"Photography is multi-discipinary both in theory and practice" - Threshold concept #3
Studio Lighting Techniques:
Butterfly Lighting:
This is also knows as "Paramount" lighting, was very common in the 1930s for Hollywood photographers. This lighting is created by the butterfly shaped shadow that is seen underneath the nose. The lighting can be very needed and useful for different types of faces, but majority of cases it is best used for high ad prominent cheekbones. This lighting is created by placing the butterfly light source above the face, usually around 25-70 degrees and it is in line with the direction in which the face is pointing. |
Rembrandt Lighting:
This lighting can be seen on the left of the main object or figure of the photograph. It is named after a Dutch painter who has that name. Loop lighting and Rembrandt lighting are very similar, but the lighting source is moved higher and further to the left or right of the subjects face. This lighting creates a strong pattern which is seen by a small fringe of light that is seen underneath the eye on the shadow side of the face, and is also accompanied with a nose shadow that almost extends to the corner of the mouth. Rembrandt lighting isn't an all purpose lighting and is mostly used for "character studies" and "moody fashion" work. |
Loop Lighting:
This lighting is named "loop" due to the fact that there is a loop-shaped shadow that is created underneath the nose. This lighting is the most used pattern. Loop lighting is seen and considered to be pleasing and also an adaptable pattern, that lights majority of the placing the main light above the subjects face around 25-50 degrees and to the right or the left of the direction in where the face is pointing. |
Split lighting:
It is not exactly seen as an all purpose lighting due to its dramatic look, it can be very unique and useful. From the obvious name, half of the subjects face is lighted and the other half isn't, as it is left in the shadow. This lighting id created by placing the lighting source to the right or the left of the direction the subject is facing (normally 90-120 degrees) and the lighting unit is at or slightly above face level. If the photographer is looking for a narrower face, this lighting is very useful. It is also very useful for disguising facial imperfections in the shadow. |
HIGH AND LOW KEY LIGHTING:
"High key" lighting includes lighting for films, televisions and photography, before technology wasn't as advanced as it is at the moment. This style of lighting is aimed at reducing the lighting ration present in the scene. Normally uses unnatural lights to create "high key lighting". This creates very bright lighting for the photograph and creates a range of light and white tones. There aren't many dark and mid-tones involved with the lighting outcomes on the photograph. It is still used for Hollywood films, and is purely most seen and used based on the photographers preference. It can used and adapted to create a unique and specific style they are looking for.
"Low key" lighting is also used for photography, films and televisions. This style of lighting is a key and needed style and element in creating a chiaroscuro effect. This type of lighting style mainly focuses on dark tones in order to create a dramatic looking photograph. In comparison to high key lighting, low key lighting focuses on intensifying the contrast in an image. This is done by reducing the lighting or the amount of light sources. The main purpose of using low key lighting in photography isn't to make a dark tonal based image but instead to in order to illuminate and highlight certain parts of the image. Low key lighting creates strong and bold contrasts by the reduction of lighting. Shadow in this style is seen as the primary element of the composition.
"Low key" lighting is also used for photography, films and televisions. This style of lighting is a key and needed style and element in creating a chiaroscuro effect. This type of lighting style mainly focuses on dark tones in order to create a dramatic looking photograph. In comparison to high key lighting, low key lighting focuses on intensifying the contrast in an image. This is done by reducing the lighting or the amount of light sources. The main purpose of using low key lighting in photography isn't to make a dark tonal based image but instead to in order to illuminate and highlight certain parts of the image. Low key lighting creates strong and bold contrasts by the reduction of lighting. Shadow in this style is seen as the primary element of the composition.
Practicing With Studio Lighting:
Below I took some images with studio lighting to help practice using all the different equipment's. Instead of changing and adapting the lighting on computer software applications, physically being able to decide with light hits what feature on the face and how much of the light is used, strategically creates different shadows and effects. Hence, showing the importance of lighting.
Edited Images and Final Outcome:
I used Photoshop to edit these images. For editing, I increased the contrast and brightness so that his facial features stood out. Commonly what I see in portrait photography is that the images are quite bright. Increased the contrast of the photos so that the subject stood out against the background and wasn't washed out.
Artist Research:
CHANDLER EASLEY:
This image is high contrast image where the subject is in front of a pink background to help compliment the subjects skin colour. It can be sent that Easely used direct lighting for the photograph as there are flash reflections against the skin to highlight certain areas. This makes them stand out more and lets the picture move away form a standard 2D and into a 3D picture. This picture is highly sexualised and could lead to controversy. This image relates to my project as it is a mainstream view of black females being overly sexualised but the lighting techniques used are very influential and important.
|
ANDY WARHOL:
Andy Warhol is one of the most famous photographers, who focused on the visual art movement known as "pop art". He also had different occupations including, being a painter, film-maker and an author. When Warhol moved to New York in 1949, he started working on his commercial art. In the early 1960s, he began to research and test with reproductions centered on commercials, newspaper headlines and other mass-produced images from American popular culture such as Campbell's soup tins and Coca Cola bottles. In 1962, he started his series portraits of Marilyn Monroe. Other celebrities that were also involved included Jackie Kennedy and Elvis Presley.
Andy Warhol is one of the most famous photographers, who focused on the visual art movement known as "pop art". He also had different occupations including, being a painter, film-maker and an author. When Warhol moved to New York in 1949, he started working on his commercial art. In the early 1960s, he began to research and test with reproductions centered on commercials, newspaper headlines and other mass-produced images from American popular culture such as Campbell's soup tins and Coca Cola bottles. In 1962, he started his series portraits of Marilyn Monroe. Other celebrities that were also involved included Jackie Kennedy and Elvis Presley.
Warhols key concept regarding his pop art seems to be commercial illustration. He adds a comical aspect and is very decorative. His pop art is part of bract expressionism, as it has some sense of surrealism due to how to coloured lines change the shape of the subject and the coloured pieces also makes the face abstract. The technical side of the editing process is quite inspirational and iconic as it has changed and created a new path of how people can edit photographs. This differs away from the common change of brightness and contrast, Warhol has allowed people to use shapes and colour to outline the subject and use different colours for the subjects skin and hair.
|
Januz Miralles
Miralles is a visual artists who focuses women. He uses drawing and painting techniques to outline and explores their emotions and how delicate the womans body. Miralles manipulates his images to transform them into a new subject. I am intrgued with his technique of manipulation as Miralles digitally uses paint to create his new image and also changes the state of the being. A psycological aspect is involved as by tampering with the subjects face, he creates a melancholy mood, and leaves the viewer thinking and wanting more. The process of also pouring chemicals to a picture is also a desolate view as you are loosing part of the subjects face but a sense of mystery is added because Miralles has now created something beautfiful out of it.
John stezaker - Conceptual Photography
Stezaker creates conceptual photography through collages. Many of his photographs consists of him cutting them straight or diagonally so that only the silhouette is left. It is a very minimalist type of photography but has a strong impact as the contrast between images are very prominent especially the ones that are contrasting through gender. Stezaker doesn't take the actual photographs but instead collects them from places such as flea markets and he collect actors and defaces them and creates something new, which creates a sense of melancholy mood.
JOHN BALDESSARI - Conceptual Photography
John Baldessari was born in 1831 in California. He then attended San Diego state university where he later did a post-graduate course at Otis Art Institute. John started a teaching career at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia from 1970 -1988 and he then began to teach at the University of California from 1996-2007. His art involved many types of themes and styles including
Baldessari photographs are highly based on the effects he adds after. He uses colour and shapes such as circles to change the whole perception of the photograph. Adding bright colours such as primary colours, creates strong contrast against the subject. His most common work with the circles in front of the subjects face, creates a sense mystery in a comical way. Baldesarri strong use of colour and shape comes from his previous work in the 1960s of gestural painting. He wised materials from billboards and began creating his paintings. He used his previous experience of using material and colour and incorporated it, into his photographs. Mainly focusing on making his photograph outcomes after taking the actual image.
DUSDIN CONDREN:
Dusdin Corden is a photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. Cordens photography is mainly based on capturing in black and white, while shaping the image with shadows, reflection, different tones and shades. Using these elements, allows Corden to change the subjects body shape and highlight areas to create contrast through tone. This leads to his work becoming more ambiguous and more open for an individual to interpret for themselves. I am interested in this photograph because he creates differnet shapes and manipulates the subject with shadow while taking the picture, rather than editing it after. This is another inspiration and technqiue of ways to change and distort the subject in the photograph.
Carrie Mae Weems:
Carrie Mae Weems is an influential contemparty American artists. Her work relates to sexism, family relationships, cultral identity, class, political systems and the consequences of power. ( ref. http://carriemaeweems.net/bio.html). Weems work produces metaphores
Mirror Mirror (front the series "aint joking" by Carrie Mae Weems
This photograph focuses on breaking down the racial difference barriers. Weems juxtaposes the black and white image with her altered comedic version of a line from snow white. By weems making the photograph black and white, it creates contrast between the two races involved and breaks down both of the notions. This image was created to expose black womens oppressed history and recognises the way in which photography has been used as an humanistic tool in showing the subordinacy of African Americans. "LOOKING INTO THE MIRROR, THE BLACK WOMAN ASKED, "MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHO'S THE FINEST OF THEM ALL?" THE MIRROR SAYS, "SNOW WHITE, YOU BLACK BITCH, AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!!!" By Carrie Mae Weems using a black woman in the mirror emphasises on the fact that black women specifically have been used for make gaze in fine art and the visual culture. The use of the popular fairy tale, Snow White, allows Weems to show how subtle and powerful our subconscious mind in convinced that the superior women was fair and how there is Euro-American perception in the way people view women.This piece also has humorous aspects in the caption with the use of language play and also reversing roles by using literary figure to signify a monkey. |
DADA ART MOVEMENT (1916-1924):
This political art movement was created in reaction the world war 1, as many people began to question society and in response to this they began to ruin and destroy traditional values in art. They created new art to replace old art and one of the new pieces of art they began to create was photomontages. This political art movement were anti-war, anti-bourgeois and also had relations with the radical left. This movement is highly inspirational as they create a mockery of vain cultural figures that stood for something deathless.
Hannah Hoch
Hannah Hoch is a German feminist artistst, who is one of the main bodies who created photomontage. Her work during the weimar period and dada movement have strong political messages which makes her work still iconic to this day. Manipulation and distoriton is created by photomontage and challenges sexist and racist views. I relate to her concept as her aim was to force power into the powerless, which her case was women. By cutting images, rerranging and overlapping them, Hoch was able to artistically crtique the mass media and sarcastically created her own "ideal beauty".
Strange Beauty
This photograph created by Hoch was a statement towards media to almost riddcle the ideal beauty protrayed. The red/orange colours in the background create a sense of romantic atmosphere to the picture. The subjects body adds to the romantic aspect due to the fact that she is nude. This reflects the mass medias view on women and makes some viewers drawn to the image. and is juxtaposed by the alien face. This random piece to the image, capitivates the viewers and creates a sense of wonder and makes the viewers think harder on why Hoch placed the alien on the subjects body. Creating this juxtapostion and calling this photograph "strange beauty" alters the perception of beauty we see on the media, while emphasising her point by adding "grotesuqe" images to add contrast to a beautiful body. |
Unedited first set of images:
This was my second experiment with working with light and portraiture. I used a white background to create a sharp contrast so that the subject stood out.
Edited images:
I edited the photos using Photoshop and increased the brightness and contrast. I also smoothed out the skin of the subjects to give it a professional outcome.
First outcome:
I used Photoshop to overlap the two images together to overall create one face. This image is a sense a response to the media and how the ideal beauty portrayed doesn't not represent the ordinary black women. The Dior is also in the image behind the head to also respond to high end magazine and also to sarcastically make my own front page magazine cover.
second outcome:
I used the same image as before to create on final outcome and in order to create this i folded the piece of paper together. This outcome really reflects my aim of disfiguring images and I used a hands of physical approach to this outcome. The subjects face was already twisted and I accentuated the facial features even more especially around the mouth and eyes area. |
Below I made a couple of blended photos and added different effects and filters on them to change the overall perspective of the image and also I realised that it helped to blend and change the look of the faces used.
Response to John Stezaker
In response to Stezaker, I appropriated images of celebrities and created a juxtaposed outcome. I cut some images and folded the others and positioned them together to create another face. The aim of this outcome was to take away the features that society idolises for them and provide abject through their flaws being more enhanced. A sense of surrealism is involved with these outcomes as it creates irrational juxtaposition of photographs . I used an image of a gorilla and placed it with and image of michelle Obama because a lot of insults from social media resemble her to the animal and I wanted to create a contrasting and sarcastic picture of both images to create a comparison.
Dark Room experiments:
As my personal investigation involves me distorting portraits, I wanted to experiment my ways physically with photographic paper rather than on photoshop. My portraits were taken by my teacher and firstly I inverted the picture on photoshop to make them into negatives. In the dark room I placed the pictures on photographic paper with exposure fully open the first time and allowed the paper to be exposed for 5 seconds. Doing this made my picture turn out really dark but even though it was a mistake I still used it. I repeated the same steps but the f-stop was at 2.5 and I exposed my picture for 4 seconds and this way of doing turned out perfectly for me. Knowing this was they way i should created all my photograms, i created multiple pictures and then began to use bleach to distort them. The first darker photogram i created with the bleach poured on top came out really well as it was a huge contrast.
First Experimental outcomes:
I experimented with bleach and ink just to see how well it would react with the material. I used bleach firstly to address colourism and black women bleaching their skins to relate to "European Beauty" highly seen in the mass media.The bleach looked like it had seeped into my skin and I percieved this image to be a relation to black girl bleaching their skin. It was a huge metaphor and was really exageratted by the dark picture and part of my face being stripped away by bleach. Almost as i was loosing part of my identity.
Books I was inspired by for this outcome:
While reading the Susan Hiller book, I found out that she uses a wide variety of media for her work during the couple active decades she has been doing art. This showed me that she is redefining her own definition and view of what art can be perceived to be. She focuses her work on the subconscious mind and paranormal cultures. For example, some of her work has been on auras, dreams and extra sensory perception. Media she works with is large-scale, film, audio and projection. She also uses different types of material to create her work such as post cards and audio interviews. |
Using Ink
I created a dipstych with these two images to represent "If black is beautiful add more black". I used black ink and rolled them over both of the photographs. The purpose of this was to sarcastically enhance black skin colour. The first image is of Nicki Minaj who is a well known musician and is commonly used to represent black women in the media. Her skin colour is noticeably light, which could be due to magazine editors, lightening her skin so that she fit in with the European standards of beauty. While this is going on, people are still saying that black is beautiful while using lighter women to represent this. Adding dark black ink sarcastically enhances black skin. I used a negative self portrait and added the black ink as well as it doesn't show a specific race. It is also a response to European beauty standards as the media are trying to make women lighter, so I decided to make myself darker.
Experiment with cream and window cleaner
From previous work with chemigrams I decided to use different chemicals to disfigure the subjects face. I used chemicals such as cream and window cleaner for this experiment. Before exposing the photographic paper to light, I applied the chemical substance on the paper, placed the inverted picture of the subject on the photographic paper and proceeded to expose the paper to light. I did this because the chemicals created a damaged layer on top of the subjects face. The cream relates to how the ideal beauty in media is "white washed" with European beauty.
Final Piece Outcome:
Evaluation:
For final piece, the artists that the outcome was mainly based upon were Carrie Mae Weems and Januz Miralles. Miralle helped influence me on different techniques to disfigure the photograph, whereas Weems allowed me to fully understand and develop my concept of creating a response to how society and the media perceive the ideal beauty of a black woman. I began personal investigation want to capture beautiful black women embracing features commonly looked down upon by people but after some time of research and realisation, I decided to sarcastically respond to the media.
I believe I successfully explored the theme as my theme was defacing features on a subjects face. This was achieved by using different techniques. I wanted to explore different Medias of photography to see which I preferred to deface images with. Digitally, I used Photoshop to overlap images on top of each other and change filters but physically creating photograms, I was able to gather a wider range of techniques to disfigure the images. I used chemicals such as bleach to wipe out part of the subjects face; this gave a sense of emptiness behind the person and created a question of “without a face, what do we now define as beautiful”. Using photograms also related to the threshold concept of #5 as it was chance creating photograms. As I cannot see what the photogram will turnout of before putting the picture and exposing it to light before developing it, it created many challenges on finding which f-stop to choose and the time to expose light. Even with these challenges I still adapted them to work with my theme. One image came out too dark but after applying bleach, it revealed a lighter layer of the subject’s skin. This relates to my investigation as the media are constantly changing black women to fit the European beauty standards. Closer to creating my final piece, I had finally discovered the correct f-stop which was 2.5 and the time to expose light on the paper which was 6.5 seconds which was perfect for me work from. I used these exact number for all of my photograms apart from one which increased the f-stop to expose more light so that the image will become darker, to create contrast when I added the bleach. Previous work from unit 1 also influenced my final piece as I involved chemigrams to my work. I applied cream and window cleaner on the photographic paper before I placed my images on top and exposed them to light. This was done because bleach took away from the photograph, but I also wanted to cover the subjects face. This creates a sense of mystery and allows the audience to see hidden features. I refined and developed my work by using different chemicals on the photograms and also when I decided to apply the chemicals, before and after.
I was hoping to create a series of diptychs of celebrities with disfigured faces and ordinary women/girls with disfigured faces to create a contrast between the two. I wanted juxtaposition to be highlighted throughout the final piece to make the statement and sarcasm really bold. The disfigurement of faces and features were successful due to some faces being unrecognisable and others being in and out of focus, which emphasises the subjects features. What made this personal investigation personal to me is that I am a black woman. I am constantly seeing society discriminate and create stereotypes against black women while the media is saying “black is beautiful” with images of black women diluted down with the European standard of beauty create strong irony which many people fail to see.
If I had more time I would like to experiment more with different techniques to deface images. One including emulsifying the photographic paper, which would allow me to rearrange the face with the thing sheet adding texture to my work. If I had more time to create this project, I would have enjoyed leaving some photographic prints in water and bleach to add effects which looks like fire, to add a sense of beauty burning away.
Overall I feel happy with the outcomes and journey of ideas of this project. I really enjoyed looking at different artists' work. Researching many conceptual artists really changed my perception of how photographs can still be developed and changed after an image has been captured. I feel I have positively experimented with different ideas and techniques during the course and created some sensational and informative responses that relate to the themes I have explored.
I believe I successfully explored the theme as my theme was defacing features on a subjects face. This was achieved by using different techniques. I wanted to explore different Medias of photography to see which I preferred to deface images with. Digitally, I used Photoshop to overlap images on top of each other and change filters but physically creating photograms, I was able to gather a wider range of techniques to disfigure the images. I used chemicals such as bleach to wipe out part of the subjects face; this gave a sense of emptiness behind the person and created a question of “without a face, what do we now define as beautiful”. Using photograms also related to the threshold concept of #5 as it was chance creating photograms. As I cannot see what the photogram will turnout of before putting the picture and exposing it to light before developing it, it created many challenges on finding which f-stop to choose and the time to expose light. Even with these challenges I still adapted them to work with my theme. One image came out too dark but after applying bleach, it revealed a lighter layer of the subject’s skin. This relates to my investigation as the media are constantly changing black women to fit the European beauty standards. Closer to creating my final piece, I had finally discovered the correct f-stop which was 2.5 and the time to expose light on the paper which was 6.5 seconds which was perfect for me work from. I used these exact number for all of my photograms apart from one which increased the f-stop to expose more light so that the image will become darker, to create contrast when I added the bleach. Previous work from unit 1 also influenced my final piece as I involved chemigrams to my work. I applied cream and window cleaner on the photographic paper before I placed my images on top and exposed them to light. This was done because bleach took away from the photograph, but I also wanted to cover the subjects face. This creates a sense of mystery and allows the audience to see hidden features. I refined and developed my work by using different chemicals on the photograms and also when I decided to apply the chemicals, before and after.
I was hoping to create a series of diptychs of celebrities with disfigured faces and ordinary women/girls with disfigured faces to create a contrast between the two. I wanted juxtaposition to be highlighted throughout the final piece to make the statement and sarcasm really bold. The disfigurement of faces and features were successful due to some faces being unrecognisable and others being in and out of focus, which emphasises the subjects features. What made this personal investigation personal to me is that I am a black woman. I am constantly seeing society discriminate and create stereotypes against black women while the media is saying “black is beautiful” with images of black women diluted down with the European standard of beauty create strong irony which many people fail to see.
If I had more time I would like to experiment more with different techniques to deface images. One including emulsifying the photographic paper, which would allow me to rearrange the face with the thing sheet adding texture to my work. If I had more time to create this project, I would have enjoyed leaving some photographic prints in water and bleach to add effects which looks like fire, to add a sense of beauty burning away.
Overall I feel happy with the outcomes and journey of ideas of this project. I really enjoyed looking at different artists' work. Researching many conceptual artists really changed my perception of how photographs can still be developed and changed after an image has been captured. I feel I have positively experimented with different ideas and techniques during the course and created some sensational and informative responses that relate to the themes I have explored.