This was my final first practice gallery on Adobe Photoshop. To create my first artificial gallery, I found an image on images and imported it into Photoshop. I chose these particular images that I took to represent still life and transitioning into formalism. I think these all correlate in some way and have some sort of direct link to each other. The colours compliment each other well and I think this helps to escalate my gallery to look better and more presentable when the images I have taken all look similar but different.

I then exported my own photos onto the image of the gallery, to put on top of the walls. I chose this image because I think it shows a clearly displayed and open space to place my photos. I also chose this image because I think it helps to challenge myself as the walls are slanted and give me an opportunity to test my new skills whilst editing images I have taken into a virtual gallery.

1. After importing them I created a new layer and resized and distorted it to fit the walls. I did this in a particular way to fit the entirety of the wall then made them smaller in order to look presentable.
2. I also changed the angle of how they sat on the walls. This helps them to look more realistic and straight. The straighter my images I took sit on the wall, the more realistic they look.
3. I then pressed blending options after clicking the rectangular marquee tool. I then press drop shadow to control where the shadow is able to sit behind my image. This is to create a 3D effect.

I then moved onto Art steps and made another virtual gallery to display my still life photography. This website provided me with a more professional looking, but simpler approach to displaying my photographs.

In my virtual gallery I made my photos look hung up on the wall. I also experimented with different borders of my photos. From a range of black white and grey backgrounds I was able to experiment which different colours complimented my photography and brought out their detail. I enjoyed using Artsteps so that I could properly evaluate my work in a digital gallery I could explore, this gave a more realistic approach instead of just a photo. I think I prefer using Artsteps as it gives me more time to focus on editing my photos without having to focus on the angle, distortion and shadowing on my artwork on the wall.

For this photo I had a metal box and piled books into it. I edited and got rid of the highlights and added extra shadows for an older look. The original photo was a lot brighter and less vibrant so I added clarity into the photo which made the photo and the reflection clearer. I added texture and shadows in the photo because I think it looks much better dark.

Before

after

For this photo of a violin and books I changed the colour to black and white to change the aura of the photo. This created a clearer image of the violin and books to make you focus on them more than the colour of the original photo. I cropped out the edges of the original photo as it looked messy and straightened it out as evenly as I could to make the photo look clean.

These photo of books are both edited but I prefer the second one as it is less dull and has a mystical feel to it as the books are glowing. I added texture to the second photo to give it a vintage vibe and added less clarity compared to the first photo for a less sharper image. the second photo gives a warm hue while the first photo has cold hue making it look crisp and sharp.

In order to make my photo gallery, I used photoshop. However, I first had to get my images from Lightroom into photoshop. I did this by exporting them into a document in which I could then open up on photoshop and access my photos. After I had exported them, I then opened up photoshop and pressed file new in order to get a blank, white page. I then went onto google and searched up ‘gallery space’, making sure to press tool, size and large in order to make sure the images had high resolution.

I chose to use this gallery space. I then copied and pasted it onto photoshop, making sure to use Ctrl t in order to make the image fill up the whole page. Next, I selected one of my photographs I had taken previously and opened it up on photoshop. Then, I dragged the image onto the gallery space and pressed Ctrl t to shrink it to a suitable size. However, when I wanted to place an image on the side walls I had to use the transform tool then select perspective in order to make it look like it is actually attached to the wall and make my final gallery look more realistic.

Finally, to complete my photo gallery I decided to add a drop shadow to each of my images to make them stand out compared to the wall and appear more three dimensional. I did this by going onto the layer with the tool I wanted to add a shadow to then right clicked on it and press blending options. I then experimented with different sizes, spreads and distances. These are the final sizes I chose:

Overall, I like how my photo gallery came out as I think it is a creative way to present my images and gives you a sort of sense of how it would look like in a real life setting. However, one improvement I would make to my photo gallery is I would add more of my still life images to the other side wall as at the moment there are a lot more tools than still life objects, giving my final gallery an unproportionate feel to it. Additionally, I could also make a photo gallery for only tools and only still life images.

Walker Evans was greatly influenced by Darren Harvey-Regan as they both paid close attention to the choice of objects, composition, lighting and exposure levels.

Walker Evans

Walker Evans began photography in the late 1920’s, taking his first snapshots while on his trip to Europe. Then on his return to New York he produced his first set of images. He was best know for taking photographs during the Great Depression, as he was mostly recognised for his documentary and social realism style. Evans then went onto produce his first Portfolio in 1955 called, Beauties of the Common Tool where it features day-to-day objects. The simplicity of only one object displayed, creates this engaging and immersing feature for the viewer, as he wants you to see them for yourself in a different way.

Beauties of the Common Tools

Walker Evans shows simplistic everyday objects displayed in black and white, which creates unique forms and interesting exposure as we get more out of the object. This is effective because he turns the objects into something that’s more distinct and eye catching, rather than just photographing basic tools.

Darren Harvey-Regan

Like Walker Evans, Harvey-Regan was interested in the concept that photographs do not exist just to show things, but are physical things that become objects themselves. Harvey- Regan first created montages of Walker Evan’s work, where he would find matching tools, cut them in half and rejoin them to create his final work. The objects he would find were both interesting and unusual as this would engage the viewer and overall make it more distinct.

Here are my 3 final images:

I chose these three as they are all very unique yet still have a nostalgic effect due to the old, worn objects :). I also think they will look good next to each other.

Then, I decided to Make them all B/W as the theme is nostalgia, and B/W images brings out a nostalgic feel for many people including me. B/W also removes any distraction of colour and helps the viewer focus on other aspects of the photo, such as the subject, the textures, shapes and patterns, and the composition. Contrast is also more noticeable with B/W photographs, which can bring out more emotion. For example, the middle photo of the book has a powerful and dark shadow due to the continuous, directional light used. This makes the book more noticeable, increasing the emotion from the image.

Here, I split up one of my final images using the triptych method. I think I makes it look very clean and professional.

Walker Evans

Walker Evans was an American photographer and photojournalist best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans’ work from the FSA period uses the large format, 8×10-inch view camera.

Evans’ most famous photo was a portrait of Allie May Burroughs- a farmer’s wife, and mother of four – whose unforgettable eyes seem to stare right through us – is one of the most firmly embedded images in American consciousness.

This is some examples of Walker Evans’ work, where he takes simple flat photographs of different tools and then makes them black and white and maybe even give them a reflection or shadow to create dark, old, almost scary feel to the photographs. Also, they all don’t use any colour only shadow colours like grey, black and white and some pictures he gave an almost floating effect by using no shadow by using extra lights which also helps capture all the details on each tool.

Darren Harvey-Regan

Darren Harvey-Regan is a graduate of the Royal College of Art. His work has appeared in exhibitions and publications internationally and is part of the permanent photography collection at the V & A Museum, London.
Darren is an accomplished Leader with a focus on designing culture, strategic thinking, change management, operational design, HR and project leadership.

Darren Harvey-Regan’s photos are very bold and powerful and this picture in particular has a very strong contrast between the block and the shadow. This makes the object used stand out and look more powerful. The use of shape and line in this image makes the object appear more interesting to look at and gives the object a different composition.

These photos are actually montages of Walker Evans’ work when many people think it is Darren Harvey-Regan’s work.

Still life is paintings or a drawing of an arrangement of objects. They are an arrangement of inanimate objects such as fruit, flowers, household items, and textiles. These paintings use different types of symbolic and religious objects to convey deeper meanings or narratives. Still life paintings began in the 16th and 17th centuries, The Golden Ages. Now in the 21st century still life paintings were edited and modernised still capturing the same and different kinds of objects in a more vibrant and modern way.

Modern, 21st Century

Vanitas

Vanitas are symbolic artwork, it is a genre of still life that shows the fleetingness of life. Vanitas are closely related to the Memento Mori, which is artwork of objects that reminds the viewer the fragility and shortness of life, for example some of the symbols include skulls and extinguished candles.

Paulette Tavormina

Paulette creates still life imagery of lit objects such as fruit and vegetables that are immersed in dark backgrounds. The dark background enhances the lit objects making each individual objects stand out from one another. This unique feature creates an interesting and unique depth, which leads the eye to each section of the photo while also creating a more deeper and meaningful photo. With fewer negative space, this draws your eyes in closer enhancing the abstract composition, enabling you to have more of a direct focus on the objects. This feature allows you to see and focus on more of the small and intricate objects placed around the photo, creating more texture and unique formations in areas that you wouldn’t notice from a distance.

These wear the three pictures I liked the most. The lighting for all three photos didn’t change and neither did the background.

Growing up I played violin for six years and music has always been a part of my life so having a tattered stringless violin in the photos displayed how growing up music has changed around me and my taste in music has changed, whilst also reminding the viewer that eventually everything must come to an end like how this Violin was played for the last time before becoming a prop. I have also loved reading since I was younger, and I used to read with my mum when I was little.

The candle stick holder and the little pot bulk out the images whilst maintaining a vintage sort of look the wear and tear on the holder helping to do so.

By having the background be black card and the objects on white card and creating this sharp corner it helps the image to seem more streamlined and elegant with how smooth it is. the violin almost stands as a separate being; and in the last image lays back and pulls the piece to gather like a lady in a renaissance painting.

Aperture refers to the opening of a lens’s diaphragm through which light passes.

Shutter speed is the speed at which the shutter of the camera closes. 

For digital photography, ISO refers to the sensitivity of the camera’s sensor. The ISO setting is one of three elements used to control exposure; the other two are f/stop and shutter speed. ISO originally referred to the sensitivity of film.

I like all of these images because they are very simple and classic. The lighting is focusing on the objects in the photograph. There is good exposure with these images and they are in focus. they seem to look clear and the shutter speed is a good temp for the mood and tone of these photos.

Some of these images are edited in Lightroom, with higher contrast and iso.

They are all set up with objects that could potentially outline you as a person.

To conclude –

Photographing inanimate still life subjects is a great creative and technical exercise. It allows you to take your time and carefully control your image, from the staging to the lighting, the shooting, and colorimetric management