A visual element is any characteristic that can been seen in a photograph. This can include, line, shape, space, repetition, texture, colour and tone.
Jaroslav Rössler
My paper experiments
Jaroslav Rössler is a photographer who works with paper to create interesting formal elements in his work. This is achieved by the folding and cutting of paper to create shapes. His work includes a lot of tone which I tried to build in my own paper images by photographing my designs on white and black backgrounds. I also created the visual noise seen in Rössler’s photos by turning up my cameras ISO when shooting my photographs. This helped to create grain and texture within my pictures. I believe that my photos taken on the black background were more effective due to the stronger creation of space within the photos. The negative space may have also been enhanced by a more harsh and artificial light as opposed to the natural light I used in my shoot.
Gradient Overlay Experimentation
Final Edits and Presentation
For my final composition, I worked with my photos on the black background due to them being more successful. This worked well as it allowed me to create a triptych display. I altered my pictures to have the sepia effect which is seen in Rössler’s work. I also adjusted the green colour balance of my images to make them more accurate to his work’s colour palette. To display my photographs, I arranged them in a purple grid as this is a harmonious colour to the sepia tone and therefore does the images more justice. This also helps to add my own flare in comparison to my very Rössler based work. As well as colour edits, I worked on creating more dramatic value by upping the contrast and exposure of the photos in photoshop. The use of leading lines also helps to highlight the dark and light tones.
Adobe Lightroom is used to organize, store and edit images.
Importing Images
On Lightroom there is an import button in which you can import photos to store in Lightroom.
On Library mode, you can flag images and give them a rating out of 5 stars. This makes it easier to organize which images are the best or which images you want to edit.
Navigator Tool
Navigator tool gives you presets, which give you pre-made filters that you can add to your images.
Develop Mode
Develop mode lets you manually edit your images by adjusting the contrast, saturation ect.
Here is all my images in lightroom.
Here I made a folder for all my texture images, so my images are more organised and easier to access.
Me and my group decided to use loads of different sheets of coloured see through plastic and hold it over the spotlight in the studio to therefore change the colour of the light, we did a photoshoot experimenting with each of the different colours to then discover what our favourite was.
This was pink.
This was Purple.
This was blue.
This was Red.
We decided that red was our favourite colour and took our best photos using the red light, here’s them unedited.
Focus points in photography are areas where the camera focuses to keep them sharp and clear. Photographers can select a single focus point for precise control or let the camera choose multiple points to keep various parts of the scene in focus. These points ensure the key elements of an image are sharp, guiding the viewer’s attention.
Ralph Eugene Meatyard
Ralph Eugene Meatyard (1925–1972) was an American photographer known for his strange and haunting photos. He often used his family and friends as models, having them wear masks or pose in abandoned places, exploring ideas like identity and time. Though he worked as an optician, photography was his creative outlet.
His photos have a dreamlike, almost eerie feel, blending reality and fantasy. Meatyard’s unique style, influenced by books and philosophy, wasn’t widely recognized while he was alive, but today, his work is appreciated for its mysterious and personal touch.
Image Of Photographer.
In the image on the left we can see that Ralph has used Aperture to focus on the person on the bed and leave the background more zoned out of the picture, I believe he did this to give the person in the image deeper meaning and almost making them seem disconnected from what is going on around them, his work represents how aperture can be used in photography in such a volatile way.
Saul Leiter
Saul Leiter (1923–2013) was an American photographer and painter known for his innovative use of color photography. He began as a painter but shifted to photography in the 1940s, capturing the streets of New York City with a focus on mood and color rather than dramatic moments. His images often featured reflections and shadows, giving them a soft, abstract quality.
Although he wasn’t widely recognized during his lifetime, Leiter’s work gained appreciation as color photography became more respected in the art world. His unique perspective on everyday urban scenes and painterly eye for composition have solidified his legacy as a significant figure in photography.
Image Of Photographer.
In the image on the left we can see that Saul has used aperture and depth of field to focus on the background of the image rather than the subject of it, I can tell this image wasn’t done using shutter speed as the car behind the man is perfectly clear even though it is moving, like Ralph’s I believe this is representing the man as being disconnected from the world yet again representing how many ways aperture and depth of field can be used in photography.
Uta Barth
Uta Barth is a contemporary photographer born in 1958 in Freiburg, Germany. She is known for her innovative use of soft focus and blurring techniques to explore perception, light, and space. Her work emphasizes color and composition, inviting viewers to engage with the nuances of visual experience.
Barth has exhibited widely in galleries and museums, gaining recognition for her unique style that blends photography and painting. She is also a dedicated educator, teaching at institutions like UCLA, and her contributions to contemporary photography inspire ongoing discussions about vision and representation.
Image Of Photographer.
In the image on the left we can see that Uta has used aperture and depth of field to create a blurry image, I believe she has done this to create an image that someone who views it can interpret it how they want to, I also thing she has done this as it is different from the usual sharp images you will usually see from photographers and creating something more abstract and different, this again represents all of the things you can do with aperture and depth of field.
My Contact Sheet
My Selection Process
as you can see above I used P and X to flag my images to filter out the bad ones from the ok and good ones, next I rated these images 4 or 5 stars as 4 being ok ones and 5 being good ones, finally I gave them the colour yellow or green, green being the best and yellow being good. I will now edit these images that I selected and present them bellowalong with the raw images.
My Final Images
Foreground –
Middle Ground –
Background –
In the pictures above, I took photos of batteries at different distances to show how depth of field works. By changing how far each battery was from the camera, I could highlight how focus shifts through different parts of the image. This technique makes it clear how some objects stay sharp while others get blurrier, depending on the focus point and aperture settings. In my experiment, the closest batteries are in sharp focus, while the ones further back blur out more, which creates a sense of depth. By using different distance increments, it becomes obvious how the depth of field can change the look and feel of a photo, making certain details stand out or helping to show the space and dimension in the shot.
Images In Black-And-White
Foreground –
Middle Ground –
Background –
Editing With Reasoning
Foreground –
Middle Ground –
Background –
I chose to edit these pictures to make the focus even stronger on the areas I wanted to highlight. By adjusting the focus during editing, I was able to emphasize specific details and create a clearer distinction between the sharp and blurred parts of the image. This allowed me to direct the viewer’s attention exactly where I intended, while still maintaining the depth of field effect. The edits helped bring out the key elements in the photos, reinforcing how important focus is in shaping the way we interpret an image.
In 1917 Jaroslav Rössler began his career as an apprentice in the Prague studio of Frantisek Drtikol, where he learned the techniques of oil, bromoil, pigment and other printing techniques. From 1923 to 1925, he also made a series of his own photographs, using contrasts of geometrical areas of light, shade and reflections with different shades of black, grey and white tones, and geometric shapes cut from paper and cardboard.
some of my own example, inspired by his work
raw photos , which were the best
these photos edited
Francis Bruguière
Born the youngest of four sons into a wealthy San Francisco family, Francis Bruguière was interested in painting, poetry, and music, and became an accomplished pianist. Upon his return from Europe, where he studied painting, he met Alfred Stieglitz at the 291 Gallery in New York and soon took up photography. While studying with Frank Eugene (Smith), Bruguière joined the Photo-Secession. Although he returned to San Francisco, Stieglitz published one of Bruguière’s photographs in Camera Work and included several in the groundbreaking 1910 Photo-Secessionist exhibition at the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo, New York.
Around 1912 Bruguière began to experiment with multiple exposures. In 1918 he published a book of Pictorialism views of his hometown, titled San Francisco. Soon thereafter, he returned to New York, where he opened a new studio, and began his famous series of cut-paper abstractions. In 1928 he moved to London where he designed stage sets and photographic murals. The later years of his life were spent mostly in New York, where his attention turned increasingly to painting and sculpture.
photos edited to look similar to his work and in a high key
photos similar to his work but in a low key
these photos that are similar to the artist, which have a formal element of texture from the complex shapes.
experiments with different types of editing
kaleidoscope effect –
with these images I have used cropping to make them seem more abstract and not obvious that its paper. also theses connect to a formal element – pattern from these complex patterns made from being cropped. but not only that these photos have formal element shape cause complex shapes are seen in these photos.
gradient overlay
these images have a connection to a formal element – colour from the different shades of colour that show, which have been edited into these colours.
my final presentation
with these images iv just used a simple display cause by being simple you are able to focus on the photos unlike a complex display which will sometimes look confusing on where to look. which is also got many formal elements such as texture, space , pattern but not semantical and tone. which made me decide on these because it had the most of the formal elements compared to the other experiments, cause the other two only had one or two and is most in reference to the artists.
In photography, the shutter speed or the exposure time is the length of time that the digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light when taking a photograph. The amount of light that reaches the film or image sensor is proportional to the exposure time. 1/500 of a second will let half as much light in as 1/250. This gives the effect of either a fast or slow shutter speed, enabling photographers to experiment more with the type of photography they do.
Slow Shutter Speed
This is when the time of the shutter speed is longer to allow more light to be captured, this as a result makes the image less sharper and more lighter. it also often refers to a larger fraction of a second, such as ½ or ¼. Slow shutter speeds can capture movement and introduce blur, usually for slower moving subjects. Long shutter speeds are typically around one second or longer. This gives a example like this:
Medium Shutter Speed
This is when the shutter speed is in between a slow and high shutter speed as is around a shutter speed such as 1/250 to 1/30 sec. This is a middle ground, this mean the image is neither too bright or too dark but still gives the effect of a blurring/moving image, for example a medium shutter speed is used to blur a person running or animal giving the impressions of fast movement.
Fast Shutter Speed
Fast shutter speed is when you take a photo to 1/500th to 1/4000th of a second, This gives the image a sort of stuck in time effect with minimal or no blur at all. Fast shutter speed is often used to capture rapid moving objects or animals, this is so you get a clean image of a subject that would otherwise be blurred. But when you are using fast shutter speed the photo will be dark and lacking contrast. If you need a high shutter speed then you can compensate it with the aperture or if you don’t want to change that then you can increase the ISO value.
How the images were achieved
For the first image of slow shutter speed, I went outside the school and took pictures of cars going past. With the use of a slower shutter speed it made the cars look almost like a blur while the background stayed clear. This gave the illusion of the car going faster than it was. In the second picture it a gives and cool effect via the medium shutter speed, this is because only the legs are blurry but still not too blurry, this gives the idea of movement but only minimal. And with the third and final image it was just quite simple and shows a clear example of Freddie walking, but as it was a fast shutter speed, you are unable to see any type of blur even though he is moving.
ISO controls the amount of light your camera lets in, and therefore how dark or light your photos will be and how sensitive your camera sensor is to light. The higher the ISO number, the higher your camera’s sensitivity, and the less light you need to take a picture. The trade off is that higher ISOs can lead to degraded image quality and cause your photos to be grainy or “noisy.”
What does a high ISO / low ISO mean? What effect can this have on your photos? What is meant by visual noise?
The higher the ISO number, the less light is needed and the more grainy a image is. The lower the ISO number, the more light is needed to properly expose the image, this makes the image smother and more detailed but is darker. The higher the ISO number, the higher your camera’s sensitivity, and the less light you need to take a picture. The trade-off is that higher ISOs can lead to degraded image quality and cause your photos to be grainy. The higher the ISO, the more amplification your sensor needs, and the more noise you will see in your image.
When might you want to use a high ISO?
High ISO is generally well suited to low-light situations, especially when a fast shutter speed or a narrow lens aperture is essential to achieving a creative goal. Using a higher ISO setting for hand-held street photography at night allows one to use fast shutter speeds to create bright, sharp images.
Exploring the effects of ISO
As you can see in these photos, there is a clear difference between which image is lighter and darker, this is determined by the amount of ISO used. In the top photo I used a lower ISO, in which made the photo a lot darker and more accurate to how light it really was in the studio. In the bottom photo I used a moderately high ISO, this is because I didn’t want the image to be too bright but still wanted to add more detail and to see what was in the actual image. Also if you look close enough you can see the grain that I mentioned in the blog. I could prevent this to make a more clearer image by decreasing the shutter speed, but with this I would have to keep the camera steady to reduce blur.
Adobe Lightroom is a software that converts RAW files from your camera into images you can view, organize, and edit. It offers non-destructive editing, light and colour control, composition control, and detail control features for photographers.
Library mode –
Library view mode are simply a way of displaying your images on the screen to suit different tasks, such as photo selection. I organise my photos in folders and sub folders in lightroom to keep it organised.
organisation –
I use P and X to flag my images to filter out the bad ones from the ok and good ones, next I rate these images 4 or 5 stars as 4 being ok ones and 5 being good ones, finally I give them the colour yellow or green, green being the best and yellow being good. I will then edit these images that I selected for later use in my blog posts.
Develop mode –
In develop mode we can use the bar on the right to change things about the image, this is used to enhance the image and can also be used to fix the image will I will explain below.
As seen in the image below I have circled a tool I use in almost all of my images, this tool is used to fix any imperfections on an image and is useful when editing.
Well, Lightroom is many things but what Lightroom is actually used for is to enhance and sharpen pictures. it is commonly used as using certain methods (I will go into further along this post) it is easy to identify the ones with bad quality and good quality and eliminate the ones you don’t want to work on.
To start actually putting pictures into Lightroom, you have to import them. In the bottom left of your screen you will see the import button.
Once you have pressed this a screen will come up and on the left hand-side you can choose where the images come from and what images you would like.
Here is where you can uncheck and check images to choose which ones you would like to import into your Lightroom library. Once you have selected them in the bottom right of your screen you will see this button.
If you press import, these images you have selected will appear into your library. Furthermore this will unlock multiple different features that can improve your photos and make them easier to navigate to.
By going through your images and pressing in the top right corner of each image you can flag the images. This aids you further as you can prioritise the pictures that have certain features
Diptych
What is a Diptych?
A Diptych is a creative format that combines two images side by side. This approach allows photographers to explore relationships between the images, whether through contrasting themes or the monitoring and comparing of the two images. By pairing two photos it is easier to identify and pick out more final details. For instance, one image could focus on texture and detail, while the other provides context or a broader view, encouraging viewers to make connections between the two. Diptychs are an effective way to engage the audience and invite deeper interpretation of the photographic narrative.
This is my Diptych and it easily shows my original picture and the final product.
