I started out with this image from my still life shoots. I planned to use it as a base for the rest of the image, as it was the most dull variation of the several similar images that I had edited, as it would cause a heavy contrast in the colour palette.
After ripping off some of the corners from the other similar photographs I’d printed in large pieces, I stuck them to the base image after also ripping off the same corners from it. I made sure to try and stick them to the image so that the continuity and mise-en-scene stayed the same; the only difference being the colour.
I then gradually implemented smaller pieces ripped from the other photos, until I was left with this composition. I trimmed the edges to make the piece look neater, and left it there.
With the pieces that remained from each image so far, I decided to make a second iteration of the original, except I started with the largest piece that was available.
After sticking the first few pieces together, I noticed a small hole just a bit to the right of the centre, which I decided would be nicer to patch from behind to add some slight depth to the work.
After I’d put all the pieces that I could together, I was left with this; a more vibrant composition that focused a lot less on the darker aspects of the image.
Evaluation
I’d created two similar pieces that varied only in colour, and contrasted vastly because of it. In my opinion, my preference is the first piece (left), as each piece is well placed and functions better as an overall composition, whereas the second piece (right) wasn’t planned and feels a bit too oversaturated with the loud yellow hues, also featuring less smaller pieces, so most of the colours congregate in one area.
I started by printing my edited images out to experiment how i could change them by ripping them, cutting and sticking:
The right picture with the scissors ended up being my final image which i stuck onto a black background in physical form to display my edit.
I printed out two different coloured images of the scissors and cut them in strips and matched them up in line together to make the colours different. I also like how its not fully align at the top with the scissors but is with the tape.
In this image I hadn’t stuck the other parts onto it yet I was still experimenting, I ripped and carefully cut some of the pieces to vary how I was sticking them down. I did end up doing this one and also sticking it onto a black card to create a photomontage with my other image:
The top two were my final images I continued to then edit image size for both of them on photoshop so i could import them into the print folder. As I’m wanting them to be printed A3 I changed the width to 29.7, pixels: centimetres, and made sure I flattened the image if I’ve been editing the images.
I imported this image from my computer folder into photoshop to prepare to edit it, this image is selected as my background layer, which is locked which you can see by the little icon next to the layer..
OPEN IMAGE
I imported another image from the same shoot which is on a slight angle so I could overlay this over my image and create a superimposition image.
OPASTITY
Once I had overlaid the image over my background image I had decreased the opacity, the extent to which something blocks light, which created an illusion of the images one on top of the other.
QUICK SELECT
Staring a new edit with similar images from the same shoot, I started to select parts of images and overlaying them on top of the background image.
New Objectivity, was an artistic movement that arose in Germany during the Weimar Republic (1918-1934) which characterized German painting and architecture as well as producing exciting and innovative results in photography.
WHAT WAS NEW OBJECTIVITY CHALLENGING?
It was a style in Germany to challenge expressionism; expressionism is expressing the inner world of emotion rather than external reality. It was a response to the chaos of the First World War and a rejection of the culture leading up to it.
Albert Renger-Patzsch was a German photographer associated with the New Objectivity. His work exemplifies the esthetic of the New Objectivity that flourished in the arts in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Renger-Patzch also has a famous book called ‘The World Is Beautiful’
Karl Blossfeldt is best known for his precise photographs of plants; however, he began his career as a sculptor. Blossfeldt was never formally trained in photography, he made many of his photographs with a camera that he altered to photograph plant surfaces with unprecedented magnification.
Adiantum pedatum, 1898-1926
PHOTOSHOOT
Jewellery box
These are images of my Jewellery box filled with different types of bracelets, ear rings and rings. The photo is simple with minimal earthy colours, which give the image a clean look. I used flash lighting in the studio with a white backdrop.
Formalism is when “The Design, Composition and Lighting are dominant over Subject Matter.”
When exploring a picture in a formalist way, you would analyse the style and form of this image by examining the choice and use of lens (and the depth of field), the type of camera used, the cropping, framing, composition, tone, light, the arrangement and contrast or juxtaposition of elements within the frame, and the object/person chosen. The use of shapes, lines, repetition, texture, and colour can also play a big role in reading into the photographs. These are known as the ‘formal’ elements of the image.
In this picture, the first things that stands out is the colour combinations along with the choice of angle. The yellows and greens work very well together while still bringing a sense of depth and dimension. It’s from a birds eye view and the strong structure is not centred in the middle, making the photography feel slightly off. There is a lot of repetition and pattern with the building and cars making it seem more organised. However, this is juxtaposed by the cars on the ground, the uneven floor and odd placement of cars makes the image look messy and thrown together. The only light source is the artificial light in the top left corner and towards the floor, this allows the darker areas to hold a lot of power as they add the shape needed while still creating a strong comparison.
New objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) was an art movement that originated in Germany during the 1920s against the expressionism movement. It tries to focus more on the objective world than the abstract and idealistic world the expressionists created. The photographs usually contained objects or plants in a plain and simple way, removing any conceptual ideas.
“Photographers have to impose order, bring structure to what they photograph. It is inevitable. A photograph without structure is like a sentence without grammar—it is incomprehensible, even inconceivable. “ – Stephen Shore
Photographs are composed of two main elements; visual and formal. There is something within an image that can be used to convey and enhance meaning, often to do with beauty, photography isn’t unique in most of its formal and visual elements, it strays from other art forms through elements of framing, time, focus, and flatness, something that cannot be achieved through methods such as painting.
The reference guide we used to analyse the image.
The formal and visual elements include:
Light: Which direction is the light coming from? How strong is the light/How thick are the shadows? Is the lighting natural/from studio lights?
Lines: Are any structures creating outlines/lines in the image? Are the lines straight/curved/thick/thin? Are they parallel/perpendicular? Do they create a shape
Repetition: Are there any patterns in the image? Are they created by lines or shapes within the photo? Are there any reflections?
Texture: What kind of surface does it look like the subjects within the photograph have? Rough/smooth? How much depth is there in the composition/shapes?
Shape: What kind of shapes are present in the photo? What are they composed of? Do they create repetition within the image?
Tone: What mood do the colours within the image create? Are there darker/lighter tones dominating the image? Which areas are the brightest and darkest? Is there an equal level of light and dark?
Composition: How is the photograph staged? Is it organised? Does the order/angle create any shapes? Is the rule of thirds present?
Colour: What colours are present throughout the composition? Is the image monochrome or in colour? Do the colours suggest mood/danger/nature/love, etc.? Are they heavily saturated or muted?
Analysis of our image.
Within our pair, we picked out lots of things we noticed in the image with the grid further up this post. We noticed things like there being a lot of square or rectangular shapes or the different tones and shadowing throughout the image. The image is quite a ‘busy’ image as we have mentioned on our analysis sheet and again even though there are lots of different shapes throughout the entire image there seems to be a bit of a pattern with squares or rectangles.
Photography is the art of taking and processing images. The actual word “photography” means ‘drawing with light’. The definition shows how creative photography actually is, it also means that you can manipulate the image to make it look better.
The main elements of photography are shutter speed, ISO and aperture. Shutter speed determines whether or not a moving image is in focus, which also determines the quality of the image. ISO is the camera’s sensitivity to light, the lower the ISO, the less sensitive the film is to light.
Diagram of ‘The exposure triangle’ which shows how aperture, shutter, and ISO work together.
David Campany talks about how impactful photography is on people. It allows people to look at fixed appearances and interpret them how they want. Special moments can be captured or just simply a moment in time that you would like the remember, which can help us notice things we maybe never have noticed before. It is simple to share the images with people around the world as photography is such a mobile thing. Even if a photographer takes a photo with a certain meaning, it can lose that meaning or perhaps other people can have their own meanings of it.
“Photographs confuse as much as fascinate, conceal as much as reveal, distract as much as compel. They are unpredictable communicators.”
I agree with this statement as everyone interprets images differently and can be completely limitless. An image can affect people in different ways. ‘Distract as much as compel’ says that people can be draw to an image for different reasons to other.
