Photo montages are images created by manipulating pictures in a way where images may be overlapping or rearranged. If done by hand it will probably involve cutting and sticking, however photo montages can also be done through certain computer soft wares,like Photoshop.
History of photo montages
Historically, photo montages were used as a way to express people’s views on politics. Photo montages were used in 1915 in protests against World War 1, then it became a popular technique for surrealist artists who are artists who make art that shows the thoughts of the unconscious mind. Their work is usually very imaginative and creative. For this reason, photo montages became popular within them as it allows them to create pieces that are based on their imagination.
Jerry Uelsmann is an American photographer known for his work on photo-montage, and it has been said that his work inspired many elements of Adobe’s ‘Photoshop’ image editing software. Uelsmann focused on surrealist images created by layering film on top of one another in a dark room. Uelsmann was born and raised in Detroit in 1934 and became interested in photography as a hobby in high school when he was 14 and used it as a way to escape from his school life, where he was getting poor grades. He managed to land a few modeling and wedding shoots and began working as a part time photo assistant for a commercial studio and wedding photographer, then eventually went on to earn a BA from the Rochester Institute of Technology and M.S. and M.F.A. degrees from Indiana University. Uelsmann was a driving force of surrealist photography and was a pioneer of collage and multiple imaging in photography.
These photos are still fairly difficult to create in today’s times, and you have to know your way around Photoshop to even begin a process like this, yet Uelsmann was creating these pictures well before the invention of Photoshop, using a range of unconventional techniques, he managed to create flawlessly realized and executed images working with multiple enlargers, negatives and an array of highly-refined masking, diffusion, burning and dodging techniques. it was after graduating from Indiana University in 1960 and embarking upon a teaching career at the University of Florida that this experimentation really took off. Uelsmann had his first solo show at MOMA in 1967, and is currently the subject of two major retrospective shows. “The Mind’s Eye,” featuring approximately 90 images (including early documentary images dating from the mid-’50s), opens at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts in February 2012 after having debuted this summer at the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where Uelsmann taught photography for close to 40 years.
Annegret Soltau is a German visual artist. Her work marks a fundamental reference point in the art of the 1970s and 1980s. Photomontages of her own body and face sewn over or collaged with black thread are the most well-known works done by her.
As if a spider web, I sewn my own self-portrait. The grey silk thread is a kind of mask, the face overlaid with a delicate tension. I take contours and lines on my face and I support them, some put the new strings caesura. – Annegret Soltau
Some of her work consists of lines in which she has sewn into the picture herself to create interesting abstract lines, and others she has taken multiple pictures, cutting or ripping out certain parts and then sewing them together.
Annegret Soltau Untitled
In this image, it is obvious that Soltau has used multiple people to create this unique piece. She has taken two pictures of people, cut the pictures up into sections and sewn them together so the image was mismatched. The thread keeping the image together creates a unique effect , something which simply gluing or taping it on could never achieve. I like the way she also ripped the original picture, and then went and sewed it back together, and the way she used two different people, one significantly older than the other, creating a comparison between the two. She also keeps the background plain, so we concentrate on the sewn together model.
In contrast to using studio lighting to produce the light for a photograph, natural lighting can also be used to provide lighting for a photograph. Natural lighting is often used in scenarios where using artificial lighting would be impractical, or would ruin the effect of the image. Natural light can provide a soft alternative to the harsh lighting of studio lighting, and can often blend with the environment much more subtly.
Below are a range of professional photographs taken using natural lighting:
Using natural light can present challenges that are not present when using studio/artificial lighting. one such challenge is the inability to manipulate or alter the lighting. Natural lighting changes in intensity and direction depending on the time of day or the location of the photograph. The fact that natural lighting cannot be as easily manipulated means photographers can often struggle with producing an image with the striking effect they are looking for. These problems can be reduced using a variety of different techniques:
Reflectors:
Reflectors can be used when working with both studio and natural lighting, yet when working with natural lighting, they can be more useful in helping to direct light to specific places where it would otherwise not reach. Reflectors are useful when attempting to direct light into an area that it would not reach, or to bounce light back towards the subject to create more illumination:
Here is an example of how a reflector would be used in a studio to bounce the light back onto the other side of the subject, illuminating some of the left side of the subject, while still aiming the majority f the light at the right side.This diagram illustrates how a reflector may be used when using natural lighting. If the lighting originates from a window, then reflectors can be used to bounce light back onto the front of the subjects face, ensuring that the face is illuminated, an there is little wasted lighting.
The color of the reflector also changes the color of the light that is reflected back onto the subject. Gold reflectors are often used to reflect light back so that it casts a warm light back onto the subject, whereas silver reflectors may be used in low light, as it is often able to cast light a further distance than a white reflector.
“A tableau vivant, French for ‘living picture’, is a static scene containing one or more models. They are stationary, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery, and may be theatrically lit.”
Guia Besana
“Guia Besana is a self-taught photographer currently living and working in between Paris (France) and Barcelona (Spain). After studies in media and communication in Turin, Italy, in 1994 she becomes a photographer and moves to Paris (France). With a particular attention to women’s issues she travels in different countries and joins Anzenberger Agency in 2005 and the gallery in 2013. Since 2016, she is also represented by 1968 Gallery (London).” http://guiabesana.com/about/
In an interview Besana talked about how her work with tableau vivant was inspired by her pregnancy. She says, “Pregnancy was a key moment because of my reduced mobility. I naturally and instinctively found myself turning my thoughts into staged sets which depicted the reality I was living.” http://www.cortonaonthemove.com/en/interview/interview-guia-besana/
“Pulp Fiction” is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino; it is based on a story by Tarantino and Roger Avary. Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, and Uma Thurman, it tells several stories of criminal Los Angeles. The film’s title refers to the pulp magazines and hard boiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue.
The meaning behind these photos are the outcomes and affects of drug abuse and crimes. I want to show how badly these things effect people and how deadly drugs and crime can be, especially for younger people. Younger audiences are being easily influenced into taking drugs and committing crimes, so I want to show them what will end up happening if they continue this behaviour.
My model for these photos will be my friend Charlotte because she has short hair. I will be editing her hair to make it black and give her a fringe. if i can’t manage to give her a fringe I will just leave her hair as it is, but still edit it black. I will be taking these photos at a friends house because it is the best place to do it because the layout is similar to the pictures. For the cigarette and the gun I will be using a toy gun and a theater cigarette, and I will get most of the props from around my own home.
I really like how these photos turned out I think I was able to recreate the original photos very well and I was also able to convey the message I wanted to convey.
Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. Sometimes the resulting composite image is photographed so that a final image may appear as a seamless photographic print.
History:
From 1930-1938, John Heartfield used photomontage to create 240 “Photomontages of The Nazi Period” to use art as a weapon against fascism and The Third Reich.
photo-montages were called “combination printing” and started in the 18th century.
In late Victorian North America, William Notman of Montreal used photomontage to commemorate large social events which could not otherwise be captured on film.
Photomontage is often used as a means of expressing political dissent.
It was first used as a technique by the dadaists in 1915 in their protests against the First World War. It was later adopted by the surrealists who exploited the possibilities photomontage offered by using free association to bring together widely disparate images, to reflect the workings of the unconscious mind.
In 1923 the Russian constructivist Aleksander Rodchenko began experimenting with photomontage as a way of creating striking socially engaged imagery concerned with the placement and movement of objects in space.
Other key exponents of the medium are John Heartfield, the German artist who reconstructed images from the media to protest against Germany’s Fascist regime and Peter Kennard; whose photomontages explored issues such as economic inequality, police brutality and the nuclear arms race between the 1970s and the 1990s.
Mood Board
Examples of Early – Late 20th Century Photo-montage
It is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. Sometimes the resulting composite image is photographed so that a final image may appear as a seamless photographic print. Photo-montage is often used as a means of expressing political dissent.It was first used as a technique by the dadaists in 1915 in their protests against the First World War. It was later adopted by the surrealists who exploited the possibilities photo-montage offered by using free association to bring together widely disparate images, to reflect the workings of the unconscious mind. In 1923 the Russian constructionist Aleksander Rodchenko began experimenting with photo-montage as a way of creating striking socially engaged imagery concerned with the placement and movement of objects in space.Other key exponents of the medium are ,John Heartfield the German artist who reconstructed images from the media to protest against Germany’s Fascist regime and Peter Kennard; whose photo-montages explored issues such as economic inequality, police brutality and the nuclear arms race between the 1970s and the 1990s.
John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld) was a German photographer best know for his work in photo-montage. Much of his most famous works were anti fascist/Nazi statements. He used the political nature of his photography as a form of visual art to use as a “political weapon”. John was a prominent figure in the style of photography known as dadaism.
Some of his photo-montage featured various pieces of artwork in conjunction with various photographs. the majority of his photography is borrowed however combines the photos/artwork into a powerful political statement.
“The cross was not yet heavy enough”
This piece uses explicit religious imagery to convey the Nazi’s as an enemy of Christ.
Not much can be said for the technical aspects of John’s photography since much of the photographs used are borrowed however the photos are put together simply by cutting and pasting while occasionally painting/drawing directly onto the frames.
“Whoever Reads Bourgeois Newspapers Becomes Blind and Deaf: Away with These Stultifying Bandages!”
This piece is much different to the rest of John’s work as it doesn’t utilize traditional photo-montage and instead is a more traditional photo as this was a photo-shoot that was setup primarily for this shot and isn’t a combination of images. The photo is framed like many portraits taken of Nazi officials however it features a German newspaper wrapped around his head suggesting that the German people are so absorbed by the news that they are a slave to the media, this is also implied by the attire of the subject which suggests that they are being incarcerated. The photo is essentially telling the viewer that the Bourgeois news was heavily biased and will leave the reader with a closed mind.
2 portraits of Erwin Rommel of similar composition to the piece by John
A Photo-Montage is a collage constructed from photographs.
In history photo-montage has often been used as a means of expressing a political agenda and used as propaganda. It was first used as a technique by the dadaists in 1915 in their protests against WW1. It was later adopted by the surrealists who exploited the possibilities photo-montage offered.
In 1923 the Russian constructivist Aleksander Rodchenko began experimenting with photo-montage as a way of creating striking socially engage imagery.
Other key components of the medium are John Heartfield,the German artist who reconstructed images from the media to protest against Germany’s Fascist regime and Peter Kennard, whose photo-montages explored issues such as economic inequality, police brutality and the nuclear arms race between the 1970’s and the 1990’s.
John HeartfieldHannah Hoch | Dadaism
Pop Art developments (USA and UK 1950s-)
Photo-montage was also used by various pop-artists in the mid 20th century. Pop Art was a reaction to abstract expressionism and was similar to Dada in some ways.
Abstract expressionism is the term applied to new forms of abstract art developed by American painters such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooningin the 1940s and 1950s.
Many Pop Art images and constructions tackled popular consumerism, advertising, branding and marketing techniques. Pop art also explored political concerns such as gender roles and war.
