"Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual." -Edward Weston |
To begin my Abstract Nature Artist Investigations, I will initially study the work of Edward Weston because of his famous photography work, how his work shows contrast, lines, shape and the rich textures within the photos, the close ups, natural forms, sharp images and how the pictures are black and white as well as them being taken a while ago.
Edward Weston was born on March 24th, 1886 in America and is known for his abstract photography using a 'View Camera' and soft-focus and high key portraits. I chose this inspirational quote because it sums up the work of Edward Weston because it shows his love for photography and . abstract form. Below are a selection of 10 Weston images that are inspirational to me. |
The photographer of this picture is called Edward Weston
The title of this photograph is called 'Pepper No.30' it was made in 1930. It depicts It depicts a solitary green pepper in rich black-and-white tones, with strong illumination from above. The genre of this photograph is still life. The props that I can see is a single pepper which was taken inside a funnel. The composition of this photo shows a pepper placed in the foreground. The perspective that Edward Weston has taken the photo from is eye-level. This perspective is effective because it has a more dramatic look to it. The photographer employs a range of visual elements, the most striking elements are, contrast, the way the lighting looks with the darkness as well as the texture within this photo. Edward Weston places the pepper in the foreground of this picture, this is effective because the background is overly exposed. This photograph has been taken with natural lighting and was shot with an aperture of f/240 with an exposure time of 4-6 hours. The photo has been taken. To emulate this photograph myself I would need to have my camera in a setting of black and white, place the object in the center of black paper and have a light source. I feel this photo conveys a feeling of a deep feeling of calmness it does this by the texture, contrast and tone of it. Low-Key Photography / Technical Processes |
Colour Swatches / Analysis |
Low key photographs are underlit images that feature dramatic contrast and dark colours. . If you're a novice photographer looking to explore new territory in photography. Low-key photography is a genre of photography consisting of shooting dark-colored scenes by lowering or dimming the "key" or front light illuminating the scene, and emphasizing natural or artificial light only on specific areas in the frame.
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I have chosen this picture because the lighting and the focus was good and the way you can see the vegetables texture, the strengths in this image are its exposure and the contrast, the way the light stands out against the darkness of the flower pot. I have edited this photo by making the vegetable brighter and the background darker, i have also added lots of other filters including the saturation.
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I have chosen this picture because I like how my camera had a good focus and i could see the texture extremely good, I also like how the darkness fades into the lightness of the picture. The strengths of this picture are its contrast and focus, I can see the fine detail. I edited this buy making one side darker and the other side brighter so it mixes together well and makes it stand out.
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I have chosen this picture because the lighting and the focus was good and the way you can see the vegetables texture, the strengths in this image are its exposure and the contrast, the way the light stands out against the darkness of the flower pot. I have edited this photo by making the vegetable brighter and the background darker, I have also added lots of other filters.
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I chose this picture because I like the way the texture of the stem contrasts with the smoothness of the pepper making it more interesting, the strengths of this photo is the focus and I edited it by changing the tint and tone and giving it less exposure. I also explored changing the temperature of the picture.
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Anna Atkins was an English botanist and photographer. She is often considered the first person to publish a book illustrated with photographic images. She was born on 16 March 1799 and died on 9 June 1871 The cyanotype is a slow-reacting, economical photographic printing formulation sensitive to a limited near ultraviolet and blue light spectrum,
Some advantages of using the cyanotype is that it is cheap and easy to use you also don't need a dark room or any complicated equipment however the disadvantages are it isn't absorbed by the paper that well and can cause tackiness. |
Man Ray was a photographer and painter, he was born on August 27, 1890 in Philadelphia and died on November 18, 1976 (aged 86) in Paris.
A Photogram is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. Some advantages of using photograms are they express the presence of another dimension. The positive-negative inversion of light offered another interesting dynamic and it only takes 2-3 seconds to expose although it can be abstract. |
Nature educates us into beauty and inwardness and is a source of the most noble pleasure. — Karl Blossfeldt. |
Why this artist?
Karl Blossfedlt links to our current topic of high-key abstract nature photography, he is very famous for his work and inspirational for other photographers Who is he? Karl Blossfeldt (June 13, 1865 – December 9, 1932) was a German photographer. He is best known for his close-up photographs of plants and living things, published in 1929 as Urformen der Kunst. He was inspired, as was his father, by nature and the ways in which plants grow. |
Karl Blossfeldts work is mainly focused on botanical forms using high key photography to take pictures of natural forms and the genre of this photo is still-life and the prop is a flower.
The elements in this photo are space, this is used to show that the prop is the subject and so you can see it better, the picture I have used is called Saxifraga Wilkommiana. The props in the photo are placed in the centre/foreground of the image. Karl Blossfeldt also shows texture, this is extremely effective and showed the viewer the details of the natural forms, this also has the use of lines as you can see them in the flowers. From the photos we can see they have been taken at a short distance as the detail in the images are very fine and clear. The flower been placed in the centre, using the rule of thirds and by doing this the subject is the only thing in view. This photo has most likely been taken on a table using good lighting to ensure that there would be little to no shadows or darkness in the photo, although the pictures could have been edited to look brighter or to remove shadows. To emulate this photo I would need natural lighting and a colourless background to recreate Karl Blossfeldts work. The photograph doesn't have a mood or emotion to them apart from a professional feeling as it's very simple but yet extremely effective and abstract. |
Email Quote - Direct Artist Response
I use a Canon EOS 90D camera with a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM fixed lens. The only reason I even know about the technology is because my colleague told me that's what I needed and would be the biggest bang for the buck. The rest of it is all by feel. I have absolutely no photo training. For me that suffices because I'm not hung up on technical stuff. Just looking for ways to capture information for my paintings. -Dennis Wojtkiewicz / Jan 2021 |
Why this artist?
The final artist in the abstract nature project is Dennis Wojtkiewicz. This artist differs from my other artists because Dennis W. paints his photographs after he has taken them. However there are similarities in his use of natural form photography and his use of high key Who is he? Dennis Wojtkiewicz was born 1956 in Chicago, Illinois and is Polish, he is a photographer and painter. He is best known for his large scale renderings of sliced fruit and flowers. In order to achieve his desired effect, technically, Wojtkiewicz relies on traditional oil paint and brushes with a classical application, he also uses pastel for his drawings. Why the quote? This quote is a direct email response from Dennis W himself. From the email I was able to understand what equipment and techniques he uses, such as the camera which is a Canon EOS 90D with a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM fixed lens. His main technique is to take his pictures by feel as he mentioned he has no photo training. |
What is backlighting?
In lighting design, backlighting is the process of illuminating the subject from the back. In other words, the lighting instrument and the viewer face each other, with the subject in between. This creates a glowing effect on the edges of the subject, while other areas are darker. Benefits of backlighting Backlight photography emphasizes the depth behind the subject and gives images a greater sense of place. Dramatic effect. Backlighting can produce a dramatic contrast between the subject and the background. |
Editing Step 1 - In this clip I used the adjustment tools to enhance the colour saturation and contrast within my images. This helped to amend my exposure and bring forth fine detail within the fruit.
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Editing step 2 - In this screenshot I used the lasso tool to delete the background, then I added another layer and made the background white.
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