Newman was a Jewish photographer who created environmental portraits as his main style of photography. Particularly after the war he captured a very famous shot of a man called Krupp. He started working with photography as a medium in 1938 while working in a chain of portrait studios in Philadelphia. It was here he found his love for creating documentary style photos himself. In 1941 his work was featured in it’s first exhibition and he began to produce environmental portraits as they are know today. After moving home due to the war in 1942.1 In 1945 his Philadelphia Museum of Art one-man exhibit, ‘Artists look like this’ was recognised around the world quickly allowing Newman to open his own studio in 1946 also becoming a member of the American Society of Magazine Photographers (ASMP.) His work grew greatly in popularity as more exhibitions and purchases of his work happened. Over his life time he won many awards and took photos that hoard such strong messages and reasons with what appears to be a simple snapshot portraits that even now his work is world widely famous.

This photo has many different aspects to it as it is a highly emotive, powerful photo. There is a lot of history and tension within the subject of the photo and the photographer which while I don’t find the tension is the main aspect of the photo there is a huge aspect of intimation within the image. Newman purposefully created this by using the lighting and pose of Krupp as he felt it was a great way of portraying Krupp’s true character. It was a unique situation in general as Krupp was a huge part of supporting the Nazi’s with suppling them with weapons and other equipment during WW11 so when Newman a Jewish photographer was asked to take the photo of Krupp he originally declined before then accepting and making it his aim to have a goal of personal revenge against Krupp hence the portraying of his true character from Newman’s composition of the photo. This led to Krupp being furious when he saw the shot but Newman felt satisfied with his accomplishment, ‘a little moment of revenge’ this quickly became one of Newman’s best photos.

Image Analysis

It is an emotional shot, holding a lot of anger and intimidation within it due to the historical context of the shot. Krupp who is the subject of the image is illuminated in an unusual manor by having the lighting rear and the side makes Krupp’s eyes become quite dark and less noticeable making him appear sinister and unfriendly. There are harsh lines though tout the image starting with the two large pillars ether side of the subject framing him with blocky, dark, imposing features, then leading onto the industrial background of the shot has lines of light filtering through the roof. The colours of the image are dark or a rusted orange adding to the feel of danger as it’s not inviting and instead almost forces the viewer to look into Krupp’s eyes which are also dark and not very visible in the shot. Krupp himself had a weathered face from age and Newman highlighted this in his choice of lighting creating deep lines and grooves all over Krupp’s face furthering his appearance of an imposing, harsh character. Newman used perspective to his advantage, by putting Krupp’s o a close depth of field and the rest of the shot has a fairly long depth of field it encourages the viewer to look at Krupp’s and enforces his not necessarily good authority.

Environmental Portrait – a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings. They are normally used to reveal something about the subject in the photo particularly in relation to the background. This does not mean it has to be a positive association like the photo Arnold Newman took of Alfried Krupp and the way Newman has framed Krupp to represent the person he is and what he has done.

Typologies – A body of work with a consistent style. Often portrayed in many different forms, some being in a structured group with equal spacing in-between or a particular style in general like the style of environmental portraits. Environmental portraits are often associated with the style of typology as they are always structed images with the same idea of the subject looking into the camera and often centred.

Final Evaluation

I found this project quite testing but very useful, I found I didn’t pay enough attention to the details during the shoot, so this has taught me to be patient and check all the details in a shot. I would take the photos then realise when I went to edit them the lighting was off or the object wasn’t completely centred. It made me look at the finer details within an object as well which is what Walker Evan’s intended in his work, which heavily influenced my work. The lack of background in the shots meant I had to really look at how the photo was composed and get the other elements very accurate to provide a solid, neat photo as if not the shot would be very unimpressive and look unfinished. Overall the project has taught me a lot and I have new skills and ideas can take onto more creative, different photoshoots in the future.

For this project I chose my best shots and put them in a virtual gallery, I chose to place all the shots on one wall as I liked the idea that all the shots taken in the same way would be presented in the same way. By having a single colour background and no frames also takes away from the idea of the presentation being too busy. I chose the shots that I thought were the best after editing, many of them have an off white background so by keeping the gallery wall off white it helps contrast the photos and show off the details which is what this style is all about.

My response to Walker Evan’s and Harvey Regan’s work, was a very similar style, looking at how the object is presented in the photo. I started by trying different lighting settings until I found one that worked. I also used a few different objects, some that were particularly nostalgic to me personally and another that I thought was really quite interesting and could make a great result.

I started by adding all my photos into a collection on Lightroom and then rating each image and putting a corresponding colour code, red- low star rating, yellow for photos that have a middle ground rating, and then having green for any high rated photos that I will go onto edit.

This is the original image and the settings I used on the camera. I used a low shutter speed as the setting was static and fixed into a tripod with a low iso as the lighting was LED studio lighting. I took the image on a copy table as well so I will have to crop out the edges of the photo.

I started by cropping the image to get rid of the excess background and to focus the subject of the photo in the frame.

I then chose to adjust the tone by increasing the exposure to produce a whiter background and really highlight the comb.

Second Shot

I started by cropping this image as well, to again focus the subject.

I then changed the colouring slightly using the temperature toggles and the tint, this allowed me to level out the lighting as there was some small glares in the original photo.

My next step was to adjust the tone settings to create a whiter background while keeping fork true to real life colourings. By adjusting the exposure lower and the contrast higher to washed pout the background while bringing out the silver metal.

Choosing to next alter the presence as I didn’t like the purply light around the edges of the fork created by the previous editing, I reduced the texture as the fork is already fairly smooth it was unaffected however this removed the haze from the edges when used along side altered clarity and dehaze settings.

(This before and after doesn’t show the image before cropping) Overall I am very happy with the results as the editing has greatly benefitted the image. I have one more photo left I would like to edit using the skills and ideas of settings I have just learnt.

Third Shot

For my final image I chose to first again crop the shot, making sure the original is unlocked so I can individually adjust a side over having each side effect the rest.

These are the adjustments I did to make the photo slightly different. Originally I liked this edit, however I will go onto to remove some of the yellow as it looks slightly over saturated.

I much prefer this photo as it’s much more true to life with its’ colours. The background was effected meaning some of the purple tint came back but it doesn’t appear as purple and instead provides a solid, smooth background.

Fourth Shot

Starting again with cropping the image gives me a nice base to the editing. I try to frame all the images using the rule of thirds and removing as much of the unnecessary background as possible, like Regan and Evan’s style, instead focusing on the subject.

Looking at the colours in the photo, white background, white handle, black/ tarnished blade. I wanted the saw to stand out, which while it can be tricky to have white on white and make it stand out, as the saw is dirty and marked. (a reflection of how it has been used) The off white handle means it is bold on the page even without shadowing. This emphasises the shape and wear and tear with the tool.

This is the final image after editing, I like the follow on from the research of Evan’s and Regan’s work with the object in focus and a plain background keeping the focus on the subject and not everything around it. I used continuous hard lighting on a table with the camera on a tripod suspended over the object, ensuring the lighting didn’t wash out the saw if it was too harsh for the camera settings. Using white, harsh lighting made sure the object had little to no shadow, wasn’t an overly tonal image and didn’t feel warm and inviting instead intriguing and almost clinical in the attention to detail. While the photo started slightly under exposed as the shutter speed was 1/60 but the room was fairly poorly lit, after editing it was much improved by the increased exposure and decreased contrast. I’m happy with the image as unlike some of my previous work it does not have a purple tint, instead being a rather neutral boarding cold image, this is only emphasised by the saw handle being off white and showing high contrast between the pristine white background and the used saw handle.

These are my final images, by using a mixture of objects I created a varied array of shots which I then developed further with editing to produce my best four photos. The comb and boot brush are very nostalgic items for me personally and I love the way this style has captured every detail of each item making it very easy to at a glance remember all the good memories. the saw and the fork are not personal items to me but instead objects I found very intriguing to look at and are items that are very often used but never properly looked at, for the details and the flaws, or even the wear and tear of each object.

Walker Evans

‘Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long.’ -Walker Evan

Evans was an American photographer, capturing everyday, working class citizens.

Evan’s had many unique approach that were benefitted from his slight frame, allowing him to take many photos unnoticed, perfectly capturing things and people completely unaware. He was also a close friend of Ernest Hemingway who also ended up shaping much of Evan’s early style. He was one of the first to use portable cameras which got increasingly more modern with faster shutter speeds only further benefitting his style of quick snaps, expertly timed and framed. He actually began his career wanting to be a writer, which the literacy style stuck with him though all of his work as in himself he could not fully identify with the poor, rural farmers he portrayed in his work, so he often used literature to help understand and present his work.

Tin Building, Moundville, Alabama, Walker Evans, 1936.

Beauty of Common Tools – Walker Evans

Darren Harvey Regan

Beauty of the common tools – Darren Harvey Regan

Darren Harvey Regan is a photographer who was also a mixed media artist combing sculpture and photography. He wants to break the constraints of photography hence the mixed media. Many of his images are comedic and his aim is to get people to study the subjects of the photos. He is often linked to the style of formalism as his work is heavily focused around: lines, shape, colour and texture. The style he uses forces people to study each part of the image and look for meaning and reasoning behind the photo.

Darren Harvey-Regan – The Erratics

Analysing Regan’s style

Regan’s work tends to be black and white, with a wide grey scale. He heavily focuses on lines and textures in his work, for example the image above has a chalk on a stand adding further lines and direction to the photo. It also has a triangular shape carved out of it, which has a very different texture to compared the rest of the chalk as it appears smooth like the surrounding area where as the rest of the chalk looks very rustic with organic textures. The lighting is soft but well lit with sharp edges when the lighting changes in the image appearing very satisfying to the viewer.

Comparing Regan and Evans Work

Regan’s photo is o the left and Evan’s photo is on the right. There are obvious similarities between the two images, with them both being clack and white although this is reflective of the period of time Evan’s took his photos. There are other similarities like the subjects both being a tool and that it is on a plain white background. I believe the background is to get people to stop over looking an everyday tool and appreciate how interesting it is with the lines and patterns. There are differences like Evan’s photo has the tool on an angle like it had just been thrown on the floor, where as Regan’s photo appears well thought out and structured. There is the other big difference between the two images is that Regan’s photo has been edited as it is actually two tools merged together that you wouldn’t notice unless you actually looked at the photo due to the grey scale and similar shapes of the tools. While they are technically both photos, are Evan’s photo as Regan used Evan’s photos to make new collages and new experiments.

Formalism is a photography technique that describes the design, lighting and composition over the main subject matter. More simply the attention to detail over the main subject and how it is presented.

Analysing of photos has it’s own specific language to describe each element of the photo. All photos consist of formal and visual elements which is similar in all art but the language used is not all related to art, for example timing, framing and focusing aren’t things that relate to art pieces but mainly photography.

Imogen Cunningham

Aaron Haines

Water pipe Abstraction – Brett Weston

Basic Elements of Photography

Line

There are many different types of lines, straight, curved, a mix of both, or there can be lines like psychological lines and implied lines. Straight and curved lines are a great example of manmade lines often found in many photos. Psychological and implied lines are a great tool to add context and a story to a photo.

Shape

Shapes within photos are 2D, they bare easily manipulated from familiar to an unfamiliar shape by the photographer changing the lighting, angles and general form of a photo. Within an image new shapes can be made when the separate shapes combine with the use of techniques when structuring the photo. There are different types of shapes, geometric and organic shapes within photos, quite often a mix of natural and manmade appears in photos.

Form

‘the shape and structure of something as distinguished from its material’ Like shape, there are two types of form geometric and organic it can also be complex or simple. Form has overall height, depth and width as it is 3D. Tone is incredibly important for photos that are focused around form as it helps show off the different lines and shapes as well as the general composition of a photo.

Texture

Texture is one of the few elements in a photo that can be 3d as while it relates to what you can see in the image it can also be the feeling of the print as some photos are edited by hand to add depth, texture and feel. Texture is a very useful tool in photography dramatically changing images. Texture can be a subject in many photos the aim is, by using lighting and angles to benefit the image to, make the photo appear you can reach out and touch it.

Colour

Light is often thought of as colour, however this is not the case, actually light doesn’t become colour in a photo until it has been shone through something to give the originally colourless light colour. It is widely used in a variety of different ways; it has three properties, hue, saturation and value, each heavily contributing to the image often used to help put across a mood in a photo and to help benefit other elements.

Size

‘physical magnitude, extent, or bulk : relative or proportionate dimensions’ Merriam – Webster. Size is important in photography as it is often used to give scale. Within a photo size can be a relative or an illusion, noting it can be a great tool to perceive scale within a photo. If there is a familiar object within the photo like a dog or a football, or even a door it helps us make sense and be aware of the other objects or things within the frame and their scale. It does mean size can also be used to create optical illusions within a photo making for something extremely unique and interesting to look at.

Depth

A photograph is a 2D representation of a 3D scene. We as photographers can manipulate the appearance of depth in photos to create something compelling and sometimes emotional to look at. Depth is often used to get the viewer to look deeper at the photo and start to search for more. Rendering depth is a crucial part of a photo as while pretty much every photo will have depth it does not mean it won’t look flat and uninteresting depending on how the photo has been rendered. Rendering can come in many forms during and post production, many photographers use things like leading lines and lighting to create depth. Textures and patterns are another hugely useful tool when it comes to creating depth in even a simple photo.

Analysis of Formal Elements

This photo is a great example of the formal elements working well together. When you first glance at the photo the depth of the shot it what first catches your eye pulling the viewer to look at the middle of the photo following the curved lines that are the walls, and the lines and depth being used to make a 2D photo appear very 3D and continue beyond the shot. While the shot is in black and white the two colours have been used in varying ways to create a unique and interesting shot as the squares of f the flooring are matched in tone to the ceiling creating a round feel to the shot working with the depth and lines already making the shot feel 3D. The size is used to benefit the surreal feeling even further as the corridor is round the size of the corridor feels huge in comparison to what it potentially is. There doesn’t appear to be any rough textures and instead everything appears smooth, quiet and surreal, which is helped by the overall shape as while the shot is a landscape rectangle it encourages the viewer to believe it’s round due how the rest of the formal elements have been used to influence the viewer of the photo.

Final Evaluation

My final thoughts on this project, I enjoyed trying different things and it taught me a lot on how to compose a shot as well as how to use a different camera than I’m used to. I enjoyed using ‘props’ however I also liked using my own items likes the tie and stock as this felt more personal and linked it to the idea of nostalgia. When editing I played around with different tonal options and black and white or in some shots I chose to keep a softer background than a bright white. I also used photoshop to remove small details like scuffs and marks that made the shot look busier or unfinished. Over all I liked the project and found it very useful to get used to new things while producing high quality work.

This is my virtual gallery for my still life project. It is a selection of my best, after editing photos from this project. I mainly used the ones from my second shoot as I ended up much preferring them over the first shoot. I used a variety of different shots, some landscape, some portrait and some one black and white. I think viewing the photos in a virtual gallery allows me to see how well the final photos actually came out. I chose not to add frames to the final photos as I think it would take away from the simplicity within still life shots.

I started by looking at how different presets effect the photo. Presets are pre made sets of edits almost like a filter. Using them can be very beneficial as it allows for many edits to be put on one photo very quickly, it also allows for similar lighting and style of editing on a set of images or a singular shot. I used pre made presets as I hadn’t yet tried editing the shot myself, if I had I could have made my edits into a custom preset.

I then wanted to remove the small scuffs and marks from the background. To do this I used the spot heal tool on Lightroom and if something didn’t look right I would then correct it by moving the selection replace patch.

The final edit (as pictured above) doesn’t have a huge contrast in look than the before (the left picture above) but as you start to look at the shot in detail you can notice the small improvements like: there is no longer scuffs distracting and leading the view away from the objects, there is less yellowing on the icing set highlighting the details in the box while keeping the used look, the bottle is a brighter cream colour, truer to real life.

I was then curious as to how a black and white version might look as it is a great way of making photos feel more nostalgic and feel older. I used the black and white option in Lightroom and then compared the original shot and the black and white version. While I like the black and white version I then felt some of the lighting and colouring needed changing. To do this I increased the contrast to add to the definition of objects, I then furthered this by using the sharpening tool as well. By decreasing the highlights and increasing the shadows it allowed for more tone in the image making a successful black and white image.

The next step was to remove all the scuffs on the violin as well as the yellowing sticker on the neck of the violin. I did this by using the spot heal tool to camouflage the replaced part with the actual parts of the photo.

This is the before and after of the finished edit, I noticed the black parts of the background showing though takes away from the overall appearance of the photo as it quite distracting to the eye and takes the focus away from the subject in the photo.

To amend the previously mentioned background showing I used the spot heal tool to attempt to cover up the black sections without cutting the box out of the photo as I think it adds depth and great lines in the shot. However it didn’t quite work as the spot healed background didn’t completely match the rest of the shot making the photo look messy.

Photoshop Editing of the same shot

Although I have already edited this shot in Lightroom I felt photoshop could have a better effect on redoing the background.

I started by selecting the edge of the box and moving it towards the mug. This allows me to remove additional blank space while still keeping the different depths in the photo.

I then chose to crop the image, keeping the edge of the box in so it still added to the photo, drawing the viewers eye into the image with an additional leading line from an object that isn’t in direct, front on view in the shot. I also chose to crop the height and the side of the shot to keep it equal and make the shot feel more personal. This helps tell a story within the photo as it’s not just emphasising the objects as if it was it wouldn’t be over lapping or have some of the object cut out of the frame.

My last couple of alterations for this shot included, using the spot heal and clone tools to fill in scuff and remove marks on the image overall particularly on the violin. The editing actually made this photo look complete as before it looked very unfinished. I love how the shadows are only enhanced by editing adding, to the tone of the image. As this is a still life image, I focused on composing a story within the photo, to benefit this during the editing I fixed the background and left little room to be distracted when looking at the photo. Shape plays a big part in this image, making sure I used different shapes, some with smooth curving lines that lead around the image making it feel soft and almost safe like nostalgia does. To harsher more abrupt lines pointing to other elements in the photo. In general there is a smooth appearance to the objects, after editing and removing the scuffs, as our memory tends to manipulate smaller factors and seeing how scuffed something really is can make the photo look unappealing and take away from the image as a whole. Warm colours are focused on as the image as a whole and by using the ‘hue’ slider within photoshop I very slightly warmed the image while keeping the cool toned things like the metal tankard looking realistic. Depth within the image is always important during still life photos, to make sure the image didn’t appear flat I staggered the objects, I also took into consideration the size of each object putting the smaller ones at the front pulling the viewer to the back of the photo.

For this shot I felt it was rather flat as an image on the whole. before editing. To improve this I adjusted the hue to balance the image before then changing the image to black and white.

After making then image black and white I noticed that the bottle on the left had beleneded intot he background, to alter this I used the dodge and burn tool

Before After

For this last shot I chose to turn the shot black and white to add different tonal elements and by also removing some of the blemishes on the sheet of paper used as a background adds a smoothness to the overall look of the final photo. I did this editing in Lightroom as I didn’t feel it needed further editing in photoshop and instead I wanted to look at the colouring and lighting of the shot which Lightroom is great for.

I used Lightroom classic to go through all my photos and started by colour labelling my photos to make a rough idea of which photos are better than the others, this then allowed me to make a best shots unedited folder. I used the idea of green for the best shots and red for the shots that I don’t like.

First Shot

I then started to edit the best shots, I started by using the spot heal tool to remove any thigs I felt took away from the overall image liked the price tag on the hat and flecks of dust on the background.

After that I started to adjust the colouring on each image, as I used neutral lighting on most of my shots it made it easier to edit and manipulate the image to how I wanted it to look.

Second Shot

This image needed cropping so I used the cropped grid tool to centre the subject.

These were the settings for this shot. At the time these worked well on the actual taking of the photos. However with flash box lighting the image looked slightly washed out so I then went onto edit the saturation and exposure.

As seen above I increased the saturation by +40 which while leading to a purple tint on the upper half of the photo, when I then decreased the highlights to -100 it made the colours of the tie, stock and red in the rosette brighter and a more accurate representation of the actual colours. I also think this makes the photo have a more nostalgic feel as the bright colours remind me of my childhood and the excitement of winning.

I then felt the purple tint was too much so I then used the colour selections to change the purple levels in the photo drawing the image back to the original lighting with no purple tint but with the more prominent colours in the tie and stock.

I then felt the image edges were very soft and I wanted the details of the ribbon and the lines in the stock to be sharp against the background.

This is my final image, overall I the editing has greatly improved the image. The composition of the original shot was already well composed, however I felt the lighting needed work. This could also have been done while taking the photo via flash lighting set up I used however I also felt I could benefit the image with editing. Vibrancy is a common connection between nostalgia and the things/ photos that create it, so I felt not only did the editing help the general photo but also gave the photo a further nostalgic feel.

The next step I had was to add different objects to the shoot to create a story slightly less personal to me and instead working on what I have researched. By using ‘old fashioned’ objects I think it gives a great story and insight into history. I looked at the lines created, the patterns and following the rules that an odd number of objects always looks better than an even.

First Shot

The first editing step was to cropping this image, I wanted to centre the objects as while taking the shot I made sure the violin was in the middle of the shot as it has height, leading the viewer around the shots composition.

The temperature of the image is cooler now I have adjusted it downwards, this is to benefit the lighting as it quite neutral before hand so the cooler tint brings out the colour and shadows.

The before and after (starting from after cropping was done) Overall the editing has greatly improved the image, looking at the the artists I have looked at I noted the cool tones and textured images, so to recreate this through photography I added texture on the texture sliders.

Second Shot

Again I started by cropping the photo down as it was on an angle as I needed to use a bigger field in my photo to start with to allow the lighting to be in the photo.

This set of images shows my process within editing the photos, I start by changing the highlights, once a lot higher and once a lot lower. Now comparing the images I much prefer the highlights being higher as the clarity and definition of the shapes within the photo is immensely better. Saying this I do like the idea of having a grey toned background as I think it adds to the overall image.

Following on from my previous edited image, I chose to increase the texture allowing things like the wood grain in the violin to be seen. By choosing not to adjust the vibrancy or the saturation I kept the image fairly true to life within its colouring, showing I used my lighting correctly and set up my camera well.

Third Shot

Again I started by cropping the photo to make sure the subjects were centred well. This is particularly important in still life works as it is all about the composition of shot.

Choosing to next adjust the exposure to bring out the colours and level out the image slightly. I will probably go onto change it again but it is a great starting point for this shot.

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This is the image after adjusting the rest of the tone and presence sliders. I chose lift the orange tones in the shot, pulling both ends of the photo together. Texture is something I also increased as I like how the age can be seen in the tankard and icing set.

This is a before and after (without cropping) of the final image. The obvious differences are that the background is darker, this nicely complements the increased texture. The objects stand out more with their more true to life colourings brought out by the reduced highlights and increased black depth. The photo appears more intriguing to the viewer as the textures and better detail can be seen in the image, which is vital with a small depth of field and non contextual background.

Flower basket-  Jan van den Hecke

Nick Church Photography

Pieter Claesz, Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill 

Still-Life Painting in Northern Europe, 1600–1800

Still Life Metaphors and Meanings