Photography and Digital Manipulation

Taynie Gage

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Reading Photographs

Mind Map Place a copy of your mindmap here

www.bubbl.us or a scanned copy

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Past PhotographerBiography

Edward WestonEdward Henry Weston was born on the 24th of March 1886 in Highland Park, Illinois. Weston began photographing after receiving a Bulls Eye #2 camera from his father at the age of 16.The popularity of his work has shown as Weston has been called [1] ‘one of the most innovative and influential American photography’ and ‘one of the masters of 20th century photography’His work spanned from a wide range of subjects from still life nudes, portraits, natural forms and landscapes.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Weston#cite_note-1

This is a landscape photograph captured by photographer Edward Weston.

The image includes organic shapes as the subject is a natural environment. The organic shapes portrayed by the mountains make the image interesting to look at.

The composition of the image shows the reflection of the scene within the water. The way the scene is shown, the person viewing the image is able to see more of the sky that shown at the top of the image which wouldn’t be available to view if photograph was cropped or taken closer to the subject.

There are contrasting colours within the image. As the image is taken in monochrome, the black and white will naturally contrast however the natural lighting of the image shows the lightness of the sky against the darkness of the mountains. The other contrast within the photograph is the textures, the fluffiness of the clouds against the jagged edges of the mountains.

The feel of the photograph is extremely spacious. This feeling is created by the composition and the way everything in the image seems to be well focused.

This landscape photograph was taken by Edward Weston in 1937.

The way the hay is laid out creates a leading lines effect meaning the person viewing the photograph will be drawn towards the mountains at the back of the image. The repetitive nature of the hay lines makes the image interesting as this creates a pattern.

The organic shape within the image comes from the mountains at the background of the image as even though the hay is natural, it has clearly been placed like this so and therefore cannot be classed as organic shapes.

Again, this image feels spacious as all of the photograph is in focus.

The natural lighting of the image shows as all of the items within the photograph are well lit due to the photo being captured outdoors.

The image is monochrome and therefore the colours within the scene cannot be seen.

‘Eel River Ranch’ by Edward Weston 1937.

This monochrome landscape photograph shows organic shape as the natural layout and repetition of the trees create patterns within the image.

As with a lot of Weston's landscape photography, the image feels extremely spacious. The position from with the image has been taken means nothing is placed close to the camera.

The content of the busy background and the empty or passive space creates an interesting contrast.

The photographer, Edward Weston, has taken this image from a vantage point however the photograph is taken at a straight angle to be in line with the trees.

Present PhotographerBiography

Nikolas Koenig

Nikolas Koenig is a photographer who was born in Frankfurt, Germany and now lives in New York.Koenig has had a number of well respected clients from LG Electronics to GQ Magazine and has worked with companies from all around the world.

This landscape photograph was taken by renowned photographer Nikolas Koenig.

This image shows a beautiful example of urban to natural contrast. The trees are towards the foreground of the image however, I believe the main focus within the image are the buildings creating a skyline at the back of the photograph. There is also a contrast between the colour of the sky and the dull tones of the trees.

The shape within the image comes from the lines of the road which create curves and geometric shapes.

As the photographer, Nikolas Koenig has taken this image from a high vantage point, the image is incredibly spacious. I believe the image does feel so spacious as the foreground is mostly empty and the background is sky which can make an image feel like a bigger space has been captured.

This image is extremely busy, the busyness of the photograph contrasts with calm sky.

Koenig has created an image which contains a lot of geometric and simplistic shapes, this come from the buildings.

The image is clear as all of the layers are mixed together to create a flat image which is visually appeling.

There is also no specific focal point of the image so your eye tends to wander and pick up all of the little details of the picture.

The image is easy to look at, this is due to all of the different neutral tones.

This image by Nikolas Koenig is extremely spacious, the photograph show a large amount of sky and sea and therefore means the photo looks like there is a huge amount of empty or passive.

The entire image has a very enchanting feel to it with its similar colors and soft glow from the houses. The reflections on the water give it a calming feel.

The main focus of the image is in the very center meaning the eye is naturally drawn to the middle and has central focus.