circles instead of rectangles. In my opinion this type of composition works better with rectangles as it gives strong edges and shape whereas the circles don’t.

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Exploring Minimalism

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Minimalism is a style of photography/art that was introduced by many different 20th century artists. In minimalism,  the photo is kept simple with the minimum amount of colours, shapes and lines to create a simple but effective photo.

Below is an image that I took in a minimalist style; as you can see there is not much happening but it is bold and eye-catching. When taking this photo, I took inspiration from the strong colours and shapes that Franco Fontana uses.

Mark Rothko

Image result for mark rothko

Image result for mark rothko

Mark Rothko was a Russian painter born in 1903. His family immigrated to the US in his childhood, here he became part of a circle of New York-based artists who were known as abstract expressionists. Rothko was most famous for his style of work shown above, they were large-scale rectangular paintings that used simplicity to evoke response.

Rothko is a brilliant example of a minimalist artist; his work shows simplicity and colour in the same way that mine does and I hope to reflect on his work in my final pieces.

Homework Assignment

Homework Assignment 5

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Planning

Task – Produce 100-200 images that explore a colour, contrasting colours or colour harmonies

Locations – roads, items in the streets, doors, fences, buildings

Lighting – natural lighting

Camera settings – ISO 400, fast shutter speed – 1/60, deep depth of field therefore high aperture.

Concept – capture images of contrasting colours and make them appear abstract.

Franco Fontana

Franco Fontana (born 1933) is an Italian photographer, who is best known for his abstract colour landscapes and use of vibrant colours. Fontana looks at many different subjects including urban landscape, fashion and portraits. Fontanas work is in about 60 museums all over the world and he has taken part in over 400 exhibitions. His work has also been used for album cover art.

Image result for franco fontana

Image result for franco fontana

Franco Fontana Favourite Photo:

In this photo natural lighting is used to create contrast, shapes and shadows. The bright yellow/orange contrasts with the black of the shadows. A deep depth of field was used along with a quick shutter speed and an ISO of 400-800 due to the sharpness of the image and lack of noise. The yellow in the image with the blue background gives a warm image.

You can clearly see texture all over the image from the bricked walls to the texture of the yellow material. The image is also quite 3D as it has lots of layers to it but it has a confusing layout; due to how abstract it is, it appears to be an illusion.

Fontana was well known for his abstractness and the colour intensity in his images and this was one of the many examples of his excellent works that show how he can combine colour and contrast to create an eye-catching image.

I think that in this photo and the other colourful abstract photographs that Fontana takes, he is trying to emphasise how colour and contrast is all around us but we do not stop in our day-to-day lives to appreciate it. He is trying to show people everyday scenes from new angles to get them to appreciate it.
Image result for franco fontana

Cara Berer

Cara Berer turns books into art by sculpting and dying them then presenting them in a way in which they have not been seen before. Through her work she tries to  document books and raise questions about the frailness of books and their future.

Image result for cara barer

Image result for cara barer

Cara Berer Favourite Photo:

In the below photo, a fixed light is set up to illuminate the subject and help it to contrast with the black background. There is a wide tonal range in the folds of the pages, this creates a more dramatic image. A deep field of depth appears to have been used as all of the image is in focus, this could also be because a quick shutter speed was used with a medium ISO.

The splashes of colour in the pages contrast with the plain paper and the background to help bring the image to live. The curls of the paper give layers to the image and almost a 3D effect. There is lots of symmetry in this photo which makes it a lot more appealing for the viewer.

Cara Berer takes books then dyes them and makes interesting shapes out of them to get people to think about books and the way that they are treated. She believes books should be appreciated more and the fact that to produce them it ruins the environment should be thought about.

This image and the rest of the images in the series are Berer’s way of saying that the books that you have at home are not as useless as you think; they are interesting objects that can be turned into something eye-catching and complex.

Image result for cara barer

My Photos:

My Favourite Photo:

This photo is my favourite from the shoot. The natural daylight was used to capture this image. I used a deep depth of field to ensure that all of the image was in focus. I used a shutter speed of 1/100 to take this photo, I used a quick shutter speed to make sure that it was a clear image. A low ISO was used to take the image so that there was a minimal about of noise in the photo. You can see lots of texture in the surface of the subjects and even the dirt on top of it to give the photograph a more realistic feel. There is a large contrast between the two colours that you would not normally see together everyday, this makes the image more dramatic and interesting to me. One colour is warm and the other is cold, this makes the image even more contrasting.

The photo is full of vibrant colours to catch the viewers eye and make it a loud and interesting photograph. The photo is very close up and abstract so it adds mystery to it as the viewer will wonder what they are looking at. The two sides of the yellow line roughly line up with the two vertical lines on the rule of thirds grid to create an appealing photograph. I cropped this photograph to make it more abstract and mysterious.

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Minimalism

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Minimalism

Minimalism is a style used by many 20th century artists and photographers. It focuses on having a minimum amount of concepts in an image for example texture, shape and color. In the 20th century the style became popular within art and photography and it is still considered a modern style. Frank Stella and Piet Mondrian are two of the first artists that made minimalist art where both used color blocking in their work. Keld Helmer Peterson and  Mirko Nahmijas were two influential photographers who took minimalist photographs in the 20th century, they both focused on architecture as their subject.

Homework Assignment

Texture HW

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What is Texture?

Texture photography is one way of drawing the viewer’s attention into the image. When used properly, the effect of the texture of the elements in the image can become as commanding as the use of pronounced colours and dramatic scenery.

Frank Hallam Day

Frank is a fine art photographer in Washington.  He taught photography at the Smithsonian Institution in local programs.  His work is in numbers of museums and private collections in the States and abroad.  Frank is a flexible artist shooting in both black and white and color film who travels the world to remote destinations. He is able to capture the rich beauty of pattern, color and texture of everyday lives of diverse cultures.

These are examples of his work.

Image result for Frank Hallam Day

Photo Analysis

Image result for Frank Hallam Day

This photo is of the inside of phone box. Frank has been able to make a dull, boring thing a really interesting photography. I think this photograph would have been taken with a  slow shutter speed in order to capture the high light and the bold colours which are seen on the phone box and everything around it. Furthermore, I think the brightness and the sharp colours in this photo are taken using a high iso as they are captured really well and very strongly. The rule of thirds has been used in this photograph, with the phone box itself being placed just left from the center and it being the main focal point of this image. The use of the rule of thirds draws the human eye to this point and makes the viewer know that it is the main subject of the photo.  This photo is saturated greatly as it uses vibrant colours to intrigue the viewer. The use of different types of lighting makes the colours brighter. The use of reflection on the glass of the phone box creates a feeling of confusion, creating a real mood and story to the photograph.

Contact sheets

My Interpretations

 

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