Texture in photography refers to the quality of the surface of an image. It conveys depth and detail in each image you take. The textures can be emphasised through the lighting and focus which can enhance the surfaces to appear more smooth, rough, and hard.

This texture photoshoot includes different textures I could find in nature, including objects like bark, mushrooms, leaves, moss, twigs, rocks, and wood chips. I decided to take these images as I thought it was a creative way to present texture in objects around us.

Artist Research

Ernesto Ruiz

Ernesto was born and raised in Puerto Rico and moved to Minnesota to study and learn more about architecture, where he discovered his passion for photography. In his photos, there is a strong sense of natural light used to shine on mainly the centre of the images. This encourages the viewer to focus on the centre, where the most details are. The space surrounding the image is very compacted, which produces a busy focus for the viewer.The colours featured in these images are enhanced, but still the same shades of bark you would expect to see. Ruiz captures texture well by zooming into his images from straight ahead, which enables us to see the outlines of bark.

Photoshoot Plan

To do this photoshoot, I will need to go out to a park and take images of the natural surroundings, such as bark to replicate Ruiz’s work. I will also take photos of other natural objects I find, but my main priority is taking images of bark from the trees. In order to do this photoshoot, I need to make sure the lighting is bright and that I zoom in to get the effects of the bark like he does.

Contact Sheet

Best Photos

I imported all of my texture images onto Lightroom and individually highlighted each one to make it more clear. As you can see, there is a range of images that I selected that I would like to use (green). This colour coded method helps me to identify which images to use on photoshop more effectively as it takes less time since I don’t have to go through each one to select a good image.

After discovering my favourite images, I went into photoshop to edit the best photos I have and make edits of them to present as my final piece.

Reflection on the photoshoot:

A lot of these images I really like, as they represent texture in various ways. However, towards the end of the photoshoot, it began to rain, which meant that the camera lens had raindrops on it. This made a lot of my end images look blurry which made it difficult to get the accurate representation of the texture.

Editing

To improve my images, I concluded that I would upload the green selected ones from Lightroom into Photoshop so I was able to edit them. By doing this, it allows me to be able to present my work in the best form as they need to be edited in order for them to be presented. For my three edits, I marked the images I liked best and wanted to up level them by changing the hue and saturation, making a mirror image, and circles in my work as shown below.

Edit 1 – Hue/saturation

For this edit, I decided to enhance the colours to create a unique and attention-grabbing effect, by making the colours unusual to what they would actually be.

I did this by first cropping my images, then pressing ‘image’ then ‘adjustments’ then ‘hue/saturation’ to play around and change the colours so they still look somewhat natural.

Below is my final product of this edit, and as you can see they all fit nicely together. I decided to do three images in one piece as it gives you an idea of the edit I am creating, and the overall theme of it (which is the use of the different colours).

Edit 2 – Mirror Image

My second edit is the mirror image, where your image is reflected on the other side to make an intriguing pattern from your photograph. I began by opening my image and adding a background layer so I could flip the image both horizontally and vertically as you can see below.

 

After achieving this, I repeated these steps 2 more times to have the finished look. I cropped the image to ensure the background wasn’t in my edit. This image generates patterns that weren’t originally in the image, so it attracts the viewer as each edit you do of this will look completely unalike.

Edit 3 – Circles

For my last edit, I cropped each image to become a square shape, and engraved a large circle in each of the images. Once I achieved that, I rotated the circles so they were facing different directions to the original image, and then edited the circle to become a monochrome tone. This helps catch the viewers attention as the change of direction through the lines creates a saddened tone paired with the dark colours. Then, I edited the background to match the vibe and made it a darker tone. By doing this, I created a dark tone to the images overall.

Final Piece:

For my final piece, I decided to go with my third edit, as I feel as though it resinated with the artist the most in terms of him taking images of bark. It is also a creative design to present, as it has elements of line, texture and pattern which are all included in the formal elements.

Art Gallery

Lastly, I uploaded my final images to the art gallery which enables you to walk around and view your photography work like it is in a gallery. I spaced these images out to individualise them but still have the effect of them being united as similar pieces.

Evaluation

Overall, I believe my work somewhat connects to Ruiz’s work as he takes images of the bark from close up like I did. Unlike him, I shifted my work to monochrome colours to highlight the details scattered throughout the bark trees, whereas he kept the colours shown and did not edit it like mine. I also took other images of the natural textures, but mainly focused on the bark trees. To improve my work I would stick to his style and make the colours more warm toned without making it black and white, and zoom in more to really capture the small outlines in the bark like he does.

The formal elements – line, shape, space, colour, pattern and texture – are necessary for creating visually captivating images. Each one of these elements plays a particular role in photography to intrigue the viewer and make them fascinated with the image. This could be from any of the categories below:

Line

Line in photography is often used to guide the viewers eye throughout the image. There are various lines that could be shown in an image, for example, there are leading lines and curved lines to create structure and balance within an image. They also enhance depth to make some images have the 3D feel to them. Finally, they also frame certain parts of the image to highlight the main subject focused in the image.

Shape

The use of unique shapes in photography helps to define subjects and can lead to interesting compositions within the image. Shape can help to define an image portrayed by using lines and boundaries to outline them. Shape also has the possibility to contrast the shape from the surrounding image, making the viewer intrigued.

Space

There are two main types of space used in photography; positive and negative space. These types of space can impact the viewers focal point of the image. In negative space, the space around the object can cause the viewer to look more towards the void which also highlights the importance of the subject being shown.

Colour

Colour influences the viewer’s emotions from which selection they use. The colour theory is useful to determine which colours would work best in an image, and which would instead give bad contrasting colours. By choosing a good selection, this can enhance the visual appeal towards the image.

Pattern

Pattern is a significant and important element that can enhance visual interest in the image. The use of pattern can produce an overall satisfying look, especially if the pattern is repeated many times throughout the image. This element forces your eyes to scan the image as a whole, and see it all together unlike the other formal elements.

Texture

Lastly, texture is used to emphasise the quality of the surfaces, making the image feel more tactile and versatile to other textures. Images of texture add more depth and detail, to engage the viewers and allows them to quickly analyse every aspect of the texture being presented. It also creates a contrasted look, as it draws attention to various areas.

For this paper photoshoot, I tried multiple techniques to add dimension and dark contrasts by using a torch, a bright light, and multiple different coloured lights like blue and red. This all helped to link my work to my artist research as their photos also have that contrast to make the light brighter.

Artist Research

Francis Brugiére

Francis was an American photographer, born in 1879, and died on the 8th of may 1945. He was born in San Francisco, and became a photographer along side also being a painter and a musician. Later in life, Brugiére moved to London to start a new film. His work can be summarised as a plain piece of paper folded and cut to create a unique pattern of interesting shapes and forms. With the use of light, his work is seen to have a contrast of both light and dark pieces featured. The colour is edited to be a monochrome tone, to make the main focus on the contrast and to take away any of the other distractions. The use of line is highlighted in his images as the paper creates various lines heading in all sorts of directions, which creates a detailed effect. Lastly, Francis uses a zoomed in camera technique to capture the curves of the paper without including the background of the images. By not including this, it helps present the work as a sole focus on the paper design and no other distractions.

Photoshoot plan

In order to do this, I will use a dim-lit room where I will be able to take images using a bright torch to show the contrast of light. I will also need to cut up some paper to create the same effect Brugiére does as his paper is full of various shapes and patterns to create a unique look. I will also make sure to have a backdrop so nothing in the background will be seen when taking these images.

Contact Sheet

My Best Photos

For my best photos, I uploaded my images onto Lightroom and colour coded the ones I thought were the best (green), the ones that were okay (yellow) and the ones I wouldn’t use (red). As you can see, there ended up being a wide variety of images with different colour codes. This makes it easier to figure out which ones I like, and which ones I don’t so I can edit the good ones on photoshop.

Reflection on the photoshoots:

Overall, I think these photoshoots were a great way to experiment and discover which lightings were the best, and which images accurately matched the artist research’s work. Although, I took multiple photoshoots as some of the images turned out blurry the first time since the camera movement was shaky, making the image also look shaky. The use of the different coloured lighting made the vibe of the image completely different, as the bright white light made the images look neat, whereas the red lighting made the images look dark.

Editing

I demonstrated 3 different ways to edit these images, as there are various ways to upgrade your images to enable them to look the best they can be. My first edit is black and white, my second edit is different ways of cropping, and my third way is slicing the image.

Edit 1 – Black and white

The first technique I decided to try was making all the images monochrome, to match the artist research. Like the artist, I ensured the white areas were bright when I adjusted the levels of the image, and I made sure the dark areas were pitch black. I like this editing style as it showcases the contrast very well, and it creates a neat overall look to the three images.

Edit 2 – Cropping

For my second edit, I decided to make a collection of different ways of cropping my images to present the most interesting section of them. I like this edit as it presents different forms of the images I took, to capture the different textures of the paper. The element of leading lines is strongly shown in these images as they guide your eyes from one side of the image to the other side.

Edit 3 – Slice

My last edit is slicing the image. I like these two examples of this technique, as they add a distraction to the image and they make the focal point based around the slices. Additionally, it adds an element of negative space as the focus is on the black lines, making the other sides of the image more toned down and muted.

Final Images

My final image is the first edit I created, as I feel as though it aligned with Brugiére’s work the best. On top of this, I also chose it as I feel like simple is better, as it doesn’t look crowded and chaotic.

Art Gallery

I uploaded my images into the art gallery where I was able to include these three images in a neat order. I like these three images as they represent contrast between light and dark very well, as you can the areas where the light was shining and where it was not. I also like the texture it shows as they have unique shapes in each image, but they still overall give the same vibe of contrast and texture.

Evaluation

Overall, I think I implemented Brugiére’s work into my own quite well, as typically his work is made from cut up pieces of paper – like mine. His work is more intricate, whereas mine isn’t as much as his is more cut up and set. However, the difference between mine and his work is that my work is more cool toned unlike his where his has more warm tones so to. improve my work, I would edit the colours to be more warm toned.

ISO is used to determine how much light is let into your camera, and is useful when trying to make your images look neat. A high ISO is typically used for low lighting, as it can make your image look more clean, but can also make your image look noisy if you aren’t on the correct ISO needed for the image. Whereas, a low ISO is usually used for a light lit image, so it doesn’t look noisy. An image can end up looking noisy if you are using a high ISO when it’s not needed (like if your image doesn’t have low lighting).

In the image above, you can see that the high ISO makes the image look grainy and noisy, which isn’t ideal when you want a clean look for your image. To prevent this, you need to ensure the lighting is good and that you are using the right ISO.

My Contact Sheet

These are the images I took to show the contrast in lighting and the ISO difference by increasing and decreasing the ISO number.

I put the two images above to present a change in ISO and the lighting, so you can see each stage of the process.

I also decided to include this image above as I feel as though it represents the noisy ISO that we are usually trying to avoid in our images. As you can see, the lighting isn’t the best in this image, and the ISO number is on the lower side making the image not look the best it can.

I began by transferring my shutter speed images into Lightroom, as you can see below, where I pressed ‘import’ at the very bottom and picked which images to upload into Lightroom.

After moving my images, I learnt how to flag the photos I wanted to keep, and leave the others blank that I decided I wasn’t going to use. I also discovered how to rate my images by using stars (1 being the worst and 5 being g the best) to show which ones I liked the most.

Here’s an overall view of both the flags and ratings:

Then I discovered how to colour code my images to make them more noticble and easier to detect when I edit my images in photoshop so I know which ones to edit.

I started off with an image then right clicked it as you can see below, then I clicked on ‘code rating’ so I have the option to colour them ‘red’ ‘yellow’ or ‘green’, they also have blue and purple as an option, but I decided to stick to these three as it is easier to organise.

Once I did a few, I decided to show what it looks like and as you can see below, it is easier to see which ones are good and which aren’t.

I also wanted to experiment and see what I could do, so here’s a before and after of this image where I cropped it, and adjusted the ‘temp’ and ‘tint’ to brighten and exaggerate my image to make the slow shutter speed more noticable.

You can find the ‘temp’ and ‘tint’ by looking on the far right ride of the screen when you are on the image, and you should see this image below:

Auto Focus and Manual Focus (AF and MF)

Auto focus is for general use, so you can use it for a large variety of things as it is the basic use for a camera. It automatically focuses the image. Whereas, manual focus is for specific photos you want to take, like close ups and detailed images, so it enables you to control the focus of the image.

Auto focus is typically used to track a subject when it’s moving around the frame, as it’s easier to get a clear image since auto focus will capture the subject without making it blurry.

The Focal Length

Focal length is the optical distance (usually measured in mm) from the centre of its lens and its focus. This helps to determine how much you can see from the camera.

For example, in this image below, you can recognise that the picture taken on the far left has been from up close, whereas the image on the far right is using a high focal length and a shallow depth of field as the background’s blurry. By using the focal length, the man’s face is now more symmetrical, as it’s taken from afar but zoomed in to make him look more proportionally accurate.

Depth of Field and Aperture

depth of field is the range of distance in an image that is sharp and in focus. A shallow depth of field means that only a small area is in focus, whereas a deep depth of field means a large portion of the image is in focus.

Aperture controls the amount of light let into the camera by adjusting the lens. The higher the f/stop number, for example, f/22, the smaller the lens hole will mean there will be a small aperture. This enables the entire image to be in focus, with all the details being clearly visible. Whereas, with a lower f/stop number, like f/2.8, only the subject will be visible with the rest being more blurry. You can look at other examples on this chart below:

My examples from the Canon Camera Simulator:

Shutter Speed: 1/3

Aperture: 22

ISO Setting: 400

At this aperture, you can notice that everything is in focus, as the higher the aperture, the clearer the image will be. This is useful when you take photos where you want everything to be in focus, like if you were to take a photo of landscapes as all the minuscule details are captured.

Shutter Speed: 1/60

Aperture: 8

ISO Setting: 1600

As you can see, in this image the plane is still in focus, however around the edges the objects are slightly blurred. This is because the aperture number is in the middle between out of focus and clear.

Shutter Speed: 1/180

Aperture: 2.8

ISO Setting: 400

In this image, it is recognised that only the subject (the plane) is in focus whilst everything else is blurred and out of focus. This is due to the low aperture number, but this is good for taking images where you only want one subject to be the main focus.

Artist Research

Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Ralph was born in 1925 and passed in 1976, but in his lifetime Meatyard pursued his passion for photography in various ways, like his most famous work ‘Zen Twigs’ and his no focus work. His ‘Zen Twigs’ are photos of zoomed in twigs (using large aperture and a small depth of field) to make the twigs the main subject and the rest blurred. His no focus images are made by putting the camera on manual focus and changing the lens to create a foggy effect.

Ralph specialised in changing the cameras focus and depth of field, as well as motion blur and a range of exposure to invent an interesting look, as your mind tries to assemble what some of the images actually are, like in the ones above where you can partially figure out what it is.

Contact Sheet

Best Photos: Edited

Shutter speed is the time taken for the shutter of the camera to close. There are such things as fast shutter speed – which is needed for fast moving objects like sports, or quick animals, or slow shutter speed – which is used to create a blurred or delayed effect, like a cars tail lights when it drives.

A slow shutter speed can increase the amount of light let in through the lens, whereas a fast shutter speed has a shorter amount of time to let light through the lens, meaning images can sometimes become ore dim-lit. A slow shutter speed’s exposure time is usually around 1/4, and an example of a fast shutter speeds exposure time is 1/500.

In-between these two, is a medium shutter speed like 1/30 seconds. A medium shutter speed is the in-between amount from a fast shutter and a slow shutter speed. To understand this concept, look at the image below:

Artist Research

Francesca Woodman

Francesca Stern Woodman was a talented photographer who was born in America (April 3rd, 1858 – January 19th, 1981). She is well-known for her long exposure images, which consist of herself and other female models making extravagant movements to achieve a continuous and blurred effect. Woodman’s work was in monochrome colours, to enhance and highlight the range of movement seen in her work. Her images were actually part of her portfolio, as she unfortunately passed at only 22 years old. Her work is loved by many still to this day, decades later.

Here are some examples of her work:

In my images, I implemented Francesca’s shutter speed photos into mine by spinning around to create a similar effect. But, I also had to be weary and ensure my images weren’t having exposure for too long, as that can cause the image to dim so the work isn’t visible.

As you can see, her images were in black and white, so I made sure my images also had the same effect by editing them in photoshop.

My Contact Sheet: Studio Images

My Contact Sheet: Outside

Best Photos : Lightroom

edited images

Camera Obscura

The Camera Obscura is a scientific photograph, where the image is reflected directly from the sun’s rays to diagonally flip the image upside down. To achieve this, you must be in a dim lit room with a black cover that you can poke a hole through. By doing this, the reflection will convert the image from the outside. However, this process makes it difficult to determine the origins of photography, since it’s a natural image which is shown below.

Nicephore Niepce

Niepce cleverly found a way for the camera obscura to be transformed from a projection to a photograph that he could physically hold. However, his work had a flaw as they would fade during daylight and would eventually turn fully black. The process of having this fixed image was a long one, as it took him 8 hours to produce this one. His images were also in monochrome colours, and weren’t as clear as the images made today, but at this time, this image was revolutionary.

Henry Fox Tabolt

Tabolt discovered what he called, “Photogenic Drawing”, where he realised if you use a a thin sheet of paper covered in salt and lightly coated with silver nitrate, and left if out in the sun with pieces covering certain parts to block the light out, and put it under a piece of glass, that you could make you’re own ‘Photogenic Drawing’.

Later on, he began to create ‘mouse traps’, which were essentially small wooden boxes, with a little lens and at the back, Tabolt stuck a piece of paper to it that is chemically sensitive to the light.

Louis Daguerre

Louis is known for his famous product ‘The Daguerreotype’, which was a heavy camera that makes one copy on a silvered copper plate. The images that this camera produced were detailed and accurate in black and white, making them iconic as it was the first successful type of image, like a polaroid. However, the Daguerreotype was produced around the same time as the ‘mousetraps’, but since Tabolt’s work could produce more than one copy, his work became more liked and used more often.

Richard Maddox

Maddox designed ‘dry plates’ which was a piece of glass covered with silver bromide, but his camera meant that you didn’t have to develop the images right after taking the photo. His work was revolutionary for his time, as his camera became the first camera that could be held with one hand, whereas the others had to be placed. However, the images still had to be developed in a dark room, similarly to some of the other camera designs.

George Eastman

Kodak (Brownie)

Digital Photography

Digital photography is a much simpler version of photography, compared to the Camera Obscura where they had to