Part 1: Light Trails
In this section we’ll be researching Light Trails
What are “Light Trails?”
Well you see, light trails are the result of one’s camera picking up a moving light source with a rather slow shutter speed (usually around 10 to 30 seconds from what little experience I’ve gathered at college so far), the reason it comes out as a trail is because when the camera’s shutter is open it lets in all that light from whatever the source happens to be (whether it’s a torch, screen, lightbulb, glowstick, ext.) and the trail comes from any sort of movement that happens to occur during the length of time the shutter is open for (think of it like the human eye expanding and retracting to allow the correct amount of light to come through), the longer the shutter is open the longer the trail gets to be.
Light trails are often associated with speed due to how often they appear on pictures of cars driving at night as you can see in the image below (as stolen from Modern Lens Magazine):
This shot looks straight out of a movie like Tron or even Dreamworks’ Turbo (remember that film)
While that’s all well and good, that’s not all light trails get used for, light trails often also get used in movie posters to distinguish a character’s speed as seen in various posters for films such as the Sonic The Hedgehog movie (Image sourced from Reddit) where they use it to make the word “Sonic” and even leave a trail behind Sonic himself (although the trail and Sonic were added in post), The poster from The Flash TV series (as sourced from IMP Awards) and even a pair of Mcdonalds adverts from their new McDrives campaign (which I’m just finding out about now) (image sourced from Pinterest) although much like with Sonic and The Flash, these light trails were added in post
(I’ve started my first Google Doc in college and I’ve already brought up Sonic)
(honestly I wasn’t sure this one counts but after asking I found out it did)
(to be honest I was looking for a slightly different image that involved fries made out of light trails [which I’d seen yesterday on the way home] but this one works too) (image sourced from Pinterest)
(there’s the image I was looking for) (image sourced from Zig Zag Advertising)
While I was sleeping in bed one night, I had a random thought that went “wait, if light is the fastest known thing in the universe, and McDonalds is considered a FAST Food joint, maybe the reason they’re using LIGHT Trails is to communicate the speed at which the food is supposed to be cooked and served to the customer” of course it’s more likely that McDonalds simply thought it looked unique and my little thought was just a bunch of hog-wash, bit it was fun to think about nonetheless (even if it did keep me up a bit)
Ok, so who in the world has used this professionally?
There are actually quite a lot of photographers that use light trails professionally (and believe it or not, not all of them involve speeding cars), one such example would be one Paul Reiffer, a man who used light trails to create an image of London Tower which is now used to promote a photography workshop that’s hosted in London: (image sourced from Paul Reiffer’s website as part of a blog post, kind of reminds me of Sonic with the red and blue)
Another good example (which the teacher brought up) was a guy called Atton Conrad,who used some orange lights to help promote the Hennessy Drink by getting it to look nice and flowy
(image sourced from Atton Conrad’s website)
Some Workshopping
So after we were shown what light trails are, the teacher took us into the photography studio so that we could play around with light trails ourselves and see what we could come up with and the results were quite interesting indeed (things such as silhouettes and even a few clever uses of features that certain light sources possess. I.E: one that changes colours when you pressed the button multiple times)
And that was just with one light that had some yellow and blue gel over it, I liked using this one the most because it reminds me of a certain blue cartoon sheep of mine, and waving it around made it looks like Super Sheep himself was running around really fast (what with his blue wool and his yellow cape) as seen in the image I made below in my spare time
(I did have to adjust the blue hue slightly to be a bit lighter but other than that it was as simple as drawing him in and applying a blur effect to him), here are some other nifty things we did
Some Light Reflection
Overall we all had lots of fun bouncing different ideas off of each other and seeing what kinds of fun effects we could achieve, we even got to experiment with different lengths of time for the exposure to see what effects we could achieve (from Dr Strange style portals to a three head effect with the flash and even an attempt at a running pose using the same flash trick as the 3 head effect), I quite liked working in a group like this because we all got to pitch in and help out (sometimes even switching roles with me changing between the subject, the cameraman and even the guy who switched the studio light on and off), all I can say at this point is that I can’t wait for when we start on the faceless portraits in the next workshop. (because who knows what kinds of crazy tricks we’ll come up with at that point)
Personally I liked how creative we could all get with different combinations of light sources and colours because no matter what the results may have been, it always came out looking really cool in the end.
You know, it’s funny. These light trails look really cool and unique when used professionally and yet a non-photographer like me as well as the group I was in could pick it up really easily. I suppose this goes to show that creativity can literally come from anything, even the most unexpected of places (It’s good to get that kind or reminder every now and then)
Part 2: Faceless Po... I mean, Composition
For the next two weeks we’ll be looking into composition (it would have been faceless portraits this week but due to some unforeseen changes in circumstances the subject had to change at the 11th hour)
What is Composition?
Well you see, Composition (as it relates to visual media) relates to the way a shot is visually put together (things like prop placement and where the characters are in the frame) and how well it draws the audience towards what’s supposed to be the focal point of the scene in question. (this focal point could either be the landscape, a particular prop, a person/character or any combination of the three) The reason this is so important (especially when it comes to visual storytelling) is because when the audience knows exactly what they’re supposed to be focusing on in a particular shot, they’ll be able to quickly come to grips with the story you’re trying to tell, which is very important because if they can’t tell what the story’s supposed to be about or what they’re meant to be focusing on, they won’t think it’s a very good story.
In terms of composition there exist three main rules of thumb to creating well composed shots, those being the rule of thirds, leading lines and frame within a frame. These rules can be quite helpful in creating nice, clearly defined shots that will help your audience understand the story you’re trying to tell. The first one we’ll be discussing is called...
The Rule Of Thirds
Aaah yes, the good ol’ fashioned rule of thirds. This rule states that if you were to align your focal point across the thirds instead of the middle, it’ll create a more dynamic and interesting shot than if everything was randomly scattered with no regard for why you’re placing things the way you are, it’ll create a big mess (and not the intentional kind where a character’s room being a mess is part of the point)
(image sourced from StudioBinder)
As you can see in this shot from The Joker, the titular character aligns nicely with the rule of thirds with parts of him touching two of the intersections at the edges of the middle square (the four points where the horizontal lines meet vertical ones and vice versa), this is important because the 4 intersections (as seen in the picture above) actually represent where the audience is most likely to be looking at any given time (with the top left actually being the most likely to attract the audience’s attention), practitioners use this rule (in combination with things such as depth of field) intuitively to gravitate the audience’s attention towards certain objects or characters.
(Image Sourced from CG Director)
As you can see in this image, we’re immediately drawn to Mr Incredible because of how he’s placed in relation to the gridlines. The placement here is a similar situation to that of the Joker where parts of Mr Incredible touch the intersection points, but here, the camera is much closer to Mr Incredible (which means he takes up more of the frame) which while it does lessen the opportunity for leading lines to shine through (unlike the Joker), it does mean that the audience is more likely to look at Mr Incredible than anything else (mainly because you can’t see much else in this shot where as in the Joker you can actually see the stairs he’s dancing on)
(Image Sourced from Pinterest)
Even in landscape shots such as this one we can see the rule of thirds at work as the tree pictured here is aligned so that it touches at least one of the intersections (mainly via the branches) and the flowery ground mostly takes up the bottom third (which is actually a nice touch if I do say so myself), this is done to help the audience find the horizon line (which actually happens to be slightly below the top of the bottom squares), not only that but it allows the sky to pretty much take up the rest of the empty space in the middle and top squares, which established distinct colour palettes for each third (and not to mention how the tree having space in all 3 thirds could be seen as a metaphor as to how life’s everywhere on the earth)
As you can no doubt tell, the rule of thirds is quite a foundational rule when it comes to both photography and other forms of media such as Movies, Television and even video games (and books if there are images in them) if you want the audience to have any clue as to where they’re supposed to be looking, and because the audience is often looking at these points creators could fill parts of the background with sneaky hidden easter eggs (as studios such as P.I.X.A.R. like to do very often with things such as A113) or even put in some clever foreshadowing (I.E: you could foreshadow the plot twists by hiding clues in the background)
Another rule that plays into good composition is known simply as…
The Leading Lines
Now this rule is particularly special because as the name implies, leading lines cleverly lead the audience towards the spot the photographer (or other media practitioners) wants them to focus on (be it an object, person or landscape feature) in that particular shot.
The great thing about these leading lines is that they can be hidden in plain sight and most audiences will usually never realise they’re even there.
(Image Sourced from Studiobinder, again)
Returning to the Joker’s famous Stair scene for a moment there are actually quite a few leading lines in this single shot of Joker dancing on the stairs that lead the audience’s eyes to where the Joker himself is, I’ll give you a brief moment to see if you can find them before I point them out.
Using word I was able to find a grand total of at least 7 leading lines that take us to where the Joker is dancing, this actually the audience (particularly those that are just coming in at that point in the film) to instantly know who the main focus of the shot is (and in this case, who the main character of the film is), and that’s on top of his colourful clothing sticking out in contrast to the grimmly coloured background background.
(Image sourced from Format.com)
In this shot, the bridge’s line are actually used to lead the viewer towards the dog running across the bridge towards the camera, but the beauty of this one is that there are two focal points that the leading lines lead the audience towards (with the bridge’s rope being used to lead to the house in the background), this other focal point can then be used by the audience to infer that the dog actually lives in that house (presumably with an owner), this actually allows this particular photo to work on 2 levels as the audience will either start from the bottom and see the dog first and later find out about their house in the background, or they’ll start from the top and see the house first and look down towards the dog that lives there running towards the camera. (the person taking this image is actually quite clever in that regard)
(image sourced from Best-Wallpaper.net)
The last example I want to discuss today is actually this screen shot from the movie Wall.E (because any excuse to talk about this all time classic is a good one in my book), here the leading lines are a little bit more obvious than they were with the Joker’s stair scene (because a lot of them are coming from edges of buildings and monorail tracks)
This time (using word like I did with the Joker) I was able to count at least 10 leading lines in this shot that all lead the audience right to Wall.E and his cockroach friend (and because Wall.E and his world are coloured so similarly, the animators also had to use depth of field to make Wall.E stick out from the background which makes the lines even more helpful in this case)
Leading lines can work well on their own, but as any chef in the culinary arts will tell you, each ingredient is good on their own, but if you combine them together in creative ways you’ll really bring out the best of everything. While you can already see this in the amount of mileage I got out of the Joker stair scene (using it as an example of both rule of thirds and leading lines), I actually want to discuss how one shot from the Incredibles combines these two rules
(Image sourced from MR WARRENS ART.Weebly.com)
As you can see in this image, the main focal point is actually the Omnidroid (the big massive ball shaped robot terrorising the city) because we see it’s placed in the top left corner of the middle square (which remember, is actually the point the audience will most likely be looking anyway), however there are also leading lines in this shot that lead the audience towards that point in case they get lost, these lines come from the tops of the buildings, the guy with a gun and a tank which is actually placed in the bottom right corner of the middle square so that it can be used as a secondary point of focus. (although I would also count the space inbetween the clouds in the sky as leading lines if I were doing this but those are a little bit more subtle and even then, some of them actually lead to other leading lines)
Yeah, these rules of composition are quite interesting, but let me ask you something, what happens when you have a…
Frame Within A Frame
The frame within a frame (as the name implies) is when you have an image that also contains something that also gives a window deeper into the image. This window could be anything from a literal window to some jail bars and even a ring if you want to really get clever with it. Basically, as long as there’s a big enough hole in your chosen object in relation to your full image’s size, you could use it as the frame within a frame.
(image sourced from ExpertPhotography.com)
This image demonstrates what I mean by “any object with a big enough hole relative to the frame” as the frame within a frame here is represented by the circular hole in part of the fence, and it’s being used to draw the audience deeper into the park, almost like the rings from the Sonic The Hedgehog Movie transporting you to another world but instead it’s taking you to the other side of a fence (hence why I made the ring reference in the last paragraph), the reason this image is so striking is because the frame within a frame actually takes up the grand majority of the image (thus making it the main focus of the image as a whole), now this isn’t the only approach to doing a frame within a frame of course but this image is a good example of what I like to call, the close up frame within a frame (which is when the “frame” inside the image takes up basically all of the image to give off the illusion that we’re staring at an image of an image.
(image sourced from Pinterest.com)
In this example, the photographer in question has actually taken quite a clever approach towards this trick because the frame they chose to feature within this frame is actually a mirror, which allows for some rather reflective shots if you know what you’re doing. The way this one is shot makes it seem like the people being reflected are from some alternate mirror world where left is right and vice versa, not to mention because of the way the mirror is positioned, you can actually see the mirror on the other side of this road, which means this might be the first example of a frame within a frame within a frame that I’ve ever found.
Another thing this photo does is that it actually has the “mirror world,” as I’m going to put it, entirely in focus while the actual world outside of that is left more or less out of focus (almost as if it’s saying something about how distortions of reality are more clear to us humans than actual reality but I’m sure the photographer in question just wanted a cool mirror shot), and that’s not even mentioning how the mirror also tells us these people are photographers, which adds a sort of meta element to the image by showing us how pictures like this one are done behind the scenes
(image sourced from Nature TTL.com)
So now we’re getting into more traditional uses of the frame within a frame (that being a window in the image containing the actual main focus of the shot), in this shot we have an owl (probably not from Ga'hoole) looking out of the window during broad daylight. Part of what makes this particular image striking is the fact that in the frame within the frame you can only see the owl and nothing else (which actually begs the question of what’s in the shed), this creates an air of mystery around this place because of how pitched black it is in there.
Overall Summary
Overall, if you want good composition and unique pictures that stick out in the minds of the audience, you’ll want to adopt at least one of these rules in the process (and if you really want to be unique, you’ll have to think of bold ways to combine these rules and techniques) because if you don’t, the only place you’ll find in the photography industry is in a rubbish bin somewhere.
My Theme
After spending some time thinking about what I want my theme to be for this little composition project, I think I might have the answer: Close ups of bits of furniture. I.E: a picture of a couch where the creases look something like mountains, or even a water bottle being used for the frame within a frame, the reason I’m choosing this theme is because it’s quite easy considering all the furniture is already at my house (which means there’s no need to go scouting, which is helpful during these trying times)
(this couch could serve as a mountainous region)
(and this water bottle has great Frame within a frame potential)
Ok, I just need to address something
Alright, so you may notice I’ve been doing a lot more on Sara’s work than I have been doing for this (so as a result I feel like my photography work isn’t as up to snuff as it really should be given what I’d gotten in creative media level 2 last year), hopefully when I do the practical for this photography session I’ll gain some kind of second wind like I’m currently in with the tension building project. But before I can even begin doing practical work, I need to do some research on some photo/cinematographers whose work I think is cool
Cinematographers
What is a cinematographer?
Main source: StudioBinder
Well you see, cinematographers are the folks in charge of the people using the camera and lighting equipment in order to help capture the film in accordance with the director's vision, they do this by considering various technical elements of what the director wants, these include (but are not limited to) the camera and lens type being used to film the scene (for example, a camera on some tracks would be best for shooting scenes there the camera needs to pan off to the side), the lighting type that would best fit the scene (for example if you’re shooting a scene that takes place in your average office building it would be best to use fluorescent lighting to insinuate the mood), how a particular shot is composed (whether it be a close up, mid shot, establishing shot or other shot types) and whether or not it follows the composition rules we discussed earlier (mainly the rule of thirds) and even the aspect ratio. (for this one, we’re talking mainly about 16:9 [which is what most modern screens use these days] and 4:3 [which used to be the standard and is sometimes used to intentionally bring audiences back in time])
From this formidable list of elements, we can see the importance of cinematographers on a film (or sometimes even TV) production as without these people, the whole production will turn into a giant mess. (much like my old Super Mario: Before The Odyssey advert from high school, only on a much bigger scale) Now that that’s been established let’s highlight some noteworthy cinematographers (in my opinion)
Cinematographer 1: Danielle Feinberg
Danielle Feinberg is one such example of a cinematographer (but in Animation instead of live action because I think animation is superior), her main credits are on P.I.X.A.R works such as Loop (2020), COCO (2017) and (the main reason I chose her in the first place) Wall-E (2008)
The type of cinematography used in Wall-E is what I’ll mainly be discussing because for that one she took some cues from live action movies (so it’ll almost be like we’re discussing a live action movie for a bit), now what’s clever about this is that these live action influences mostly take effect when Wall-E’s on earth (where the camera is more down to earth)
In this screenshot (taken from a video of the movie uploaded by Disney Clips), we can actually see an example of this cinematography at work because the camera focuses in on both Wall-E and The Cockroach (which he thinks he’s killed) and we get a nice, well composed shot. (complete with the characters both being aligned with the rule of thirds with Wall-E on the right and his cockroach buddy on the left), we can also see how the lighting here is natural and warm (due to the sun having burned through the O-zone layer in this movie)
(scene uploaded by Disney Clips)
Later on in the film we end up in The Axiom, a a high tech star cruiser in space that houses the entire remaining population from earth after it got polluted, and it’s here where the camera actually cuts back a bit on the live action influences (we’re not doing as much focus shifting) which to me makes more sense because it helps establish a different mood from that of earth, the lighting is also a lot more varied than it was back on earth. But the screenshot you see here is a nice high angle shot of the ship’s captain which makes him seem more powerful to the people onboard than he really is at this point in the film. (complete with him being projected onto a big screen within the shot which gives off a nice bit of frame within a frame action)
I quite like her style of cinematography (in this movie in particular) because it tends to emphasize certain qualities of live action films in some points (particularly early on) while in later scenes the camera becomes more animated (because we’re now in an artificial environment) which creates a distinct style for each point in the film.
Cinematographer 2: Steven F. Windon
Oh hey, a live action Cinematographer. This’ll be rather fun. So anyway, Steven F. Windon has actually done quite a wide variety of films and T.V shows, including (but not limited to): G.I Joe: retaliation, Diary of an Uber Driver, Fast & Furious 5 and (the reason I chose him in the First Place) Sonic The Hedgehog.
Now for this thinly veiled excuse to talk about Sonic I actually want to emphasis the way the characters are placed in the scene, particularly with Dr Robotnik meeting Tom (the boring human guy that should have been Tails) Finding Sonic (scene uploaded by Sherrythewatcher)
(I want you to note how Tom and Robotnik are placed in this shot, it’ll come back later on)
In this over the shoulder shot we can see that screenwise, Tom is positioned to the right while Dr Robotnik is positioned to the left. Now take a look at this two shot:
as you can see, despite this being a different shot type we see that Tom is still positioned to the right while Robotnik is still on the left (screenwise), this is done so that the audience don’t have to change where they’re looking very much and thus the scene can maintain visual continuity throughout.
This little trick even holds true in shots where only one of them is on screen (in this case I picked Robotnik because he’s actually from the games), again this is to maintain continuity throughout the scene as a whole. (at least until Sonic comes out of hiding)
Speaking of Sonic coming out of hiding, once one of Robotnik’s “Badniks” (if you can even call generic drone number 4578 a proper badnik) Starts opening fire on our hero (and discount human sidekick) we briefly get some duch angles to cleverly throw the audience off balance (much like our heroes being forced to the floor if they want to survive)
In short
Cinematographers are vital if a director wants to get their vision to play out on screen, and they’re especially important for nailing the composition of a film in terms of how the camera moves (as well as the angle and what type of lens is being used), what’s in the frame and where (as well as what’s supposed to be in focus at this given time), the type of lighting used and where it’s placed relative to the camera and in some instances they’ll even need to get the correct aspect ratio (I say in some instances because most modern productions stick with a 16:9 aspect ratio)
Some Tuesday Practicality
So this week we’re expected to take some photographs that use the main three rules of Photography we’ve been researching (those being The Rule of Thirds, Leading Lines and even Frame Within A Frame), I actually did this while I was reflecting on my animation I’ve been doing for the Tension Building unit in the media portion of this course (which I think is to a better standard than anything I’ve done in the photography part)
The Pictures themselves
I’ve selected these specific images because I believe they best represent what good composition is supposed to look like, as a result these images will be getting their own reflective paragraphs where I talk about what went well and how they represent the theme of composition:
this frame within a frame shot of a Classic Sonic cable Guy I own framed with the lid of my water bottle actually took several attempt for me to make, mainly because the water bottle was actually quite heavy due to the water that was inside and I was trying to hold both the bottle and my phone at the exact same time (which led to some failed attempts) in the process, and even then, this attempt was later trumped by a picture I took of a Banjo-Kazooie Cable guy I own framed within my gamer headphones (remember when I said any object with a big enough hole would serve as a frame within a frame?)
For this onem I just sort of realised my headphones could easily fit as a frame within a frame and while I think it isn’t as good of a frame, I do think The pictures I took with them are better. For this one I used my Banjo-Kazooie cable guy alongside my computer’s monitor (which had Moodle open) all the meanwhile the perspective is behind a pair of gamer headphones I own (which was much easier to use than my water bottle because I didn’t have to hold it), similarly to Classic Sonic, this image also took an attempt or two to get right, except unlike Classic Sonic where the frame was the problem, this one was mainly due to how I couldn’t decide which way I wanted Banjo and Kazooie to face (the picture above I think captures their best angle)
This was actually one of the first pictures I thought about taking (and I’ve got to say, I think it might be one of the best of the bunch because you can really see the details of the couch itself), the intention here was to make the top of the couch appear more like a landscape rather than the top of a random couch I have, the reason I like this one so much is because of the way the light comes in through the blinds and happens to cover the area of focus (which makes the audience more likely to notice all the little lines that cut across the entire couch)
for this one I wanted to emphasise where the couch loses it’s dark brown colour for a more lighter tone and I also wanted to capture the stitch line that holds the arm together (even aligning it on the rule of thirds grid to make sure the viewer gravitates towards it), I think this one’s just ok but it’s not as good as the top of the couch because while the stitch line is aligned to the grid, I’d still say it gets overpowered by the rest of the couch due to the colour transition.
for this one I wanted to emphasis the Leading Line technique and figured this shot could look like a cool canyon with a PS4 controller I have placed between the couch and 3 boxes (all piled on top of each other), the leading lines in this shot are meant to come from the edges of the couch and the boxes as well at the wire that leads towards the controller. (although looking back, the way the wire bends would probably disqualify it from being a leading line in this case) Looking back however, I’m beginning to see that the wire might not even be needed in this image because the couch and box do a pretty good job providing leading lines of their own.
for this one, I thought these parallel lines of light looked quite good so I simply took had to carefully place the area where the couch loses its dark brown colour closer to the bottom portion of the frame, that way it could be like the landscape example I used earlier where there’s a distinct colour palette in each third. (although the light brown area only ends up taking two square in the bottom and middle thirds)
This frame within a frame was actually created when I realised that my TV’s stand actually had a hole in the middle, to which I just sort of decided “why not, this’ll make a great frame within a frame picture at least.” And I’ve got to say, I quite like the way the frame within a frame makes it look like you’re looking out of some kind of futuristic window. (in a similar vein to Cyberpunk 2077 or even The Fifth Element) And that’s not even mentioning the potential this image has in terms of the Negative Space technique (where if you have a background that’s the same colour as part of your image you can get some crazy blending results)
This one was another spur of the moment decision where I just looked at my PC (and all the tiny holes to let the air out) and I thought “yeah, why not. It’ll make a neat prison like shot,” so much like the circle hole in my TV stand I dove right in to taking the picture, what I like about this one is that the internal components are actually out of focus (even though that was kind of accidental), which creates an air of mystery as to what the “prison” itself looks like, although much like with the wire in the leading lines image, I don’t think loads of tiny holes in an object would realistically count as a frame within a frame because there are so many of them (instead of it being one big hole in the middle)
Other Attempts
These attempts ended up failing in one way or another due to things such as the focal point ending up in the wrong place or even the framing going bad due to certain objects either not appearing where they’re supposed to or, in the case of the frame within a frame for the water bottle, me simply having a difficult time keeping the thing in place.
Behind The Scenes Pictures
These pictures will show what happened behind the scenes when taking the various images (be it the water bottle that frames classic Sonic or even the leading lines image with the PS4 controller):
Me doing Classic Sonic’s frame within a frame
me thinking about getting started while the lighting was still good
Me preparing Banjo and Kazooie’s frame within a frame
Me setting the wire in place for the leading lines
Me thinking the hole in the TV stand would make a great frame within a frame
Me discovering professional mode on my phone’s camera app
Final Thoughts
Overall, I had a lot of fun doing the practical section of this assignment because it gave me the opportunity to see if I have an eye for good composition. (and I’d say I’ve at least got a half decent eye for that sort of thing but I can always keep improving)
With that being said, I do indeed think my research could have been improved (by about 100 times at the very least) because I don’t think it’s as good as what I’ve done back in creative media level 2 (or even high school for that matter), although that one was mainly because I ended up focusing way too much on the creative media assignment, which at least shows I need to improve my ability to switch tasks on the fly. (all I can say is that I’m lucky I got that second wind I was hoping for near the end or else I’d probably be completely toast instead of only partially toasted)
I’d say my favourite part of the whole uint was taking those frame within a frame pictures because it allowed me to get particularly clever with things such as my water bottle (which didn’t quite pan out as planned but oh well), my Gamer headphones (which I actually got better pictures than I did with the water bottle which was unexpected) and even my TV’s stand which I didn’t even think about until after I’d taken the Leading Lines picture with the PS4 controller.
Despite liking the frame within a frame more, I’d say my favourite object to take pictures of was actually the couch because I was able to get some pretty cool shots with it, especially the one of the top (not to mention the ridiculous amount of detail I was able to capture from it when compared to other objects such as the TV stand’s hole and even the PS4 controller (although to be fair on the stand and controller, I never did take any close ups of then)
My least favourite thing to do was actually the leading lines, mainly because I didn’t take as many great pictures with this technique (although to be fair, I didn’t take as many leading line pictures as I did the rest so maybe that’s contributing to this being my least favourite of the bunch)
Of course with this composition assignment I at least tried to follow the rule of thirds for every image I took (and who knows, I may even find some leading lines I didn’t even account for) but overall, I can’t wait for whatever comes next to be honest.
Part 3 And Knuckles: Abstract Coloured Paper
What is Abstract photography in general?
Abstract photography is where you take a very small part of a scene (in our case coloured paper) and make that small piece the main focal point of the entire image. This is achieved by using a lens type called the “macro lens,” which allows you to zoom in really close to an object or piece of scenery. Remember that couch I took a picture of last time? Yeah, the Macro Lens allow us to get even closer than that, (which means if I could just get a macro lens at my house I could capture the details of the couch even better than last time) this often creates feelings of unreality in the viewer due to how luxurious the details are in the frame.
And how Does Paper play into this?
Well you see, the reason paper comes into this is because it can be used in all sorts of creative ways, for example, you could layer the various colours on top of each other to create some interesting combinations (whether the pieces be contrasting or complementary colours which theoretically allows for the recreation of various world flags), or you could even fold the various pieces in unique and interesting ways:
(image sourced from Photos.com by Getty Images)
In this example, we can see that the person that took the image has folded their green pieces of paper to make it look like a bush that’s growing in a black void. The light in this image is also used to obscure one side of the screen in order to create a distinction between the left side and the rest. (but I’ll get more into how lighting is used to enhance images like this one a little bit later on)
(Image Sourced from Jef Lim Photography Blog/Blogspot.com)
In this example we can see that the paper used here has loads more colour variety than the previous one (given all the different coloured paper that’s been used) and the photographer here has decided to use gravity to their advantage in order to get certain pieces to actually bend in more natural ways and the light used here makes the paper seem a lot more grandiose than it really is (it kind of reminds me of the aurora borealis over in antarctica with the way the colours recede into the darkness after a little bit)
(image sourced from Pinterest)
Now in this incredibly similar image we can see the light is a lot more uniform than the previous picture (thus making it less like aurora borealis and more like something you’d see with a network bumper on television), while you can see more with this image I think it removes a lot of the grandiose appeal the previous image carried (due to the deep shadows and contrasting “strings” of bright colours)
So how does lighting play into it?
Well as discussed previously, Lighting can play a big role in how these abstract images look as we briefly touched on in the rainbow examples I showed earlier. When taking an abstract photo you really have to consider where you place the light in a given image returning to the rainbow examples for a moment, we can see that with the first one (where there was mostly black with little bits of colour), the colours give off their own glow due to the way the light only shines on certain parts of the paper (with the viewer able to see more of the paper as their eyes move further away from the middle, which is due to the way the paper curves more and more with each piece that’s farther away from the middle) in order to create the effect that we’re watching a light show. Part of the reason the colours appear to glow here is due to how well they contrast with the blackness of the rest of the image
The second, quite similar, example doesn’t have the black shadow that our first example has, mainly due to how the lighting in this image is much more uniform than it was in the last of example due to how the light is above the paper rather than pointing in front of the paper, this difference in lighting actually makes the second example slightly worse for me due to the lack of creative lighting (although I should cut this one some slack because the clearer lighting might be what they’re going for, but this is a matter of opinion)
So who makes these professionally?
Well, I couldn’t quite find examples of practitioners that use abstract coloured paper specifically, although here is this site called WildWalls (These Abstract Photographers Redefine Perception of the Real) that has a list of abstract photographers, which I’ll be drawing from for this section because I think it’ll be easier for me in the long term. With the first example being…
Aaron Siskind
(Image Sourced from Wikipedia)
Aaron Siskind got his start in the photography business during the great depression (particularly 1932) while he was teaching english over in New York City (using a camera he’d received as a present), originally taking documentary style shots to capture life during the great depression as part of the “photo league.” After the late 30s had passed, he eventually decided to try taking close up pictures of the crumbling architecture instead of people and he ended up achieving surprisingly dramatic results in the process thus making himself and other members of Group f.64 stand out from their peers at the time.
Examples of his work
(Image spruced from Robert Klein Gallery.com)
In this image, Aaron has tried to capture the details of the wall (which was cracking and showing its lack of maintenance at the time), using the cracks and rips in the wall paper to create the vague shapes strewn about this piece (which could be interpreted as almost anything from a birds to a person), those shapes really stick out to the viewer because of the way their black hues contrast the white wall quite nicely (although I don’t actually know what the real colour of the walls back then due to how coloured printing wasn’t common place at the time)
(image sourced from Robert Klein Gallery.com)
In this image we can see he’s decided to point his camera at the sky, due to how bright it is in contrast to the rocks (which are dull by comparison), this gives off the feeling that the rocks are actually dark clouds that are forming over the sky even though the sky was actually quite cloudy when this picture was taken (judging from this black and white image), this in and of itself could create the ominous feeling and could theoretically be representative of the great depression itself. (at least judging from the over analysis that english classes tend to teach)
(image sourced from Robert Klein Gallery.com)
In this image we can see the main subject is some seaweed on a beach. However, given the black and and white nature of this image, the seaweed is made to look like mini tree roots (due to their root-like appearance while on land), honestly I don’t know how to interpratethis one.
A Series Of Images That Inspire Me
Ah yes, this old favourite, this one was made by Jefz Lim (as far as I can gather since on the article this image comes from it says it’s by “unknown”) and consists of some coloured pieces of paper that are arranged from red to green (with the red pieces being placed on the far ends of the frame while the green is placed directly in the middle) and bent to form the shape of a palm tree (I’ll admit that a palm tree wasn’t the first thing I thought of when looking at this picture but the article mentions a palm tree shape)
The reason this one inspires me is because of how captivating the colours are against the black background and the way the paper is bent turther as we move away from the center of the image. This picture also reminds me of the mystical Aurora Borialis due to the way the lighting makes the colours seem like they’re fading into the night sky.
(image sourced from Digital Photo Secrets.com, although when I try and visit the site it tells me the connection’s not private)
And here we have a close up picture of a nice leaf, the way the thick lines on this leaf are arranged combined with the black and white nature of this image immediately makes me think of the inside of an umbrella instead of the leaf this image depicts.
The thinner lines that protrude from the thicker lines could also make one think of a rocky cave that’s cracking at the seams (which for me creates the image of a rocky umbrella similar to that of The Flintstones)
This image shows me that sometimes removing all the colour from an image can make it more provocative because now the viewer has to use their imaginations to imagine what colour the image originally was while being transported back in time to when black and white imagery was the only option any photographer had.
College Practicality
Last week when we were in college (because I’m too slow in doing the research) our tutor had brought out some coloured paper for us to take pictures of using the macro lens attached to the college’s canon camera, this lens (if you remember from the first paragraph I wrote about this topic) allows the camera to really get up close and personal with any given object (be it a table, some chairs or in our case, some coloured paper) and really capture the details (much like I tried to do with the couch except double the detail)
these images I took show off paper itself (as well as the camera used), remember these now as the images you’re about to see are of that very same paper under different light sources and focal points (keep in mind, not every image in here is actually mine)
The reason these two images are being reflected on together is because the only difference between them is the focal point, the reason this is the case is because on the camera we were using, there was this lock that once turned off, allows the user to change where the focal point of the image would end up (to do this, you’d move a little red square, and whatever is in that square will become the focal point once you push and hold the button used to take the image for a few seconds)
This was done to emphasise how a change in the focal point can change how the viewer perceives the subject in the frame because viewers naturally tend to look at the object(s) that are most in focus due to how clearly defined they are. This means that for the top version of the first image, the viewer(s) would most likely look at the orange piece of paper and see the void just below it, where as with the bottom version the viewer is more likely to look at the yellow and blue paper first and thus not focus on the void. (which is still there just not as heavily pronounced thanks to the orange paper being placed out of focus)
In this image we can see how the way the paper is lit can have an affect on the overall atmosphere of the image as this red light works to give this image a harsh nature (because red is typically a colour associated with anger, aggression or even fire) which would come off as striking for the viewer because of how the area that isn’t in focus bears a strong resemblance to a burning flame.
And after a quick colour edit in Pixlr, you can see I’ve changed the red light into a blue one. If the viewer were to see this version of the image, they wouldn’t have the same fiery thoughts as they had before, with the only exception being the blue flame that can come from a bunsen burner. But other than that, they’d more than likely think of either ice or water when viewing this version of the image. (because blue is usually thought of as the colour of water, sadness or even the sky)
In this image, we can see that most of the paper is actually out of focus. The lack of focus actually forces the viewer to use their imaginations to interpret what could possibly be out of focus based only on what colour the object in question is. Because the paper that’s out of focus is red, the viewer will most likely think of things such as fire (again) or even Lightning McQueen, the star of the Cars series and Mario from the Mario series. (sorry, I couldn’t resist making those connections)
And after another quick editing session in Pixlr, I’ve changed the image to be more green this time. If the viewer were to see this version of the image, they might have different guesses as to what’s out of focus, with those guesses likely being nature based due to how green is associated with nature and recycling, or if you’re like me, you’ll instantly think of Luigi and/or Goo-igi from the Mario series or even Chick Hicks from Cars.
For this image, we’re once again back to the paper being in neutral lighting conditions, this (believe it or not) is the same form that was used to take the previous image, just at more a distance than before. This tells us how important distance and lighting really are in abstract images like this one as if I hadn’t mentioned this image being connected to the previous one, you probably wouldn’t realise it as a casual viewer. (unless you were there to see both images get made at the time) This just goes to show that even the distance you place the camera relative to the subject can have a huge effect on the results of each image.
So how was doing it in College
I’d say doing this was quite fun and as we’ve seen from the small sampling I’ve selected, the results are quite varied despite only using a couple of sheets of paper with the occasional light source and focus change here and there (and remember, this is only a sampling of the results), after we did this exercise in college we were given some coloured paper to try and achieve similar results at home.
The Results at My House
Well when you consider that these images were taken on a mobile phone with its standard lens, I’d say the Images I took weren’t quite as good as the ones at college, and even then, some of my best results didn’t even use coloured paper:
So here, you can see the paper I was given by the tutor in order to take some pictures of my own, however I couldn’t find a decent working light source that wasn’t attached to the ceiling (because the original Idea was that I’d turn off the main light and use the torches I had to create bold images, but due to my failed search, I had to settle for the ceiling light instead)
The Best of them
These images came out as the best of the bunch as such I’m going to call them my actual examples of abstract coloured paper images I took at home (and as such they’ll be getting their own reflective paragraphs):
For this one, I simply used a Sonic Piggy-bank I own to support the paper and give a nice curve, that way the Image could seem more dynamic than it really was, although I don’t think the lighting really does the curvature justice if I’m being honest. (and I only had access to a standard lens, so there’s none of that sweet macro detailing unfortunately)
For this one, I wanted to have a simple colour clash but this time the paper was straight. However, the shadow of my phone ended up getting in the way and I have to say, I think the image actually looks slightly better for it because the shadow gives off the effect that something ominous is looming over the paper (some might see a spaceship, others might see a monolith and so on, the possibilities are limitless), so for the next image I decided to work the shadow into the frame a little better.
In this image, I decided to have a simple line of colours run across the frame, but this time I decided to work in the shadows from last time (the reason I was getting these shadows was because I was working directly under the actual light source (which is a ceiling light in my room), hence why these shadows can be found.
Here, I used the shadow of my phone in while sticking two of my fingers out the top of the shadow to create the appearance of two mysterious round objects jutting out the top of the monolith (this was inspired by the “hell valley sky trees” from Super Mario Galaxy 2’s shiverburn galaxy) and because of the shadowy nature of these objects, they could easily be interpreted as a whole lot of different things. (be it the Sky Trees, a pair of Rabbit ears or even the tilted mountains from Super Mario World) Now from this point on I decided to simply give up on using just the coloured paper and I ended up turning to some toys I own.
I’m going to be honest, I’m not even sure that this picture even counts as abstract photography because this is just a simple close up of a copyrighted character owned by Disney (that character being Wall-E from the movie of the same name), buti I’ve got to say I think it turned out much better than anything I’ve done using just the coloured paper. The reason I say this is because of all the shapes and colours you can see all across the frame (from the red circle to all the squares that cleanly ride across the frame)
I also tried to make it so that the bottom third of the frame was exclusively yellow while the rest was variants of grey and red for the sake of good composure, and if I’m being honest I’d say I’ve done a great job with this one (not bad for a spur of the moment decision)
For this one, I actually decided to combine Wall-E and the pink paper and took the picture from the inside, that way Wall-E’s black wheel would take up the left third while the pink paper and my Toy Story Bed sheets could take up the rest of the frame and I’d be working in darker conditions thanks to the shadows.
Personally I think this one turned out the best out of all the coloured paper pictures because of how the lighting used stands out from the rest (even though I’d simply taken the image in the shadow of the paper), Wall-E’s wheel also works to give the illusion we’re viewing it from the bottom of a cliffside out at sea (complete with an inexplicably pink sky), which I think is a nice interpretation if I’m being honest.
For this image I decided to turn to a big poofy Mario hat I own in order to give the blue coloured paper something to rest on for the final piece that involves coloured paper, I feel this combination of contrasting colours (a red had and some blue paper) helps this image stand out as being bolder than most of the other images we’ve discussed thus far and I like the way the shadow darkens the red so that the blue can be more striking to the eye. (thus making the blue more dominant than the red)
The only thing I’d say needs improving is that the blue could be more of an obvious blue (this is due to the way the light tints everything to be slightly orange), that way the Image could really strike the viewer.
Similarly to the close up of Wall-E, this image was another spur of the moment decision. Basically all I did was get up close and personal with a digital clock I have hanging around in my room, the reason I chose to do this was because I thought I could get something unique out of it (because the subject this time is the light coming from the clock) and I’ve got to say, this image turned out rather nicely.
The reason I say this is because the lack of focus in this image disguises the fact that it’s just a digital clock and transports the audience into a black void with the only source of light being whatever the big red thing cutting across the image is. (this could be interpreted as a tractor beam, a computer light or even a red spotlight) This makes the image nice and bold in my opinion because of how striking yet mysterious the actual light is.
Behind The Scenes Pictures
I’m putting these images in here because they show what the sources of these abstract images looked like when the camera isn’t pointed ridiculously close to the objects in question (whether it be the coloured paper or even Wall-E), they also serve as evidence that I did this in my house (even if I ended up taking some of the behind the scenes pictures after I’d taken the originals):
The Failed Attempts
These attempts didn’t end up going to plan due to various circumstances, be it me taking the image at the wrong angle or even the focus playing up on my phone (as is bound to happen when you’re taking pictures like this on your mobile), as such I’ve chosen to categorize them as failures. (even though the only failed attempts here are actually from the paper mixed with the Sonic Piggy-Bank):
Final Thoughts
Overall, I’d say I quite like abstract photography because it allows for some rather bold results from seemingly mundane things as you can no doubt tell from the wide variety of images we’ve seen throughout this entire section (whether it be walls, seaweed, coloured paper or even some toys), this just goes to show how creative one can be when delving into the world of abstract photography. (as the mundane can become fantastical, especially when you get up close and personal)
The only way I could see this section going better for me is if I actually had a camera with a proper macro lens at my house, that way I could improve the image quality for every image I’ve taken (including the spur of the moment pictures of Wall-E and the alarm clock), but other than that I’d say I did fairly decently in the end.
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