Abstract.
Definition of abstraction : Relating to or denoting art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but rather seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, colours, and textures
Some people argue that all works of art are abstractions because they are representations of life rather than real life.
Most people would agree that abstraction is a kind of sliding scale with naturalism on the one end and total non-representation at the other.
Most people would agree that abstraction is a kind of sliding scale with naturalism on the one end and total non-representation at the other.
Photographers are usually aware of the ways in which they can create interest in their images beyond the simple fact of the subject. This is what separates good pictures and bad pictures of the same thing. The following list describes some of the abstract elements in any photograph. Below the list is an example of how you can analyse a photograph looking for these things specifically and how this helps to give the image meaning:
Focus: Which areas appear clearest or sharpest in the photograph? Which do not?
Light: Which areas of the photograph are brightest? Are there any shadows? Does the photograph allow you to guess the time of day? Is the light natural or artificial? Harsh or soft? Reflected or direct?
Line: Are there objects in the photograph that act as lines? Are they straight, curvy, thin, thick? Do the lines create direction in the photograph? Do they outline? Do the lines show movement or energy?
Repetition: Are there any objects, shapes or lines which repeat and create a pattern?
Shape: Do you see geometric (straight edged) or organic (curvy) shapes? Which are they?
Space: is there depth to the photograph or does it seem shallow? What creates this appearance? Are there important negative (empty) spaces in addition to positive (solid) spaces? Is there depth created by spatial illusions i.e. perspective?
Texture: If you could touch the surface of the photograph how would it feel? How do the objects in the picture look like they would feel?Value/Tone:Is there a range of tones from dark to light? Where is the darkest value? Where is the lightest?
Light: Which areas of the photograph are brightest? Are there any shadows? Does the photograph allow you to guess the time of day? Is the light natural or artificial? Harsh or soft? Reflected or direct?
Line: Are there objects in the photograph that act as lines? Are they straight, curvy, thin, thick? Do the lines create direction in the photograph? Do they outline? Do the lines show movement or energy?
Repetition: Are there any objects, shapes or lines which repeat and create a pattern?
Shape: Do you see geometric (straight edged) or organic (curvy) shapes? Which are they?
Space: is there depth to the photograph or does it seem shallow? What creates this appearance? Are there important negative (empty) spaces in addition to positive (solid) spaces? Is there depth created by spatial illusions i.e. perspective?
Texture: If you could touch the surface of the photograph how would it feel? How do the objects in the picture look like they would feel?Value/Tone:Is there a range of tones from dark to light? Where is the darkest value? Where is the lightest?
The photos above are my idea of abstract photographs, they are taken around my school. These are the photos in colour , i originally took the photos in a black and white filter but when they were uploaded they changed to having colour.
Editing / photoshop.
Here is the original image, I find this image abstract because of all the shapes and tones and random lines which are very dark and have a very bright image behind.
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In my opinion I think that this image which has been photoshopped into the effect black and white is more abstract, because its harder to make out what the image is and there are more tones and shadows which emphasises the fact more that it is abstract
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Photograms.
i think this photogram by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy Is very abstract its formal elements consist of line, shape and light.it's not possible to tell what any of the objects used to make the photogram actually are. They have been transformed in the process of making the picture. Unlike lots of other examples, the artist has chosen to leave a lot of the background blank. |
I think this photogram by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy is much more abstract than the one before, its formal elements consist of line, shape and light.it's not possible to tell what any of the objects used to make the photogram actually are. They have been transformed in the process of making the picture.All the shapes and patterns and objects are put in side fo the sphere object. |
Photogram ideas.
Here are some ideas on how i can improve my photograms next week.
1.Firstly i will cut up random shapes on card and place on the paper randomly , and make it look like the shapes are unclear and cant tell what they are making them mre abstract.
2.Secondly i will instead of putting my finished piece in to the developer i will get a paint brush and dip it in, and splatter it all of my paper so only parts of it show.
3. My third and final idea is to splash developer right in the middle of my work.
1.Firstly i will cut up random shapes on card and place on the paper randomly , and make it look like the shapes are unclear and cant tell what they are making them mre abstract.
2.Secondly i will instead of putting my finished piece in to the developer i will get a paint brush and dip it in, and splatter it all of my paper so only parts of it show.
3. My third and final idea is to splash developer right in the middle of my work.
Photogram outcomes.
Final piece: I am really happy with my duotones and how everything else turned out, I decided to put my duotones on the bottom as they were the last thing I did and what ended the piece of work. I also ended up including more photos than i accepted to , they are still all my photos but no the originals i planned on using.
Research.
Ralph Eugene Meatyard (May 15, 1925 – May 7, 1972) was an American photographer, from Normal, Illinois.Meatyard was born in Normal, Illinois. After his marriage to Madelyn McKinney, he moved to Lexington, Kentucky, to continue his trade as an optician, working for Tinder-Krausse-Tinder, a company that also sold photographic equipment. The owners of the company were active members of the Lexington Camera Club, for which the Art Department of theUniversity of Kentucky provided exhibition space.
We went around are school with school dslr cameras taking photos inspired Ralph Eugene Meatyard, i am happy with my outcome because in my eyes they look really similar to his style of photos, these are my final outcomes.
WWW.All the photos i have take are all similar and along the same lines and style of Ralph Eugene Meatyard. I like how the camera has focused on the main plant right in the middle and has blurred out the rest of the scenery in the background.They are also simplistic and focus on a specific part of nature rather than giving a broad display.
EBI: next time i need to take more photos, and maybe take them using a black and white effect to make them even more like Ralph Eugene Meatyard.
Homework.
Research 3 photographer with abstract images
1.harry callahan;
Harry Morey Callahan (October 22, 1912 – March 15, 1999) was an influential twentieth century american photographer.Harry Morey Callahan was born in Detroit, Michigan, he worked at Chrysler when he was a young man then left the company to study engineering at Michigan State University. However he eventually dropped out, returned to Chrysler and joined its camera club. Callahan began teaching himself photography in 1938. He formed a friendship with Todd Webb who was also destined to become a photographer.Callahan left almost no written records—no diaries, letters, scrapbooks or teaching notes. His technical photographic method was to go out almost every morning, walk through the city he lived in and take numerous pictures. He then spent almost every afternoon making proof prints of that day's best negatives. Yet, for all his photographic activity, Callahan, at his own estimation, produced no more than half a dozen final images a year.
2.Jaromir Funke;
Jaromír Funke (1896–1945) was a Czech photographer. Funke was a leading figure in Czech photography during the 1920s and 30s. Funke was born in Skuteč to a wealthy family of a Bohemian-German lawyer father and a Czech mother.He studied medicine, law, and philosophy at the Charles University in Prague and the University of Bratislava but did not graduate and instead turned to photography.During his photography profession, Funke published editorials and critiques about photography. By 1922, Funke had become a skilled freelance photographer and two years later he, Josef Sudek and Adolf Schneeberger created the Czech Photographic Society.From 1931-1935, Funke headed the photography department at the School of Arts and Crafts in Bratislava. Soon after, Funke taught at the School of Graphic Art in Prague until 1944.
3.Ernst Haas (March 2, 1921 – September 12, 1986) was a photojournalist and a pioneering color photographer. During his 40-year career, the Austrian-born artist bridged the gap between photojournalism and the use of photography as a medium for expression and creativity. In addition to his prolific coverage of events around the globe after World War II, Haas was an early innovator in color photography. His images were widely disseminated by magazines like Life and Vogue and, in 1962, were the subject of the first single-artist exhibition of color photography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
1.harry callahan;
Harry Morey Callahan (October 22, 1912 – March 15, 1999) was an influential twentieth century american photographer.Harry Morey Callahan was born in Detroit, Michigan, he worked at Chrysler when he was a young man then left the company to study engineering at Michigan State University. However he eventually dropped out, returned to Chrysler and joined its camera club. Callahan began teaching himself photography in 1938. He formed a friendship with Todd Webb who was also destined to become a photographer.Callahan left almost no written records—no diaries, letters, scrapbooks or teaching notes. His technical photographic method was to go out almost every morning, walk through the city he lived in and take numerous pictures. He then spent almost every afternoon making proof prints of that day's best negatives. Yet, for all his photographic activity, Callahan, at his own estimation, produced no more than half a dozen final images a year.
2.Jaromir Funke;
Jaromír Funke (1896–1945) was a Czech photographer. Funke was a leading figure in Czech photography during the 1920s and 30s. Funke was born in Skuteč to a wealthy family of a Bohemian-German lawyer father and a Czech mother.He studied medicine, law, and philosophy at the Charles University in Prague and the University of Bratislava but did not graduate and instead turned to photography.During his photography profession, Funke published editorials and critiques about photography. By 1922, Funke had become a skilled freelance photographer and two years later he, Josef Sudek and Adolf Schneeberger created the Czech Photographic Society.From 1931-1935, Funke headed the photography department at the School of Arts and Crafts in Bratislava. Soon after, Funke taught at the School of Graphic Art in Prague until 1944.
3.Ernst Haas (March 2, 1921 – September 12, 1986) was a photojournalist and a pioneering color photographer. During his 40-year career, the Austrian-born artist bridged the gap between photojournalism and the use of photography as a medium for expression and creativity. In addition to his prolific coverage of events around the globe after World War II, Haas was an early innovator in color photography. His images were widely disseminated by magazines like Life and Vogue and, in 1962, were the subject of the first single-artist exhibition of color photography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Threshold Concepts -
(These are the Threshold Concepts or the BIG Ideas that are being explored during this project.)
Cameras will see the world a lot more different that we do, photography can give us the illusion that the world is a perfect place and pull us from reality. Really every photograph is abstract in its own way as a photograph isn't the world but a small version of it through pixels. Even if an image isn't an attempt to be abstract then it still is slightly abstract because it is not the real world even if an image isn't edited then it will still be abstract. You could say that photographs are a manipulation of reality but I would say that photographs and just a better version of reality that we should appreciate for its beauty.
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Photography is very different to every other art form in that you begin with an world with endless possibilities and you make something out of what is there rather than a blank piece of paper. Cameras change the subject of the photograph and no two photographs are the same even if they are of the same thing. Since there is so many things to take into account when taking a photograph but two people could copy one picture with tracing paper and make it look the same even if it would be a copy of something thats already there.
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Saul Leiter
Saul Leiter (December 3, 1923 – November 26, 2013) was an American photographer and painter whose early work in the 1940s and 1950s was an important contribution to what came to be recognized as the New York School of photography.His work is in the collections of many prestigious public and private collections. Before becoming a photographer Leiter worked as a fashion photographer for the next 20 years and was published in Show, Elle, British Vogue, Queen, and Nova. In the late 1950s the art director Henry Wolf published Leiter’s color fashion work in Esquire and later in Harper’s Bazaar.
5 things that i have noticed that Saul Leiter does in his photos are....
- He takes up half the photos with a large object.
-He takes most pictures through glass.
-He takes photos through windows which also contain whatever is behind him.
-Most objects in the background are unfocused/blurred.
-All of his photos are abstract.
- He takes up half the photos with a large object.
-He takes most pictures through glass.
-He takes photos through windows which also contain whatever is behind him.
-Most objects in the background are unfocused/blurred.
-All of his photos are abstract.
Formal elements are a big part in Saul Leiter photos
This is one of my favourite photos taken by Saul Leiter.In this photo you are unable to see the people faces, you are only able to see what appears to be a couples feet and the lady holding flowers.This photo is unusual because most of the photo is prioritised around an umbrella, it is blocking the view of what these people look like and what they are doing also the people are unaware that their photograph is being taken due to how high up the camera is.
I think the formal element that appears most in this photo is the formal element 'line'. throughout this photo there are different shaped lines, For example there are curved lines on the umbrella and there are a lot of lines and patterns layed out on the floor. |
14&15/1/2016 - I have gone around the school and have taken photos inspired by Saul Leiter, here are my outcomes on several occasions.
29/1/2016
5/2/2016
All of my photos are inspired by Saul Leiter , they are all based on the subject of abstract.I am proud of the first set of photos taken because they are very alike to Saul leiter, Most of the good photos are reflected through very colourful objects through windows and posters, either reflecting people or objects.I think what well is that everything is colourful and along the lines of being similar to Saul leiter. It could be better if all the photos were focused and took more photos of people.
On the 11th of march , my photography class took a trip to soho and south bank in central London, we left school at 9.15am and returned at 3pm.We first went to the photographers gallery to look at a exhibition of Saul Leiter. We later then went to south bank for a few hours and took a bunch of photos inspired by Saul Leiter and his street photography.We was in the gallery for roughly 30mins and then walked to the south bank from soho. Underneath are photos of me and other people in my class on the trip but more photos underneath that are the one i took around soho and south bank.
I enjoyed seeing the Saul Leiter exhibition at The Photographers' Gallery. It was interesting to see the street photographs, fashion shots and paintings all put together.Our teacher gave us certain exercises to do in the exhibit, for example we picked a photo in the museum and with a black piece of card and with a white pencil , we had to sketch the photo.
Out of all the photos i took up london inspired by Saul Leiter , these three photos are the ones i used for my final project , i used them mainly based because they all have the same colour scheme. They all contain colours such as pink , purple and blue.
These colours make the photos stand out too every other photo. |