INTRODUCTION:
A contact sheet is a piece of photographic paper on to which several or all of the negatives on a film have been contact-printed. Usually it is a positive print of the total negatives from the roll of film or a shoot and often each image is the same size as the negative itself. This is done to help the photographer analysis the images quickly and chose which photos are their best ones out of the shoot.
EXAMPLE CONTACT SHEET:
MY CONTACT SHEET:
With this task that we were set for taking pictures of pieces of paper, I have 3 different pictures here in which I have selected out of 60 pictures, on the ones that I thought appealed to me the most.
Once I selected the three pictures, I decided to photoshop them in order to change the pictures and make certain aspects of the pictures stand out.
ALBERT RENGER PATZSCH
German photographer Albert Renger Patzsch was a pioneering figure in the objectivity movement, which sought to engage with the world as clearly and precisely as possible.
He focuses on black and white photography and noticed the changes that the world was facing during that period in time. The industrial revolution was still reasonable new at this stage so where lovely views once were, large buildings constantly creating smoke and smog replaced them.
In addition to this, he focuses on repetition of patterns and items so I will try and make sure that if I take a picture of one singular thing, it will have a pattern or texture that is repeated.
His project “the world is beautiful” looks at the way the camera interacts with things in the world. One of photography’s fundamental attributes is its capacity to adopt a range of relationships with its subject. Renger-Patzsch’s approach embodied his belief that ‘one should surely proceed from the essence of the object and attempt to represent it with photographic means alone’ (taken from the national gallery of Australia)
Image Analysis
It looks like this image was taken in a natural light as there is no glare on the buttons from where the flash had hit it. In addition, the buttons have a slight shine from the sunlight.
Some of the buttons have a slightly rough texture causing the light to only make the first half of the button shine as the raised bumps are creating a shadow for the rest of the button.
The image has a playful and nostalgic mood as many people who went to haberdashery shops always saw 100s of buttons lay around in different places. The viewer may have played with the buttons on their shirts or cardigans causing happy memories to flood back.
Image Analysis
This image shows lots of loaves of bread all lined up on a wooden surface. They seem to be uncooked as there is no varying shades on the bread that the viewers can see. However there is a few different textures allowing the reader to focus on the ends of each loaf rather than the middle.
The fact that they are all an equal shape and are all in rows and columns allows the viewer to see that this was taken in a factory or bakery because not many civilians had the time to make that many loaves of bread.
However, the image creates a homely mood because even by looking at the image, the viewers could be able to imagine what the smell of the freshly baked bread would be like once this batch had come out of the oven.
The tones in this image are mainly light, except for the gaps in-between each loaf and also between the wood and the bread, where they block the raised parts of the bread block out the light for the loaves either side of it. This repeats throughout the whole image.
Images by Albert Renger Patzsch
Shoot One
Favourite Images (unedited)
For my First shoot, I went out to St Aubin. I went there because it has so many things that repeat. For example, the boats that are parked in rows in the harbour; the ladders surrounding the harbour so people can get out, the chains attached to the anchors and also chains that are used as a barricade.
Favourite Unedited image
My favourite unedited image would probably be the rusty chain as it shows that they can be used for a very long time ; and was created in mass during the Industrial Revolution when Renger was alive.
Lighting: The natural light allows the copper colour to pop and also highlights the peeling of the corroded metal.
The shadows that are created on the floor by the coiled up chain allows the viewer to focus on something other than the rusty chain, it allows the view to wonder whether the dark patch has anything underneath or whether it is just an empty space.
The links in the chain allow the viewer to see a common pattern; however, the cracks that are created by the rusty chain allow the viewer to focus on the different shapes that the corrosion had created.
Edited Images
Favourite edited image
This is my favourite outcome from this shoot because I love the texture on the chain and how it’s beginning to corrode and therefore has chunks of each link missing. The chunks that are missing from the chain are a way to keep the viewer interested in the image because if it was just a normal chain it would be boring as most chains are the same. One could say the corrosion gave it some character.
The sunlight also hit the corners of each link causing there be be a shadow in the centre of the links as each link blocked another’s light.
The chain is a little off centre because I wanted to keep the drop from behind the chain in shot.
Shoot two
For my second shoot I was inspired by Patzsch’s image of five buttons on a plain white surface. My mum does a lot of sewing, so I took a few photographs of what was in her sewing box. The tape measure is between 80-90 years old as it was my Great Grandmother’s. I used the tape measure in particular because of its age, and the fact that Patzsch’s images were taken in black and white which is often associated with the past.
Successful unedited images
Successful Edits
These are my most successful edits. I prefer some of these images more than the first shoot I did. I loved taking the close ups of the tape measure and thread as individuals rather than in the group with other items.
Favourite Image
I cropped this image to make the tape measure be the focus of this image, however I didn’t make it central because I wanted to keep the end of the tape measure that was lose in the image as well.
I didn’t have the flash on my camera as I wanted the light to be smooth. So the light used was from the window just as the sun was above it, so it created a natural glow on my surface.
The tape measure, because of it age, has some dints in the fabric which creates kinks in the what seems like an infinite spiral. In addition, the tape measure’s paint has worn a bit which links with the main idea of things changing over time. This tape measure is very old, and I think it works well with the black and white filter.
Before and after editing
Albert Renger-Patzsch and the New Objectivity
Renger-Patzsch has always been involved with photography since the age of 12 when he first started taking photos, after the first world war where he was part of the military service, he then went on and studied chemistry at Dresden Technical College.He then returned to photography in the early 1920s as a press photographer for the Chicago Tribune.
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IMAGE ANALYSIS
Power lines – In the photo of the power lines the lighting of the photo is natural yet the lighting is quite harsh on the object as the tonal range is quite varied with strong shadows defining the outline. The light is coming from the top right corner, you can see that the level of control lacks as he doesn’t control the lighting nor how everything is aligned. The focus point of the photo is the bottom line on the middle circles with a sharp depth of field. The tone of this photo is very controversial as there are a contrast of darks and lights. The texture of the shapes are very smooth with 3D shapes which mainly has two lines going from the top left to bottom right.
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Building – This photo has daylight lighting which you can see coming from the top left corner casting very gentile shadows. The focus of the image are the two front rectangles going from one building to another. the shutter speed must be fast as the image is quite dark in areas showing that it didn’t have a slow shutter speed. The tone of image is very wide as in the sky you can see it’s very white colourless whereas the shadows are quite dark making it harder to see the detail in the shadow. You can see repetition in the photo with the rectangle blocks going from the two building which is repeated behind going to another building.
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SIMILARITIES
In both these photos they use natural daylight lighting used from everyday, they both have lines going across the image coming from a noticeable centre point. Both of the photos show repetition with the lines going across even though the power line has more repetition and the building has less but they both show repetition. Both the images are man made and not natural objects found in the wildlife showing how he focuses on man made objects.
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DIFFERENCES
In the power line photo it has sharp deep shadows with a wide tonal range whereas the building photo has very light shadows and a small tonal range. With the photo of the power lines the cables going across the image are to be seen as messy and chaotic whereas the building has a clear set destination for the lines and gives a calm feeling to the person looking at the photo. In the power line photo is has a very smooth texture to it whereas the building photo has a rough texture due to the walls with white and black tones showing there is strong texture to it. The windows also have rough texture where some are missing and some are black.
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My interpretation
