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AO2 Explore Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation, Unit 1 Abstract

Week 5 Photoshoot Colour/Texture

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For this shoot, I took a lot of inspiration from minimalist photographers such as Jon Setter, Kyle Jeffers and Julian Schulze, but also tried to take into account the style of Photographers like The Boyle Family and Aaron Siskind, and tried to get at least on subject photographed in the style of these photographers. i found it very interesting focusing of colour and shape, as well as texture and different techniques. I wanted this Photoshoot to show a verity of these skills and I feel as though i have achieved this.

Contact Sheets:

Red Dot: Consider for final edit

Red Line: do not use

Box + Arrow: Crop

Inspiration for my images:

Many of the images in my contact sheet are based on the works of Kyle Jeffers and Jon Setter especially. I wanted to recreate the sharp images of setter combined with a slightly less saturated palate of Jeffers (concerning his pictures of buildings that is) and therefor i can see many elements of their work starting to emerge through my own.

However, I also wanted to try to take some pictures in the style of other photographers as well, most notably the Boyle Family, but also a few in the vain of Aaron Siskind (although i tried to do different shots compared to the summer task that i completed about him) to try  and challenge myself and produce the best variety of high quality photographs.

Final Images:

I found that this image is the closest that i got to that of Jeffers’ and Setter’s work, as it has the same characteristics in terms of shape, sharp edges, and an interesting colour palate. My goal for this picture was to try and emulate Setter’s ‘RedMilk’. I also feel as though I have put a unique spin on my picture, using a picture taken from further away.

For this Picture, I liked how the lines were perpendicular to one another, similar to a lot of Setter’s work, yet it also has more of a  monochromatic tone compared to a lot of Setter’s pictures. I also Like the use of angles in this photo, as the camera is slightly canted and this adds to the sharp edges of the perpendicular, 90 degree angles within the picture.

For this picture i wanted to focus on minimalism and It has definitely turned out better than i was expecting. This specific photo was not taken as an attempt to copy others work, but as this was near the end of my shoot, I had started to get an eye for the colour and texture photos that Photographers were producing, yet it does still feature some of the key elements of minimalistic photographer’s work.

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation, Component 2 ESA, Unit 1 Abstract

Franco Fontana Response

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FRANCO FONTANA’S LIFE AND WORK:

Franco Fontana was born in 1933 in Modena. He took up photography in 1961 and joined an amateur club. He held his earliest solo shows in 1968 in Modena, his native city, which marked a turning point in his career. He has published over seventy books with Italian, French, German, Swiss, Spanish, American and Japanese publishers. His photographs have appeared worldwide in over 400 exhibitions, solo and collective. His images are in collections in over fifty public and private, Italian and international galleries, including: the Bibliothèque Nationale, and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography, Rochester, the Musée de la Photographie, Arles, New York, the National Museum, Beijing, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Many companies have asked him to collaborate on advertising campaigns, he has published photographs in Time-Life, The New York Times, Vogue Usa, Vogue France, Il Venerdì di Repubblica, Sette del Corriere della Sera, Panorama, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Class, Epoca and others. Fontana has been invited to hold photography workshops in various schools, universities and institutes such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Tokyo Institute of Technology, the Académie Royale des Beaux Arts, Brussels, the Toronto University, and so on in Rome, Paris, Arles, Rockpot, Barcelona, Taipei,  Politecnico di Torino, and the LUISS University, Rome.  He has collaborated with the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Japanese Ministry of Culture, the French Ministry of Culture.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

This piece by Franco is very simple in composition, only consisting of simple line work, going along the rolling hills of the grasslands. There are large blocks of color which separate the photo into 3 sections, blocking each color into a section. Even through the photo contains a very simplistic color pallets, the colors merge and harmonize together to create an overalll “tied together”look. There is no real foreground, mid ground or background, therefore the landscape appears 2D and flat. The length and width of each block of color is fairly relative to one another therefore there is a slight sense of pattern and repetition. I believe that during editing, the colors have been over saturated in order to create impact and boldness. The natural lighting coming directly above from the sun, gives the image brightness yet lacks any sort of shadows or tone differentiation. Even though this is a photograph of fields, the image does not feel organic or natural in any sense due to the symmetry and geometry seen within it.

His reasoning for creating these images are “my goal is to interpret reality. Anyone can see the landscapes I photograph, but with my camera I try to capture the details and features that the eye cannot see. Some tell me, “I went to Provence and I saw ‘your’ landscapes”; sometimes they will have seen those places before coming to an exhibition, but only after looking at my work they see that part of reality pinpointing something they had not noticed before.”

CONTACT SHEETS AND SELECTION:

This was a very extensive and thorough photo shoot therefore i ended up with over 200 photos which i eventually cut down to 9 with the help of contact sheets. The plus indicates that the image is successful. The S indicates the need to further saturate the image, and the D indicates the need to lighten the image.

ANALYSIS OF MY MOST SUCCESSFUL PHOTO:

i felt that this photo encapsulated the formal elements that Franco explores best. Firstly, the main focus of the image is the bright and saturated colors of the sky and the yellow building below, which perfectly harmonize to create an impactful image. The light grey and brown roof tones down the image slightly, yet works well together with the blue and yellow. Like Franco, I captured these images on days with few clouds and strong natural lighting which allowed the bright blue sky to pop and provide a clean backdrop for the image. The light was hitting the building from the top left hand of the sky therefore no real shadows are cast onto the building. The image follows the  rule of 3, with the sky filling up the top 2/3 of the image and the building filling up only 1/3 of the image.  Like with Franco’s work, There is a slight sense of repetition in this image through the evenly spaced roof tiles and windows in the bottom third of the image. The repetition of pattern also makes this image feel industrial and man-made, far from anything organic. This image is also very flat and does not have a clear foreground or background giving it a 2D quality.

Whilst capturing these images, I set my exposure to 600, as it was quite a bright day yet i wanted it high enough to allow color to be bright. As there was plenty of natural light, I maintained my shutter speed at 1/60 which was enough to produce clear and crisp images. I set my white balance to direct sunlight as these were the conditions i was experiencing that day. The field of view in this image is very small, meaning that i zoomed in quite far into the building to capture this image.

 

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation, Component 2 ESA, Unit 1 Abstract

Franco Fontana Response: Most Successful Photos

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WHAT I DID:

This is a selection of my most successful photos from a photoshoot i did focusing on the work of Franco Fontana. All the images below follow a simplistic approach, mainly concentrating on bold color and minimalist composition. I was not able to capture the beautiful rolling hills like Fontana has done, but I still incorporated similar elements into my work in order portray similar images.

AO2 Explore Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Uncategorized, Unit 1 Abstract

Abstract Project – Final Images

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Presentation and Evaluation

This blog post features my final 5 abstract pictures which I have edited and it explains some of the features and techniques used to capture the images along with bits on how I edited them.

Image number 1.

This is perhaps my first image of the project that I properly edited and manipulated. It was taken with a quick shutter speed so the background was dark as I was using black paper to create it which could have been exposed easily with more light being let into the camera. I took this image from a straight on/portrait viewpoint to give the paper a look as if it was floating.

Technical:

Lighting – The built in camera flash was used for taking this photograph so that the objects outline was enhanced, whilst the room lighting was dimmed so the background was not very bright.

Aperture and Shutter Speed – The aperture in this photo was quite small and the shutter speed was fairly fast, therefore the background stayed dim. It didn’t affect the white colour as the white balance was turned up and the ISO was also quite high around 800 so the white still stood out.

Visual:

The visual elements of this photo include: Black and White colour, a-lot of tone and texture within the details of the paper, a 3D effect due to the shadows inside the paper and finally a very sharp outline of the crumpled paper.

Image number 2.

Technical:

Lighting – Camera Flash and background classroom light.

Aperture – Larger aperture to increase brightness.

Shutter Speed – Fast shutter speed to keep the image sharp and clear.

ISO and White Balance – The ISO is turned up to increase the colours in the image and the white balance was not changed.

Visual:

The visual elements of this photo include a high contrast in colour, tone and texture between the disco ball object and the blurred out background and a strong depth of field due to the sharp foreground and blurred background.

Image number 3.

Technical:

Lighting – The lighting in this was artifical in the background with the built in camera flash providing the main source of brightness

Aperture – The aperture in this photo was

Shutter Speed –

ISO and White Balance – The ISO in this photo wouldn’t really play a large influence because the image is in black and white. The white balance was turned up so that the contrast makes the patterns more prominent.

Visual:

The visual elements of this image include a dual colouring of black and whites along with slight hints of yellow in the middle of the circle. There is quite a touch texture around the surface of the circle and a slight pattern created by the light shinning through the lamp. The original unedited version of this photo has a 3D effect due to the shadows created by the flash but with the dark black and white contrast present it has a 2D look.

Image number 4.

Technical:

Lighting – All natural lighting that is coming through a large nearby window.

Aperture – The aperture was higher than usual so the image would be a lot brighter due to more light going into the lens.

Shutter Speed – The shutter speed in this was around 1/10 of a second so that a fair amount of light could enter the camera.

ISO and White Balance – The ISO and white Balance were turned up so the colours were bright and the differences in colour were also prominant.

Visual:

The visual elements of this photo include an almost singular colour look with the different shades of white and the high tone that makes the difference in colours noticeable. There is quite a smooth and 3D texture to this photo created by the brilliance of colour in the mirror frame and the shadows in the corner giving the photograph some depth of field.

Image number 5.

Technical:

Lighting – All dim natural lighting with no artificial lighting.

Aperture – The aperture for this photo was slightly higher so that the dim areas of the photograph were a little brighter.

Shutter Speed – The shutter speed was fairly fast so that the image was sharp.

ISO and White Balance – The ISO and white balence are turned up slightly to increase the contrast in colours in the image.

Visual:

The visual elements of this image include black and white colour, a light tone, with dark spots here and there which give a 3D shape and depth of field to this image. The is also quite a rugged texture on the walls due to all the shadows in the marks in the walls.

The purpose of all of these images was to reflect my findings in case studies and previous blog posts about the world of abstract photography, experimenting with camera techniques and themes that can create “abstract images”.

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation, Component 2 ESA, Homework, Unit 1 Abstract

Alfred Stieglitz – week 5

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Alfred Stieglitz was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his fifty-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was known for the New York art galleries that he ran in the early part of the 20th century, where he introduced many avant-garde European artists to the U.S.

Examples of his cloud works :

In his work, he takes pictures of instructing and unique forms of clouds, with the light and darks clashing.

Image result for alfred stieglitz photography cloud

Image result for alfred stieglitz photography cloud

Contact sheets:

To take photos with inspiration from Stieglitz’s work, I will be aiming to take pictures of clouds, ones with unique textures and where the sun is trying to break through from behind. I’m also looking for pictures where the lights and darks contrast considerably, and ones which I can turn into an abstract photo.

 

My chosen photos:

Edited photos:

To edit these photos, I went and put a black and white filter on, and then went and played around with the contrast, exposure and light. I brought the light and exposure down, and increased the contrast to try and replicate Alfred’s works.

 

My final choices :

I chose these three as my final photographs for this task because I believe they relate the most to Stieglitz’s work. It shows contrast between the lights and darks of the clouds and continues on with his black and white style.

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Unit 1 Abstract

Ralph Eugene Meatyard

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Ralph Eugene Meatyard was born in Normal, Illinois and raised in the nearby town of Bloomington, Illinois. Meatyard purchased his first camera in 1950 to photograph his newborn first child, and worked primarily with a Rolleiflex medium-format camera ever afterwards. He eventually found his way to the Lexington Camera club in 1954, and at the same time joined the Photographic Society of America. It was at the Lexington Camera Club that Meatyard met Van Deren Coke, an early influence behind much of his work. During the mid-1950s, Meatyard attended a series of summer workshops run by Henry Holmes Smith at Indiana University and also with Minor White. White, in particular, fostered Meatyard’s interest in Zen Philosophy.

Image result for ralph eugene meatyard zen twigs

This is one of Meatyard’s photos from his Zen Twigs series. He has made the focus of the image the twigs by blurring the background so that it is almost unrecognisable. To achieve this focus on the twig Meatyard may have use manual focus to make the background as blurry as possible. The effect of leading lines can be seen in this photo as the viewers eye may focus on the twig then follow the twigs shape round the image. The photo has been taken in black and white which shows what time period the photo was taken in as there weren’t coloured photos yet. The effect of the black and white gives the photo an abstract effect.

Contact Sheets: 

Experimentation: 

These are my ‘Zen Twigs’ experiments. I tried to make the images look as similar as possible to Meatyards photos. I started each edit by making the image black  and white. I then changed the amount of black and white in levels to make the twigs stand out from the background, and give the twigs as much detail as possible. I cropped some of the photos to makes the twigs the main focus of the photo and get rid of any possible distractions in the background. I’m happy with the final product of the edits as they look very similar to Meatyards and because they are very focused and crisp.

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Unit 1 Abstract

Aaron Siskind

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Aaron Siskind was an American photographer who was interested in taking images of “true to life” objects in an abstract way. He took many images of things both in natural and urban environments. Many images he has taken contained many types of unique textures. In the mood board below this is especially visible in the images he has taken of tree barks.

Mood Board

Here are some images that Siskind has taken, that will inspire my future photo shoots.

Analysing his work

In this image Siskind uses interesting technical features. Although the image is in black and white, it is clear that the image was taken in daylight, as all the details in the frame are lit up clearly. It is also clear that the shutter speed was not too high or low, as the image isn’t over or underexposed. The aperture must have also been controlled due to the balance in exposure.

Part of what makes the image successful are the visual techniques. The image shows what appears to be many different layers of a poster peeling of a wall. By capturing this, Siskind has created many intriguing visual techniques. Firstly, the image has a very interesting texture. The photographer has successfully captured  the rough and bumpy surface of the wall. This is very appealing to the audience as it gives the image a whole other level for the audience to appreciate. The image’s form is also helps to capture attention, as the different layers almost give the photo a 3D effect, making it more appealing.

The image’s context makes it further interesting. This particular image was taken in 1961, in Mexico. During this time Mexico was going through The Dirty War where there was conflict between the government and left-wing groups.

After researching to context, it became clear that Siskind may have been trying to capture a deeper,  concept with this image, about what was going on around him at the time. Because the wall he photographed was ruined, and peeling away he could have been trying to interpret the effect the conflict was having on the country.

 

This images is one of my favorites by Siskind. Similar to the last image, it also uses many technical features. Firstly, the image is in black and white and it its over or under exposed. It also appears that this image was taken in the daylight, as the details in the image are perfectly lit and visible.

The visual effects of this image help to make it very appealing. Because the paint on the wall is peeling, and Siskind has captured it from the front, this image contains various different types of interesting tones and shadows. The peeling paint also gives the photograph a very attractive form, as it gives the photo a 3D vibe to it. This makes the image really interesting, as the wall has different layers to it. The image also has a very visually pleasing texture to it. You can very clearly see the bumpy and cracked surface. This is interesting to an audience as it gives the image a very vintage feel to it.

My response

For my response I attempted to capture interesting and unique types of textures, as this is what Siskind also photographed.

 

 

 

My best outcomes

Editing

                                                                                                                                             These were the two images I begun with on Photoshop.

Next, I dragged one image on top of the other, so that the second image became a separate layer

Next I changed the image into black and white.

After, I slightly lowered the brightness so it was a little darker, and I increased the contrast a lot so that the white label would stand out more.

Next, I had to also edit my second layer which was the other image that I dragged over the top of my background. I also changed this image into black and white so the colors on the label could create an interesting contrast.

Here, I increased the contrast and also the brightness, so this image could look brighter when it was layered over the background as the background image was edited darker.

I then edited the opacity to 54% so both of the images could blend together.

This was my final outcome, after editing the two images and layering them on top of each other.

 

I then wanted to experiment further by seeing how the image would look with a bit of colour. So I then layered the original photo of the label, on top of the one that I had already Photoshoped.

Here, I lowed the opacity so I could see how the images would look over the top of each other. I decided to place the original photo slightly higher, and to the left to create this interesting effect.

After I was satisfied with the positioning of the image, I changed the opacity to 100% so I was able to edit my image. I decided to put the brightness very low and the contrast very high, so that the darkness of the photo could blend well with the black and white background.

Lastly, I then lowered the opacity again so both of the layers were visible on top of each other.

This is another potential outcome for my original two images.

 

 

 

 

To being editing this photo, I cropped it so that the dent in the wall was right in the middle of the image as I wanted it to be the main focus when an audience views my  photo.

Next, I increased the contrast dramatically and the brightness only slightly. I  did this because both parts of the wall were in different positions to the sun, meaning one side was very lit whereas the other side was in the shade. I wanted to exaggerate the contrast of lighting.

Lastly, I changed the image into black and white so the lighting contrasts would be even more noticeable.

This is the final outcome.

 

 

 

Firstly, I cropped the image to get rid of the lower left side of it as the background was visible and it was distracting.

Next, I lowered the brightness so all the colours would look darker and I increased the contrast.

I then changed the image into black and white so the contrast of all the layers of colour would be a lot more prominent.

After, I dragged the original image on top of the image i had already edited.

I then decreased the opacity to 50%, and positioned the image in a slightly different position to the version used on the background. I think it makes my image look a lot more interesting as both of the images have different opacitys and this makes the contrast between the tones really interesting.

I then layered another original version of the photo, and positioned it slightly higher and changed the opacity to 30% so it was lower than the previous one. I like how the image looks as there is an interesting fade effect.

This is my final image.

 

 

 

My best edited outcomes

This image is one of my best due to many elements. On the technical side, this image was taken in the day light, using manual focus. I used manual focus so that I was able to choose which layer of paint to focus on.

The visual elements of the image are also very interesting.  The image is of lots of different coloured layers of paint peeling of a wall. This is very interesting as it makes the image contain many different textures and layers, which gives the photo a sort of 3D effect. This is very visually pleasing because it gives the audience more details to notice.  As the image is black and white, There are a lot of interesting tonal contrasts, as originally all the layers were very varied different colours and stood out a lot.

 

This image is very visually interesting. This is due to many things but, primarily the layering of images. I think that layering of the images helps make this photo far more appealing to the audience. This is because the black and white images and the coloured image create a distinct contrast that is very eye catching. Another contrast that is also very appealing is the writing on the label. I like how there is a coloured version and a black and white version position differently. I think they complement each other very well as they are completely different. The dramatic contrast that the white and yellow creates, helps to draw people’s attention in.  There is also a big variety of different textures present in this photo, as all the individual images were focused on the different surfaces seen on a wine bottle. The textures within the photograph are interesting because they are very intricate details that will help keep the viewers attention on this photograph for longer.

The technical features of this image help to bring out the visual features I mentioned above. All the images that were layered were taken using manual focus. This helped me capture the textures of the label in a lot more detail compared to using autofocus. It was very helpful as it allowed to focus on the exact detail that I wanted to. The images were also taken in day light. This was also very helpful as it meant the images turned out very clearly, and perfectly exposed.