Inspired shoots

This is my attempt at recreating the shell image in Merel Brugmans gallery. I don't think it was very successful, and I am not too sure why it didn't work out so great. One of the reasons may of been because I only have a low class image editor on my MacBook, so I couldn't explore the depths as well as Photoshop would have been able to. I think this is an important step forward with learning to merge images though, and it shows I need to focus on my photo editing skills to create a stronger final image.

Merel Brugman

Merel Brugman comes from the Netherlands and specialises in still life a portraiture photography, often manipulating his images to create a surrealist effect. My favourite gallery by him is one called 'Body Langauge' which is my personal favourite. These are some of my favourite images by him:

I have decided that I will do some shoots which I will take inspiration from to help to move my project forwards. Merel Brugman also has a gallery entitled 'No Name' which is really surrealist.

Influence from Erik Johansson

One of my main influences was Erik Johansson, so I thought it best to try out one or two of his ideas. The first idea I decided to recreate was this image of a 'planet' like panorama.

To go about recreating images I took pictures in my garden first to aim to create a complete 360 degree panorama. I then uploaded my images to www.dermander.com to ensure that my complete panoramic worked successfully. This created an interactive image which was this:

As you can see, the whole panoramic doesn't quite work, as there is a little bit of confusion when facing the back of the garden. However, I have decided to carry on with experimenting with these shots to make sure that my idea of creating a planet of my garden will work before I waste more time in redoing a photoshoot.

My Mulitplicity Shots

I did some of my own shooting to attempt to recreate some of the multiplicity shots that I previously showed. I first off tried some with two people, to get an interesting different effect and then tried some with just one person included. With two people, the composition of the image tended to get a bit more crowded which kind of took away from the point of the images. However, I did do a few takes with two people in them to gain some experience in that field:

My favourite out of all of these images is the one inside the classroom because I think it works really well together, even though some of the positions would be technically impossible. After then speaking to my teacher, I decided to try some Multiplicity photo shoots with just one person. I looked at some images of similar ideas on the Internet, and decided to make my first photo shoot a self portrait of me. I think that the picture can tell the story of how woman's lives are very busy, and they often need multiple limbs with any chance to get things done. Also, because all of the things I am holding are appearance based, it could be said that it also shows the pressure put on to young woman to look good at all times. 

I am really impressed with my editing on this image, as I think that it does like quite lifelike. I am also impressed because although it looks complicated, the process is actually quite simple. You just take the images in the same place each time, and then open them all as layers in to your photo editor. You chose which one you want to be your background and move that to the bottom of the layers. Then for the other layers you simply erase any of the image that you don't want, which means that the bits that you do want will sit on top of the background create the illusion of many arms.

After this shoot I decided that I would do another similar one but working on many different things I have learnt from this shoot, both positive and negative:

Positive:

- Editing worked well
- Composition was in centre of the frame which drew attention straight to the subject
- Looks surreal because the audience wouldn't be able to figure out how it works

Negatives:

- The background is too distracting

So working on these points I decided to try another shoot, this time with me permanently behind the camera so I would have more control over the image that would be created:

Erik Johansson Surrealism

Erik surreal

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The first image is my favourite surreal image that I am yet to find, as I think it is incredibly clever. As with most of Erik's images it is mainly a amalgamation of two different images in layers to create a really clever effect. I think that he took a picture of road which ended suddenly and also a picture with him with a sheet and worked with the opacity and turning 'Colour to Alpha' in Photoshop. There is a really clever vanishing point, and line of perspective which leads the eye back. Also, because the road and Eriks clothes are both grey/blues, and the rest of the image is all midtones of green it means that both elements stand out a lot more.

The whole style of Eriks work is varied, but always using interesting techniques to keep the audience interested in his work. The picture of the scissors cutting through the house and landscape has a totally different feel to the previous picture as it is very dark and gloomy with a very low lying cloud which gives the whole image a rather negative feel. Throughout his portfolio he expresses the mood he requires by the tone of the sky, and with the brightness levels. In the image of the clothes on a telephone mast, there is also the subtle hint of a rainbow in the background again implying a happy tone. He also always makes good use of vanishing points and lines, as most of his images direct the viewer to the back middle of the image. Most of his surreal images are actually quite simple, but because he is so developed in his Photoshop skills they work really well together. One image that baffles me however is the hands holding on to a vase after a fall, however the vase has remained intact and the arms have shattered. I really don't know how he could have created this effect as it is a very tricky thing to take pictures of. In contrast an image which I think would be really simple to recreate is the picture of the lady painting the floor while the rest of the picture is in greyscale. Once again it is simply merging two images together and using colou effects to create the illusion. 

Erik Johansson

Erik Johansson is a Dutch photographer who specialises in retouching photos to create really interesting effects. First off I'm going to look at his illusional work, which is really very confusing!

The second picture is probably my favourite and I think that it could be quite easy to recreate. I presume that Erik has taken one, or possibly a couple of pictures of the same crossroad, and then played around with them on Photoshop. My guess would be that  he separated the layers and flipped the horizontal ones over and merged them all together. I think that this is something that I might be able to have a go at if I have time as it is in a different route to surrealism.
Also with the third picture which is of the room, with a room on the ceiling I am unsure as to how he created it. I think it may of been a similar technique to the previous image.
The fifth image which shows a man creating a 'puzzle' on the street floor is very simplistic but also very striking. The vanishing point at the back of the picture immediately leads my eye to that avoiding the main subject of the picture. The reflection in the street gives the illusion that the picture is bigger than it seems. I think that this could be quite an achievable picture as I think he simply merged layers of a different floor together and played around with lines to create a puzzle effect.


Overall, I really like Erik Johanssons illusion images I don't think I am going to continue down this path in answering my question. I don't think that it fully explores the 'visual contradictions between fantasy and reality' which the question requires.  

How to do Multiplicity.

Having done some research in to multiplicity I decided I definitely wanted to give it a try so did some research in to how to do it, and it turns out it's quite simple. For my first few images I used my Apple Mac, which has a camera, however this isn't of the greatest quality so as I developed my technique I moved on to using my HD ready Canon PowerShot.

First off, when taking the pictures you must ensure that the camera always remains in exactly the same position. This will make it a lot easier when you come to edit them together, as you won't need to move them around so much. Where you stand is also very important as you should try not to stand in front of yourself in a previous picture, as you will just block yourself out. It's also a lot easier later on if you wear quite simplistic clothes which don't include tricky patterns as this means that you have to line it all up when you put it together, otherwise it won't look very realistic.

Once you have taken your pictures, (you can take as many as you like) you should open them all up as layers in Photoshop. You need to decide which one of your pictures you want to be the background and place that right at the bottom as it is the only layer that you will be able to see the entire image. Starting from the top layer you should then zoom right in and use a fuzzy eraser brush to go round the outline of the section of the picture you want to keep. So basically, you need to remove the background and only keep the main subject.

Once you do this to all of the layers apart from the bottom one you have completed your multiplicity!

Sabattier Effect

The Sabattier Effect is also known as solarization, and is a technique which happens when a film is overexposed to great extents. To do this, you must re expose a partially developed print to light during the developing stage, which is usually done by briefly turning on a light in the dark room. This will make the highlights and shadows reverse, which creates a high level of contrast, like these images:




If I decide to attempt to use analog photography I will try and do some darkroom manipulation, as I find this exciting as it is so unpredictable.

Multiplicity

I have looked in to the idea of multiplicity surrealism photography, which is defined as the art of having the same person photographed from different angles and directions and then the bunch of photographs are digitally re-mastered in Photoshop showing clones of the person doing different things all in one photo.


Here are some examples of these:

Multiplicity

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Compound Words

Here are some of my ideas for compound words that I could use to create one strong and succesful image:

Armchair
Brainstorm
Brainwash
Butterfingers
Catfish
Chairman
Cornstalk
Cowboy
Cupcake
Dogfish
Eardrum
Eyeball
Fingernail
Fishbowl
Goldfish
Horseman
Jellyfish
Kidnap
Mealtime
Milkmaid
Pancake
Peanut
Piggyback
Pineapple
Pillowcase
Potbelly
Seashell
Skyscraper
STaircase


I wanted to look for words which would be easily illustrated and could link straight together so that the viewer would instantly know what it is supposed to be. However, I found manipulating these pictures together quite unsuccesful, and not strong enough to continue for a whole product, so I decided to move on and try and answer the question in a different way. Also after re reading the exam paper, and really thinking about it I decided that this idea didn't really answer the question as it wasn't really a distortion of reality.

Ideas.

One of my main ideas for Surrealistic Photography is to create images which combine two parts of compound words. I got this idea from seeing this image after searching for surrealism on Google.

I have the idea of taking different compound words and combining images of both parts of the word to create on striking image. This is a great picture to draw inspiration from, as I think it does the editing so well. I also like how apart from the actual sea and bed, both parts have something else attached to increase the believability. By this I mean the light above and the headboard with the bed, and the seaweed which is on the beach.

Angus McBean

Angus McBean is a Welsh Photographer who mainly based on surrealist photography. He photographed during the World War II and post war periods, and also created some masks which led to McBean being offered a studio in Victoria, London.

These are some of Angus McBean images which are based on surrealism. I don't really like his work because I feel that there is too much distractions from the main surrealist section of the images. For example, with the picture on the left, the main focus of the picture isn't the head, it is placed among other smaller components which draw the eye away from the surrealist picture. In my work I hope for the surrealist components to be the main part of the image, so that when my audience sees it they are straight away shocked by it. However, because McBean was photographing around the time of World War II, he couldn't of used the modern photo editing software that we use now. I would be interested in how he used methods of editing as I think that this could give me a new depth to my coursework of possibly trying to use analog photography to create a surrealistic effect.

Chema Madoz

Chema Madoz was originally born Jose Maria Rodriguez Madoz in 1958. He is best known for his black and white surrealist photography, which began when he studied Art History at a University in Madrid. In 2011 an exhibition of Chema Madoz's work was opened in Chile by Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Spain.


The picture on the left is one of the first pictures by Chema Madoz that I found and liked. I like how the point of the mountain leads directly up and is positioned as the though it is hanging up the picture frame. Because the images are in black and white I think it creates a very dramatic effect.


I also really like the picture that is now on the right. The plug in the cup of tea signifies how the person who is drinking it is draining the tea out of the cup. The blank black background makes the image stand out even more, and brings the eye straight to the darker colourings of the plug which is encased by lots of white colours.




Chema Madoz's work is mostly about blending images together. I think that I will take this from her work in to my own, and also possibly only using greyscale colouring. I think that out of the whole process of take and editing images I enjoy manipulating them most, as I really enjoy the post production. One of the main reasons that I chose Surrealism is because of this, and I think that mirroring Chema Madoz's work could create a really strong project for me. I hope for my final images to be based on taking a few seperate images, and blending them together to create one strong piece. However, for this to be a success I will need to do a lot of build up to it so as to train up my Photoshopping skills.

Choice of Question

I have chosen to answer question two which is 'Surrealism' for my Photography Unit 4 piece. To answer tis question correctly I have to make sure that I create some images which distort reality and explore fantasy. To get a range of ideas for my final piece I will begin by researching the artists which are given on the original exam paper.
I am going to present my research portfolio for this unit on this blog. I feel that this will give me the best chance to show my skills to full potential, and it would create an interactive presentation for anyone who views it.

"An aspect of surrealism is the distortion of reality and the production of images that explore visual contradictions and fantasy. Examples can be seen in the photographic work of Chema Madoz and Angus McBean. Consider a range of examples and proudce your own work in response to this theme"