Personal Project #5: Abstraction
Abstraction in photography usually refers to an abstract image. If something is abstract, the artist has gone beyond the information he or she sees in the lens, and gives it a new meaning by taking it out of context. An abstracted image usually does not represent a common object, but is more about the lines, color, and other visual elements present. Abstraction in photography looks beyond what you see to create something that you feel.
Abstraction can be produced in many many ways, so many you cant count. Here are just a few of the million that have been create by phenomenal Artis, photographers ect...
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The Formal Elements
Photographers are generally aware of the ways they can create interesting images beyond the simple fact of the subject. This is what separates good pictures and bad pictures of the same thing. The list below describes some of the abstract elements in any photograph.
Focus- The parts in the photo that appear the sharpest and clearest
Light- which parts of the photo are the lightest ? Are there any shadows from the light? Can you tell what time of day it is ? or is the light artificial? soft hard?
Line- Is there any lines in the photo? Are they domino? Dose it tell you what the object is? What dose this line look like?
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?
Focus- The parts in the photo that appear the sharpest and clearest
Light- which parts of the photo are the lightest ? Are there any shadows from the light? Can you tell what time of day it is ? or is the light artificial? soft hard?
Line- Is there any lines in the photo? Are they domino? Dose it tell you what the object is? What dose this line look like?
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?
This photo was taking my a famous abstract photographer called Albert renger-patzsch. Albert renger specifically produced this photo with these formal elements....
The images above are my own. I went out during a lesson, my mind set on one element that element was line, every photo I took has some sort of connection with line also I chose for all the photos to be in black and white so the element really stands out.
Good
I personally think this was the best photo I took with the digital because it really focuses on the one element -line, as you can see the main focus is the right angle of the concrete bench. Another elements is texture, this element was not intended to be a big part of the image but it just happen unexspecedly and completed the image I thought. The background is ever so slightly out of focus giving it a blurry affect also to make it look even more abstracted |
Bad
This photo I look was not very good , it dose focus on the element line but its rather boring and not much to it. where as in the other photo there is more going on and more to look at |
What are chemigrams?
Chemigrams was invented by Pierre Cordier in 1956. Chemigrams are a combination of physics and paint, using chemicals such as: varnish, wax and oil and the chemistry of photography ( photosensitivity emulsion, developer, fixer; without a camera, without an enlarger and in full light.
Examples ....
Examples ....
The photos underneath are all the first attempts of making chemigrams me and my class made, considering it was our first time I think we done very well with the help from our teacher Mr Nicholls.
Chemigrams Evaluation
This chemigram came out incredibly well (for a first time one), it has lots of different shades of grey defining there is or on object has been on top of it. The texture of the object has really come through allowing to try and guess what it is? , if it was left in the light any longer i think it would have been to explosed so it had just about enough time.
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Cheimgrams are very smilar to cyanotype, they both use chemicals and light but they are still different there is always that little thing make them different. This image below is one of my class mates work, it didn't not turn out well but thats okay as it was there first try. The reasons it did not turn out vert good there could of been a number of reason: the pattern the done, to much light, not enough light, soaked or not soaked enough in one the chemicals. Its not very clear as all you can see in incredible dark wiggly lines, abstract yes but interesting no. It very plan and not much going on unlike the photo to my left. this chemigram could of went a lot better.
To my left is a photo shot of all the idea my class has for the final project for this unit, all unique and all interesting.
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Glass objects
I had this idea in my head to create abstracted images through glass jars, bottles and glasses. (anything glass basically) these images below are my out come. I have thought of many ways to develop this idea such as: using fancy wine glasses pouring water in and see what an object look like behind it Another idea I had was to put objects or paint in to the wine glass with water then take a picture to see what it will look like as water will magnif it, making it look distorted.
Set one images
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I am interested in creating a series of photo that are deliberately distorted but the shape and bends of the transparent glasses I will be using. Taking pictures though these glasses with bend the light , making the object in front of the glass appear bended almost giving the image an illusion.
Though out is project i will be researching the work of Albert Renger-Patzsch, an amazing famous abstract Artis who create amazing photos. Over half term I plan to (e.g make at least 50 photos uploading them to weebly with a detailed evaluation). I also plan to update my website with my a last research ideas. |
Set two images
These photos I look did not go to plan at all I must admit all of them flopped not one come out good. My aim was to create a distorted photo by taking a picture through a bottles with water in it to reflect and bend the natural light.
This image is the original photo before I abstracted it using a plastic volvic water bottle. It just a general low shoot photo of a building (Thomas Tallis School)in the distance covering all the back round.
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However this photo is of the same image but throw the plastic bottle, creating an abstracted look as when the light hits the bottles it rebounds and reflects sevral different ways creating the illuions of the image streaching slightly to the left. this would have worked a lot better if the bottle was much clearer.
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Ernst haasEnster Haas a pionnier to several up coming photographers, with gifted talents of taking photos of colours, water and all different types of texturs. His colour photography made also made him famous for his images of movement using long shutter speeds. He photographed water throughout his career, fascinated by its ability to reflect light and its dynamic movement. He crops the subject to increase the sense of abstraction.
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I will be trying to creating images using the same elements as Enerst Hass, when we go to sucliff park. I will also be editing them to make them look more abstracted and interesting.
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Sucliff Park
The images below are both mine and joint effort with allisha, when we took a trip down to sucliff park.
Glass 1
Glass 2
Final Pieces - Puzzle
One of my finally piece for the expedition, Puzzle
I had this idea in mind, it was very specific, I knew how I wanted it to look. I was able to achieve my aim which was to create a puzzle/sequence of photos abstracted through different ends glass bottles. The ends of the glass bottles reflects the light in several different ways making the background distorted, also the shape of the bottom of the glass distorts the photo even more because of the crinkled edges. So to know what the back ground actually is you have to take your time and figure it out. There is always room for improvement such as:
to add more vibrant colours because the piece looks rather doll and not as eye-catching as it could be. To add more vibrant colours I would have to take photo’s of more colourful backgrounds. Also linked to make the “puzzle” look more vibrant and interesting, I could play about with the affects on Photoshop, this could work wonders for this piece. It could give the image a hole new lookand perspective to it or even for a little improvement, changing the photos around to see if it looks any better in different positions could improve it.
For this final piece of work I use nearly all of the formal elements. The one I use most is Light, light is the main element as this element is the element which make the photo distorted but however focus is also linked to this as all the images are out of focus contributing to the distorted/abstracted affect. Repetition and shape are both used as well as they are linked to, the repetition of the same glass bottle end and the repetition of the circular shape.
I had this idea in mind, it was very specific, I knew how I wanted it to look. I was able to achieve my aim which was to create a puzzle/sequence of photos abstracted through different ends glass bottles. The ends of the glass bottles reflects the light in several different ways making the background distorted, also the shape of the bottom of the glass distorts the photo even more because of the crinkled edges. So to know what the back ground actually is you have to take your time and figure it out. There is always room for improvement such as:
to add more vibrant colours because the piece looks rather doll and not as eye-catching as it could be. To add more vibrant colours I would have to take photo’s of more colourful backgrounds. Also linked to make the “puzzle” look more vibrant and interesting, I could play about with the affects on Photoshop, this could work wonders for this piece. It could give the image a hole new lookand perspective to it or even for a little improvement, changing the photos around to see if it looks any better in different positions could improve it.
For this final piece of work I use nearly all of the formal elements. The one I use most is Light, light is the main element as this element is the element which make the photo distorted but however focus is also linked to this as all the images are out of focus contributing to the distorted/abstracted affect. Repetition and shape are both used as well as they are linked to, the repetition of the same glass bottle end and the repetition of the circular shape.