CREATING MY VIRTUAL GALLERY

When creating my virtual gallery I used the app photoshop. I decided which images were my strongest during this project so far and mounted them digitally on the frames in the gallery. I downloaded a template of a gallery from the internet so I could add my images. I individually placed each picture of the frame and used the transform tool (CTRL T) to change the sizing. Furthermore using the transform tool I used the ‘skew’ and ‘distort’ to perfectly mount the image on the angles.

I used the website : http://www.artsteps.com/ to create my virtual gallery. By signing up i could display a few of my images:

We took photographs of individual objects in the studio, my chosen object being a golden clock that I also used in my personal objects shoot. The continuous lights that we were using had different settings to adjust the levels of yellow and white being emitted, and we created different compositions using them.

I picked and discarded each image with the flag tools and only really couldn’t use 4 of them without a heavier amount of editing or cropping, so I decided it would be easier to get rid of them.

I colour-coded each photograph that I wouldn’t use, could use, and would use – but due to the high level of usable photos, I probably won’t end up using them all.

I edited three photographs, particularly making use of temperature and high contrasts to build up yellow and blue hues.

I decided to edit two more using the tint function, and got these nice green-purple edits. I think that each piece presents an emotion, and associates itself with the clock, creating unique atmospheres based on the tint of the photograph.

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These are the final images I was left with from this shoot. I quite like my individual use of colour in the sense that although each image features the same subject, it’s still somewhat different each time. I could turn these into a physical gallery in a similar presentation for a final piece later on, maybe cropping and changing some features to make them all work better together as a composition.

EDIT ONE:

EDIT TWO:

EDIT THREE:

EDIT FOUR:

Overall, I think this module has been something quite new to me and therefore quite challenging. I have created a small number of images I am proud of but I don’t think that they are at all my best work as this was one of my first experiences with photographing objects, and often my intentions were not entirely clear to me when I set about taking and arranging my images. I am also aware that I have not really employed Photoshop to my best abilities as I was a bit out of touch with it and probably need to use it a bit more often. I hope that in my future projects I will be able to act with thorough forethought (in choice of objects, placing of objects, background, lighting etc.) and ensure that I take enough images on each photoshoot – as I think this was one of my biggest shortfalls in this project. I have included my favourite images in this Virtual Exhibition.

WHAT IS A PHOTOMONTAGE?

A photomontage is a collage constructed from photographs. Historically, the technique has been used to make political statements and gained popularity in the early 20th century (World War 1-World War 2). Artists such as Raoul Haussman , Hannah Hoch, John Heartfield employed cut-n-paste techniques as a form of propaganda, as did Soviet artists like Aleksander Rodchenko and El Lissitsky. Photomontage has its roots in dadaism, which is closely related to surrrealism.

MY PHOTOMONTAGE:

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I created a series of digital montages selecting parts of the images and placing them in a similar space on another. I used images from the same photoshoot so there was a connection between the two photos. I also used a black and white image to show a deeper affect of the edit.

When creating my analogue montage piece, I tried to include elements from the image to show the relationship between the image such as using masking tape that was in the image and red tape to further show the link between the image while additionally show the relevance during the making of this piece. I used the string to add some texture and to create a new abstract unique piece.

for this I got a photo online of a art gallery then I took a screenshot of the photo and put it in photoshop then I got my edited photos and put them on top of the photo on the gallery photo.

Evaluation of Project

In conclusion, I think that I completed this project well, making sure I created detailed blog posts about everything I made and learnt. I think one of the strongest areas of my project was the number of photos I took, as I believe I photographed quite a large number of objects for each section of the photographing process. This enabled me to have a wide variety of photos that I could later print and edit. However, I think I could’ve produced a greater amount of experiments so that I could choose the best images from a bigger variety of edits as well as try out more photo montage techniques. On the other hand, I believed I applied the knowledge I gained about different aspects of photography (such as aperture and shutter speed- but also topics such as still-life) in my work well, making sure each photoshoot linked in well with the topic/ skill. Another area of my project that I think was successful was linking my work in with the different artists and photo montage techniques we studied. For example, the photoshoot I did in the style of Mary Ellen Bartley resulted in a good selection of images that closely linked in with her work.

Strongest Edit Evaluation

Firstly, I think the unedited photos I used were already quite strong photos, including two personal objects to create a simple still-life image. Furthermore, both images included continuous, coloured lighting- which immediately made the picture more interesting. I like how the two images put together created not only a interesting photo montage edit (since one of the halves was flipped upside down to create the unsymmetrical look), but also contrast between the background colours in both photos. Furthermore, I was inspired by Idris Khan and decided to duplicate the photos, slightly rotating them and reducing the opacity to create a sense of motion in the edit, resulting in this cool, merged effect. Overall, I think this edit is very effective since it clearly resembles a photo montage as well as linking in with an artist.