This week we will be focusing on selecting your best images from your first 2 x landscape photo-shoots and then enhancing, manipulating, printing and displaying your final images. Some of you will be adding to these this week.

Keld Helmer-Petersen was a Danish photographer who was inspired by Albert Renger-Patzsch, the experiments at The Bauhaus in Germany and by Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind at the Art Institute of Chicago. He achieved fame for his colour photographs but he also published several books of black and white images that explore dramatic contrasts of tone. In some, we are only presented with images that are black and white. All mid tones have been removed. He created and found these images, using both cameras and flat bed scanners to achieve the effects he was looking for. These books are beautifully designed and encourage us to consider the space around the image and the accompanying text as integral to the meaning of the work.

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Your task:

• Create a blog post about Keld Helmer-Petersen
• Include a selection of images relating to his work with high contrast black and white images (including the books he designed and which feature his work).
• Choose a set of images from one of your URBAN PHOTO-SHOOTS
• Edit them using the THRESHOLD TOOL in Adobe Photoshop as shown below…
• Print the images A4 size to Printer : Photography
• Share what you learned about how to create and manipulate the images for your outcomes and evaluate the final product. What worked well? What could have been even better?

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Example

Edited images

Extension Task

• Multiply, flip and mirror your image to create a kaleidoscopic / abstract / symmetrical design…
• Adobe Photoshop > open image > canvas size > double the width value > set anchor to the left > select the image using the marquee tool > click ctrl j > then click ctrl t whilst holding down the shift key > drag the image over to the right side of the canvas and position > click enter > use the cursor keys to line up your image and achieve symmetry > then go to LAYER > FLATTEN IMAGE
• Repeat the process so that you mirror your design underneath your current image
• Show your process…

Romanticism is an artistic and intellectual movement, which began in the late 18th and early 19th century Europe. It was a reaction against the realism of modern science. It is a strongly emotional and evocative artistic style, that shows vivid imagination.

Images in romanticism are quite often empty, avoiding life. However some photographers use humans and animals to tell the story. Sometimes it can include dark and stormy weather, with a foreboding spirit about it. The most important feature in a romantic landscape is the emotion that inspires the viewer.

A romantic photographer is someone who projects their inner being, emotions and experiences outward through the lens. Romanticism is about resonance, longing and evocation. Nature was a source of inspiration in the visual arts of the romantic movement. Romantic artists depicted nature to be beautiful, powerful and unpredictable.

Here are the photographs that I felt turned out the best, which I edited, to enhance the colours, contrast and exposure.

photograph one

I edited this photograph by adjusting the levels, to enhance the blacks, midtones and whites. I did this because I wanted to create an intense contrast between the sunset, the clouds and the sea. I also increased the saturation, which brought out the oranges and reds, meaning the photograph stands out and is more interesting. Doing this also allows there to be a brighter reflection on the sand too, adding interest for the viewer.

photograph two

For this photograph I practically did the same as the photograph above, as I wanted to achieve the same output, a more colourful and appealing photograph. If I was to edit this photograph again I would fix the horizon line, mean it would be even more aesthetically pleasing and would have a better composition.

photograph three

For this photograph, I enhanced the saturation and contrast, to accentuate the colours and details in the picture. I like the fog that sits on the horizon, as it creates an ominous tone. This photograph has very extreme darks in the bottom half, which balances out the photograph.

photograph four

For this photograph, I enhanced the contrast, to allow all the elements to be more bold and set apart from another. This meant that the rock face has more detail and 3D.

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Landscape photography captures elements in the world. This can focus on a vast area or highlight smaller features within the natural world.

When using landscape photography, many photographers focus on nature, capturing the natural elements, like the sun, clouds, mountains and rivers. This would be the main form of landscape photography, however. In contrast, some photographers prefer focusing more on the the man made features, sometimes described as disruptions of landscapes. This can include buildings, bridges, fences and vehicles. This is less popular though as many pursue landscape photography to escape their busy lives and be close to nature.

Looking at landscape photography should create the same emotion from being in the original place, capturing the photo. It is about capturing an image that embodies the spirit of the outdoors. There are a broad range of landscapes including, land, sea, urban, nature. There are no creative boundaries.

I decided to edit 3 of my favourite photographs from the MINOR WHITE inspired photoshoot, to look similar to his.

photograph one

When editing this photograph, I changed the levels to enhance the blacks, midtones and lights. I did this because MINOR WHITES photographs have intense contrasts, which is caused by dramatic blacks and whites. I then decreased the saturation, could make the photograph black and white. Overall I find this photograph to be very similar to one of MINOR WHITES photographs (shown below), which was what I wanted.

I see these 2 photographs to be similar, because of the light obtruding from the clouds and how it scatters is captured in both mine and WHITES photograph. Also both photograph have intense contrasts too.

photograph two

When editing this photograph, I also changed the levels to dramatise the darks and lights. I made sure that when I changed the levels of the photograph that I didn’t over-expose it or under-expose it either. I balanced the levels so that the photograph looked just right, and that the same structure of the clouds were kept too. I then also decreased the saturation to create a black and white look. Even though MINOR WHITE did not take photographs solely of clouds, I still feel it was inspired by WHITE, because of how dramatic it looks.

photograph three

When editing this photograph, I yet again changed the levels, meaning I could select either the darks, midtones or lights and individually change them to benefit the aesthetics of the photograph. If I were to edit this photograph again, I would definitely increase the lights to make sure that all tones were included, which would make it even more similar to WHITES photographs. I then decreased the saturation to turn it into black and white.

With these photos, I used the VSCO app and altered them in many various ways. For example, in all three, I edited them using a filter named ‘HB2’ which helped bring out the blue tones within the image, giving them a cooler look. Furthermore, I cropped the photos in order to best fit around the focused parts of the image, and then I centered them and adjusted them in order to create a more symmetrical and composed image composition. To add to that, I then increased contrast to add to the sharpness within the photo, then I lowered exposure to give it a darker, greater contrast look as well as increasing the depth and intensity of the shadows to help make the rocks stand out more with their lighter yellow/pink tones.

Overall, I’m very pleased with my final outcomes as not only do they look of a sufficient resolution, but also have symmetrical compositions that in my opinion are pleasing to look at. In addition, the photos link in well with some of the artists I have researched, displaying careful thought and planning of processes involved in order to achieve capturing these photographs.