The Eccentric Figure- Creating 3 Images

Now that you have taken a bunch of images of your figure, it is time to edit, manipulate and experiment in Photoshop. You may crop, zoom-in, adjust colors, increase contrast, create a background and see what happens when you apply filters. It is your time to play and become familiar with Photoshop again by making changes to 2 of your images.

• Each image should be a different view or should show a different part of your figure
• 1 image-  no adjustments or cropping
• 2 images- play in Photoshop
• post all 3 images on your blog (no words or statement necessary)

The Eccentric Figure

The focus of this project is to create a unique and contemporary representation of the figure using photography. Utilizing Daniel Gordon’s photographic technique in which he creates sculptural collages of eccentric and abstracted figures, you will create your own figures utilizing found and taken photographs. Your constructed figure will then be photographed using lamps to create shadows and high contrast in the images.

Getting started:

1.       Gather at least 30 pictures depicting people

·    Collect as least 10 pictures of humans on the internet- get a range of faces and different body parts.

·    Collect as least 10 pictures from magazines

·    Take at least 10 pictures of people with your camera- you can photograph, yourself, friends, family, etc.

2.   Print all of these images in color

3.   Construct your figure using parts or pieces from at least 10 of the pictures (you can always use more). Although you are working with 2D images, build the figure to stand and have dimension.

4.   Plan your background. Will you create the background by hand? Find images on –line? Or use your own photograph?

5.   Photograph the figure using lamps to create high contrast and shadows in your images.

Photographs by Daniel Gordon

Photography Vocabulary

Candid Photography
focuses on spontaneity rather than technique, on the immersion of a camera within events rather than focusing on setting up a staged situation or on preparing a lengthy camera setup.

Arthur Fellig, WeeGee

Accident 42nd Street at Third Avenue, 1942

Lovers with 3D glasses at the Palace Theater, 1943

Summer, the Lower East Side, 1943

Photojournalism
journalism that tells a story through pictures, instead of presenting news material through editing and writing . Photojournalists are thought to take pictures that are objective and neutrally charged with no specific underlying opinion.

Dorothea Lange
FSA Photographer

Migrant Mother, 1936

Documentary Photography
refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle significant and historical events. It is typically covered in professional photojournalism, but it may also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit. The photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject, most often pictures of people.

Stephen Shore

U.S. 2, Ironwood, Michigan, July 9, 19731973 - 2002

Ginger Shore, Causeway Inn, Tampa, Florida, Nov. 17, 19771977-2004

Wolf Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 10/28/75

Street Photography
a type of docmentary photography that features subjects in candid situationswithin public places such as streets, parks, beaches, malls, polictical settings and other settings.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/triangle-fire-a-frontier-in-photojournalism/

Here is a short list of documentary photographers that you may research for your report.

Documentary Photographers

FSA (Farm Security Administration) 1930’s

Walker Evans

Dorothea Lange

Russell Lee

John Vachon

Marion Post Wolcott

Robert Frank

Gerry Winogrand

Lee Friedlander

Diane Arbus

Martha Rosler

Manuel Rivera-Ortiz

Joel Meyerowitz

Berenice Abbott

Jim Goldberg

Nan Goldin

Lauren Greenfield

Lewis Hine

Mary Ellen Mark

Steve McCurry

James Nachtwev

Gordon Parks

Eugene Richards

Jim Richardson

W. Eugene Smith

Peter Sekaer

Sally Mann

Daniel Lorenzetti

Hey, Remember These? Interaction of Text & Image

Time for You to Blog!

In an effort to see all the images you create in our digital photography unit, you will create a blog specifically for Graphic Design to show your artwork. A blog is a way for you to share your artwork with friends and other people. It's also a way for you to organize your work, see improvements and build a portfolio. You will keep and update your blog at different points in the semester when assignments are due and this will be the way that you turn in your assignments from now on.

Here are two blog sites I have used:

blogger.com - very basic, need to set up a gmail account to get started

tumblr.com- more design options, easy to use

Your assignment today is to finish editting your 7 images. Utilize Brightness/Contrast, Levels, and Curves to achieve a range of values. You may also experiment to achieve natural-looking colors using Color Balance. When you have made your changes to your images, save them as jpegs.

Then post your pictures on your blog with the title 7 Views of Jones as the title. You may give titles to your individual images if you want.

Photography Research Project

PHOTOGRAPHY RESEARCH PROJECT Graphic Design  

Due

Choose two artists you would like to research and present to the class. The artists may be exclusively photographers or they can be artists who create different types of artwork including photography. At least one of the artists should be living and working now.

Part I Outline: In an outline format, please include the following information:

·         Artist’s name

·         where and when he/she was born and where the/she lives and works now

·         university/art school he/she attended

·         type of photography artist does (documentary, photojournalism, street, portraits, etc)

Part II: Write this information/ answer questions in complete sentences

·         What ideas is the artist interested in? What is the work about?

·         How does the artists’ style and picture-taking process connect to the concepts/ideas of the artwork?

·         Why are you are interested, drawn to, and/or moved by the artist’s images?

Part II: Power Point Presentation- Choose 1 artist

·         Create a simple power point displaying 4 photographs by the artist

·         Images should be large and  high-quality

·         Develop 2 questions for the viewers to answer and/or think about for each artwork

·         Describe the work- including concepts, subject matter, process, etc (basically tell us why these images are cool and what they are about so we can understand them better)  

On-line Resources- galleries, museums and websites with good information & high quality images

You can do searches on these sites or look at artwork to find artists that interest you.

Art 21 (Art in the Twenty-first Century) PBS program & website

Saatchi Gallery (all contemporary artists- good images)

Gagosian Gallery

Museum of Contemporary Photography- Chicago

Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) - L.A.

Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) - Chicago

New Museum – NY                                                            

PS1- Queens, NY                                                                             

Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) - NY                                                         

Whitney Museum of American Art- NY                                       

                               

Lens Culture: Contemporary Art Magazine- lensculture.com

Photography-now.net

newyorkphotofestival.com

photography.nationalgeographic.com

New York Times- nytimes.com/pages/multimedia/index.html

Art Forum (magazine) - artforum.com

Art in America (magazine) – artinamericamagazine.com

Editing Your 7 Photographs

Take a look at your photographs for aspects that may need to be changed or improved.

Contast- Does the image have a full range of values? This is also called full tonal range - highlights, mid tones, and dark values or shadows. An image is referred to as flat if it is lacking contast and punchy if it has too much contrast.
Brightness/Contrast
Levels- if image needs overall contrast
Curves- if image needs contrast within the midtones

Color- Does the color in the image look natural? Adjust the color using color balance. For example, if the image looks too blue, move the arrow on the scale towards yellow (its compliment) to make it the color more even and natural.
Color Balance