Shape

Shape 

Definitions 

Shape  - A shape is an area enclosed by a line. It could be just an outline or it could be shaded in.

Shapes can be either geometric, like a circle, square or triangle, or irregular.

Negative space - The area which surrounds the main subject in your photo. 

This image is an example of negative space within a photo.

Image Bank 

Analysis of a photo 

This is an image of a woman. I believe that this photo could represent peoples insecurities and vulnerabilities. This is because there are very dull colours and the model has her hair over her face. This could imply that she was trying to hide herself and isn't comfortable being open.  Also the fact that we can only see half of her face this could imply an element of mystery. There is some negative space used within the photo. I believe this could represent that she feels emptiness around her. Also the fact that the negative space is black could represent her upsetting feelings. 

Artist Research

Debby Harrison enjoys creating something from nothing. She takes images that are thriving with colour and she wants to make her images simplistic and give them a graphic style. 

The artist that I have researched is Debby Harrison. She takes photos of different types of food related objects and food itself. I really like these images because she uses a range of different shapes,  some of them have been created naturally and some she has physically placed within the composition herself.  The image of all of the cupcake cases could represent happiness due to the wide range of colours including some saturated colours like yellow and red. The fact that the cupcake cases are scattered around creates lots of different shapes. Although they are all the same shape by having some placed on their side and some placed on the bottom it draws your eyes to the different shapes that can be created with that same object. This specific image has been produced by using everyday baking equipment. This is what i like about this photographers work because she uses everyday things that you would normally see and make them more interesting and presents them in a way that is eye catching and bright. The image of the biscuit cutters is very interesting because she has placed a lot of different shapes together in a creative way. I believe that this image could represent things in the world that are close together but they do not exactly fit. For example people of different ages may be working in close proximity but may not interact. This could imply that everyone is different and unique. Overall Debby Harrison takes very interesting images of everyday baking equipment. I would like to incorporate this into my own work and use everyday items to create different shapes. 

Contact Sheets 

My intentions for this shoot were to capture images of baking related objects. The photographer that I looked at did focus on food in general however I wanted my photos to be easily accessible to me.  I think that this shoot was successful because I captured images from different angles and I incorporated a lot of different elements of baking and food related items. The unsuccessful elements of my shoot were that I did not have some of the equipment that I would have liked. For example I did not have a sheet of white paper big enough for some of the backgrounds I would have lied to use. I have annotated my contact sheet by ticking the images I feel initially look successful and I have crossed the images I feel were not as successful. I also made small labels on some of the photos as to why I crossed or ticked them.

My best images 

In reference to my best images...

The first image that I chose and one of my best the close up of a cupcake. I tried to change the composition of this image so that the cupcake was the focal point of the photo however I also wanted it to not just be placed in the centre of the frame. To capture the image I used a wide f-stop because this allowed me to use a smaller depth of field. This ensured that the cupcake was in focus and the detail was sharp.  

The second image that I have chosen is one that I tried to replicate from the photographer that I looked at. I used a white background the make the silver cutter shape look clearer. When capturing the photo I shot some of the background that was not needed so I would like to crop that using photoshop. I also used natural light because I shot this photo outside. I shot this image in the afternoon meaning that the sun was not directly above me. I purposely did this because this meant that gentle shadows were created which I liked as this created some subtle shape which contrasted the harsh shapes made by the biscuit cutters. 

The image I have chosen of the cupcake cases was inspired by Debby Harrison. I liked the way that she did it however I wanted to add something to the image. The image of the donuts in my image bank inspired me to add some sprinkles into this photo. This is because it added some extra colour to the photo and it created small shapes in between the large shapes of the cupcake cases. 

The image of ice cream scoops was also inspired by the photographer that I looked closely at. She incorporates ice cream within her photos however she assembled it in a different way. I wanted to add my own unique ideas to the photo therefore I decided to lay it out with the individual scoops in a line. This photo was taken inside therefore I used an ISO of 400. 

The final image is using biscuit cutters but laying them out individually. This really accentuates the different shapes that I have used and I believe is very interesting to look at because the saturated colour pink has been used as a background which makes the shoes of the biscuit cutters stand out a lot more.  

Images that require improvement 

The images above are images that I have taken which I believe require improvement. The first image I have selected is of different food colouring in bowls. I took this image at home and I did not have certain resources. For example I wanted to take the photos on a white background but I had to place the pieces of paper together because I did not have one big enough. This meant that the background was not pure white and smooth which I feel ruined the image. I also had the camera on a shutter speed of 1/200 which I believe was too low. The camera was on auto when taking this image and I feel as though it did not capture enough light. The photo came out slightly darker than I wanted. If I were to reshoot this image then I could use the manual setting on my camera so that I could increase the shutter speed to enhance the overall colour of the photo.

The second image that I feel requires improvement was taken at a slightly slanted angle. When taking this photo there was a lot of unnecessary background. The composition of this photo did not come out how I wanted it to. I would have liked the image to be closer to the cupcakes themselves. Once photographing this I decided to take photos that focused a lot closer on the cupcakes because I did not want there to be other objects in the background. This also takes the focus away from the shape of the cupcakes which is what I was trying to portray within my photos. 

A03: AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

I have gathered the ideas for my photographs mainly from my artist research. The images that the photographer takes are of multiple different food items. Her general style is using pastel colours however I decided to use some more saturated colours. This is because I wanted to use the resources that I already had at home and because I felt like this would make the food stand out a bit more. The photographer I focused on uses the shape of different foods and food related items to create some shapes that looked slightly different to just food. I really liked some of her ideas and I tried to copy what she had done but add some small extra parts which were my own ideas. For example when photographing the biscuit cutters I wanted to add a vibrant coloured background and I photographed individual cutters to make the shapes more distinctive. Debby Harrison uses a lot of different compositions within her work. I really liked the way she uses negative space however I also really like how in some photos the objects fill the whole frame of the image.  

A02: AO2:Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

I used a canon eos 400d to take my images. When taking some of the photos I used the auto setting on my camera however this did make some of my photos slightly dark. I wanted to brighten up the photos I was taking so I used the manual setting on the camera. When taking the photos of the cupcakes I specifically altered the aperture to a larger f number. This meant that I could take the photo using a smaller depth of field and make the background blurry. I did this because I wanted to focus in on the fine details that were in the cupcake. When capturing the images of the different coloured food dye I wanted to have a slightly bigger shutter speed to let more light into the camera. I used a shutter speed of 1/200 which enhanced the brighter colours and made them stand out a lot more. 

To improve my photos I used photoshop. For each individual photo I altered the setting to enhance the individual images. Some of the photos required me to use the cropping tool to get rid of some irrelevant background however I also used this to just crop out some of the edges in the photos. I also used the brightness and contrast tool to make the colours stand out a lot more. The curves tool and the auto tone settings made the bright colours of the foreground and the lighter colours in the background stand out. The curves tool also made the white background slightly crisper. Below are screenshots showing how I edited the images using photoshop. The screenshots have been generalised to represent what I did to all of the images that I edited. When editing some of the images I also used the clone stamp tool to erase some of the imperfections within the photos.

A04: AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.

Overall my artist research is the main piece of inspiration I have had when creating a series of images. I also chose specific elements from some of the photos in my image bank which I incorporated in my images. The image bank also showed me a range of different way that you can compose a photo. For example i really liked the mage of the grapes on the vine. The photographer used the rule of thirds and had the rest of the image as negative space. Negative space was something that I looked at during my theory and I liked the effect that it had on the images.  My images specifically relate to my photographer because I have captured photos of food and for related items. I decided to use a theme of baking so that I can create a strong series of images that represent shape. My photos also relate to my photographer because they have been taken from different angles. For example the photographer takes some photos from on top of the objects, looking down and some of the images are also taken at a slanted angle or from head on to the image. I specially took my images from man different angles to try and relocate this style of work. 

My best images 

Below isa a series of best images that I have created. I believe that my images could represent a happy and friendly atmosphere due to all of the bright and saturated colours that I have used. I also believe they could represent a recipe because there are different elements of a recipe within the series I have produced. For example there are the ingredients like the ice cream and the baking equipment you will need like cutters.