Keld Helmer-Peterson was a Danish photographer. He produced some of the influential work of the 20th century. Most of Helmer-Petersons work consists of two colours, black and white. These to colours are in contrast and create very abstract shapes. In the late 20th century he became interested in figurative shapes found in objects and architecture. In Helmer-Peterson a lot of very dark and very light tones can be seen with the white tones in the background and the black tones in the foreground. These tones also create a stark silhouette against the background that makes his images seem flat. He also uses lots of lines in his, these are quite abstract and give his images a strange composition.
Response
In my response i tried to use photographs that contained quite abstract lines and shapes. I edited them to give a flat look that Helmer-Peterson captured in his work. Using photoshop to edit my images gave them the harsh, flat feel that Helmer-Peterson would create when editing his images.
These resources are designed to encourage you to explore your use of the camera and it’s functions. The more you experiment and discover, the more control you will have and this will lead to more creative outcomes…
CAMERA CRAFT – exploring exposure settings
ISO – experiment with different ISO values to enhance your exposures…be wary of “noise” in your images with high ISO
White balance (WB) is the process of removing unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photo. Proper camera white balance has to take into account the “color temperature” of a light source, which refers to the relative warmth or coolness of white light.
Choose from a range of camera skills that you have learned in Week 3 and 4 and 5 to complete a new photo-shoot…
We want to see that you can explore and extend your handling of
colour (try limiting your palette of colours to : primary colours, colour harmonies, contrasting or complimentary colours if possible)
texture and surface quality (aim for contrasts : rough v smooth etc)
Show that you can adapt and control both ISO and White Balance (WB)…and even use it creatively too
exposure control
Red box shows exposure meter – the centre indicates a balanced exposure
Follow the highlighted sections of The 10 Step Process and create a blog post that clearly articulates your process and tackles these Assessment Objectives thoroughly :
Mood-board, definition and introduction (AO1)
Mind-map of ideas (AO1)
Artist References / Case Studies (must include image analysis) (AO1)
Photo-shoot Action Plan (AO3)
Multiple Photoshoots + contact sheets (AO3)
Image Selection, sub selection, review and refine ideas (AO2)
Abstract photography takes place when a photographer focuses in on a part of a natural scene, isolating it from the background. By zeroing in on the color, texture, line, shape, geometry, symmetry, or reflection of a scene, it warps our perception of the real world and familiar objects, making it look unique.
An image i found on Google, when i searched for “Abstract Photography”. (not taken by me)
Saul Leiter
– Saul Leiter was an American artist and early pioneer of color photography. His interest began in his late teens. – Leiter’s first exhibition of color photography was held in the 1950s at the Artist’s Club, a meeting place for many of the Abstract artists of that time. – At the age of 23, he left theology school and moved to New York, which is where most of his photos were taken.
All Saul Leiter’s images.
I like Saul Leiter’s images as the use unique viberent colours in a city environment, which normally consists of grey and white buildings, instead of red green and yellow. He uses a high aperture to blur half of the image to create a focus on the main object in the image.
My ideas
– Fill up a bucket of water, and spray paint and mix it round. Then take photos of the patterns. – Play a colourful video on my laptop and shoot the images through different glasses, eg, wine glasses and perfume bottles.
My Abstract Photos
How i did it First, i opened up a video on my laptop with a colourful video playing, then i put a glass in front of the screen and took photos through the glass. I made sure the room was dark and the lights were off, to get a nice ambient effect.
Explanation I like the outcome of these abstract photos, as they have a lot of vibrant colours, which is visually appealing. They display a lot of unique shapes and patterns, as the glass distorted the appearance due to the curves and texture on the glass. The colours compliment each other, which makes them stand out. The photos are over exposed, which makes them more abstract as its harder to tell what the image is of. The highlights compliment the shadows, although the black point is higher making the black more dominant, therefore bringing out the colours more
My Out Of Focus Photos
Explanation I changed my camera to manual focus and put it to the most blurry setting, and took photos of different objects in front of the screen, and through the glass, using the same method as the abstract images. I edited the images to circles in Photoshop to make it different and look nice.
For this project I explored the different ways in which aperture and focus can be experimented to create unconventional and abstract images.
Ralph Eugene Meatyard
Ralph was an American Photographer born in 1925 whose work was focused on disassociating with mainstream photography by creating unconventional abstract images. The projects in Ralph’s portfolio I will look at are ones where he experiments with focus and depth of field in order to broaden expressionism in photography.
In this photograph Ralph has tampered with the focus. He has made the image out of focus to create abstract silhouettes. He has also created a large tonal range by shooting the subjects in black and white. The subjects also bulge from the negative background as the composure consists of simplistic white background with repeating simplistic positive figures in the foreground.
In this image Ralph experiments with aperture. He focuses on the centre of the twig making the immediate foreground and the background out of focus. He does this by using a wide aperture. The angle at which he has framed the twig has created the out of focus foreground to lead the eye down the twig into the point that is in focus which gives the image a lot of depth and creates a satisfying abstract composition.
Saul Leiter
An American pioneer in photography in the early 50s. He specialised in experimenting with compositions to do with street photography. I will look at his work where he explores focus and depth of field
In this image Saul dabbles with both the focus and the aperture in this image. The out of focus exposure gives this image an energy and insinuates movement in the composition. The Large aperture has placed focus on the centre subject of what saul was trying the capture and leads the eye straight to it. This also makes the subjects look as if they are frozen in time as everyone around them is in chaotic movement.
Ossi Saarinen
Another Photographer that has experimented with depth of Field is Ossi Saarinen. In this composition he frames the fox by using a large aperture and focusing on the fox in the background and using the leaves in the foreground as a kind of vignetting. This gives the image a great depth of field and accentuates the subject.
Contact Sheets
Experimental Aperture Compositions
When composing these images I used a large aperture of f/1.4. I took inspiration from Meatyard and shot up close to some twigs and adjusted focus to accentuate different parts of the twig. I shot at an angle that would create a simplistic negative white background to contrast the twigs in the foreground. I also shot these images with a low ISO to create a gloomy feel. I then experimented with having my subject stand in various positions so I could create a great depth of field by using a large aperture.
Experimental Focus Compositions
When composing these images I took inspiration from Meatyard by intentionally shooting my images out of focus. This creates a promiscuous abstract feel. I edited the photos with a lot of contrast to help distinguish the blurry silhouettes from the background. In some of the images my intention was to make the subject somewhat noticeable however, in others I was aiming for an extremely abstruse composition where the subject is barely recognizable.
In the photo below I have scrunched up a piece of paper. I placed the paper on a black background to show contrast from dark to bright. I have also got a contrast between blue and red in the image and edited the colours to be more vibrant using an editing software.
In the photo below i have edited out the artificial light from the room we completed the photo shoot in. I also turned the mage into black and white and made the shadows and dark colours more dramatic and deeper.
I have edited the image below to have half colour and half black and white to represent the contrast between light and dark, black and white and day and night. I firstly took one image and made a copy of it, then i edited one to have colour and the other to be black and white. Then I used an editing software to split the image and piece it back together perfectly so that there was one side with each.
The image below is of a paper plane in front of a black background being lifted up by a string. I have converted the image to black and white and made the shadows and dark colours deeper and the lighter colours lighter. I then edited out the string that held the plane out from the image.
Formal Elements (Image Above)
The lightest part of the image is to the right (red) side. The background is black and there are some shadows in the contours of the paper. There are two clashing colours of blue to the left and red to the right.
There are random and scrunched up lines throughout the photo. There are also curvy and ripped edges.
The paper reminds me of a rock as it is random and has different surfaces.
The paper is very central in the photo and to either side of the image we can see the glow from the paper.
The texture and surface seems to be very random and contoured which creates some slight shadows. The surfaces in the image a varied and range from random and ripped to flat and straight.
The image ranges from very light and bright colours to dark and lifeless tones.
Albert Renger-Patzsch (June 22, 1897 – September 27, 1966) was a German Photographer associated with the new objectivity. He was born in Würzburg and began taking photographs at the age of twelve and after service in the First World War he had his first museum exhibition in 1927.
Albert Renger-Patzsch’s attitude towards photography involved exploring light, rhythm, line, texture, repetition and many more. He published his famous book ‘The World is Beautiful’ in 1928 which consisted of 100 images which had a lot of detail. Patzch’s work is sharply focused and matter-of-fact style. His work references the aesthetic of The New Objectivity that became quite popular during the Weimar Republic in Germany (1919 – 1933).
Patzsch’s ideas and values of photography are similar to an American photographer called Edward Weston. Weston is known as one of the most innovative and influential American Photographers and one of the masters of 20th century photography. Over his 40 year career, Weston took photos of many different subjects such as including landscapes, still lives, nudes, portraits, genre scenes and even whimsical parodies. Similar to Patzsch, after taking photos of cities and subjects in cities, he went to the countryside and took photos of rocks, trees, rivers and more. Over this 2 year stay in nature, he produced 1,400 negative images using his 8 by 10 camera.
My Photos
Repetition
Half of my images are that of symmetrical patterns inside my house. They are similar to some of Renger-Patzsch’s photos as they are symmetrical but random at the same time. For example the image of the bookcase is very aligned and symmetrical but at the same time random as the books are not perfectly symmetrical or the same.
Final Outcome
I believe the image above is the best from the photo shoot above. This is because i have used the metal railing to frame the incinerator. I have also edited the contrast, curves and cropped it so that the rule of thirds line up with the metal railing.
A contact sheet is similar to a negative but in positive colors. This contains thumbnail images of all the photos from the shoot. This makes it very easy for you to see what images you like and what might need improvement or removal.
The purpose of a contact sheet is to be able to quickly scan a series of images to find the keepers or the ones chosen to be enlarged.
