CAPTURE Issue 3 by Helen Jessica

C A P T U R E technical journal & notes

PHOS330: photography final major project portfolio, mnhp level3 issue

CONTENTS 4 Notes From The Author

Compositions

5 Two into One 6 - 7 Colour Theory 8 - 11 Print Crit Review 12 - 13 Layering Text or Image? 14 - 15 Acrylic Printing 16 - 21 Diptych Is Simpe Better? 22 - 25 Sizing Smaller, Bigger or The Same?

FINALS 26 - 57 Image Selection

58 - 62 Tutorial Gaynor and Finals 63 - Exhibition

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NOTES FROM

THE AUTHOR

ISSUE

three of

CAPTURE,

is the third instalment of a magazine created to

document the continuing development of my photographic work and is a chronological presentation and discussion of my photographic experimentation created for

PHOS330:

Photography Final Major Portfolio, that I am creating to contribute towards the Marine and

Natural History Photography course at Falmouth University. This issue is focussing more on the layout and final aspects of the imagery taken

for the final portfolio. The main aspect will be compositional techniques and image layout ideas, as well as final edits, final image selection and printing styles.

will be exploring

all these important aspects and evaluation, which work and which donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, as well as the different aesthetic effects of different layouts and image combinations.

I hope that by the end of this Issue the final images for this portfolio will have taken shape and be ready for final proofing and printing.

Two Into One The

one thing has run, as a constant throughout this photographic practice is the long running theme of image

combination.

This being what inspired my first development portfolio and what this second major portfolio has once again

returned too.

The

first part of this Issue therefore will be a discussion on the different ways to combine the two images

needed to make my finals, these being the

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Observer Guide Pagesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and my image response to said pages.

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Colour Theory In

the visual arts, colour theory is a body of practical guidance to colour mixing and the visual

effects of a specific colour combination. It has been suggested, affective response are said to be in harmonyâ&#x20AC;?.

However,

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Colours seen together to produce a pleasing

colour harmony is a complex notion because human

responses to colour are both affective and cognitive, involving emotional response and judgement.

Hence,

our response to colour and the notion of colour harmony is open to the influence of a range of different factors.

These

factors include individual differences (such as age, gender, personal preference, affective

state, etc.) as well as cultural, sub-cultural and socially-based differences which gives rise to conditioning and learned responses about colour. In addition, context always has an influence on responses about colour

and the notion of colour harmony, and this concept is also influenced by temporal factors (such as changing trends) and perceptual factors (such as simultaneous contrast) which may impinge on human response to colour.

With this in mind I wanted to experiment with ways of highlighting the influencing texts from the Observer Pages, and incorporate colour theory and see which colours were the most visually appealing when added to my pages. Personally

I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think primary colours work very well in these examples, and if I wanted to continue down the highlighting route I think grabbing colours from the adjoining images would work better, however

I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think highlighting is the way to go

with the text.

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Print Crit

23/04/2014

For this print I wanted my peers advise on the different ways of combining my imagery. To

this crit

brought a range of combination ideas

had tried.

The

first set

brought out

was the images in the pages above, to see which way of showing the relevant text that relates to the imagery.

I wanted to see which one my peers thought was the most visually appealing.

The first reaction was that the primary colour, and this was what I was to be expected as no one thought this worked particularly well.

Overall

out of the examples there was a split

opinion over which worked better between the simple underline and the blacked out text that can be seen on the previous page.

I personally feel the blacked out example is too busy, and

I personally don’t think it works, however their advise to do the underlining/ highlighting by hand is something

I definitely want to try as this I agree would make all the examples better.

also brought along my examples of my images printed on tracing paper, which

will discuss later in the issue. to like the most, although

However

these images did go down well and people seemed

I personally feel they maybe too overdone. And finally I brought

along an example of diptych’s using the two linking images, these were my favourite going in, however the opinion of the group was that they preferred the more elaborate compositions.

This means I need to do some thinking, as I didn’t like the layouts that the group did.

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Layering

Text or Image?

The second layout, composition idea I tried and brought along to the print crit was an idea to double layer my two images, using a normal print with a transparent layer over the top. I have attempted this by simply printing on tracing paper at the

Universities Reprographic Centre, which worked well by as they use standard

laser printers the quality is not good enough for my final output. ordered into

have however asked for acetate to be

Print Stores so I could print them to the necessary quality.

The next step was the decision of which image was to be printed on top and which on the bottom. The decision is an important one for aesthetic and conceptual reasons, as

need the layering to look visually

interesting and clear, however the order can be linked to the conceptual understanding of the work. I need to

decide if

I am asking my viewer to look underneath the words to the images of the through the images into the

words?

Also it is the question of is the images informing the text or the text the images? As a visual person

and as it is a photographic piece it has to be the images that take president.

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Acrylic Gel Medium - acrylic gel medium - brush - dish or tray - water - scissors (in case trimming is necessary) - an image to transfer 1) Place

the image on a work surface and apply a thin coat of the acrylic gel medium with the brush, being

careful to keep brush strokes smooth and even.

Allow the first coat to dry (usually takes between 20 minutes

to an hour, depending on thickness and air conditions).

When dry, the milky acrylic gel will turn completely

clear.

2) Apply

the second coat of gel medium, alternating the brush direction to ensure an even application.

alternating layer should be brushed in a perpendicular direction to the previous coat.

E ach

Allow the second coat

to fully dry again, turning clear, before applying the next coat.

Continue applying thin coats (and allowing for

drying) until you have a fairly substantial layer of gel medium.

Usually somewhere between 4 and 10 coats is

ideal, depending on thickness of each application and desired final thickness.

3) It’s critical that the image coated with the gel be allowed to fully dry, which usually takes around 48 hours. If you can wait longer, up to 72 hrs, it will be to your advantage as it will be better set for the next step. 4) After the image has fully dried, it’s time to soak it in water to dissolve the paper. If the gel hasn’t fully set, the acrylic will begin to dissolve as well.

Fill a tray/dish/bucket with lukewarm water. too hot, and the acrylic

is in danger of softening too much, too cold and dissolving the paper will be more difficult.

Soak for roughly

10 to 15 minutes, but not much longer or else the acrylic may over-soften. 5) Gently rub the paper side to break up and dissolve the paper from the gel medium. Be sure to keep working at the gel, getting all of the small paper fiber off of the back.

There

is usually a small layer left after

scrubbing the initial layer off. If you take the time to remove every bit of fiber, the image will look noticeably cleaner /clearer.

6) After

carefully scrubbing all of the paper fibers off of the gel, give it one final rinse in fresh water to

remove all paper residue and allow to dry.

Above is a example taken from the internet, I have produced one of my own which can be seen as an example within the portfolio.

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Diptych

Is simple better?

IN HISTORY A diptych is any object with two flat plates attached at a hinge. Devices of this form were quite popular in the ancient world, wax tablets being coated with wax on inner faces, for recording notes and for measuring time and direction.

IN MODERN ART The diptych was a common format in E arly Netherlandish painting and depicted subjects ranging from secular portraiture to religious personages and stories. had a leaf each. It was especially popular in the

Often a portrait and a Madonna and Child

15th and 16th centuries. Painters such as Jan van Eyck,

Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling and Hugo van der Goes used the form. Some modern artists have used the term in the title of works consisting of two paintings never actually connected, but intended to be hung close together as a pair, such as culture icon.

Andy Warholâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Marilyn Diptych (1962)[5] which is a modern pop

Diptych

In Photography?

The diptych was the third and final compositional layout I put together and brought to the print crit. This one divided opinions the most, I used just one image pair and put together three different layouts of a simple diptych, and asked the group which one worked the best. The opinion on the best was unanimous, however another important question arouse when looking at the examples that hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t occurred to me before. Which comes first the text or the image? When reading are eyes follow through left to write, the direction which we read in English, so did I want to have the viewer look at the image or text first? This like when talking about layering had both visual and conceptual connotations. We need to go back to the question of the text informing the images or the images informing the text. The conclusion after discussion is that the images need to come first, I want the viewer to see the image, develop an opinion and then follow onto the text and have their opinion backed up or altered by the text. I think this is the strongest way of laying out the images in diptych form, as it works by visually, aesthetically and in backing up the idea behind the project. The final decision was that the diptych with both images level was the overall winner, but the order needed reversing. I like this simplistic layout and am strongly considering it for my final portfolio finals.

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Sizing

Bigger, Smaller or the Same?

Now that I have decided on the first layout problem, of which image should be placed where, the next issue is sizing. With diptych the placement is only have the battle, the sizing of the two images is also very important, mainly for aesthetic reasons. This is especially important and difficult with two images that are different orientations. This image set for example is a landscape image placed next to the portrait of the page; this visually is not an easy placement decision. The main question is do I have both images the same size? I personally believe that my image response to the text page should be sized bigger in the layout, however if I do this I need to decide exactly how much bigger. When asking a peer it seemed like the layout worked well with the text page being around the same size as the original book it was taken from (or at least in ratio) as this puts the text page into context as a pocket guide.

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Sizing

Continued... Portrait?

This question is also important in the matching orientation images, like these where both are portrait. These compositions are easier to make look visually appealing, however I do think in this grouping that it looks better having both the same size, this is problem as I want there to be a uniform to my final portfolio images, meaning the layouts and sizingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s need to be constant throughout all the imagery. Although the same size is slightly nicer I think I am going to stick to having the text pages smaller than the imagery, as this is both visually appealing and makes it clear to the viewer that it is the image that is main point of focus, with the text page being the accompaniment.

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Image Selection... The next important step for me in this portfolio is final image selection. Because of the way I choose to undertake this project, I have my text pages with the specific lines of text that I am focusing on and images that relate to said text. I went of each shoot with these pages and took multiply images that related to the text in no particular order and without many specific images being for specific pages. This means that I now have multiple images that can be linked to the same page. In this next selection I am going to display the text page and the multiple images that can be paired with it. Some pages have one, and some have up to six, and some images could be linked with multiple text pages. It is my goal by laying them out in the white background format to see which pairs are the most visually exciting. I will then take these groups to my peers to help me decide which images should make the final cut.

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Tutorial

Gaynor - 29/05/2014

In this tutorial I wanted to present all my images with the pages they relate too to get a second opinion on which is the strongest image for the final piece. Many where easy to identify the strongest image, however thing became more difficult where an image could be put with more than one page. This meant we needed to work out which combination was stronger as well as what image. We got through most of the images and found matches for nearly all. Next step is to narrow them down to the very best pairs and start thinking about printing them to submit as a final body of work.

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I have decided to submit 12 diptych for my final portfolio, with these 12 images each matched with their 12 text pages displayed side by side on a white paper. I think any more would be to bring the entire set down, the only thing that I would like to change is that I have one more portrait image than landscape, however I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t find a strong enough landscape image to replace the fishing nets image, that would make it an even split. My next and final step is to decide on my printing method, including what paper and how to frame and mount them for the exhibition.

Exhibition

Framing and Mounting?

One of the things that is different in this portfolio, from that of portfolioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s I have worked on in the past is that I have been constantly thinking about how to display these images produced in the exhibition format. I have decided that the images I am going to print the images for the exhibition is a slightly different way to my portfolio pieces, as I want a more elaborate set up. My plan is to have my two images, the photograph and the observer guide pages, printed seperately and mounted together. I am going to do this by printing the photograph on acetate have it mounted in a window mount, with the text page printed on a fine art paper mounted behind. This will all be in sized at A4 and mounted in a frame. I am planning on producing four of these to be displayed.

Evaluation This issue was in some ways the easiest issue to create out of the two previous ones, because I already had all the imagery captured and this issue was strictly about the final touches and the important aspect of how I want the images to be seen, which as this project has progressed is what I have found the most interesting. Although I have not always followed the advise and recommendations of my peers and lectures, I have taken aspects of everything I have been told and I think managed to create a portfolio of images that are both visual appealing, conceptually interesting and that I am proud of. Weirdly I have found within this project that it is the conceptual research, journal creation and compositional aspects of the imagery that have inspired me and interested me more that the action of photography itself.

THIS IS THE LAST ISSUE OF CAPTURE.