GIVE EXAMPLES OF PHOTOGRAPHS /PHOTOGRAPHER’s WORK to help reinforce your argument. See assessment criteria – for mastery opposite

•What makes a particular photograph a portrait?

A portrait requires the photographer to capture a personality or characteristic of a person or a particular type of person usually tells from the lighting and shadow. Therefore, if the photograph fits the requirement, it counts as portraiture.

In this picture, a young refugee has been shown. The blanket wrapping her shows the poor condition and cold weather. Her eyes are not focusing and her mouth is going down, which suggests she’s suffering from war and needs support.

•Are Selfies Portraits?

I believe no. Even though selfies and portraits all identically demonstrate a person’s characteristics from facial expressions, however, their ways of expressing are different.  Selfies do not only display a picture of yourself, but it also includes your own story. The story is directly shown to the audience and they see mostly what you wanted to express. Whereas for portraits, photographers usually make use of lighting and shadows to tell the story behind the lens. Therefore, its always open to interpretations.

The picture above demonstrates a selfie of a man. By looking at the picture, we can tell that he’s outside enjoying the rainy weather, and there isn’t a specific use of lighting or shadow.

This portrait also demonstrates a woman outside, however, we can see a clear difference between this portrait and the previous selfie. For this one, there is more facial expression shown other than just happy and sad, the use of light also allows the audience to interpret the stories behind the lens.

•What should or shouldn’t be included within a portrait?

Within:

In my opinion, I think the eyes are really important toportraiture. Because eyes basically tell a lot of story behind the lens.

Also, techniques such as lighting and shadow should be included in order to make a better effect.

for instance, in this photo, even though the photographer only included the model’s eyes, audiences can still interpret a lot through the picture. This is due to the use of lighting and facial expression, the light only covers half of the face which darkens the other half.

Without:
Irrelevant objects, because this might mislead the audience to a completely different interpretation.

lack of techniques, because the use of the camera is really important when it comes to portraits.

•What makes a “good portrait?”

Good techniques use.

this portrait made use of really good lighting which makes the character looks more mysterious. Without the techniques, it is basically impossible for the photographer to convey his idea through an image. Because if a photograph is blank without any skills being used, it will look boring and flat.

Good model.

a good model will also contribute to a good portrait. The picture above shows a child refugee that suffers from the war, by looking at her facial expression, we can interpret a lot of stories. Her lips are going downwards, which indicates how shes about to cry,  which further triggers the audience’s empathy feeling.

•Can a portrait consist of a small detail only, such as a close-up of a hand?

I believe yes since close-up is a technique used in portraiture, and also a single object can tell a lot of stories.

The picture above shows a close-up on hand. Even though it only consists of small detail, we can still interpret that it’s a portrait of an old man/woman. And from the wrinkle, we can tell that the person has been continuously working hard, probably a job that uses hand.

•When does a more abstracted representation cease to become a portrait – for example a blurred figure, or a photograph of a person that has been torn, ripped or faded?

abstract photography usually allows the audience to interpret based on what they’ve seen, but there are no specific boundaries of which one is the true story or which one is not. Whereas portraits are meant to be photography that represents a story of the photographer or the model, therefore, there is a vague margin of what the story is or not. If an abstracted representation tells a story of the model or photographer, it should be counted as a portrait.

•Is it possible to represent a person photographically without them being present in the image – for example, through a Still-life, an arrangement of inanimate of objects? And if so, can this continue to be called a portrait?

I believe yes, because even if the actual person is not in the camera, inanimated objects that are related to the person can still tell a story of him/her.

for instance, in the picture above, there arent any person included. However, we are still able to tell that the person is around 20-30 years old since he’s working, and his highly possible a woman since there is brushe and necklace inside the photo.

•Does a portrait have to be a single photograph? How about a sequence of images?

yes, as long as a sequence of images tells about the same story, I believe that it is possible to be count as portrait.

focus:

For my following vision, I decided to focus on two social issues that are highly related to me: the covid pandemic and the pressure on students. For the pandemic, I am planning to combine two photos together in order to make a contrast effect of people with masks on and without. The facial expressions are also really crucial for this vision. Following the pressure on students, I mainly wanted to present how students are overwhelmed by the homework and exams that they were forced to take. I wanted to present this by adding transparent boxes to represent the invisible pressure and the facial expression of the model.

inspiration: photographer Ino Zeljak

(i don’t know how to do the link, so I just exported it as an image)

Following my vision, I have found numerous photos that fit my vision including this photographer Ino Zeljak. His photograph shows a contrast of 2 people by combining them together using photoshop. In his collection, he combined family photos together. His work showed how the two-person looks almost identical, but the older family member looks more mature and tired. This has inspired me to show the contrast between an identical person using techniques such as split face, which requires some photoshop skills.

https://padlet.com/candywei1/iv9pfvyx5801cg59

The title of this project is “unlimited work within limited time”. The societal issue I want to explore with my photograph is how current students are overwhelmed with the work from online learning, since they don’t get enough free time outside, but stare at their computers and do endless work for an entire day. Through my photography, I want my audience to feel the pressure on students and how e-learning is not just truly affecting their efficiency and grade but also their physical and mental health. I will get inspiration and develop my ideas by looking for photographs that show the contrast between an identical person from before e-learning and after, this could be achieved through the use of split faces, close-up and facial expressions.

These images are taken in a limited amount of resources being provided due to the covid pedantic and the government restriction. Under this circumstance, I’ve tried to invite different people to take pictures of them being happy and being affected by the covid pedantic. In order to create the contrast between people, i followed Zeljak’s idea of taking simple pictures instead of including a lot of props.  In order to achieve that, i used the close up technique and mainly focused on the model’s face.

These are the blue photos that I’ve chosen for this vision, they have mainly fit my general thought about the idea and they are worth to be photoshop and discovering more. The reason why I chose these photos is that they are generally simple with just a plain face. This makes photoshop easier and is more open to interpretation. In all the pictures presented above, I’ve made use of the technique of close-up. This allows the whole image to be focused on the model’s face, and the way I set my camera as 2.8 creates a blurry background and allows the model’s face to be emphasized.

1. For this image, I made use of lighting and focus. The main focus is on the model’s face, and the light and shadow bisect the model’s face, leaving one part dark and the other part light. This fits perfectly with my vision since the image has created a contrast between the two separate parts of the face.
2. For this picture, i made use of lighting and close-up. The light covered most of her face leaving just the eyes and the mouth. This covers her facial expression and are good for my further photoshopping part. In addition, i will photoshop this image by adding a covid bacteria on the left side of her face in order to create the padenmic atmosphere.
3. For this photograph, i made use of close-up and a flower as a prop to cover one of the model’s eye. In my further edition, I will photoshop the flower to a covid bacteria, as well as using lines to separate the model’s face from the middle, in order to create the contrast between before pedamic and after.
4. In this picture, i have included a prop- mask, and some facial expression from the model. In this picture, i want to show a student being overwhelmed by the covid issue and online learning. The covid issue was shown by the mask, and the facial expression was frustrated and tired, which further indicates about the online learning.
5. This image was meant to show a student’s stress under the circumstance of the online issue through the facial expression of the model and the colour used. The colour use in this picture was generally dark and depress, this indicates the desperate feeling of students. The model has take off her mask and showed her facial expression, which is frustrated and tire.
6. In this image, i made use of lighting. I used projection to project a bacteria on the half of the model’s face, as well as the mask, indicates about the covid pademic. On the background, i changed the projection to some math homework, showing how these are the things that let students be overwhelmed.
7. In this picture, i made use of lighting and facial expression. The light in this picture is really dim, which made the whole image to be depressing and gloomy. Then, the way that the model stares at the camera expressed her frustration and desperate.
8. This image was originally just a blank face without any facial expression. Then, i chose to photoshop and edit the picture by adding a bacteria emoji and a mask. This further made the picture looks more related to my vision since it is closely relevant to the covid issue.
9. This picture shows a student with a flower as prop. In further edition, i will change the flower to a bacteria in order to represent the pedamic.
10. This picture demonstrated a student with a mask on and some facial expression of tireness and frustration. The reason is shown by the mask, as i mentioned above, it is the covid pedamic.

The reason why i chose this picture as one of my red photo is that this picture is highly related to my vision. My vision’s topic is “unlimited homework within limited time”, which further indicates about the current covid pedemic situation and because of that, students are not allow to go to school but stay in home and have online lesson, which is stressful and depressing. This image achieved my purpose of the vision by representing the covid issue using the bacteria and the mask that the model is wearing. Furthermore, the background of this photograph is a bunch of homework that I’ve received during the online lesson, which implies about the unlimited work that the student have to do during the online lesson. The idea behind this image is to use projection and facial expression to demonstrate the tireness and work. Therefore, achieve my vision by using these props. The story behind this picture is that even though the student is really tired already, but she cant rest because she there are a lot of work that she haven’t finish. Also, the bacteria covering her eyes demonstrate that she cant see the view outside due to the covid restriction. The overall strength of this picture is that it has fully illustrated what i am wishing to show in my vision. During the time of developing, i developed my focus stills and improved my use of technique. Before, i didn’t know how to focus using a camera, but for this image, i went to search up online and discovered how to do so. Also, i used zoom-in in the camera to achieve the technique close-up, this is also something i haven’t learnt/done before. During my process, i have learnt how to use my camera correctly. Before, i always thought that the light on the camera cant be alter. But after taking this image, i discover that by increasing my ISO, i can make the picture more brighter. Also i realized that the bigger the number of Aperture values is, the bigger the focus will be.  If I changed my Aperture value to 2.8 (the smallest value that my camera can reach) The focus will only be on the person. Something that have work well in this image is the projection, at first, i thought i cant not achieve this image because there arent any studio for me to take pictures. But then i realize that i can use the projection in my house, which works perfectly well and helped me to achieve this image. Something i need to develop further is make the picture’s topic more clearer. This is because since portraiture is not entirely open to interpretation but sort of following the idea of photographer, I should make my topic more clear in order for my audience to follow my step. For my next set of photo, i am going to keep the same social issue and photographer, however change the way of taking photos. Next time, i might utilize some shutter speed to make my photo more blurry, and add more photoshop. This helps my photo in general but clearer my topic to the audience.

This is an image that conveys the story of a student who wants to go play outdoors, but she can not fulfill her desire due to the pandemic that is occurring in the world, resulting in her not being able to witness the natural environments on earth with her beautiful eyes. This is an example that supports my vision that students under the circumstance of covid pandemic and online lessons are overwhelmed by unlimited work and tiredness, and cannot achieve their dream and desires.

The girl’s facial emotion fits in with the virus carton figure and contrasts well because the girl is slightly smiling yet miserable about the circumstance of our world right now, contrasting with the facial expression of the cartoon figure which is smiling in a sort of evil way, since it is the villain of this whole circumstance. The cartoon figure also helps the picture stand out because it is not common to have a cartoon character in a still-life picture, and it also acts as an alert to the viewers and transfers the message of the virus more effectively.

In photoshop I increases the contrast a little bit so that the detail in the hair and the face was more defined. I didn’t want to increase it too much because I like the normal colors that were there again the background color green, which also makes a connection with the green on the virus figure. I also used the eraser on the skin because I wanted to make the texture of the face similar to the cartoon figure, thus I made it smoother so it can make the eyes of the face stand out more from the rest of the face.

This picture is my favorite out of all the pictures in this project because I love how it is an unusual insertion of a cartoon figure onto a clear photo taken on a camera. Therefore, that challenged my photoshopping skills since I had to trace and cut out the cartoon figure and paste it onto my original photograph. The girl also has her hands up against her face, hinting at to fight against the virus and not much expressive emotion on her face which makes the picture look quiet and undisturbed

7

This is a photograph taken of a student who just got out of class, and she is feeling tired and exhausted, the mask on her face represents the epidemic, which can be interpreted that she is taking online classes due to the epidemic. The message behind this image is trying to express the emotion many students feel after taking online classes, which is usually fatigued and overtired, it can be because of many reasons, whether it is how the heavy amount of homework they receive, or the screen time they look at each day, and so on.

When editing this image I wanted to focus on the composition of light and how it creates an underexposed feeling to the image, which works to create an interesting view for the audience due to the vision I wanted to express, which is how the pandemic is a dark and tiring period. I used my editing software on my phone by first enhancing the contrast and the clarity of the image, this meant that the mask part displayed in the middle of the image stands out in a bold way. Next, I cropped some parts of the image so that the picture plane was more focused on the areas on the student’s face with the darker light. Lastly, I converted the image to a nearly black and white filter so that the viewer would acknowledge that the message I want to send is related to negative emotion.

I am extremely pleased with the outcome of the image because of the texture of the mask and the student’s face standing out in the image. I really like how I cropped the downer part of the student’s body so that her face and mask frame the picture. I also like the lighting and the dark tone I have created which creates a bigger definition of how the coronavirus turned students to be tired and stressed out.

Something I need to develop further is making the emotions seem stronger on the student’s face. Reflecting on the process of taking this picture, I didn’t quite inform the correct and clear information to my model, which resulted in her emotions to be not expressed fully, next time when I have to work with a partner to take the picture, I would try and make myself more clear about the message I want to express. In this place, is adding a bit of anger and stressed emotions onto the face to stimulate the eye of the audience more.

6

The subject of the photograph is how students are under the stress of the online learning work caused by the covid pandemic. In this photograph, I see a person wearing a mask, a reflection of a germ/disease covering 1/3 of the persons face, white background covered with paper homework. All the elements of the frame support the subject because the reflection of the germ on the face and the mask the person is wearing all represents the pandemic. The background covered with homework represents the stress and amount of work online students have to do. The person’s facial expression also doesn’t look happy, she looks tired, this represents stress of online work. Therefore, all of these aspects fit to the subject. My eyes are first immediately drawn to the reflection of the germ on the person. I want the eyes to first get drawn on the face with the mask and then germ, at last I want them to get drawn to the background with all of the homework. I think the exposure is correct, it focuses on the person in order to let the viewers get drawn at the mask and germ first because covid is the main reason all of the stress and homework is caused by. Therefore it should be notices first. Then when you look closer you can see the homework papers at the back, which then reveals the stress and amount of homework covid has brought to students due to online learning. The background that is covered with paper homework isn’t just to add texture to the photograph, it is to symbolize online work, which connects to the subject. The composition is made up from 3 parts, the mask, germ and the background. I think the amount is perfect because even though the mask could represent covid already, adding the reflection of the germ adds texture to the photograph and is more eye-catching, therefore it also makes the photograph balanced. I think it shows my vision clearly, each component that is included in my subject is represented in the picture. Each element symbolizes a part of the subject. I asked one of my friends and they guessed that it is doing online work during the pandemic. They didn’t really get the part of the stress and I think its because the emotion of the person isn’t clear enough. One of my friend said that the emotions on the person’s face gives a tired and depressed feeling that is caused of overwork during online class. Therefore I addressed my vision and message successfully using this photograph.

10

The subject of the photograph is how students are under the stress of the online learning work caused by the covid pandemic. In this photograph, I see a person wearing a mask and a plain white background. Not all the elements support the subject because it only shows that the time period is during the pandemic. It doesn’t show anything regarding stress caused by online learning. My eyes are immediately drawn to the person’s face, and then the mask. I want the eyes to be drawn at the mask first because it represents the pandemic which is one of the elements of the subject. Once you know what the subject is, you get distracted and realize that the photograph is incomplete because it only shows the pandemic part with the mask and nothing about online class or stressful emotions. The exposure is correct, the lighting is all even around the photograph and because the background is plain, it highlights the person and conveys the subject more, even though some elements are missing. The background is doing nothing, it doesn’t show or represent anything, its just plain white and doesn’t add any texture or meaning to the photograph. Therefore the photograph above is more successful. The photograph doesn’t look balanced because elements are missing. The color isn’t accurate too because there’s too much white and makes the photograph look boring. This photograph doesn’t show my vision fully and clearly because many components are missing, for example the online works, and therefore it doesn’t convey my subject fully. My audience identified the main element of the photograph that is the mask which they noticed symbolizes the pandemic, but they didn’t know the complete meaning this photograph wants to convey. Due to the mask, they recognized that is it during the pandemic period and the emotions are tired and unhappy.

These pictures are token during the covid restriction, therefore, we often are not allowed to take off our mask due to the government rules. However, this has perfectly fix my topic since it is about the pedemic issue. Instead of the contrast between one picture in my set one, i decided to keep the same social issue and change the way of taking photos – by connecting two full image together with one before covid and one after covid. Furthermore, i decided to name my set “Changes after time” indicating the mask that doesnt exist before covid and on after covid. In all the pictures above, i let my model stand in the same place with mask on and off, showing the differences.

The picture shown above are my blue photos, they have fix my social issue generally well and have reached my expectation of the plan shot. In further edition, i will try to use my photoshop skills to put the two contrast picture together to create a differences between before covid and after, this can help my audience to achieve further interpretation.

1. This picture used focus on the model to let the audience keep their attention on the model. This picture was to show the model after the covid pedamic and the audience can realize this by looking at the mask that she is wearing. This picture will be photoshop together with the second image to create a contrast feeling.
2. This picture used lighting to emphasize the happiness shown in the model’s face by presenting her smile. It is to demonstrate the student after covid pedamic. Furthermore, this picture will be photoshop together with the first image to create the contrast scene.
3. This image is meant to show the student after suffering from covid and finally reached the outside world. The audience can discover this by the mask that the model is wearing. Moreover, this picture will be photoshopped together with the fourth image in order to reach my plan shot.
4. This picture used lighting and facial expression to show how the student is enjoying the nature, and this does not seems like a unusual thing since the covid pedamic has not reached yet. She is not wearing mask, and this picture will be edit together with the third image to reach my expectation.
5. This image used facial expression to illustrate the student’s sufferness and how she can finally come out of the quarantine. This will be edited together with picture six to create the contrast image.
6. This image utilized focus to emphasize the existence of the model and to blurry the background nature. This indicates that the outside world is usual for her and she enjoys it without the rules of wearing a mask. This image will be contrasted with picture 5 to reach my plan shot.
7. This image the model utilized facial expression to express the happiness of the model enjoying the outside world. There are no restriction for her, and this can be discovered by her blank face without wearing a mask. This picture will be connected with picture eight to create the contrast image.
8. In this picture, the prop mask contributed the majority of the topic. The model’s facial expression has been covered by the mask, which implies about how she can not be happy even though being in the nature. This picture will be photoshopped together with the seventh image to reach my standard.
9. The model is smiling in the picture, which implies about her happiness of not wearing a mask outside. The light on her face has totally showed the brightness and will be contrasted with picture 9’s darkness.
10. In this picture, the model has her head down, which is implying about how she is in a sad mood. This is going to be photoshopped with picture 9 to achieve my vision’s purpose.

This picture meets my vision since it creates a contrast between before covid and after covid by utilizing photoshop skills and combining two pictures together. The idea of this image was to show how students changes due to the covid pedamic, this can be obviously discover by looking at their mask and facial expression. This photograph tells a story keeping basically the same pose and staying in the same position, however, the only difference is the mask that appears on the model’s face. This allows the audience to realize the difference right away. The strength of this image is that as i mentioned above, the model’s position haven’t change much, this helps the audience to interpret the topic right away instead of misleading them. While taking this picture, i have developed the skills of trying to keep my camera not moving too much, this helps me to take this almost fully identical two picture. Something i need to improve on is how to keep control of my ISO, during my process of taking the photos, I took a lot of useless photos because of either too bright or too dark. For my next set of image, i will try to set my ISO as Auto, which will decrease the time of me trying tofind the suitable light.

This image was to show the changes of students after the covid issue, it can be discover by the model’s movement and her facial expression. This picture tells a story by the adding props, slightly different facial expression, and the almost identical background. Which allows the audience to think of what happened to the model that she is wearing a mask despite being in the same place and wearing the same clothes. The strength of this picture was that the lighting was suitable for the picture, due to the previous failure, i have gained experience and didn’t waste my time on changing the ISO. While talking the picture, i have developed skills of choosing the suitable ISO. Something I need to improve on for my next set is to keep the camera in the same place, in order to let the audience understand more clearly that the model is standing in a identical place, and to not mislead my audience.

This image was to present how student has changed a lot due to the covid pedamic, which can be discover by the model’s clear facial expression and her movement. This picture tells a story by keeping the identical background, lighting and clothes, but only add a extra prop- mask. As i mentioned above, this allows the audience to clearly understand what has been added from picture one to picture two, which can not let them interpret in the wrong direction but follow the right track. The strength of this picture is that the almost nothing changed except of the movement, added props and the facial expression. While taking the picture, i have learned from previous experience and did well on keeping my camera stable and finding a suitable ISO. Something i need to improve on might be let the model stand more closely into the light in order for the facial expression to be more clearly observed.

favourite photo:

The reason why this is my favourite photo is because it has expressed my vision bestly. There are no distracting elements, and when the audience look at the photo, their eyes will be firstly and immediately drawn by the model and the added props- the mask. The exposure is mostly correct and reached my expectation since the light is mainly on the model’s face which drags the audience’s attention immediately. Personally, i don’t think changing the focal length will improve the quality of the picture since the focal length right now suits the picture the most. The background contributed a lot since by keeping them fully identical, the audience’s attention will be dragged to the mask.  The model and the tree has occupied the middle part of the picture, so it reaches a balance. The colour is accurate since the atmosphere i want to create is the nature. Lastly, since the model is a student, audiences will evoke sad feeling since they are young.

least photo:

The reason why this is my least photo is that it has a lot of distracting elements. For instance, while looking at this picture, it is most likely that the audience’s eyes will be drawn to the building behind the model instead of her. The focal length is mostly correct, but it will be better if it is more focused on the model. The exposure is mostly correct, but it will be better if the light is more on the model instead of the building. Furthermore, the background is distracting the audience from keeping their attention on the model, this is why it is my least favourite photo. The colour is mostly accurate, but since i want to present nature, the building is a bit of unnecessary.

Aaron Siskind

whats beautiful of a subjects texture.

For this set i decided to make some changes from the previous ones. Instead of the beauty, i will be focusing on the texture of subjects more. Most of the time, people will not pay much attention to the texture of the subject around them,  but paying more attention to the value and shape etc.  However, by looking at my photography, I want my audience to feel the importance of the texture and realize the beauty of it. By the process of taking these photo, i will develop my photoshopping skills and photography skills.  By achieving these goal, i will focus on taking pictures of a specific type of texture of a single subject.  Therefore, unlike the photos that includes fancy value or shape, i will make my photo conclude less value by showing only 2-3 colours. By doing this, it allows my audience to focus more on the texture of the subject instead of other characteristics. This was design for the audience to realize that texture also has a beauty inside even though there arent any decorating colours added. I will get inspiration and develop my ideas by looking for photographs that shows a specific texture of a single subject. It will be better if there arent any fancy colour but just some simple uses.

black and white – all of these photos are took in a black and white value.

texture – all the photos above shows a similar texture of subjects

all the texture are not shaped as a real thing but randomly and cant tell what it is

all the pictures included a lots of abstraction techniques.

all the photos included lines, value and shape.

In picture 1 and picture 4, they all showed some broken pieces of walls. These broken pieces are shaped randomly, there is not a specific subject that can represent these shape but let the audience interpret themself.

In picture 5, it shows a ground where there are some stairs. These stairs are all in straight line and are all positioned equally. However in picture7, which shows some broken part of a wall, I discovered that there are also some lines presented.  However these lines are curved, and they are not equally spread but randomly positioned.

7

•Why did you choose this image in particular?

The reason why i chose this image in particular is because this image has included plentiful of elements, and it is every unique. This picture show above shows some pattern on a wall, and this pattern is most likely due to the old skin of the wall falling off. This phenomenon has created a special effect on the picture because the pattern shown is really interesting and shows the use of shape in abstraction.

•What do you find surprising or unusual about this photograph?

The things i found surprising or unusual about this photograph is how did this picture originated. As i mentioned above, the shape in the picture is highly possible due to the falling of old skin on the wall. This has created a special effect since the contrast between the wall and the shape is really strong. On the back, there are some curve lines shown. These lines are repeated, but as it gets lower the lines started to get blurry. The wall is also in a dark colour/ value, which makes a big contrast to the light value in front, which is the shape. Also, the shape is randomly positioned and there is no pattern or repetition shown, therefore it created a contrast to the wall behind it since it contain repetition and was deliberately positioned.

•Look carefully and choose ONE of the Formal Elements that you think is important in the photograph (E.g. Focus, Light, Line, Repetition, Shape, Texture, Value/Tone).

shape

•Describe why you think it is important (2 or 3 sentences)

I think the use of shape is important in this photography is because this picture is mainly build up of shapes. For instance, you can see that in front, there is a shape where it is randomly position and no pattern or deliberate message is being sent. However, the shape behind ( on the wall) is mostly following a pattern separated by lines, which created a big contrast between the random positioned and the one that are repeated.

•In what ways are your chosen artist’s photographs abstract?

My chosen artist’s photographs are abstract because he used a lot of element inside his work. For instance, in picture 7, he used shape as its main subject. However, this shape has not deliberately sent a specific message but allows the audience to interpret it themself. Furthermore, in picture 5, there is also the use of repetition. The blocks were separated identically and the gaps between them are also equal, as they are being repeated, the use of repetition is shown. In picture 1, there is also a present of value. On the back, the colour/ value is mostly dark colour. However, in front, the use of colour is mainly light colour. The use of colour created a big contrast between the two shape and allows the audience to interpret more using their own thought.

•What do you like about the style? Be specific and explain your answer.

I really like how most of his photographs focuses on those falling pieces on a wall. This is because this has perfectly related to my vision. In my vision, i pointed out that my main purpose was to let my audience feel the beauty within a texture, and the shape on the wall has expressed my feeling. Walls are not always being noticed by people around them, however, by presenting these photos, Aaron Siskind allowed his audience to pay attentions to the texture of the walls.

•How will you adapt this style to your own photography? How does the image/artist inspire YOU?

I will adapt this style to my own photography by focusing on the same topic but using different subjects. In Aaron Siskind’s work, he mostly payed his attention to the wall and took pictures of the shapes on the wall. However, for my photography, i will keep the same concept but change the different subject. Instead of focusing on walls, i will mostly focus on things that are around us but always not being noticed. For instance, curtain, floor etc. The image inspired me by letting me realize to pay more attention to the texture around us instead of focusing on more fancy looking subjects.

These photos are all various to each other. By the process of taking these photos, I have developed my photo editing skills and my photo taking skills. I’ve went to various places to take these photos and i’ve spend a lot of time. However, due to the pandemic that is currently going on, most of my pictures were token in the campus. These pictures were inspired by Aaron Siskind, his work were mainly focuses on the texture around a single subject. By taking the photos above, ive tried my best to use the similar technique.

1. This photograph u sos textures and light to represent the subject. The yellowish light hits from the loft of the imago and therefore highlights the right features of the image. The whole picture creates a texture of fluffy and mossy feeling, this
   texture is created by the shadows as mentioned before, because these shadows can high light the shapes that stuck out.
2. This photograph uses lines and shapes to represent the subject. The whole picture contains many thin straight lines in the middle of the grip, and on the edges, there are thick curved lines that seem looser compared to the straight lines that are sometimes crossed other by each other. The shapes used in this image are circled based, on both the right and left sides of the image. The background color is a brownish-yellow that emphasizes the color of the lines more, which is a brown that is darker.
3. This photograph uses lines, colors, and textures to represent the beauty of the subject. This image contains short thin and small lines that are in the color gray and black, it then contrasts with the background color of white. This is because the white color takes the majority of attention in this image, so adding little short dark lines adds the spice to this image and also creates a texture of the surface being rough.
4. The subject is a fabric the color black and white. I contains a variety of black shapes within the white fabric, these shapes are sometimes normal but sometimes curved, to create the texture of the fabric The texture is also portrayed through the light and values of this image, specifically the black shadows on the fabric, spreading from the middle to the edges, from this the audience can infer that this image was taken on a flat surface. The background of this image is half in black and the other half in gray, this can also be taken as a hint to the audience that this fabric is laying on a flat surface since there is a gray surface
   underneath it.
5. Within this photograph, it utilizes shadows to establish a concave and convex texture. It also uses the color dark gray and light gray to better portray the texture of the subject which is the curtains The image is taken at a straight angle from a person’s point of view, and there is a ray of light shooting from the right of this image, which creates a contrast between the dark shadow on the left. This image also includes the same patterns of straight lines, and the highlights beside each straight line make it form a texture.
6. This photograph reveals the diversity of shapes and space, by adding a variety of shapes within the image. In this photograph, the shapes are sometimes spread out but sometimes closed together, especially in the top left corner the shapes are closed together. This creates a sense of messy, yet not messy organization of the different shapes. The shapes are in different formats, but in general, the shapes are triangular shape.
7. This photograph uses shapes and colors and also lines to form the image. The shapes used are not normal shapes, it splits in the middle and forms a straight thick line and there is also a shadow that creates a shape on the top right corner of the image. There are also lines that cross over the shapes which forms an interesting feeling for the audience. The colors used are gray and dark gray blending throughout the shape that creates another contrast with the background color white.

5

This image is inspired by the work of Aaron Siskind. He has been called an abstract photographer and, indeed, many of his photographs feature subjects that are not easily identifiable at the first sight. His photographies also include many patterns, which is where I took the most inspiration from. In his masterpiece, he uses black and white for his photographs to present and highlight the subject more and not let the viewers focus on the details. But I chose to leave the colors just the way they are, because my topic is “whats beautiful of a subject’s texture”, and I think if you want to highlight texture, then the subject itself is very important, and the natural colors it has also represents the beauty of the subject. In this picture, I specifically want to portray the natural patterns and texture of a subject because mostly if you include patterns, viewers will like to watch it because your brain likes to look at patterns. In this picture, the straight lines of the curtain makes the whole image more eye catching because all the lines form the pattern. I also chose the curtains as the subject because it appears in your daily life, but often it gets ignored and through this picture, I can portray the satisfaction of the pictures elements.

7

I was motivated by Aaron Siskind to take this picture.  This photo is linked to the his work since i’ve also included similar techniques but various subject. In this picture, i’ve emphasized shape, value and texture to achieve the goal of imitating his work. In his photograph, he used the shape that’s been caused by the falling pieces from wall as its main subject. Whereas in my work, i used the shade and original paint as my subject. The texture of this picture is also similar to his, in his work, the texture are all rough, in my work, it is mostly tiny not smooth area that are usually found in the walls. The use of value has also contributed to the picture, in front, the colour of the shape is coloured in dark colours, whereas in the back, the colour are mostly light colours. This is a reference to Aaron Siskind’s work, whereas in his work, he did it reversely. His dark colours were at the back and the light colours were in front.

4

This picture was motivated by the work of Aaron Siskind. In his masterpieces, he highlighted the colour use of black and white, whereas in my photography, i decided to not follow the same but add the colour red. His pictures are usually structured as a subject in front of a wall, therefore, i planned to imitate his idea and i took a picture of this fabric cloth positioned in front of this sofa. In his photo, the use of values are usually dark colour in front of light colours and allow them to create a contrast. However, in my picture, i decided to keep the idea but put black and white in front of a light colour red. This has also contributed to the image by creating the same contrast as the work of Aaron Siskind. Furthermore, I’ve also kept the repetition pattern from his image. But in his image, the repetition are usually shown on the back or on its own, whereas in my image, the repetition is in front and there is just a blank red on the bakc

miguel ribeiro

the beauty of a human feature

Following my vision, I decided to keep the original idea but add on to it. Therefore, i am willing to show my audience the ordinary beauty of people in life. People who usually walk around us might seems too normal and we don’t often pay much attention to them. However, by looking at my photography, I want my audience to feel the prettiness of the people around them, and the beauty that they are born with. By the process of taking these photo, i will develop my photoshopping skills and photography skills.  By achieving these goal, i will focus on taking pictures on a person’s characteristic. Therefore, unlike the photos that include the whole body, i will be focusing on the one special part of a human in order to highlight the characteristic. This was design for the audience to realize that beauty still exist even though there are no filter and colourful editing. However, every part of human’s feature has its own beauty. I will get inspiration and develop my ideas by looking for photographs that shows a specific part of a human’s feature without any editing.. It will be better if there arent any decoration but a single subject’s picture.

• zoom up – all the photos above focused on a specific characteristic of a human.  For instance, picture 3 shows a zoom up of a human’s eye, and picture 2 shows a picture of human’s tongue.
• human- all of the pictures above has a same subject – human.
• black and white – all the photos above shows no colour but black and white.
• ordinary posture – all the pictures above has a ordinary posture and people will do during real life.
• most of the pictures above shows hand, followed by faces.

Picture1 shows an image of 2 hands holding together. This photograph used black and white as its colour and it placed the hands in the middle in order to highlight the importance. This is also a ordinary posture that normal people will do during daily life. This picture also has hand as its main subject.

The reason why i chose Miguel Ribeiro as my photographer is because his work truly expressed the feeling i desire. This is also closely related to my vision since his photography highlighted and emphasized the importance and beauty of a specific human feature. My vision was to let my audience feel the ordinary beauty that human part can bring without using any filter, Miguel Ribeiro achieved my goal by taking specific part of human using only black and white.

Picture 2

2

Why did you choose this image in particular?

I chose this image because it’s very special. The tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth. The tongue is covered with moist, pink tissue called mucosa and therefore, normally when people think of the human feature “tongue”, they will think of saliva of other people, which may make them feel disgusted. But this picture not only represented the nature of the human feature, it also portrayed the human feature in an artistic way. The way the tongue and

chin connects represents how human organs work to let our human body work and function properly. I also like how the image is black and white. It allows the observers to focus on the human features and not get distracted by the contrast of colors.

•What do you find surprising or unusual about this photograph?

It’s really cool how the image is cut. How it only shows a third of the face and focuses on the motion of the tongue and chin. I also didn’t expect that if someone takes a picture of this part of the human feature, it will be in black and white, because the colors represent the nature of human features.

•Look carefully and choose ONE of the Formal Elements that you think is important in the photograph (E.g. Focus, Light, Line, Repetition, Shape, Texture, Value/Tone).

This image is in black and white and a black and white photography can be all about texture. Color is no longer a crutch or handicap that keeps you from noticing other aspects of your pictures. This black and white image draws your attention. It’s no longer the vivacious colors of the flowers but instead it may be the texture of the rose petals with dew on them. Shapes, contrasts, textures, layers, depth, and light become more prevalent factors in how you guide the viewer’s eye through this pictures. It highlights the subject that you are trying to portray, in my case it’s the human features, the shape of the tongue, mouth and chin.

•Describe why you think it is important (2 or 3 sentences)

Our human features makes us human. Even though this image only portrays a few human features but all the features are still very important for us. Without any of them, the whole system may get effected a lot. For example the tongue, this picture shows us a shape of the tongue, the tongue helps us taste delicious food we try and enjoy. Therefore I think this image definitely portrays and elucidates a strong message.

•In what ways are your chosen artist’s photographs abstract?

My chosen artist’s photographs are abstraction due to the way i

t has been presented. In his artwork, he made uses of colour, texture, focus, and value.

•What do you like about the style? Be specific and explain your answer.

I liked how he used zoom up to highlight the human feature. This can really inspire the audiences since most of the time, we focus more on fancy photography instead of these black and white photo

s. The subjects in the pictures are normal and ordinary to most or all the audiences, however, most of them probably did not pay any attention to these small beauty that are around them in real life. By taking photos like this, Miguel Ribeiro allowed the audiences to realize how the small things around them in real lif

e also has its own beauty.

•How will you adapt this style to your own photography? How does the image/artist inspire YOU?

I will adapt this stype to my own photography by using similar techniques but different subject. For instance, for my photography, i will use the same colour and texture as the techniques. However, i will no longer focus more on hand expression but more facial expression. The artist inspired me by allowing me to realize the beauty of the people around me in real life.

these are all the photos i took for set 2, I took these photos in more than 20 places and i’ve also included the imperfect once. These photos are very different to each other, i took some of them in school, some of them in the part near my house, and some of them in the studio. The reason why i chose these photos are not only because they are different, but also they allowed me to have various choice when it comes to the green photos. They are also either related to the artist we’ve learnt before, or mostly related to my artist in the vision. Therefore, i have a reference of the work they made and this helps me improved my quality of the pictures.

1.

Which ”element(s)” is/are best represented in each picture?

1.  This photo used line, tone and texture to represent the first photo in the sheet. This photo used vertical line to separate the green and white colour, which further fortified the use of tone. Without any transition, the colour just goes straight from green to white, which created a strong contrast in the colour. The use of texture is simple in the photo, if you look closely to the green part, you can clearly observe that there are some little dots, which is the same texture as a wall.
2. This picture used line, shape and tone to represent the second photo in the sheet. This picture used straight lines to create a blue square on the down- right corner of the picture, which’ve got white edge of case covering it. The shape is as i mentioned a square, which is not perfectly taken- its a bit of inclining to the left, this is also one of the reason why it does not fit the original photo well. The tone of the picture is still really simple, its still without any transition colour.
3. This photo used pattern and texture to represent the third photo in the sheet. This photo used repetition as the blue fur continuously repeating in the surface. This photo have also got a surface area like soft fur that’s like the carpet.
4. This picture specifically used lines to represent the fourth picture in the sheet. In this photo, the photographer used horizontal lines to separate the different colours.
5. This photo used lines to represent the fifth photo in the sheet. The vertical lines were lying on a flat surface where there are many different colour dots. Which further indicates that instead of lines, the photo also shows the use of pattern and texture.
6. This picture specifically used shape to represent the sixth photo in the sheet. The square fit perfectly with the original photo, however the outside has got different colour.
7. This photo used repetition, line and shape to represent the seventh photo in the sheet. The use of vertical line symmetrically cut the dots in to same shape-a square made up of dots, which further led to the use of repetition, both the lines and the squares are repeating.
8. This picture used repetition and shape to represent the eighth picture in the sheet. The shape circle is kept on repeating.
9. This photo used lines, repetition and texture to represent the ninth photo in the sheet. Both the vertical lines and the horizontal lines cut the original square into identical pieces with further led to the use of repetition. The texture is shown in reflection of light, by observing that you can clearly see that the wall is being polished.
10. This picture used line to represent the tenth picture in the sheet, the oblique line separated the two shape, however this is not very identical to the sheet since it has got two oblique lines.
11. This photo used line, texture and tone to represent the eleventh photo in the sheet. The gap between two lines are gradually getting smaller, which indicates that as the line continue, they eventually are going to intersect. The texture is also shown by the reflection of the light, which is polished surface. The tone is made up of different colours of dot, which combined together to make a various of colour.
12. This picture used pattern and texture to represent the twelfth picture in the sheet. The pattern is sort of like repetition but in an unusual way. All the leafs looks like each other but they are not following the repetition pattern. The texture is really similar to the one on the sheet since it’ve all got identical lines.

Try to capture photographs that look like the drawings.

Compare your images with the drawings. Which ones worked and why?

I believe that number 4, 7 and 8 worked pretty well, this is because number 4 has got the exact same type of lines and the different colour shown. Number 7 has got all the square separated by the same thickness of line. Number 8 has got identical holes and shape.

Which ones didn’t work so well, and why?

I believe that number 2 and 10 didnt work well, this is because for number 2, the square was originally on the top, however it is currently on the bottom. Number 10 was meant to have 2 oblique line to show the shape, but there is only one significant line on the current one.

upload a link to your blog (you may want to create a pdf and upload that to your blog – up to you how you present this)

formal elements are: line, shape, pattern/repetition, texture, Value/Tone,  focus, these are the basic elements that makes up photography.

line: Line is a point that continues and implies motion, there are horizontal lines, vertical lines, curve line etc.

this picture shows a vertical line, which has an effect of continuous train track that separated the environment.

shape: shape is the two-dimensional appearance of objects as your camera captures them

this picture has a air-plane like shape in the middle of the cloud, the airplane seems to be in front of the cloud and the colour is darker, so the focus will be more on the airplane.

pattern/repetition: it is a regularity within the shape, you can find it in many shape photography

this photo has a repetition pattern technique inside. Not only the white and blue parts are being repeated, the blue rectangle-like shape is also repeated.

texture: this is the visual quality of a object’s surface, this will be reveal by the tone and the colour depth.

this picture shows the texture of a leaf, which has clear lines and makes the audience feels like they are actually observing the real leaf.

Value/Tone:  it is like the colour use for the photograph, sometimes it could be from dark to light or light to dark

this photo has black and white and grey as transition.

focus: It is a technique in photography that makes everything else blurry other than a specific subject.

this picture has a focus of the person whos taking a photo, and its background are all blurry.

can an image show just one element at a time?

I believe no, because even if the picture contains only black and white and its only a portrait,  it still have both focus and value inside. However, if the photo is completely blank, then it only has value.

1. What is the purpose of rules in photography?

allowing some limitation will makes photography better, because for instance if there is no such a rule that you cant include blurry fingers inside, photographer might just take random photos like this and call it abstract

1. In your mind, what are (some of) the most important rules in photography?

no hair or other obstacles in the photo

1. When might it be a good idea to deliberately break the rules?

When you are taking photos for a event or something that deliberately require you to break the rules.

1. Do you think it possible to break rules if you don’t know they exist? Give reasons for your answer.

yes, for instance when i was young, i really like to take photos with my mom’s phone. However i didnt know that you can’t have your fingers in the picture, therefore the majority of the photos include my blurry fingers

1. Can a ‘bad’ picture ever be ‘great’? – How important is context in photography? (context= why a picture was taken, when or where it was taken and what message you were trying to make)

Yes, maybe the photo was badly taken, but the purpose of the photo’s existence might be good.

1. How can photography change our relationship to things?

Without photography, we will never notice how the actual moon looks like. Photography allowed us to examinate the substance in a better way. In the ancient days where cameras are not being invented, people are only able to have a drawing of her/his self in order to post it to anywhere. Which further led to many puzzles about how the person actually looks like. With camera and photography, we are able to take pictures that looks exactly the same and being able to look more closely

2.What is pictorialism?

It is a type of photography skills that strongly emphasize the beauty of the subject matter, rather than the documentation of the reality.

3.What is abstract photography?

abstract photography is a visual expression that does not actually represent anything, but leaving a unlimited imagination to the audiences and let they interpret what is it truly sending

4.Write a (very) short biography of Albert Renger-Patzsch (just 1 or 2 sentences).

Albert Renger-Patzsch was a Germany photographer associated with the Objectivity

5.From looking at his images above, What types of subjects do you think Albert Renger-Patzsch preferred to photograph?

Repetition, most of his photos are focused on the repetition of nature substances

6.Why do you think he entitled his famous book, ‘The World is Beautiful’?

Most of his photograph are about the nature, however mostly black and white. This might indicates that he was trying to imply that the world is beautiful, but not through the lens, but through your own eyes.

7.Why do you think Edward Weston moved away from the soft-focus of pictorialism to the new Straight photography movement? – the idea that ordinary objects and scenes can be photographed to reveal their beauty

At first, Edward Weston was taking photos of humans, and the photograph were mostly fancy and emphasizing the beauty. However after getting tired of taking these, he than changed his style to small things. Pepper, coral, anything small can attract his attention. Therefore, he started to love how people can reveal the actual beauty from looking at a ordinary surface of a photograph.

8.Give examples of one of his pictorials images and one of his straight images.

9.How has Aaron Siskind (above been influenced by the Staight Photography Movement

during a trip to Ohio, he was fascinated by the brute beauty of the industrial complex and enormous smoke stack. Then he decided to take a photo of the view and this photograph and other series was the turning point from pictorialism to straight photography

10.Name some other photographers that have been influenced by straight photography

László Moholy-Nagy

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Frederick Henry Evans

Paul Strand

11. What makes the work of Andreas Gursky and Uta Barth abstract. Are they straight photographers? Why?

I believe the reason why their works are both abstract is because the work does not represent anything by its own. Also both of them used the repetition technique. Furthermore, I believe that Uta Barth is a straight photographer since some of his work has capture the movement of time passes.

abstract photography is a visual expression that does not actually represent anything, but leaving a unlimited imagination to the audiences and let they interpret what is it truly sending