The Six Formal Elements of Photography.

1. Line
A line is either a straight or curved line which the eye follows in an image. The lines may be horizontal, vertical, diagonal or curved and these lines assist in directing the attention of the viewer.

2. Shape
Lines create shapes which may be geometric (such as squares and circles) or organic (such as the shapes of leaves). They identify the objects in a photograph and provide visual interest.

3. Pattern
Patterns are repetitive elements that make rhythm in a composition. They may be natural, such as the rows of flowers, or artificial, such as the tiles on a roof.

4. Texture
The quality of the surface of an object in a photograph is called texture. It can also give an image a sense of reality by implying the way something would feel when touched.

5. Tone
Tone is used to explain how light or dark a photograph is. It assists in establishing mood and may have an effect on the way the viewer perceives the image.

6. Focus
Focus is what is sharp and clear in a photograph. It assists in focusing the attention of the viewer on the most significant aspects of an image.

His landscape photographs tend to mix lines (mountain ridges), shapes (trees and rocks), textures (bark and clouds), and tones (daylight and shadows) to produce beautiful visual compositions.

Edward Weston: Known for his still-life photographs, he used patterns (in vegetables), shapes (like the curves of shells), and textures (the surface of leaves) to create captivating images.

Can an Image Show Just One Element at a Time?

Although an image can highlight one formal element, the majority of photographs have several elements at the same time. An example of this is a landscape with bold lines created by mountains, different textures in the plants and patterns in the sky. The combination of these factors forms a more interesting, more captivating piece.

Simply put, although a photograph can emphasize one of the formal aspects, the overall effect of multiple elements tends to improve the visual narrative and emotional appeal of a photograph. All the elements are complementary to each other and help to create a whole, which is why photography is a multifaceted and diverse art.

Work Cited:

Abstraction

Pictorialism Movement in photography was a movement that developed in 1885 to 1915 and the aim of the movement was to make photography a fine art like painting and sculpture. Pictorialists emphasized aesthetics, composition and tonality, and employed such techniques as soft focus and darkroom manipulation to produce artistic effects. This style focused more on artistic interpretation rather than just depiction of reality.

Conversely, Straight Photography Movement was an opposition to Pictorialism, which promoted high degrees of concentration, natural subjects, and no interventions. Straight photographers tried to reveal the nature of their subjects by using the correct exposure and development. In contrast to Pictorialists, who altered photographs to create beauty, straight photographers appreciated the naturalness of the camera and its capacity to show the truth. This movement appealed to a large number of photographers who valued the simplicity and sincerity that straight photography provided.

Both Aaron Siskind and Edward Weston were strongly influenced by the movement of straight photography that was characterized by a high level of focus, accuracy of exposure and the unaltered perception of reality.

Weston was a leader of the f/64 Group and he was the person who represented the ideals of straight photography. In his shot of a gnarled root and rock he has employed a deep depth of field to make all the textures crisp and clear. He never used soft focus or retouching and allowed the natural forms to do the talking. This style brought out the beauty of the mundane, which was one of the main aims of straight photography.

Siskind started as a documentary photographer but later changed to abstraction without disregarding the principles of straight photography. His un-manipulated line drawing photograph does not accept blurring or modification. Rather, he singled out shapes to focus on form rather than subject matter. His work grew more abstract, but he remained faithful to the emphasis of the movement on technical accuracy and direct capture.

Concisely, both artists applied the principles of straight photography in terms of clarity and honesty, Weston to the elevation of the details of nature, and Siskind to the combination of the documentary work and the abstract art.

Uta Barth and Andreas Gursky are abstract photographers, but their approaches and styles are quite distinct, and neither of them can be classified as pictorialism or straight photography.

The white blind (bright red) of Barth is based on the broken tree branches and a bright red block to disintegrate familiar scenes. She is playing with concentration and change of colors to produce a dreamlike and disorienting effect, leaving viewers to consider how we see, and not what we see.

The abstract works by Gursky are based on extreme scale, flattened perspective and digital manipulation. He sews photographs in order to create hyper-smooth, massive compositions that transform real-life subjects into patterns of color and light. This changes the emphasis of the initial scene to the visual rhythm of the picture.

Both artists are not pictorialists, they do not attempt to create photographs that resemble paintings, as pictorialists of the early 1900s did. They are not straight photographers either, who believed in sharp focus and no editing. Barth and Gursky both manipulate their photographs purposefully, and they do not adhere to the rule of straight photography, which is to capture what is in front of the camera. Rather, they are part of the modern abstract photography, which examines the way in which photos can transcend depicting reality to produce new visual experiences.

Work cited:

• “Abstraction | Research Starters | EBSCO Research.” EBSCO, www.ebsco.com/research-starters/religion-and-philosophy/abstraction.
• “Art and Ideas: Edward Weston.” Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_170_300133895.pdf. Accessed [Date you accessed the document].
• Britannica Editors. “Pictorialism | History, Techniques and Examples.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Nov. 2006, www.britannica.com/technology/Pictorialism.
• “Martha’s Vineyard 1.” 1International Center of Photography, 1 Dec. 2024, www.icp.org/browse/archive/objects/marthas-vineyard-1.
• “Pictorialism (Movement) | Research Starters | EBSCO Research.” EBSCO, www.ebsco.com/research-starters/visual-arts/pictorialism-movement.
• Kirby, Kim. “Edward Weston — W E S T O N | G a L L E R Y.” W E S T O N | G a L L E R Y, 13 Feb. 2020, www.westongallery.com/original-works-by/edward-weston.
• “What Is Pictorialism in Photography?” Bosham Gallery, boshamgallery.com/blog/30-what-is-pictorialism-in-photography-when-photographs-looked-like-paintings-1880-1915.
• “The Getty Museum.” Getty Museum, www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/barth/explore.html.

It is possible to define abstract photography as the pictures where the subject matter is not the most appealing. Albert Renger-Patzsch and Aaron Siskind filmed the banalities and showed their beauty. Uta Barth inverted the usual purpose of the camera, shooting blurred, and Andreas Gursky takes the photographs of the repetition of things. In this unit, we will research on the relevant examples of abstract photography and answer similarly.

Initial Thoughts on the Unit
When I start to study the abstract photography, it is interesting to learn more about the fact that there is no always a subject in the picture, but the way in which the picture is shot and the impressions created by it. This concept questions the traditional approach to the concept of photography where the subject is the most dominant. When the introduction states that the topic is not the most fascinating part, I believe that it is meant that in some cases; the surrounding or the way it is photographed can convey a better story.

As an illustration, when a photograph is smoothed or when it is centered on shapes and colors, instead of a distinct object, it may induce emotions that attract the audience. Such type of photography makes us perceive differently what we are viewing and makes us see the beauty in the things that we would not typically notice.

In my definition, abstract photography constitutes a mode of taking photographs that emphasize the shape, color, or texture rather than on an identifiable subject. It is able to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary through altering our view. As an example, a close-up shot of a leaf would turn out to be a whirling pile of green, revealing something that we have never previously paid attention to. Abstract photography allows us to look differently at the world, it makes us be creative and gives us the opportunity to define what we watch differently. Finally, it is about experimenting and sharing emotions, provoking the viewers to see behind the curtain.