Christmas Photography Project
Over the Christmas period we were tasked with a brief. This brief was to complete a response to 2 artists out of the 3 given. To do this we were instructed to write about the artist, a response to their style of photography and furthermore, to evaluate how we felt about our work. This brief was really exciting to follow because I developed my skills on what we have been previously learning. This is includes, operating a camera, using the aperture priority to develop an interesting Depth of Field. I also honed in on my evaluation on my own work as well developing the skill of debunking other famous photographers works. This is important because it shows how I can understand the photographer's perspective and also their creative choices.
I decided to choose Stuart Haygarth and Laura Letinsky. Their artistic skills really spoke to me as I was planning this project. I will delve into why I like each artist and their own respective lives when I focus on their work. However, it felt important to note how I really engaged and embraced this photography project as well as the artists.
I decided to choose Stuart Haygarth and Laura Letinsky. Their artistic skills really spoke to me as I was planning this project. I will delve into why I like each artist and their own respective lives when I focus on their work. However, it felt important to note how I really engaged and embraced this photography project as well as the artists.
Laura Letinsky
Laura Letinsky is a Canadian photographer who loves taking still life photos. It hints to illusion of humanity but with no human life present in the photo. This gives an insight on how she structures her photos. She is very renowned for this style of photography and has won many prestigious awards in doing so. Her most famous quote is "It’s this idea that the narrative has already occurred; the meal has been eaten, the cornucopia has been consumed, something has been consummated, and this is what’s left in the early morning light.”
I really like this style because it hints at a cool contrasting idea that if humans were to leave instantly, the aftermath that would be left behind is still existent. This could be one of meaning that Letinsky is trying to touch on in her photographs. She has been known for trying to fight the climate issyes we face today, therefore this could be an idea she is trying to spread. I instantly thought of this idea through viewing her work and it made me interested in her work. This is some of reasons I like Letinsky and her style.
I really like this style because it hints at a cool contrasting idea that if humans were to leave instantly, the aftermath that would be left behind is still existent. This could be one of meaning that Letinsky is trying to touch on in her photographs. She has been known for trying to fight the climate issyes we face today, therefore this could be an idea she is trying to spread. I instantly thought of this idea through viewing her work and it made me interested in her work. This is some of reasons I like Letinsky and her style.
My Response to her style:
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My Best Edits
Analysis
I think my Laura Letinsky work was really good, I had tried to replicate Laura's still life photographic style. I found it interesting because I photographed it from a lot of different angles, and this made me broaden my creative ideas. In photography, there a lot of ways to present a message or portray your creative thought process.
One of the ideas I took in my stride was the contrast between close and wide shots to show human presence without actually providing human life. This is a technique Letinsky uses quite well. She signifies the aftermath and destruction that is left behind from the existence of humans. I think I showed this quite well.
Obviously, there are things I needed to improve on in these photographic exhibition of my work. For me, one of the main critiques I have is about my ISO and focus. I was photographing this Monopoly game that my family and I had. It was on New Year's Eve and, therefore it was very late. I had tried to supplement this by having an increased ISO number. However, within this comes a high amount of grain. Furthermore, I hadn't nailed down my focus which led to the photos not turning out perfectly. I tried to cover this fact in my editing process within Abode Lightroom 2020. This was achieved by upping the brightness slightly and drastically increasing the constant. It doesn't cover it fully but it makes it less noticeable. So in the future, I think I should try and photograph in better daylight or if that is not possible to try and use the flash on my DSLR.
One of the ideas I took in my stride was the contrast between close and wide shots to show human presence without actually providing human life. This is a technique Letinsky uses quite well. She signifies the aftermath and destruction that is left behind from the existence of humans. I think I showed this quite well.
Obviously, there are things I needed to improve on in these photographic exhibition of my work. For me, one of the main critiques I have is about my ISO and focus. I was photographing this Monopoly game that my family and I had. It was on New Year's Eve and, therefore it was very late. I had tried to supplement this by having an increased ISO number. However, within this comes a high amount of grain. Furthermore, I hadn't nailed down my focus which led to the photos not turning out perfectly. I tried to cover this fact in my editing process within Abode Lightroom 2020. This was achieved by upping the brightness slightly and drastically increasing the constant. It doesn't cover it fully but it makes it less noticeable. So in the future, I think I should try and photograph in better daylight or if that is not possible to try and use the flash on my DSLR.
Stuart Haygarth
My Response to his style
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My Best Edits
Form over Function
For this project, we had to recreate one of Andre Kertesz most famous photographs. He likes to incorporate an interesting variation in still life, cutlery and pottery. This is very unique because it plays on the shadows and contrast between the surfaces. These separate textures really jump out at you. Furthermore, with the high intensity light, there is a really deep shadows, this gives a very metallic look on the cutlery and an interesting shine on the pottery. The deep shadows really emphasise the contrast with surface and texture. I really like this photographic style and tried my best to replicate this unique style.
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André Kertész, 'Fork', 1928
My Response
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Edited
Lockdown Sequence
This task was to photograph a food type and apply your own photographic style to how you take them . I enjoyed this because not only did I better myself in photography but I also got 450 calories out of it. After taking these photos, we were tasked with making them into GiFs. This part of the task, as well as cutting out the cookie in Photoshop, I did not enjoy as they were very tedious and needed a trial and error approach to it. Overall, I really enjoyed this process because it was fun trying to see what angle worked and which part of the cookie I should've ate next with my mum. I found it a really creative task and hope we don't do it again because that would mean we have to go into Lockdown 4.
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Edited
Analysis
I think what I created was really good and I think I captured the task of managing and portraying each bit very well. I think one that I could have done better was the lighting, I think because it was very tedious to magic wand each cookie and make sure they're were no shadows. So I think If I had better lighting I could saved myself some time in the project.
Lockdown Sequence: GiF 1
Photojoiners
David Hockney
David Hockney is connected to the Pop Art movement. This movement was interested in responding to popular culture. Hockney has also created photojoiners. Photographs are taken of the same object from different perspectives. The images are then collaged to recreate the place, person or object even though they may look distorted. This work connects with the cubists movement, one of Hockney's major aims.
David Hockney had many photomontages that he made, some of were collaged and layered and others had a grid mechanism. This grid mechanism was still distorted and layered but it had a grid overlay that engulfed the pictures. Hockey had a lot of creative choices as to how to layer each image but his original inspiration came from the cubism era that originated in Paris, 1907. They had a mindset of ignoring the single viewpoint so that they could adopt different angles and visions. This led a cool distortion and aberration effect that merged itself into one photo. The purpose of this was to express an experimental display that visualised an optical excitement to the eye. Hockney played on this effect throughout his lifetime and I think this was his aim. He added a modern spin to a ever changing era, this makes clear sense because Pop Art is solely about a cool photographic technique applied to modern culture.
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Pablo Picasso was known for creating the "Photo joiner" idea/movement. He portrayed this by using a range of different colours and his most famous cubist painting was called the Still Life with Chair Caning in 1912. This portrayed the idea of a chair overlayed in many different ways. It presents the photos with multiple viewpoints in the same photo. David Hockney played on this Picasso Effect with his photographic replication called The Desk in 1984. The connection and inspiration to the original is clear, however, Hockney has changed the subject to a different furniture. The connection plays on the idea of how the distorted furniture plays into its surroundings. Furthermore, if you look deeper into the photo, Hockney has a book refencing cubism on the desk. This is a subtle photographic Easter egg to further suggest Hockney had a inspiration from the cubist era and Picasso. To conclude, it is clear to see how Picasso inspired Hockney to create his Desk photograph and the subtle changes between the two and add a cool modern contrast to this comparison. This is very well achieved.
My Response
Photojoiner of an object
Photojoiner of a room
Photojoiner of a person
Light and Focus
Uta Barth
Uta Barth Analysis
Uta Barth has a very unique way of photographing her photographs. She likes to make the viewer aware of their own creative processes that subconsciously appear when looking at her photographs. Barth likes to say that people use the camera as a medium and present their images as a photo where the subject and content are the same thing. Barth doesn't do this and instead tries to break from this style by being more observant. While doing this, she felt like the camera was teaching her how to see the photos for what they were instead of what she could see through viewfinder because it is only what your brain has interpreted it be. To do so, she exclusively takes photos within her house because she is more interesting in the minute details within her house than the broad outside.
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My Response
In this task we had to respond the unique style of Uta Barth and how the contrast interacts with light and shadows.
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Annotation
I think that with these photos I hit the brief of light and shadow. I tried to incorporate this by catching reflections of metallic objects. I also tried to achieve this by catching shadows produced by sunlight. This sunlight had a cool reflective effect on the objects in my garden. I think that I achieved this quite well. As something, I could've done better was my composition, I felt that it could've been a lot better framed, I tried to fix this in the editing stage by trying to match the thirds line. Another thing I could have done better was that Uta Barth's technique is more inside than outside therefore I could have matched the brief better by taking them inside my house and catching the rays of sunlight in my living room.
Ordinary to Extraordinary
Edward Weston
Edward Weston Analysis
Pepper no. 30
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Edward Weston uses a high depth of field and over exposure to achieve a rich photograph with strong highlights and shadows. To do so, he uses a Graphlex camera, which is a 2.5 by 3.5 inch negative camera. He loved using this camera because he could see the photo with its DOF and exposure before taking the photo, as if it was a pinhole camera. He was an absolute master of composition, framing and focus and he was very precise about how he framed his photos. He loved to take his photo at 2.5:3.5 and then enlarge to around 4:5 or 8:10. This is because with those aspect ratios he could capture the whole subject and a small amount of the background. This in turn allows the viewer of the photograph to really focus in on the picture. Furthermore, because Weston photographs with high apertures, it allows the photograph to be fully in focus, giving the subject of the photograph a really clean and crisp look. This crisp look makes the highlights really glow and pop and the shadows really engulf the edges of the photograph. However, doing so comes with a substantial amount of time because the hole is very small allowing, therefore only a small amount of light in, so it took Weston around 4-6 hours to exposure his photos. Moreover, with the over exposure that Weston uses, he really emphasises the contrast between the highlights and the shadows. Therefore, when you combine the beautiful lighting with the rich and high focus, it gives the photograph a really luscious texture that is very pleasing to the eye.
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My Response
Natural Light
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Edited
Annotation
Edward Weston likes to use high contrast photographs that have sharp and interesting compositions. The subjects I chose suited this because Weston normally photographs food. This is because food has an interesting texture that can really be built upon when adjusting the highlights and contrast. I cropped my photographs to allow the viewer to really focus on the subject without completely removing the background. Instead the background engulfs the subject and this allows the subject to have a sharp focus because it draws the eyes to it. Therefore, I think I really did well when digitally editing this photographs because I really understood and implemented Weston's signature style into these photographs.
In this response we were told to use natural light therefore I chose to put my ISO to 800 but over exposure my photographs to achieve the crisp, sharp highlights and shadows. This is important because it outlines and enriches the texture of the subject. I also put a black piece of paper behind the object to achieve a dark background. Furthermore, I wanted to try and keep the photographs in full focus so I tried to make the aperture high so that I could achieve this effect. This meant I put my camera on AV mode to do so. However, I felt that with the pineapple I wanted to capture the leaves but not the body of the pineapple. Therefore, I lowered my aperture number to try and capture only the leaves because I felt they had a nicer texture. The whole idea was to over exposure to achive rich textures, bright highlights and interesting shadows.
If I were to try and improve my response I would try and over expose the photographs more because I felt that the highlights could have been brighter. I think that also some of the photos are slightly out of focus and could definitely been improved.
In this response we were told to use natural light therefore I chose to put my ISO to 800 but over exposure my photographs to achieve the crisp, sharp highlights and shadows. This is important because it outlines and enriches the texture of the subject. I also put a black piece of paper behind the object to achieve a dark background. Furthermore, I wanted to try and keep the photographs in full focus so I tried to make the aperture high so that I could achieve this effect. This meant I put my camera on AV mode to do so. However, I felt that with the pineapple I wanted to capture the leaves but not the body of the pineapple. Therefore, I lowered my aperture number to try and capture only the leaves because I felt they had a nicer texture. The whole idea was to over exposure to achive rich textures, bright highlights and interesting shadows.
If I were to try and improve my response I would try and over expose the photographs more because I felt that the highlights could have been brighter. I think that also some of the photos are slightly out of focus and could definitely been improved.
Artificial Light
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Edited
Annotation
In this response we were tasked to photograph the objects in artificial light to see how they would compare to my response using natural light. I decided to keep my ISO at 800 but under exposure the photographs in artificial light. This was because the subjects of the photograph were receiving a lot of direct light from the stand lights, thus achieving the rich highlights that Weston uses. However, my backgrounds were also quite bright, so to dim the backgrounds but keep my rich highlights I had to under exposed to achieve the effect. So I think I created rich highlights and interesting textures with dim, dark backgrounds. This allowed me to fully focus on the subject of the photo and achieve a more precise and fine detail within the subjects. I do also feel that the lighting conditions were easy to photograph in the artificial light because it gave me harsher shadows and richer highlights. Therefore, I would say it is easier to photograph using Edward Weston's style in artificial light.
If I were to try and improve the photographs I would not under exposure as much because I think I lost a little too much detail in the background, making the background barely visible. This could have been a nice effect but I think it is too dark that it could be percieved as a bit displeasing to the eye. Furthermore, I think I could have made my composition less sharp to also allow the viewer more space to really experience the subject of the photograph.
If I were to try and improve the photographs I would not under exposure as much because I think I lost a little too much detail in the background, making the background barely visible. This could have been a nice effect but I think it is too dark that it could be percieved as a bit displeasing to the eye. Furthermore, I think I could have made my composition less sharp to also allow the viewer more space to really experience the subject of the photograph.
Easter Homework 2021
Enrico Becker
Enrico Becker Analysis
Enrico Becker uses high saturated photographs with bright colours to express his artistic photographic style. To do so he takes fruits and paints them in a bright different colour that makes the fruit stand out. He then adds a warm contrasting background that makes the fruit stand out. Becker has a basic but beautiful composition that centres the object but allows the object to have breathing space without constricting the object.
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My Response
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Edited
Annotation
Extension Task
In this task Miss asked me to think about how I could further myself and apply my own unique take on Becker's work. To do so I thought to myself about how I could take Becker's style but try something new with it. I thought that if I dripped the paint on the fruit instead of painting the whole fruit then I achieve this. I wanted to keep the inspiration from Becker and use a colourful background to contrast the object. Furthermore, I followed the theme of Becker using fruit or vegetables as the objects. I felt that this would keep it unique and memorable. By using a completely different colour paint, it allowed me to achieve rich contrast between the background, object and paint. Finally, I kept the same style of composition as I felt changing the composition style would have differed from the clean and centred effect that Becker likes to go for.
My Response
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Edited
Annotation