Exposure – the amount of light a digital cameras sensors captures when a photo is taken. Too much = over exposed, Too little = under exposed.
Exposure is determined off ISO and Shutter speed.
Aperture – Controls the amount of blur or sharpness around your subject.
Shutter speed – Shows the movement of a fast moving object.
ISO – select the right amount of light you need for your visual effects.
Exposure Metre – shows what level your exposure is at.
White balance – The intensity of colours in an image.
Auto focus – Atomically focuses the camera on the subject of the image.
Manual focus – by adjusting the depth of field and using the focus wheel, an image can be brought into focus without auto-aid.
The set up in the photo is the one I used for my ‘Objects’ photoshoot, this is an example of the type of studio set up that would be used to match with the settings above.
Formalism is the formal and visual elements of a photograph. what these Elements consist of is the line, shape, balance, repetition and rhythm inside a photograph.
Examples:
These images all contain one or more of these elements, either through line, repetition or shape.
The other basic elements to Photography that also make up the visual and formal elements consist of:
Lines – Lines In photography can alternate in their appearances. This can be shown through either straight or curved, vertical or horizontal, Man-made or organic to nature.
Lines can also be orientated in different ways to make a photograph more diverse, Lines often help to connect points in an image and almost every image has them.
Examples:
(oriented lines)
(Lines in nature)
(man-made lines)
Shape – Shapes, formed by lines and shadow, are the visible makeup characteristics of an object within an image. Shapes in a photograph can be made up of familiar or unfamiliar shapes such as a circle or a merge of different ones.
Defined by their value through the following elements Texture, Brightness/Darkness, Pattern can define what becomes a shape in a photograph. Shapes are a key feature in photographs as its one of the first elements you visualise.
examples:
(Familiar – Diamond shape)
(Unfamiliar – newly created shape)
Form – Form is the differentiation from shape as it portrays 3D elements rather than the 2D elements shape portrays. Form is the shape and structure of something in a photograph.
Similar to shape, form can be put into 2 categories of natural and unnatural. Geometric forms are the familiar, such as cubes, pyramids, cylinders. Whilst Organic forms are the unfamiliar, created out an amalgamation of more than one. Form, yet again like shape is almost everywhere in an image.
Examples:
(Geometric – the familiar, the form of the human body)
(Organic – the unfamiliar, shown by the form of this spitfire – shadow helps to define it.)
Texture – By definition, Texture is the visual or tactile surface characteristics and appearances of something. By using what we describe as textures in real life (e.g. rough, smooth, soft, wet) we can do the same for texture.
Similar to form, texture can be shown by 3D appearances, tonality and variations. Texture in photographs can appear in scenic photos such as buildings or trees. Texture can change however there is always factors that leave them up for perception.
Texture is not only limited by objects, but also facial features on people.
(Texture – shown through an old wall)
Colour – Colour in photography are made up of the hue and saturation and brightness of an image. It falls into 3 properties: Hue ( the colour), Value (the balance of white to black) and Saturation (the intensity or purity of a colour).
Colours in photography can be seen through light, made artificially or naturally. Colour is also present in all images other than grayscale photographs. Colour helps set the tone of an image and can visually express the emotions behind the picture.
(Vibrant Hue and Saturation portray this image in a positive light)
(Natural lighting – created through the sun setting)
Size – Size in photography is the physical magnitude or proportionate dimensions of an object. Size varies in a photograph based on how its scoped, this is because size can become an optical illusion in a picture via shot-angle. By seeing something familiar sized (like a person) it can scope to us the size of the scene.
Smaller sized objects (like flowers) can be sized up by photography making the viewer able to pay attention and appreciate the smaller things in life, both figuratively and literally.
(By having a person in the shot, it puts to scope the size of the F-22 Raptor)
(By closely sizing down the shot, things not usually seen are shown in more detail)
Depth – Depth in photography, also made up of shape, space and form, is recreated through the size and depth of the surroundings of the image.
In relation to size, depth is created through the space of photograph. Visual indicators in depth can convey where the viewer must look, this can be shown by blurred areas or certain perspectives on a subject/object in the photograph.
Depth can also depend on the texture of an image, with different gradients of texture creating it.
(depth – long depth of field textures the images surroundings)
(Low depth of field helps create a deeper focus on the subject of the image)
2013 – “Beauties of the common tool, Rephrased II.”
Taking inspiration from Walkers work in the 1950’s, Darren Harvey-Regan made his own attempt on his original photoshoot.
Walker Evans –
As Walker Evans puts it, “Among low-priced, factory-produced goos, none is so appealing to the senses as the ordinary hand tool. Hence, a hardware store is a kind of offbeat museum show for the man who responds to good, clear ‘un-designed’ forms”. This can be vividly shown through his portfolio he named “beauties of the common tool”. Using Objects he had in his home, Evans was able to create his photos, using props to make the tools look as if they have a 3D levitated affect. Using what he had, his overhead lighting of his home, was the desired effect he wanted to use to diminish the opacity of shadows had on the objects, This allowed lots of texture and clarity to be seen on the tools.
Inspired by Evans work, Harvey-Regan put together his own portfolio named ‘Beauty of the common tool, rephrased II’, in which he sawed and then re-welded separate tools together. Advantaged by the modern era, he was also able with studio lighting and editing software to alter his photos to reduce shadows from his photoshoot, Rather than relying on what was around like Evans.
(Under the same name of Evans portfolio, Harvey-Regans work can be found here)
Photographing the same genre of still life, both photographers are similar in their composition, however they differ in lighting, texture and clarity. Lighting is noticeably different as Walkers objects shine with the reflection of light, whilst Harvey-Regan’s do not or just slightly.
A similarity they both share can be seen with the use of a Birds Eye shot, capturing their still life images from a camera angle of 90 degrees.
By Using a plain white background Harvey-Regan’s photos are able to be directly focused on whilst Evans allows the grainy texture of the film he used to generate an aesthetic to the objects within the picture.
my personal attempt –
Walker Evans style:
Inspired by the Evans use of partial shadows and reflections of light, i tried to recreate that in this photo.
Darren Harvey-Reagan style:
By using photoshoot i attempted to remove any noticeable details leaving a plain white background and limited shine on the tools like Harvey-Regans work.
I feel like these images look good however the first 1 looks to highly saturated compared to the second one because of the the shadows merging with the light better.
I like how these came out as I think the use of greyscale helps bring out the details of the image.
These photos were edited well in my opinion, by using a brown background I converted the lighting to be warmer.
These are my best edits, and believe they best reflect the theme of Nostalgia.
These images are from my Still Life photoshoot, for my Nostalgia Project.
4 – 5 star rated photos:
(These are also white flagged – meaning they consist of clearly taken photos).
These images, to me best represent the idea of nostalgia, this is identified through good camera positioning, lighting and arrangement of objects within the photo.
3 – 2 star rated photos:
(These are also white flagged – meaning they consist of mostly clearly taken photos).
These images, are on the middle ground of appearances, being taken well but not quite to the standard of being rated higher.
(These are also yellow coloured but have been black flagged – meaning they consist of some partially blurry photos but have been taken with a good angle or lighting).
2-1 star rated photos:
(These are black flagged meaning they do not appeal to what I was aiming for during the nostalgia photoshoot).
These images are either poorly taken, blurry or not what wanted to achieve.
Camera settings and lighting –
For these photos i took them on a Canon EOS 4000D, using the manual focus to then adjust the, using a lens size of 55m.
Using artificial studio lighting and a flash adapter, I was able to get strong lighting, creating interesting shadows.
In this photoshoot, my studio set up consisted of a tripod for the camera, studio lighting and a white and black backdrop to create a pop effect for my items in the photographs.
