Experimental Photography

The Photographers’ Gallery is currently under going a refurbishment and is due to open to the public in February 2011. As part of the launch, the gallery will

heat an exhibition titled ‘The Photograph as an Object’. As a medium Photography has traditionally been used to document and capture ‘decisive’ moments in time. The aim of ‘The Photograph as an Object’ is to showcase

photographs that explore the physical qualities of the printed photograph , thus blurring the distinctions between photography and art.

Idea 1:What I would like to do for my first idea is take some photos of natural things such as trees. Preferably I would like to get these in a wintery sort of feel, so I don’t want any leaves on them and hopefully I will be able to get some snow or frost on the trees so that it definitely captures that winter feel. I also wanted to get a few photographs of myself. I would do this by using the flash so that I would be able to get all the crucial details in my face. I want to take some of my face looking down so that it brings a sort of depressive or saddening feel to the photograph. I then want to edit these in photoshop so that I am using the photograph of the trees as a base layer and the layer of the photo of myself over the top (which will have already been cut out using the quick select tool). I will then turn down the opacity in the photo of myself so that the trees can be seen slightly through my body/face. I could also try doing it so that I put the photo of myself on the bottom and turn the opacity down on the trees so that my face is visible through the trees. After I have combined the two photograph’s I plan on writing certain words or phrases onto the final picture, which hopefully complement my overall piece.

Kristah Johnson

Here is an example of experimental photography done by the artist Kristah Johnson.I have chosen to analyze this particular piece because I believe it reflects what I want to do in my piece. However in my piece instead of using the model more than once Iwould like to take one photo of myself which I would use as a background layer and then place the pictures of the trees over the top. In photoshop I will then turn the opacitydown so that the image of myself is visible through the tees. I think that this will workwell because it will add a sense of mystery to the piece. As well as this I will be able to swap the photo’s so that I could use the image of trees as the base photo and put theone of me on top instead. It will be good to experiment with this is photoshop.

My Photographs To make my photo’s represent my idea I want to photographs of nature. This could include things like trees, bushes etc, however I want to make sure that I have captured the right aspect of what I need to resemble the brief. I want to make sure the trees have got a wintery feel, especially as I don’t want to make this piece feel to warm. It would be preferable if I was able to get a bit of frost or snow on this trees as it would really make the wintery feel of the photo much more emphatic, I also think given the time of the year the likelihood of me getting these kind of photos is very high. Some certain places that I have in mind of visiting are Langton’s Gardens and Fielder’s cricket ground, both are situated in my local area so they seem the ideal places for me to visit, especially as they are both places thriving with nature. The second type of pictures I would like to take are of myself. I would like to take some pictures of the top half of my body and possibly some full body shots. I would definitely like to get some close ups on my face and maybe use some kind of a shadowing effect. I think that the best option would be to use the flash when taking these photographs so that a lot of detail is noticeable. After I have taken my photo’s I plan on using the merging effect by experimenting with the opacity. I will then print off the merged photos and then write on them using a coloured marker pen.

Photo 1:

Here is my first photo. I believe that I have captured the feeling of winterVery well in this photo as there is snow on the trees. I am also happy with This photo as it has quite a grey colour, I think this is a good thing becauseI want my final piece to have that essence of sadness about it. I have editedIt by making it sharper and slightly bringing up the black and the blues.

Photo 2:

Here I have taken a close up picture of the trees. I wanted to do this so that I Could capture the detail with the branches etc. I feel that this has been a successfulPhoto as it captures that feeling of mystery. I edited it by bringing up the sharpnessAnd make it slightly darker.

Photo 3:

Here is my third photo. Instead of just focusing on the trees in this photo IHave decided to pay a little more attention to the other aspects of nature inThis piece, such as the bushes. I do like this photo however I think that I would Prefer to use a photo that has more branches as it will look better when combinedWith my other photo. I edited this photo by bringing up the blacks and I madeIt sharper.

Photo 4:

Photo 5:

Here is the first picture I have taken of myself. I was not impressed With this photo as I felt it made what was meant to be a sad pictureToo happy. I edited it by crystalizing the photo.

Photo 6:

Here is the second photo of myself. I was much more pleased with this photo Than the first because I felt it brought a sense of mystery to the piece. I feel as ifThe photo of myself makes it look as if I am looking on toward something, maybeA new beginning or to escape some sort of conventional hell. I only edited it by Sharpening it as I wanted to hold this photos uniqueness.

Photo 7:

With this photo I have cut out the image of myself (including the shadows)And have then placed it onto a white background, where I have used the Brush tool to create a new background. I decided to go for a red watercolourKind of brush as it stands out well against the figure of myself, hence forth Bringing contrast to the piece.

Photo 8:

Out of all the photos of myself this one is my favourite. I edited it by bringing Up the brightness and again cutting it out and placing it in front of a red background.I think this has been my most successful photo as it is the most mysterious out theLot and will combine well with the tree pictures. This is the photo I plan on using in My final piece.

Final Piece

Here is my final piece. What I have done is used 3 separate layers. First of all I havePlaced the image of the trees as the background layer. Second I created a layer withUsing the brush and made it red. Thirdly I placed the image of myself over the topAnd turned the opactiy down on layers 2 and 3 so that the trees could be seen through My body which is the effect I wanted. I believe this strongly relates to my artist (KristahJohnson) as it uses similar effects and has a very similar outcome.