Using Different Processes to Create Abstract Imagery
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Aim: To start off this unit 3 project i wanted to just experiment with different techniques to create different types of imagery. I didn't really know the direction i wanted to go in, so to start the project i decided to create a stop frame animation as video was a possible direction that i wanted to go in.
I researched into types of stop frame animation we could do, and found the video above of Tony vs. Paul, which was interesting to watch because humour and comedy was a main aspect of it; making it much more enjoyable. I think it is a good idea to make a stop frame motion video of something that can't occur in reality, for example making humans do certain activities like floating in the air.
Process: We decided to try and make a similar video to the Tony vs. Paul animation. It was quite dificult because we had to make sure each photo was similar to the previous one so that the animation didnt appear too jumpy, and this was hard as some of the shots recquired the model to jump at the same height each time we photographed her. We took the photos outside so the images would be naturally lit, and against a brick wall because we thought a simple background wouldn't distract be distracting. We then uploaded the images onto istopmotion to collate the pictures together into a movie.
Critique: I really enjoyed the process of making this animation, although the final outcome does look quite jumpy and unrefined compared to the Tony vs. Stark video. We found it quite hard to think of a story line for the animation, and although we thought we had taken quite a few pictures the video is still reasonably short - showing just how time consuming this method is.
Further Development: A possibility to develop this idea would be to try using inanimate objects or plastersine as well as people, which may also be slighty easier to work with because the possibilites of ideas are endless and you also have more control over them.
Critique: I really enjoyed the process of making this animation, although the final outcome does look quite jumpy and unrefined compared to the Tony vs. Stark video. We found it quite hard to think of a story line for the animation, and although we thought we had taken quite a few pictures the video is still reasonably short - showing just how time consuming this method is.
Further Development: A possibility to develop this idea would be to try using inanimate objects or plastersine as well as people, which may also be slighty easier to work with because the possibilites of ideas are endless and you also have more control over them.
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Abstract Imagery
After carrying out research for my personal study, i became interested in the idea of creating abstract imagery using different processes. I first looked up photographers who used the manual process of photograms in the dark room, such as Lazlo Maholy-Nagy, Susan Derge, Adam Fuss, and Floris Neususs. I found their works really interesting because although they all use the dark room to create their images, the diversity in their images varies so much, from silhouettes to smoke like pictures created from the combination of different objects placed onto photographic paper. I decided the i wanted to start in the direction of creating abstrac
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Laszlo Maholy-Nagy
Maholy-Nagy was a professor at the Bauhaus School, and whose paintings and photography was highly unfluenced by constuctivism. His great interest in qualities of space, time, and light was evident throughout his career and transcended the very different media he employed. Through his paintings, photograms and scultpures, he studied how all these basic elements interact. Although Maholy-Nagy considered himself to be a painter, he became particularly interested in photograms during the 1920s, where he was able to light and shade, transparency and form. He produced his first photogram in 1922, and continued to produce them for most of his career until 1946, during that time he created 430 photograms.
Maholy-Nagy used two different methods of production. The first consisted of placing the objects directly on a special photographic paper and exposing the whole thing to natural or artificial light: after a time the contours and shadows of the object left light surfaces on a dark background on the support. The second took place in a dark-room -where the evolution of the forms is no longer visible in real time- and the result could only be observed after developing and fixing the test. He mainly used transparent, translucent or diaphanous objects rather than opaque ones to accentuate the contrast of textures.
Many people believe that Maholy-Nagy's photograms seem to be part of a "non-figurative" aesthetic. The materials used are rarely identifiable and have been arranged in such a way that no reference to the real world is possible.
Maholy-Nagy used two different methods of production. The first consisted of placing the objects directly on a special photographic paper and exposing the whole thing to natural or artificial light: after a time the contours and shadows of the object left light surfaces on a dark background on the support. The second took place in a dark-room -where the evolution of the forms is no longer visible in real time- and the result could only be observed after developing and fixing the test. He mainly used transparent, translucent or diaphanous objects rather than opaque ones to accentuate the contrast of textures.
Many people believe that Maholy-Nagy's photograms seem to be part of a "non-figurative" aesthetic. The materials used are rarely identifiable and have been arranged in such a way that no reference to the real world is possible.
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Aim: I want to try and create similar outcomes to the works of Lazlo Maholy-Nagy and Christrian Schad by experimenting with the process of photograms in the darkroom.
Process: For this set i used a combination of things to create different kinds of photograms. First i used objects like feathers and netting to experiment with different compositions within the image. I thought having a combination of translucent and opaque objects would make the content of the image much more interesting to look at, and i also changed the timings of the exposure for some of the objects so that they would appear more faded and distant than those which are much more bold. I also thought it would be interesting to try and create a sort of smoky effect by placing a see-through container of water over a piece of photographic paper and then moving the water around while it was exposed to light. When this didnt work because there was nothing to shadow onto the paper, i tried pouring ink into the container so that the movement of it would copy onto the paper below.
Critique: I am not very keen on the photograms which i produced in this set, and was disappointed in the outcomes of exposing the ink onto the photographic paper because the images are very dark and faded and it is hard to make out any of the patterns created. I was also slighty disappointed in the photograms using objects because i found it hard to create interesting compositions like Moholy-Nagy, and didn't think the ones that i made were very good.
Further Development: When trying out this process, i thought it would be more interesting and successful to use digital photography, and actually try photographing the different patterns made my smoke.
Critique: I am not very keen on the photograms which i produced in this set, and was disappointed in the outcomes of exposing the ink onto the photographic paper because the images are very dark and faded and it is hard to make out any of the patterns created. I was also slighty disappointed in the photograms using objects because i found it hard to create interesting compositions like Moholy-Nagy, and didn't think the ones that i made were very good.
Further Development: When trying out this process, i thought it would be more interesting and successful to use digital photography, and actually try photographing the different patterns made my smoke.
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I firstly tried photographing smoke patterns from when a lit candle is blown out, but found there wasn't enough smoke to be visible on the camera. I then thought it would be a nice idea instead to take photos of the flame dancing instead.
Process: I took photographs of this candle flame by using manual setting and putting my camera on a tripod. I captured the shots inside a dark room so that there would be a high contrast agains tht background and the flame. Before photographing, i tried shaking the candle so that i could capture the fire in different positions and shapes.
Critique: I thought some of the photographs were quite nice, especially where the flame appeared to look like it was moving. Some of the shots are slighting overexposed though due to the high contrast between the lit candle and the dark background behind it. I did expect to capture the flame in more interesting positions.
Further Development: It might be a nice idea to try using a long exposure to capture the movement of the flame while it dances, or to use video and then isolate stills in imovie.
Critique: I thought some of the photographs were quite nice, especially where the flame appeared to look like it was moving. Some of the shots are slighting overexposed though due to the high contrast between the lit candle and the dark background behind it. I did expect to capture the flame in more interesting positions.
Further Development: It might be a nice idea to try using a long exposure to capture the movement of the flame while it dances, or to use video and then isolate stills in imovie.
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Aim: To capture the movement of the flame of a candle by usi
Process:I used the same process as my previous set of photos, but i used long exposures ranging from 1.5 seconds to 4 seconds. I couldn't use shutter speeds much longer than that because i found that the fire was already over exposed in the pictures.
Critique: I do like how you can see the path of movement of the flame, unlike the previous set. However, apart from experimenting with the long exposures and seeing how the camera captures this movement, the images are very similar to each other, and there is a limit to what you can do with this idea. I would therefore like to try and capture the movement of other things such as smoke, which is what i originally wanted to experiment with.
Critique: I do like how you can see the path of movement of the flame, unlike the previous set. However, apart from experimenting with the long exposures and seeing how the camera captures this movement, the images are very similar to each other, and there is a limit to what you can do with this idea. I would therefore like to try and capture the movement of other things such as smoke, which is what i originally wanted to experiment with.
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Aim:To try and photograph the patterns made by smoke to form a digitally photographic version of a photogram.
Process: As using a candle didn't work, i researched ways to produce a large amount of smoke. For this set i decided to make a smoke bomb, where you wrap paper inside aluminium foil and then light the paper so that it produces smoke through the foil. I did this outside, but used black sugar paper for the background so that the smoke would be more visible, and so that there wouldn't be any other unwanted patterns in the shot. Although it would've been better to use a tripod, i found the the smoke was very unpredictable in the way it blew, so had to hold the camera and use a very quick shutter speed so the photographs wouldnt be too blurry. I then edited the images in photoshop to increase the contrast so the smoke was more visible.
Critique: One issue with these photos is that after editing them on photoshop, i found that half of the background on each image was much darker than the rest, so it wasnt a consistent shade throughout the whole photo. I may have also not used a quick enough shutter speed as the smoke is still slightly blurry due to the wind blowing it so quickly.
Further Development: To continue this idea it would be a good idea to use a quicker shutter speed, and to try this again on a day that isn't so windy, or somewhere which has something to block the wind from blowing the smoke.
Critique: One issue with these photos is that after editing them on photoshop, i found that half of the background on each image was much darker than the rest, so it wasnt a consistent shade throughout the whole photo. I may have also not used a quick enough shutter speed as the smoke is still slightly blurry due to the wind blowing it so quickly.
Further Development: To continue this idea it would be a good idea to use a quicker shutter speed, and to try this again on a day that isn't so windy, or somewhere which has something to block the wind from blowing the smoke.
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Susan Derges:
Susan Derges is a photographic artist, specialising in camera-less photographic processes, usually working with natural landscapes.
Having trained in painting Susan Derges expressed an early interest in abstraction because "it offered the promise of being able to speak of the invisible rather than to record the visible". She turned to cameraless photography after experiencing frustration at the way "the camera always separates the subject from the viewer". "I started to make some images where I caused the photographic paper itself to undergo an event. In the first instance it was to vibrate the photographic paper in the darkroom with sound and to allow powder on the surface of the paper to form into a series of patterns that were called 'chladni' figures." Derges constantly searches for new methods of cameraless photography, and her 1985 work Chladni Figures was produced by sprinkling carborundum powder directly onto photographic emulsion where it was exposed to sound waves of different frequencies, creating ghostly black and white droplets of water containing faces, while simultaneously showing her own face with small droplets suspended in her view.
Having trained in painting Susan Derges expressed an early interest in abstraction because "it offered the promise of being able to speak of the invisible rather than to record the visible". She turned to cameraless photography after experiencing frustration at the way "the camera always separates the subject from the viewer". "I started to make some images where I caused the photographic paper itself to undergo an event. In the first instance it was to vibrate the photographic paper in the darkroom with sound and to allow powder on the surface of the paper to form into a series of patterns that were called 'chladni' figures." Derges constantly searches for new methods of cameraless photography, and her 1985 work Chladni Figures was produced by sprinkling carborundum powder directly onto photographic emulsion where it was exposed to sound waves of different frequencies, creating ghostly black and white droplets of water containing faces, while simultaneously showing her own face with small droplets suspended in her view.
"I think I became aware of photography being a medium that I wanted to pursue when I lived in Japan. Going to Japan represented for me moving away from painting and a different kind of search. I think Japan influenced me in terms of an approach to making work where I started to consider the idea that a maker might have a very modest role. In fact I wanted to work with photography as a means of allowing something to come into being rather than my completely being responsible for constructing it."
River Taw, 1999
For the 1997 River Taw series she worked at night, placing photographic paper on the river bed and allowing the images to be exposed through ambient light, aided by the use of a flash gun. Her technique involved a very direct and unmediated physical relationship with the landscape, while her Under The Moon series involved working with photographs of the moon and combining these with water and branch patterns exposed to sound vibrations in the darkroom. Her images, though based upon the capturing of external natural realities, take on a metaphorical dimension that echo the inner life of the unconscious and imaginative.
"I decided through enjoying the detail and the fine, almost x-ray like images of things which are taking light through them making prints rather than dealing with reflected light, that it would be interesting to continue to make camera-less images, or photograms, but to enlarge the image so that more of that detail could be seen. I began to work on a new set of spawn metamorphosis which, rather than working so flat, involved me working with a jam jar as the transparency. The jam jar was actually placed within the negative holder of the enlarger."
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Aim: To create silhouettes using the patterns of the branches of different tress against the sky.
Process: For this set i thoght it would be quite interesting to create photos of the silhouttes of trees, as the branches would create different patterns against the sky. I picked quite a bright day to do this where the sky was cloudy so that it would be a light background, making the trees appear darker against it.
Critique: I think that the photographs where the branches dont have as many leave son them work better because there is more of a pattern present within the photo, rather than just a mass of leaves. I do quite like however the tint of colour in some of the photographs where the light has emphasised the colour of the leaves towards the outside of the tree, because it makes he image slightly more interesting that just being plain black and white. In some of the images the sky is slightly overexposed because it was such a bright day.
Further Development: If i was to continue this idea i would try to take shots where the sky isn't as overexposed, and also play around with the composition a bit more the make the images slightly more interesting .
Critique: I think that the photographs where the branches dont have as many leave son them work better because there is more of a pattern present within the photo, rather than just a mass of leaves. I do quite like however the tint of colour in some of the photographs where the light has emphasised the colour of the leaves towards the outside of the tree, because it makes he image slightly more interesting that just being plain black and white. In some of the images the sky is slightly overexposed because it was such a bright day.
Further Development: If i was to continue this idea i would try to take shots where the sky isn't as overexposed, and also play around with the composition a bit more the make the images slightly more interesting .
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Aim: To continue the silhouette idea but to instead experiment with photographing the reflection of trees in water.
Process: I took this photos in the lake in Kenwood, and thought it would be a better idea to try and capture the whole silhouette of the tree rather than just a part of it because the shapes would be much more interesting and detailed. I decided to take these images in water because i like how it also gives a distorted and abstract quality to the images; the ripples very slightly manipulating their silhouettes. I then edited the images on photoshop to give the silhouettes more definition by increasing the contrast between them and the sky, but without making the sky look overexposed like in the previous set.
Critique: I really like how the images of the trees dont really appear like theyre reflections in water, making the viewere wonder why they are distorted. I also think these images are much better than my previous attempt because it is interesting to look at all the detailed patterns created by the whole tree, rather than just of the leaves of one branch.
Further Development: I think it would be quite a nice idea to print one or two of these images quite big for my exhibition, but i think i would prefer to try and experiment with new ways of creating abstract imagery, mayeb using different objects or even people to create silhouettes.
Critique: I really like how the images of the trees dont really appear like theyre reflections in water, making the viewere wonder why they are distorted. I also think these images are much better than my previous attempt because it is interesting to look at all the detailed patterns created by the whole tree, rather than just of the leaves of one branch.
Further Development: I think it would be quite a nice idea to print one or two of these images quite big for my exhibition, but i think i would prefer to try and experiment with new ways of creating abstract imagery, mayeb using different objects or even people to create silhouettes.
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Adam Fuss:
Adam fuss, a British photographer, embraces a wide range of historical and contemporary photographic techniques to capture his ephemeral and emotion-laden work. Fuss came to the photogram by a series of accidents: “The path I was following was toward reducing technology from the process” he says “I was consciously trying to make photographs I hadn't seen before. I think by the time I was fifteen, when I started to make pictures, I'd probably seen billions of photographs and they were all produced by the same mechanism. There’s something inherently boring in that. We’re so conditioned to the syntax of the camera. We don’t realise we’re running on only half the visual alphabet…photograms let you see what has never been in a camera. Life itself is the image. Viewers sense it. They feel the difference”. His images have depicted babies, water droplets, christening dresses, moving light, snakes, sunflowers, rabit entrails and human skulls; his most well known work being images of babies on their backs in shallow baths of water with ripples and droplets of water capturing the youngster’s motion.
Fuss explores the themes of life, death and transcendence, and is constantly experimenting with photographic processes to produce images that embody the ephemeral. He uses light and chemistry, working in daguerrotype to discover the unseen rather than reproducing what is already there.
“I would much prefer people looked at my photographs as if they were paintings. Because when we look at paintings we look only at the image; we experience it. Somehow when people look at photographs they want an answer to a question that they feel can be answered through technical information. Inevitably the technical information does not address their question. 'What does it mean?' is not addressed by 'How did you make it?', which actually short circuits the process of simply letting it 'happen' to you. In the end it’s important we don’t devalue the mystery of it all.”
“I would much prefer people looked at my photographs as if they were paintings. Because when we look at paintings we look only at the image; we experience it. Somehow when people look at photographs they want an answer to a question that they feel can be answered through technical information. Inevitably the technical information does not address their question. 'What does it mean?' is not addressed by 'How did you make it?', which actually short circuits the process of simply letting it 'happen' to you. In the end it’s important we don’t devalue the mystery of it all.”
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When we went to Berlin for our photography trip, we visited a gallery where they had a room with objects that you could interact with. One of these was a large see-through ball, almost like a massive exercise ball, where you would climb up into and then the people below could view you inside it. With Fuss's work in mind, i thought this would be a great opportunity to photograph to different shapes made by people to later create silhouettes of them on photoshop.
Process: I used manual settings to take this images, and tried to under expose slightly so that the people would apppear darker - making it easier to create the silhouettes. On photoshop, i then made the image brighter, and then painted the original brightness of the individuals in the image so that they kept their original dark forms.
Critique: I found that after doing this on photoshop, some of the lighting in the photographs were overexposed because i had to make them bright enough so that the people appeared to look like silhouettes. Unfortunately, there was little i could do about that, but i still really liked the outcome of the images, especially when the model is completely black and you cant really see any of the detail of them.
Further Development: If i was going to continue with idea it could be worth experimenting with creating silhouettes in the dark room, and possibly using a similar technique as Fuss by placing different objects into a container of water rather than using ink.
Critique: I found that after doing this on photoshop, some of the lighting in the photographs were overexposed because i had to make them bright enough so that the people appeared to look like silhouettes. Unfortunately, there was little i could do about that, but i still really liked the outcome of the images, especially when the model is completely black and you cant really see any of the detail of them.
Further Development: If i was going to continue with idea it could be worth experimenting with creating silhouettes in the dark room, and possibly using a similar technique as Fuss by placing different objects into a container of water rather than using ink.
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Aim: I wanted to continue with the smoke idea because i thought that if done correctly, they could potentially make some really good photographs.
Process: I used the same process as the last set i did of photographing smoke, but i tried to make a barried which would slightly protect the smoke from the wind. I also used a slightly quicker shutter speed to capture the patterns created by the smoke more quickly so that they wouldnt appear as blurred as before.
Critique: I was happy that in some of the images, there was less contrast in the background and it seems to be a more even shade. However the smoke still appears slightly blurry in some of the images, and that may also be due to the focus as it is hard for the camera to focus on a particular part of the smoke so it doesnt know what depth of field to use. I do really like some of these images though, especially the ones where the smoke is more concentrated at the bottom of the image, and then disperses more towards the top, aswell as their ethereal quality.
Further Development: Although i am happy with this set, and think the images would be good to use for a potentiall final outcome, i think that it would be worth trying this again but using an even quicker shutter speed just to try and make the images more sharp.
Critique: I was happy that in some of the images, there was less contrast in the background and it seems to be a more even shade. However the smoke still appears slightly blurry in some of the images, and that may also be due to the focus as it is hard for the camera to focus on a particular part of the smoke so it doesnt know what depth of field to use. I do really like some of these images though, especially the ones where the smoke is more concentrated at the bottom of the image, and then disperses more towards the top, aswell as their ethereal quality.
Further Development: Although i am happy with this set, and think the images would be good to use for a potentiall final outcome, i think that it would be worth trying this again but using an even quicker shutter speed just to try and make the images more sharp.
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After looking at the images from the previous set, i thought it would be an interesting idea to see what they looked like inverted, so i tried inverting some of my favourite images in photoshop. I actually thought the inverted images had a completely different mood and atmosphere to them, because the black smoke gave them quite an eery and ghost like quality. I thought this black smoke made them look more 'evil' in a way, because i associate it with something that appears to be harmful or dangerous. I also think that it is a little easier to make out some of the patterns in the inverted images, because some of the smoke in the original images is slighty too faded to see, but when inverted it is easier because of the contrast against the white background.
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Aim: to take photographs of smoke that are sharper and more in focus.
Process: I took these photographs with a shutter speed of 1/1600 of a second so that the smoke would be more in focus and less blurry. I then edited them on photoshop as the pictures were quite dark; adjusting the brightness and contrast of the smoke so that it was more visible against the black background.
Critique: I think these photographs are much better than the previous set because they don't look as blurry and the patterns of the smoke are much sharper. My only issue with the images is that the background is slightly blotchy, but that could add to the abstract effect i was going for.
Further Development: For my next project i could try using different techniques to create this effect, but i would like to use a selection of my favourite images from this set to use as a final outcome for my project one.
Critique: I think these photographs are much better than the previous set because they don't look as blurry and the patterns of the smoke are much sharper. My only issue with the images is that the background is slightly blotchy, but that could add to the abstract effect i was going for.
Further Development: For my next project i could try using different techniques to create this effect, but i would like to use a selection of my favourite images from this set to use as a final outcome for my project one.
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