Tag Archives: The formal elements

Resource, Task

The Formal Elements – Paper

1 Comment

In class this week we experimented with abstract photography by using our phones to photograph paper in different ways. I was inspired by photographers such as Martin Creed, who took a photo of some A4 paper crumpled into a ball to connote the disappointment of things not going to plan.

work illustration
Martin Creed | Work No.88

I was inspired by Creed’s impreciseness of subject and I wanted to create images without an exact form so they could be ambiguous to the observer. Nevertheless, I also wanted to photograph the different shapes and structures paper could make. I did this by ripping, folding, crumpling and bending the paper to create a range of images that symbolized different things.

Contact Sheets

Paper Experimentation

I really enjoyed the ambiguity of this image I took, I believe it shows the paper in an abstract way so it is hard to tell whether it’s paper at all. I took this close up shot of some crumpled up paper in hopes to create an image to represent ice, glaciers and icebergs. I believe I achieved this through my use of harsh lighting to create dramatic highlights with some mid-tone shadows. I edited this image on photoshop by increasing the exposure to give a brighter impression, and by sharpening the edges to reflect the crisp white colour palette of the photo. Similarly, I increased the contrast of the image to intensify the rough texture and acute lines of the paper.

In this image, I bended and squished the paper to create a photo with more curved lines instead of bold harsh ones. I believe this produces a smoother, more flowing texture. However, the sudden bursts of irregular shadows create dramatic moments throughout the image. Secondly, I have edited this image to be monochrome to experiment with tone and colour. I believe the low saturation of the photo creates a gloomy, dull atmosphere in the image. I have also zoomed in on the paper in this photo to further the theme of ambiguity, I purposefully took this shot with no black empty space to draw focus to the centre swirl of the image. Personally, I think this photo of plain paper looks almost flower-like, with large curved petals surrounding a swirl, similar to a rose.

Final Photo Analysis

Light: My image has been lit by a strong artificial light coming from the bottom left which creates harsh shadows on the right. My dark, unlit background enhances the folds of paper and I have amplified this by increasing the contrast of the image.
Line & Shape: There are very strong straight lines in this photo that create a sharp shape throughout the image. The folds of paper look almost like book pages and the juxtaposition between the dark and light lines catch the observer’s eye.
Repetition: This image holds lots of lineal repetition with parallel lines and reflection of light. The shafts of artificial light hitting the left of the image create a dramatic rhythm. Additionally, the sharp creases of paper that repeat throughout the image draw the observer’s eyes up along the photo from one corner to the other.
Space: The space of the image is quite shallow and narrow, this is because I was close to the subject. I made sure the observer couldn’t see any other objects in the background of the image by limiting the space shown above and using a black sheet of paper to cover any unwanted distractions.
Texture: My image has a rigid texture, produced by the sharp edges of the folded paper. The points of the paper also create a jagged, rough texture.
Value/Tone: The image contains a wide range of tones going from very dark to very light. In the background, the dark black emptiness contrasts with the bright white highlights. In addition, there is a subtle blue hue in the bottom right shadow, possibly created by the blue undertones in the other phone torch I used to light the subject. The image has low saturation and vibrancy because I believe it intensifies the paper’s already muted colours.
Composition: The diagonal lines of the image and the close-up shot create a sense of drama. Also, the long folds draw the observer’s attention to just above the middle of the image, where the paper is most in focus. I created this affect by having a large depth of field so the top and bottom of the image was out of focus, and the one crease in the middle was a clear focal point.

Independent, Reading, Resource

the formal elements – paper

1 Comment

Jaroslav Rossler

“Light Abstraction” – Jaroslav Rossler (1923)

Jaroslav Rossler was born in Czechia, in 1902. Rossler is an example of a photographer who focuses his work on “The Formal Elements”, as he finds the beauty in the simplicity of objects. He started his journey in photography at 21 years old, as he used this skill in his career creating typographic layout for magazines. Jaroslav Rossler’s work was heavily influenced by futurism and cubism, this lead him into creating his art of abstract photography.

“Akt” – Jaroslav Rossler (1926)

I took inspiration from this photograph titled: “Akt” by Jaroslav Rossler to approach the theme of “The Formal Elements”, as it perfectly represents the beauty of simple composition to focus on lighting and shadows. The geometric shapes of the paper create crisp, sharp shadows into the background to create a juxtaposition between light and dark.

My Response:

To explore “The Formal Elements” I photographed paper and explored lighting and texture by using artificial lighting to change the intensity and movement of shadows and distressed the paper in different ways to experiment with different shapes.

I don’t like the images in red because they are either out of focus or the lighting makes it difficult to define the creases and shadows.

I believe the images in green are my best photographs because they have distinct, contrasting shadows and shapes.

Photoshop development:

for the first two images, I used the invert adjustment and the monochrome filter to distort the images original shadows and lighting but still keep the same uniformed, lack of colour.

For the third image I used the invert filter again to switch the shadows and lighting but used colour hues and adjustments in order to achieve the pink-toned look of the photograph.

Using the Formal Elements to analyse my photographs:

Light: For this image I used artificial lighting. The light source is coming from the bottom left, behind the paper to create distorted shadows in front of the shapes.

Lines: The lines of the paper vary in size, however they all have the same, uniformed, triangular shape. I believe the leading lines are the straight bends at the top of each fold which directs the viewers eye to the almost pyramid-like shape of the paper.

Repetition: The form of repetition I used in this photograph is the repeated pattern of folds in the paper, that create the repetition of triangular shadows.

Shape: The folding of the paper creates a geometric repetition of triangular shapes leading to the centre of the image.

Space: Although the image is very organised and minimal, I believe the shadows add a sense of depth to the image. The negative space in the background allows the viewer to focus on the sharp shape of the folds, rather than the chaos behind.

Texture: The smooth texture of the paper is juxtaposed with the sharp folds to create a contrast of texture.

Value/Tone: There is a range of tones from dark to light in this image, with the top of the folds being the lightest part of the image and the sheltered area under the folds contrasting this with the brooding darkness. Overall, the photo tends towards lightness in the image.

Colour: Although there is minimal colour within this image, there is a slight green hue to the image. I think this is purely a reflection from the artificial lighting mixed with my current camera setting, however it gives the image an almost ominous tone.

Composition: The composition of the photo is very simplistic in order to showcase the simple geometric shape of the folds. the focal point of the folds is present from the bottom left third and into the middle third.

Independent, Task

the formal elements

Leave a comment

Shape: we can see a wavy texture and we can notice a few triangular shapes .

Light :The light come from the sides .We can notice a lot of shadows and that interested me because it creates other shapes apart from that of paper.

Space : In the first picture there’s a lot of negative space but in the other two picture I’ve decided to zoom in so that the details are more visible .

Repetition: The paper repeats in triangles in different positions .

Texture: The crumpled paper makes the texture rough and coarse

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-2-1024x768.jpg

I prefer this image because it is a little bit different of the other two image . It looks like waves which means that it has a shape while the other two images do not. It is also different because it has more clarity .
Independent, Task

The formal elements – paper

Leave a comment

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.

For the first picture I messed around with the exposure in order to make the shadows stand out from the picture having the tones of black and white bounce off each other as the differences in the tones are drastic compared to one another. With this edit I gained more interest into the picture as it doesn’t even seem like a piece of paper anymore but more like a landscape of some sort of rocky terrain.
As for the second picture I brought the exposure down in the achievement of having the picture become black and white. This caused the effect of the shadows in the picture to be heightened, making them a lot more visible compared to the original photo.
Finally, as for the last picture I edited it from the original and put the gamma correction up which brought out the few colours of the picture. This brings in some depth into the picture as you can see which parts of the paper have more depth than other parts moreover, the shadows in this picture also stand pout as you can see which shadows stand out more than the others like the more scrunched section in the centre of the paper. This picture looks more appealing than the original after editing it because it almost makes the picture seem like it was drawn giving it a cartoon appearance.

Independent, Reading, Task

The Formal Elements

Leave a comment
Tiago De Sá 

Light:

The brightest part of the image is the center, the rest of the image is dark.

The background is pure black and there are dim shadows throughout the piece of paper.

The photograph has soft artificial lighting as a flash was used to take this photograph. The light starts brighter at the top and goes dimmer and dimmer down the paper.

The way the paper is set-up acts as a leading line towards the bottom.

Lines:

There are very scrunched and curvy lines throughout the paper. The paper is rolled into a paper binocular which creates a kind of cylinder leading towards the bottom / the dark “abyss”.

The lines show the image to be still.

Repetition:

The paper in itself forms a circular pattern almost like a scrunched paper binocular or a paper rose.

Space:

The space in this image appears quite centered on the subject. It seems as if the photographer took the picture using a wide angle lens as it is close to the subject but seems as if the paper goes into the “abyss” forever.

Shape:

These circular and wavy texture throughout the photograph create these organic shapes throughout the photograph.

Texture:

The texture of this image appears to be wavy, curvy and curly. This is evident by the fact that the paper seems to be scrunched up then rolled to form this object.

Value / tone:

The image contains a range of tones from very dark to natural lighting. There are harsh and dark shadows and backgrounds but also dim and bright tones. The image is in “black and white” as the only main colours in this coloured digital image are black and white.

Composition:

The focal point in this image is the paper as the photographer has used the rule of thirds to successfully set the subject in mid-center.

The photographer has clearly balanced the colours in this image so that it is only white in contrast to the black background.