Looking at Mona Kuhn’s work I was particularly struck by her use of reflections and abstraction. In her series ‘She Disappeared into Complete Silence’ she made use of reflective foil, this is my attempt to do something in a similar vein.
I was unsure about how she created them so had to experiment with positioning of the subject and focal length.
First 3 attempts
What I noticed about the first three attempts was that when the focal length was too short I didn’t get the reflections I was looking for. By pulling out and curving the foil around the subject, I began to get more reflections.
2nd attempt
Wanted to get more than just yellow reflections so I did a wider shot.
I then cropped this image so that only the reflections would show and I had a completely abstracted image. Goodness knows where the purple reflection came from, but I suspect it is me.
Looking into Bauhaus, in particular László Moholy-Nagy, Iwao Yamawaki and Elsa Thiemann, I decided to have a go at doing Bauhaus my way. It’s not easy to do Bauhaus where I live, there’s no brutalist buildings or modern architecture. So I constructed something that I felt paid homage to the idea by using a hand-crafted wooden bowl from the 1920’s and creating strong lines with stark shadows, unusual angles and using close-up to disassociate the object from its surroundings. I only have a standard lens for my camera and thus couldn’t do the extreme close-ups loved by Thiemann. I offer them here in both black and white and colour.
Bauhaus my way
Bauhaus my way 2
Bauhaus my way 3
Bauhaus my way 4
To get the hard lines I wanted I took the photographs in very harsh sunlight. I used aperture priority mode and took them at a variety of focal lengths and from an overhead position. Framing and getting the focus right was really important as everything needed to be crisp for the images to work. For Bauhaus my way 4 I had to crop the original photograph to get the desired shot. I was torn between the black and white versus the colour photographs, loving the way that the sunlight highlighted the different colours in the wood. The black and white ones felt truer to the early Bauhaus photographs and perhaps the focus was more on form when seen this way.
Settings
This image didn’t work so well for me, even if I cropped it. I think the sun wasn’t quite strong enough to give dense enough shadows and the aperture should possibly have been higher so that more was in proper focus. Other things I learn’t were that it was essential to have a clean floor and a polished bowl!
More information on my Bauhaus research can be found HERE.
After researching zoom, these are my attempts at Blade Runneresque photographs. As with those in the film, my photograph is an innocuous scene shot through a mirror. I certainly don’t have gigapixel capabilities but the picture still lets your eye roam where it will as there is nothing obvious as a focal point.
The gaze might fall on the sideboard clutter.
If you do start to look around more closely however, you might see something unexpected.
Another mirror reveals a person looking in from the hall outside. The graininess adds a feeling of mystery and intrigue and also a feeling that it is we that are being spied upon rather than the other way round.
Rather than having a voice-controlled computer software package like Agent Deckard, I achieved this effect by scaling up (digitally zooming in) on and repositioning the original photograph. The higher the quality image to start off with the better will be the image once you have zoomed in. This is the opposite to that which Thomas Ruff wanted to achieve ie fewer pixels and less clear, more abstract image.
This technique is different from the exercise we undertook in exercise 2.1 – distorting the lens which looked at the change in perspective as the focal length was changed. Here the subject remains the same but our apparent proximity to it increases.
The wider a shot the more contextual information a viewer can pick up, while ‘zooming in’, a higher focal length, removes much of the information and can lead the viewer to having a different understanding of what they see. In moving images the technique of moving from one to the other rapidly, the crash zoom or the punch in for example, can used to great dramatic effect.
John Francis McCullagh writes a great piece on zoom for moving images in ‘Mastering the Subtle Techniques of the Zoom and the Punch In’ where he describes the different types of zoom, their uses and gives examples.
Of the crash zoom, a rapid change from wide to close up, he says ‘It emphasises an action, introduces an imposing character, or adds weight to a character’s mood or emotion’ (McCullagh, 2019). A similar effect could be created with a series of photographs. Being closer to the subject of the frame or the photograph adds importance to that subject, they fill our entire view to the exclusion of everything else.
McCullagh also mentions that zooming out can create a sense of isolation.
TIR Productions LLC.. (1982). Blade Runner (1982) CLIP – The Unicorn + Photo Analysis (HD) Harrison Ford Movie. [Online Video]. 25 March 2018. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8m_9xNsx9g. [Accessed: 30 April 2020].
There is a knack to knowing what aperture control to set so that you get everything you want in focus whilst still blurring the background. I had a few disappointments when areas I wanted to be sharp weren’t for example in the butterfly photograph at the top of the post. What I needed was for the whole butterfly from wing tip to wing tip in focus. Although photography is 2D it’s necessary to consider the z-axis when playing with aperture control. I took a series of photographs of a candle holder which offered a lot of depth to play with.
All of the above photographs were taken at a variety of focal lengths and apertures. The point of focus is important. The background was about 1.5m from the foreground object.
Image 1, the focus was on the foreground and the focal length allowed for a lot to be seen in the frame, it gives a good overall shot but is a little uninteresting.
Image 2 less in shot and subject was larger, focus set on background and aperture worked from that point of focus making the foreground soft and background sharp.
Image 3 the focus was reversed and the cane candleholder was clear against a soft background.
Here the first and second images have the same focal length and F number but the point of focus was different, being on the inside surface of the candle holder in the first shot and the outside in the second. This also altered how blurry the background was. Both shots were interesting, but the second was easier on the eye.
The third image with its focal length of 44 enlarged the subject matter
Everything about the last three images was the same except for a change in my position.
Lens focal length tells us the angle of view—how much of the scene will be captured—and the magnification—how large individual elements will be. The longer the focal length, the narrower the angle of view and the higher the magnification. The shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view and the lower the magnification.
I have been tackling Project 2 Exercise 1.4 Frame but I’m not at all sure I have correctly understood this. There was no digital grid on my camera, so I placed the desired subject of my photograph either top, bottom, right, left or centre. Looking back at research on Thomas Ruff, he photographed in series and displayed them in grid fashion so that they were both connected by being seen together but separated by the grid bars. With this in mind I decided to take photographs in a similar way. As lockdown is still continuing, I looked to the confines of my garden in order to provide inspiration. I noticed that there were a lot of lines and grids, some created by shadow, that were interesting. Strong lines were also to be found in the iron gate that separates the front and back garden, secured by a padlock. This felt like a reflection on the current world separation, being able to see the world outside without properly being able to participate in it.
When I reviewed some of the photographs, I saw that I had not only been drawn to lines or bars but also circles. I explored this in a second photographic session.
Cropping the shots directed the viewers eye to what I wanted them to see. It offered my reality and my vision. Without any explanation the viewer could not necessarily perceive my intention from individual shots, but a series made this more likely. Offering a wider shot could be said to limit the author’s control.
However wide the shot, the physical edge to any photograph will have an effect on what is seen and how that is interpreted.
The selected objects lost impact in wider shots, particularly if they had been placed towards the centre of a photograph unless lines drew the eye there.
Feedback from a family member on showing the photographs in this grid fashion was that it detracted from some of the shots. I can see this as a problem; it could be that the connection between the shots isn’t good enough or that the number of shots overwhelms the viewer. Perhaps shooting in series is a good idea as it carries through a theme but putting them in a grid pattern is best done sparingly and with real purpose.
After having looked at Thomas Ruff as a research point, I had a go myself using the technique in the course book. I chose this photograph because ther was a strong contrast beween the foreground and background and the trellis gave a structured line.
by re-sizing the photograph to 180 pixels wide and saving at zero quality the effect is interesting, the subject is still just about decipherable, at least to me. There are many variations on this them. Here I took the 180 pixel wide photo and enlarged it – 1200 wide in this caseand increased its dpi to 300. The result feels pointless and not particularly pleasing just a bit more blurry. Or why not add a different effect – posterisation for example. This could go on ad infinitum, it is no longer photography but has scratched beyond the surface and is imposing the will of the photographer on the image and how it is received. I feel in this case the photograph is being used like a painter would use paint, dipping into the individual pixels and arranging them to please the artist.
The altered photograph wants to imply a deeper meaning but untouched photographs can be equally emotive. For me the deeply yellow light that fell on the wisteria against the dark grey create that in-born thrill of an approaching storm and the anticipation of the thunder and lightning to come in a way that the other does not.
In photography it seems that what is left out is as important as what is left in. By definition, every shot must be cropped as there is a physical limit to what can be captured through a lens. Perhaps the point here is the purposeful limitation of shot by the photographer in order to exclude information from the viewer and thereby direct their understanding. There is the conscious limiting of the edge of frame as decided by the photographer and there are shots designed to be more of a ‘transparent window on the world’.
An article on BJP Online written by Hannah Abel-Hirsch Beneath the surface of Katrien de Blauwer’s collages shows cropping in the extreme. Using collages taken from old magazines, she removes pieces of information by covering it with bits of paper or paint.
To me, they are a reflection on how she feels about herself and what she is willing or able to reveal.
Would I agree that some of my less conventionally successful shots gave a more cropped view?
Not sure as to what is a less conventionally successful shot. There are definitely some that are more abstract and that might offer a view that is less often seen but I might define these as successful less conventionally shot photographs. One I felt worked well was this one, a close up taken of a plant in a bucket. By stripping away any reference material it shows the viewer what I wanted them to see. Whereas the one below shows the same plant in a more realistic or ‘transparent’ way.
There was definitely a sense of deliberately leaving certain things out in Assignment 1: Square Mile in order to direct the viewers understanding of the photographs. The two images below are cropped, not so much after the event but as a deliberate framing at the time. My intention was to create a sense of anticipation, going into the dark unknown, isolation and almost forlorn hope, which I think might have been lost in wider shots.
One challenge for me during this current Covid-19 crisis is that my photographic subject material may be a bit limited. Living in a rural location and having to avoid unnecessary social contact leaves me with a plethora of fields and countryside scenes and very little else. This I will take as an opportunity to be creative with what I see and how I shoot it.
My daily walk (for allowed exercise) took me across the fields, through a small spiny and out again to more fields.
I took a number of photographs using lines to create a sense of depth. The ones that I felt turned out the best are below.
Ex_1_3_line_1_footbridge
Ex_1_3_line_2_footbridge
Ex_1_3_line_5_tractor track
Ex_1_3_line_6_across the valley
Line 1 – footbridge, the alternating diagonals keep you interested in the picture leading your eye on way and then another. In Line 1 and Line 2 the vertical lines coming up from the bottom of the frame anchor the photograph.
The perspective lines in Line 2- footbridge, line 5 – tractor track and line 6 – across the valley do draw the eye in quickly as suggested in EYV coursebook but because there is an end stop in each, I don’t feel it is uncomfortable. There were very obvious horizontal lines in 6 which I liked, they made the view a peaceful calming one and slowed down the eye.
The two below didn’t feel quite so successful to me:
I used the rusty pole as the strong vertical in the image, placing it close to the implied diagonal line created by the upright posts together with the trees. There is also an implied diagonal line in the rapeseed which otherwise uses focus to create a sense of depth.
Flattening an image
There is no sense of scale in flat images and no sense of perspective. It’s not easy to see how far away the camera was when the photograph was taken. The camera was about 6ft above the stream but only about 2ft above the mud and it would be difficult to tell that.
Ex_1_3_flat_Glass_1
Ex_1_3_flat_Glass_2
Ex_1_3_flat_Glass_3
Since it was okay to be abstract with the flat images and I was bored with fields, I had a go at using glass items. It was very tricky to get an accurate focus;auto-focus was hopeless. I liked using the grain of the wood, perhaps I could have taken it at an angle to make a diagonal rather than horizontal line.
The EYV course book (p25) refers to ‘another rule of photography’ that ‘leading lines should lead somewhere within the frame’ and warns that diagonal lines can lead the eye ‘straight out of the frame’. The photographic example of flattening by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (EYV. P25) seems to contradict this as both the jetties and the boats form diagonal lines, perhaps the boats acting as points might be the reason the eye doesn’t hurry off the page.
In my photographs, the lines start at the edge of the frame and travel into it. There is an exception; in the examples of flattened images, the blue pipe crosses the frame entirely and this encourages a more transient look at the image.
I was once told a long time ago by Phil Thompson, a trainer for BBC TV, that it was good to go ahead and break the rules but important to know and understand what you were breaking and why. With this in mind, I created a still life scene that was pleasing to my eye and followed the instructions about the rule of thirds and visual tension.
The rule of thirds – a set of guidelines which aims to create stronger, more appealing visual images. The rule ‘suggests dividing the image into thirds and placing the subject on one of those sides, instead of in the center’(Thurston, A. 2019)
Visual Tension – Guy Tal (2018) writes that:
Attention is a valuable and limited resource
What we notice is dictated by evolution designed to help us survive and is innate.
‘We can derive the whole from just a small subset of parts and assign meaning to it even without seeing all the pieces.’ (Gestalt)
Majority of people see images from left to right.
Diagonal line rising left to right is pointing up – positive emotions.
Diagonal line rising right to left is pointing down – calmness or sense of melancholy.
Vertical lines are seen relative to the bottom of the frame ‘giving it the visual equivalent of the force of gravity’.
Areas in the frame such as the centre and each corner appear to attract nearby elements in the picture- ‘an item placed close to the center or to one of the corners will be perceived as moving toward it.’
The less perceived movement the less time or value the brain will place on it.
When the brain tries to make sense of what it is seeing it causes visual tension.
Gestalt – When trying to make sense of the world around us, Gestalt psychology suggests that we do not simply focus on every small component. Instead, our minds tend to perceive objects as part of a greater whole and as elements of more complex systems. (Cherry, K (2019) )
The Photographs
The lines of the tablecloth draw the eyes upwards (I really should have taken the time to iron it though.) and this should produce energy and positive emotions (Tal, G. 2018).
Looking at photographs such as 3, 6, and 7, the point is placed too close to the edge and it dilutes the impact.
Placing the point in the foreground such as 5 adds depth to the photograph.
Of all the photographs I took the three I felt worked best were:
Point 2
Point 10
Point 12
I liked point 2 because the placing of the point created depth in the image and balanced the yellow flowers above. Being placed off centre gave a feeling of dynamism.
Although point 10 was centrally placed it made a connection between the two cups.In Point 12 the point is just visible beyond the coffee pot and still manages to draw the eye. It’s quirky and I’m not sure it should work but for me it does.
The mission for Exercise 1.1 was to take 3-4 photographs and see how the histogram will change, despite no obvious changes being made to the shot.
The shots would probably have been improved if I had used a tripod but even so the resulting photographs illustrate the subtle difference that occurs within a very, short time span.
Katies Photographic Journey 