Shape

Shape

• Shape - is a flat, enclosed area of an artwork created through lines, textures, colours or an area enclosed by other shapes for example triangles circles and squares. 

• Form - can refer to a three-dimensional composition or object within a three-dimensional composition that relies on light.

• Negative space - in art, is the space around and between the subject(s) of an image. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and such space occasionally is used to artistic effect as the "real" subject of an image.

• Geometric shapes - such as circles, triangles or squares have perfect, uniform measurements and don't often appear in nature

• Irregular - without symmetry, even shape or formal arrangement.

• Connotation represents the various social overtones, cultural implications, or emotional meanings associated with a sign. 

• Denotation represents the explicit or referential meaning of a sign. Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the 'dictionary definition.

Image bank

Task1:

Brandt uses  tight composition cropping the image creates three negative spaces. Brant's approach; Brant is associated with representing the body as landscape or an abstract geometric form. To some extent in working often with a female form he also creates images within a sexual content.

Research (of artists and techniques)

A photographer that I chose to study for my research on shape was a man named Andy Goldsworthy. Andy Goldsworthy was born in July 1956, and lives and works in Scotland. He is a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist who photographs the land art situated in natural and urban settings.

In the photos above, you can see how Andy has used the natural beauty around him to shot his photos. However, in order to emphasise the shapes in each photo he has used Photoshop to draw his own shapes into the photo as well as using it lighten/darken the photograph. I like Andy Goldsworthy's technique and I feel like I could experiment with his techniques on my own photographs.

Image bank

My contact sheets

I shot these photos in my garden and when I was out in the near by village. Most of these photos fit with the style of Andy Goldsworthy and just need some editing. However, others do not fit, but when I was out with my camera I saw some interesting shapes and decided to photograph them.

My best images

In the top three photos I tried to focus on the close up shapes that I encountered and took them with the macro lens. However with the final photo, I used a zoom lens to capture a Red Kite and a Crow in the sky. although this is slightly different to my usual style and photo subjects I like the way this came out at the colour of the birds are highly contrasted with the grey sky, resulting in a clear image of the shapes, in which is my focus for this shoot.

Photographs that require improvement

With this photo, I made the background black. I did this because I feel that it emphasises the shape and texture of the Dandelion. I like the outcome of this as when I darkened the flower it allows you to see the shape in more detail.

With this photo, although it looks like the dog is facing away from the camera, I actually edited the photo so that no other details could be seen, like his face which was actually looking straight at the camera. I like the way this turned out because of the simplicity of the photo.

In this photograph I edited the object in the style of Andy Goldsworthy. I think that I like the look of this photo however I think that the brush I used to create the line was too thick, if I were to redo this, I would maybe choose a bolder colour in order for the seed pod to stand out from the background. I would also reduce the brush size to make this more effective.

In this photograph of a dragonfly it shows the shape of it's alien like head and it's delicate wings. To edit this photograph I cropped the photo in order to create a more defined picture as well as adjusting the contrast, brightness and exposure.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

I feel that the artist research was slightly helpful in this study as it helped me understand the theory on shapes and made me look for shapes in nature without sticking to the obvious shapes. My research on Andy Goldsworthy was not as helpful as I had hoped. This is because of the fact that his style of photography is different to mine which I feel restricted me whist I was editing my photos as I do not want to copy his style of drawing on the photos however I could not find a style that suited me whilst I was editing my photos from my shoots.

Although I did not find Andy's style of photography inspiring I was intruiged by the subjects and objects that he had chosen to photograph. in my shoots I was restricted on time but I did keep in mind that not all shapes need to be natural. Instead, they can be made by yourself, as shown in his own photograph of the stones in the spiral.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My idea for recording shape was to photograph the finer details in nature, and find how shape can present itself. I was inspired by Andy Goldsworthy's work, not by his method of editing the photos, but by his way of taking and setting up the photo. Andy Goldsworthy's work also gave me the idea to photograph plants and other natural objects.

With reference to my best selected images: I feel that these images link to the topic and to the artist that I studied. I also feel like the work in which I have shown my focus on shape in nature through some different forms. 

The image of the Flower was shot at a canted angle to emphasise the shape of the flower petals, which are in a star shape. I also used the composition to draw the eye and create a more interesting image. This image links with my research of Andy photo leaf image.

The image of the Snail shell was inspired by Goldsworthy's snail shell that he made with leaves. I used a macro lenses which enabled me to zoom in and see every little detail in the shell. This photo was hard to capture as the light kept changing and was hitting the shell in different ways. 

The image of the Dragonfly was an idea that I came up with myself. When shooting I noticed that it had landed in front of me. so using my macro lens I managed to shoot this photo. if i were to re-take, I would have adjusted the amount of light hitting the dragonfly and I wold have tried to get more detail on the wings. however due to the risk of it flying off, I did not have the time to move around and find the best angle, so this was taken straight on, at a slightly higher level than the Dragonfly.

The photo with the birds was taken from below. This photo was hard to capture due to focussing issues and the lighting.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

To take my photos I used a Canon E10 1000D, with multiple lenses. I tried to increase the aperture setting to as high as possible so that I could end up with a sharper picture with a wider depth of field, however in some cases this was not possible as the lighting was poor.

In reference to my best images in which I have selected, these are the camera settings that I used. 

Photo 1
Lens : TAMRON 70-300 mm F/4.5-6
Exposure : 1/320 sec
F/ : 5.6
ISO : 1600

Photo 2
Lens : TAMRON 70-300 mm F/4.5-6
Exposure : 1/2000 sec
F/ : 5.6
ISO : 1600

Photo 3
Lens : EF-S18-250mm F/3.5-5.6
Exposure : 1/800 sec
F/ : 5.6
ISO :1600

Photo 4
Lens : EF75-300 mm F/4.5-6
Exposure : 1/4000sec
F/ : 5.6
ISO : 1600

Photo 3

Lens : EF-S18-250mm F/3.5-5.6

Exposure : 1/85 sec

F/ : 5.6

ISO : 400

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.  

I believe that I have produced a strong series of images inspired by my research of shape and the images of Andy Goldsworthy.  The final images produced were refined by developing the photo in photoshop using a range of techniques.

My Camera Settings

My Camera settings

Aperture

This controls the amount of light entering the camera through the lens. The f-stop is the measurement used for the size of the lens opening – with a larger aperture or opening, more light passes through to the image sensor; with a smaller aperture, less light passes through. 

2.8

4.0

5.6

8.0

11.0

16.0

22.0

Shutter speed

In photography and digital photography the shutter speed is the unit of measurement which determines how long shutter remains open as the picture is taken. The slower the shutter speed, the longer the exposure time. The shutter speed and aperture together control the total amount of light reaching the sensor.

2"

1

1/2

1/4

1/8

1/15

1/30

1/60

1/125

1/500

1/1000

1/2000

1/4000

ISO - International standards operation

100
200
400
800
1600

exposure meter

If the dial is on 0, the exposure is at the right setting for the photograph.

If the dial is on -3, the exposure is too low and the photograph will come out too dark.

if the dial is on 3, the exposure is too high and the photograph will come too light.

Texture and Pattern

Texture and Pattern

Texture - refers to the tactile qualities of the physical surface of the object.

       The challenge of seeing and capturing texture is mostly based on one element - light. Texture can      be accentuated by the side light of early sunny mornings or early evenings, or by overhead light when the sun is vertical and high in the sky. Light us important for photography because it has the ability to accentuate certain aspects.

Pattern - is an underlying structure that organises surfaces or structures in a consistent, regular manner. Can be described as a repeating unit of shape or form, but it can also be thought of as the "skeleton" that organises the parts of a composition. There is often the presumption that a pattern has to involve straight lines to produce something recognisable as a pattern, but this is not the case. In the natural world, patterns can be found in irregular formations and, in direct contrast to regular formations.

Research - Texture

    

Research - Pattern

Research - (of Artists and techniques)  

A photographer that I chose to research was Adrienne Adam, a fine art photographer from the United States of America. She tries to photograph the intimate landscapes of patter and texture in nature, or this reason I have chosen to study her work and let it influence my own.

In these photographs Adrienne Adam has used parts of nature such as trees, rocks and plants to create her pictures. She has positioned her camera in a way that captures the  image making sure that she uses all the available light to it's true potential and to enhance the patterns and textures in which she is photographing.

Image bank

The above collection of photographs (pictures by other photographers/artists) represent some images that I felt I could capture myself by highlighting the bold textures and patterns in the natural landscape. 

My contact sheets - shot in Harlow Town Centre

In reference to the photographs above, I was partially experimenting with the camera at different angles, creating different depths within the photo then looking back at what the photo had come out like. In some cases, the photos containing interesting textures and patterns turned out good. But in others it did not work so well.

My best images

I feel that, using my photo research as well as the artist research I have produced some good unedited images. Some, like the picture of a bread roll above, do not link to the artist research that I conducted, however, whilst I was out on my shoot I was looking for texture and pattern, this is what I found and I think that it made a good photo with a lot of depth to it. 

Photographs that require improvement

In all the photos included below I feel that the photos are either slightly out of focus or need to be edited in photoshop. Some need to be lightened, darkened, more contrasted or need the exposure increased/decreased. 

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

I feel that the artist research was helpful in this study as I realised that the theory on pattern and texture meant that I was able to tackle the subject from a range of perspectives. My research on Adrienne Adams was also helpful because originally, I thought that finding pattern within nature would be difficult, however her work showed me that pattern if in everything, you just have to have they eye to see it. This, I feel is shown in the edited photo above, the repeating pattern of the delicate petals of a white rose.

I gained some inspiration from Adam's work and through producing my own images, I kept Adrienne's nature theme and photographed in my garden and around my daily life which is mostly spent outdoors. I did also look at patterns on clothing, however I feel that the setting was to rushed so the photos did not come out how I would have wanted.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My idea for recording lines was to photograph the finer details in nature and in gardens, and how texture and patterns can present themselves such as curves, horizontal, vertical and leading lines. I was inspired by Adrienne Adams work, by boths her method of taking photos, and  by what she had tried to capture within the photo.

     
      With reference to my best selected images: I feel that these images link to both the topic and the artist that I studied. I also feel like the work I have produced is focus on the topic Texture and Pattern and that I have shown it in many forms. 

      My first shoot, in Harlow Town Centre was not as sucsessful as the other shoots and I feel this is mainly because of my photography style. I have come to realise that when taking photos in a setting of bright, artificial light the photos are just not right! I feel as though in time, once I have learned how to fully ecploit my camera, this will come more easily to me, however at the minute my best photos come from when I am outside.
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AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

To take my photos I used a Canon E10 1000D, with multiple lenses. With these images, I did not use a tripod as we were walking around. however, in hindsight I wish I had as I would have got better quality pictures as the camera would have been kept steady and I could have experimented with the settings in order to get the best photo.

In reference to my best images in which I have selected, these are the camera settings that I used. 

Photo 1
Lens : TAMRON 70-300 mm F/4.5-6
Exposure : 1/60 sec
F/ : 5.6
ISO : 400

Photo 2
Lens : TAMRON 70-300 mm F/4.5-6
Exposure : 1/200 sec
F/ : 5.0
ISO : 1600

Photo 3
Lens : EF-S18-250mm F/3.5-5.6
Exposure : 1/125 sec
F/ : 5.6
ISO :1600

Photo 4
Lens : TAMRON 70-300 mm F/4.5-6
Exposure : 1/125 sec
F/ : 5.6
ISO : 1600

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.  

I believe that I have produced a strong series of images inspired by my research of Pattern, Texture and the images of Adrienne Adam.  The final images produced were refined by developing the photo in photoshop using a range of techniques.