This triptych creates a great view for the audience to feel the beauty of nature, specifically lines. The photographs provide a soft and plain mood, a comfortable feeling or emotion. It is well related to the topic and the photographs are cooperated with each other. The shadow in the photographs makes it more unique and interesting. However, the first two shots are both straight lines which is repeated, this affects the visual effects. It could be improved by changing one of the photos into different lines or shapes. This will grab the audience’s attention more by making it more unique and engaging. The artist that I linked with is Andrés Gallardo Albajar, he mainly takes photographs of lines on buildings. In comparison, my photographs are lines everywhere in nature. Because it was difficult to find interesting shots of lines in 798 on buildings, so I changed my first thought which makes it less relevant to the artist’s. I think my photographs are straight photography because they have sharp focuses unlike paintings and are unaltered images taken naturally without being changed.

All Images (74)

Yellow light (26)

I chose these 26 images as yellow light because they contain the six elements and composition principles of abstract photography. They are more related to the topic with more details, the vision is more clear.

Green light (11)

I chose these 11 images as green light because they are more interesting and unique ones that are not easily noticeable to us but provide good atmosphere and warm and peaceful feelings for us.

Red light (6)

I chose these 6 images as red light because they have a better focus of the main object and the theme of lines in nature. They all contain shadows which provides a contrast with good visual expressions for us. The unusual shots and shapes create a better picture to grab the audience’s attention.

Final (3)

I chose these 3 images as the final triptych because they are well coordinated and highlight the theme. They provide an emotion or feeling of the beauty of the natural environment, telling us to cherish and protect our nature and culture. The interesting color, angle and structure of the photographs formed a good perspective of abstract. The main message of these photographs is to present a soft or light mood for the audience to feel the movement of nature.

Andrés Gallardo Albajar——Abstract photographerAnalysis

It is a peaceful style of abstract, blue sky and good weather. The photographer uses line as his major element on buildings to direct the viewer’s point of interest or grab their attention. I like the style because it provides a peaceful and comfortable mood. His photographs speak an abstract language of symmetry, line, curve, color, a geometric language. Partial views and unusual perspectives give Urban Geometry an immersive feel that echoes the embodied, dynamic experience of moving around a city. I will adapt his style to my own photography by exploring the details of nature and capture them with lines.

Evaluate one image

This photo has a contrast of light and dark provided by the shadows. The color of this photo is very comfortable, which I am inspired of. The black and white patterns on the building also shows a contrast, which is very unusual. The tone is important in this photo because it provides a beautiful scene, mood and atmosphere.

Citations

Black, Holly. “These Architectural Photographs Will Make You Swoon.” ELEPHANT, 10 Oct. 2023, elephant.art/these-architectural-photographs-will-make-you-swoon-12102020.

Admin. “Light and Its Form of Absence: Architecture Photography by Andres Gallardo Albajar.” 121clicks.com, 7 May 2021, 121clicks.com/inspirations/light-shadows-architecture-photography-andres-gallardo-albajar.

“Lines in nature”

The message of my triptych will be to represent the beauty and brightness of nature and our Chinese culture. Lines can be seen everywhere around us, even the places that we never notice. I want my audience to feel warm and comfortable in nature, the lines will also create movement and energy for my audience. This will give my audience positive or bright emotions. I will get inspiration and develop my ideas by looking for abstract photographers that take photographs of lines on buildings or roads. In conclusion, I will explore and express the nature by taking photographs of lines around us, letting us feel the beauty of nature and cherish and protect it more.

Abstraction mind map

Albert Renger-Patzsch

• The shadow of the glass cups
• The pattern or stripes of different glass cups
• The color contrast between black and white

Shadow of glass cup: Because it can express the main idea of the whole photograph

• Line: It directs the viewer’s eye into and along a photo to the focal point and may also impact the mood of the photo.
• Shape: It can be use to draw emphasis to part of the frame and create contrast between the subject and its environment.
• Pattern: It can grab more attention through its intriguing, repetitive nature.
• Texture: It is used to tell a deeper story about the setting that the subject is in.
• Tone: It can create a sense of depth or distance in the photo.
• Focus: It draws the eye of a viewer to the most important part of the photograph or the area that you want to highlight.

Citations

Formal Elements: The Formal Elements are the parts used to make a photograph. The art elements are line, shape, form, tone, texture, pattern, color and composition. They are often used together, and how they are organized in a piece of art determines what the finished piece will look like.

• Line: Lines can be used to frame and unify, or to divide and separate elements within an image. Leading lines can direct the viewer’s eye through a scene to a point of interest – and they can do so with a sense of urgency with direct, straight lines, or at a relaxed pace with fluid, curved lines.
• Shape: Shape elements are often found in photography in the form of patterns. They can also be use to draw emphasis to part of the frame. Shapes can create contrast between the subject and their environment. These are just some of the uses.
• Pattern: Patterns are repeated shapes, colors, tones, or objects. A pattern is predictable in its repetition. It is this repetition and predictability that gives patterns visual strength. Simple patterns have a repeating sequence of only a couple of attributes.
• Texture: If you imagine reaching out, closing your eyes, and touching a photo, texture is how it would feel in three dimensions. Sand might feel smooth and granular. Water could be smooth and glassy, or it could be rough and sharp.
• Tone: It is the element we use to create the mood or atmosphere of an artwork. The Visual Element of Tone defines the lightness or darkness of a color. The tonal values of an artwork can be adjusted to alter its expressive character. Tone refers to the levels of brightness in the photograph, from solid black to pure white.
• Focus: Focus in photography refers to the area of the image that appears sharpest. It is crucial for drawing attention to a specific object, person, or scene, and is a fundamental aspect of photography alongside ISO, aperture, and shutter speed.

Examples:

Line

Shape

Pattern

Texture

Tone

Focus

An image in photography can show more than one element at a time. In fact, many photographs intentionally capture multiple elements to tell a story, convey a theme, or create visual interest. These elements could include different subjects, objects, or even contrasting environments.

The photo is wrong in terms of perspective, balance, leading lines and symmetry. The perspective of the photo should be higher, with less space for the floor. The photo is not equally balanced, it should include more other subject such as the sofa to fill the space of the floor.

The photo is wrong in terms of composition, rule of thirds, balance, leading lines and symmetry. The photo is crooked, also without a main topic.  It should be taken mainly of the chairs and tables of the dining hall.

The photo is wrong in terms of view point, rule of thirds and leading lines. The person is taken only half of her body, which looks quite weird. The background is to light which affects the whole photo.

The photo is wrong in terms of depth of field and framing. The trash bins are not clear; two of them are only half. There should be other objects included in the photo that supports the trash bins.

The photo is wrong in terms of rule of thirds, view point or perspective and composition. The bookshelf’s middle part is being covered in this photo, so it looks weird.

The photo is wrong in terms of rule of thirds, depth of field, view point and framing. The people inside the photo are taken opposite, the main topic is also unclear. The photo is unclear with a lot of left spaces, which is defined wrong. The perspective of the photo is also wrong.

The photo is wrong in terms of rule of thirds, depth of field, balance, leading lines, framing and symmetry. It doesn’t have a main object or topic. There should be some objects to fill in the empty space at the bottom.

The photo is wrong in terms of depth of field, balance and framing. The white space at the bottom is unbalanced with the wall. The photo should include other objects that support the main object.

The photo is wrong in terms of balance, view point, combination and symmetry. There are only legs hanging in the air of the person, which makes it weird. Also, the blank spaces of the floor should be balanced with the wall in the distance.

1. Pictorialism, an approach to photography that emphasizes beauty of subject matter, tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality. Pictorialism was a movement that thrived between 1885 and 1915, and began in response to claims that a photograph was nothing more than a simple record of reality.
2. The central tenets of Straight Photography revolved around capturing subjects in their natural environments. Pictorialism and Straight Photography were two opposing movements in early 20th-century American photography. Pictorialism aimed to make photos look like paintings, using soft focus and manipulation. Straight Photography, in contrast, embraced sharp focus and unaltered images. The primary purpose of the Straight Photography movement was to celebrate the truth and beauty found in everyday life and nature.
3. In Mexico, Edward Weston started to sharpen the straight photography way of taking pictures that he had begun to develop before his trip to New York. He took pictures of people he met and of objects and buildings. His pictures appeared to represent the true nature of his subjects. Aaron Siskind turned the medium of photography on its head, taking pictures of found objects that were simultaneously true-to-life and abstract; he was one of the first photographers to combine what was known as “straight” photography (recording the real world as the lens “sees” it) with abstraction.
4. Both Gursky and Barth could be seen as rejecting the strict definitions of either pictorialist or straight photography. Gursky’s work is more about visual manipulation on a grand scale, and Barth’s work is focused on perception and abstraction in subtle ways. Both are firmly part of the contemporary art scene, where boundaries between genres and styles are increasingly fluid.

Abstract photography consists of images created using photography materials and equipment that don’t have an immediate association with the physical world.