~ Current Ideas ~

For my next idea I am hoping to choose a subject and create a picture in which it appears that they are climbing up the thorns on the stem. Before doing this, I took some pictures of roses and thorns so that my ideas can be ellaborated...

This first image shows the head of the rose, the ultimate feature of the rose that my subject will be trying to reach. To emphasise the sheer elegance and vivid colour of the petals, I have made the background black and white, making the flower the centre of focus.

My first experiment .x.

After researching greatly into surreal photography and artwork, I decided to get out there and start out with something simple. For this reason i came up with the concept of only featuring one subject and one object, my friend Grace (Thank you grace <3 ) and a ball. As this was my first mini shoot on this topic, I had to figure out how to change the depth of field and how to keep the camera steady enough to get a successful and unblurred picture. To do this the appature and shutter speed both had to be changed manually, a larger appature to allow more information to pass through the lense, and a controlled shutter speed depending on the light of the environment.

My first attempts...

1. This picture shows Grace's confusion and sheer shock at the size of the ball that is coming towards her. As a first attempt, I feel that the depth of the picture and clarity of Grace in the background has turned out pretty well. When working on my next set of pictures, I intend to use a small tripod to keep the camera completely still and reduce the chances of blurring. Also, I must monitor the appature and shutter speed for each picture. This will make all elements of the photograph clearer and therefore the depth of the picture will make the distance between the subject and object, and the expression on the subject's face, seem more realistic.

 

2. This photograph has worked quite well, however it can be seen clearly that Grace's hand is not at the right angle, and therefore it does not seem as though she is pushing the ball, and for this reason the impression given is not the one intended. By making the picture black adn white, I feel a sense of rigidness is added to the image, meaning that the ball, originally orange, looks more like concrete and therefore is impossible to move. Grace's body position is great as it seems as though she is applying real force to the sphere.

3. Out of all the images, I feel that this is the most successful. The change of colours present, the ball and the subject in colour and the background in black and white, draws more attention to the surrealism of the giant ball and Grace leaning on it. Grace's position was difficult to control as she was so far away from the object, however, although uncomfortable, it has proven to be successful and it really does create the impression that she is sitting with her back rested on the ball's edge.

Inspirational Members of the Surrealist Movement

Andre Breton

A french writer and poet, best known as the principle initiator of Surrealism. His works include Manifeste du surréalisme (the Surrealist Manifesto) of 1924, in which he stated that surrealism was a

'pure psychic automatism'

Man Ray

Man Ray was an American artist, who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Best known in the art world for his photography, Man Ray produced works in every aspect of media, but considered himself a painter above all. He is also creditted as a renowned fashion photographer



Jacque Prevert

Monsieur Prevert was a french poet and screenwriter, having written the scrpits for highly regarded films such as Les Enfants du Paradis. His work is remains very popular in french speaking countries, particularly in schools

Salvador Dali

Salavdor Dali was a Spanish Catalan surrealist painter and a skilled draftsman , born in Figueres.  Dalí was highly imaginative, and also had an affinity for partaking in unusual and grandiose behavior. His eccentric manner and attention-grabbing public actions sometimes drew more attention than his artwork, much to the dissapointment of his fans and followers

Surrealism ~ A history

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members.
Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, and unexpected juxtapositions; however, many Surrealist artists and writers^[ regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artifact. Leader Andre Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was above all a revolutionary movement.
Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities during WW1 and the most important center of the movement was Paris. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy and social theory.

The word surrealist was coined by Guillaume Apollinaire and first appeared in the preface to his play Les Mamelles de Tiresias (The Breasts of Tiresias), which was first performed in 1917.

Breton wrote the manifesto of 1924 that defines the purposes of the group. He included citations of the influences on Surrealism, examples of Surrealist works and discussion of Surrealist automatism. He defined Surrealism as:

Dictionary: Surrealism, n. Pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation.

Encyclopedia: Surrealism. Philosophy. Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of dream, in the disinterested play of thought. It tends to ruin once and for all other psychic mechanisms and to substitute itself for them in solving all the principal problems of life.

Requirements and useful vocabulary

These words can seem new and strange but we must learn to use them and where possible get into the habit of writing them in our ‘print books’ or ‘blogs’.  The moderator will be expecting to see that the,

quality of language is mature and fluid and is fully engaged with informing development of ideas and images

and that you have a

perceptive understanding and use of appropriate language.

The following is intended as a guide to get you started.

Ambient light – The natural light in a scene.

Aperture – A small, circular opening inside the lens that can change in diameter to control the amount of light reaching the camera's sensor as a picture is taken. The aperture diameter is expressed in f-stops; the lower the number, the larger the aperture. For instance, the aperture opening when set to f/2.8 is larger than at f/8. The aperture and shutter speed together control the total amount of light reaching the sensor. A larger aperture passes more light through to the sensor. Many cameras have an aperture priority mode that allows you to adjust the aperture to your own liking. See also shutter speed.

Application – A computer program, such as an image editor or image browser.

Buffer – Memory in the camera that stores digital photos before they are written to the memory card.

Burning – Selectively darkening part of a photo with an image editing program.

CCD – Charge Coupled Device: one of the two main types of image sensors used in digital cameras. When a picture is taken, the CCD is struck by light coming through the camera's lens. Each of the thousands or millions of tiny pixels that make up the CCD convert this light into electrons. The number of electrons, usually described as the pixel's accumulated charge, is measured, then converted to a digital value. This last step occurs outside the CCD, in a camera component called an analog-to-digital converter.

CD-R – CD-Recordable: a compact disc that holds digital information, including digital photos. Creating one is commonly referred to as burning a CD. A CD-R disc can only be written to once, and is an ideal storage medium for original digital photos.

CD-RW – CD-Rewritable: similar in virtually all respects to a CD-R, except that a CD-RW disc can be written and erased many times. This makes them best suited to many backup tasks, but not for long term storage of original digital photos.

CMYK – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black. The four colours in the inksets of many photo-quality printers.

Contrast – The difference between the darkest and lightest areas in a photo. The greater the difference, the higher the contrast.

Digital camera – A camera that captures the photograph not on film, but in an electronic imaging sensor that takes the place of film.

Dodging – Selectively lightening part of a photo with an image editing program.

Download, downloading – The process of moving computer data from one location to another. Though the term is normally used to describe the transfer, or downloading, of data from the Internet, it is also used to describe the transfer of photos from a camera memory card to the computer. Example: I downloaded photos to my PC.

DPI – Dots per inch: A measurement of the resolution of a digital photo or digital device, including digital cameras and printers. The higher the number, the greater the resolution.

External flash – A supplementary flash unit that connects to the camera with a cable, or is triggered by the light from the camera's internal flash. Many fun and creative effects can be created with external flash.

File – A computer document.

Fill flash – A flash technique used to brighten deep shadow areas, typically outdoors on sunny days. Some digital cameras include a fill flash mode that forces the flash to fire, even in bright light.

Grayscale – A photo made up of varying tones of black and white. Grayscale is synonymous with black and white.

Highlights – The brightest parts of a photo.

Histogram – A graphic representation of the range of tones from dark to light in a photo. Some digital cameras include a histogram feature that enables a precise check on the exposure of the photo.

Image browser – An application that enables you to view digital photos. Some browsers also allow you to rename files, convert photos from one file format to another, add text descriptions, and more.

Image editor – A computer program that enables you to adjust a photo to improve its appearance. With image editing software, you can darken or lighten a photo, rotate it, adjust its contrast, crop out extraneous detail, remove red-eye and more.

Image resolution - The number of pixels in a digital photo is commonly referred to as its image resolution.

Inkjet – A printer that places ink on the paper by spraying droplets through tiny nozzles.

ISO speed – A rating of a film's sensitivity to light. Though digital cameras don't use film, they have adopted the same rating system for describing the sensitivity of the camera's imaging sensor. Digital cameras often include a control for adjusting the ISO speed; some will adjust it automatically depending on the lighting conditions, adjusting it upwards as the available light dims. Generally, as ISO speed climbs, image quality drops.

JPEG – A standard for compressing image data developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group, hence the name JPEG. Strictly speaking, JPEG is not a file format, it's a compression method that is used within a file format, such as the EXIF-JPEG format common to digital cameras. It is referred to as a lossy format, which means some quality is lost in achieving JPEG's high compression rates. Usually, if a high-quality, low-compression JPEG setting is chosen on a digital camera, the loss of quality is not detectable to the eye.

LCD – Liquid Crystal Display: a low-power monitor often used on the top and/or rear of a digital camera to display settings or the photo itself.

Media – Material that information is written to and stored on. Digital photography storage media includes CompactFlash cards and CDs.

Megabyte (MB) – A measurement of data storage equal to 1024 kilobytes (KB).

Megapixel – Equal to one million pixels.

Memory Stick - A memory card can be used as a flash-based storage for your photos.

NiMH – Nickel Metal-Hydride: a type of rechargeable battery that can be recharged many times. NiMH batteries provide sufficient power to run digital cameras and flashes.

Panning – A photography technique in which the camera follows a moving subject. Done correctly, the subject is sharp and clear, while the background is blurred, giving a sense of motion to the photo.

Pixel – Picture Element: digital photographs are comprised of thousands or millions of them; they are the building blocks of a digital photo.

RAW – The RAW image format is the data as it comes directly off the CCD, with no in-camera processing is performed.

Red-eye – The red glow from a subject's eyes caused by light from a flash reflecting off the blood vessels behind the retina in the eye. The effect is most common when light levels are low, outdoor at night, or indoor in a dimly-lit room.

RGB – Red, Green, Blue: the three colours to which the human visual system, digital cameras and many other devices are sensitive.

Saturation – How rich the colours are in a photo.

Sensitivity – See ISO speed.

Sharpness – The clarity of detail in a photo.

Shutter speed – The camera's shutter speed is a measurement of how long its shutter remains open as the picture is taken. The slower the shutter speed, the longer the exposure time. When the shutter speed is set to 1/125 or simply 125, this means that the shutter will be open for exactly 1/125th of one second. The shutter speed and aperture together control the total amount of light reaching the sensor. Some digital cameras have a shutter priority mode that allows you to set the shutter speed to your liking. See also aperture.

Thumbnail – A small version of a photo. Image browsers commonly display thumbnails of photos several or even dozens at a time. In Windows  My Pictures, you can view thumbnails of photos in both the Thumbnails and Filmstrip view modes.

USB – Universal Serial Bus: a protocol for transferring data to and from digital devices. Many digital cameras and memory card readers connect to the USB port on a computer. USB card readers are typically faster than cameras or readers that connect to the serial port.

White balance – A function on the camera to compensate for different colours of light being emitted by different light sources

AND what I must do next year, OCR art and design spcification: http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/kd/ocr_9926_kd_gce_summary.pdf

Optical illusions

Having now looked into many optical illusions and many intruiging images, I have decided that I will attempt to create an image featuring the same concept of seeing two different images in one picture.
Some of the optical illusions found in my research can be seen below...

A mix of old and young.

An elderly couple/two men, one playing guitar, and a woman approaching from an archway behind

The face of a man with a moustache and large hair/Two men on a horse, surrounded by other characters, including the beasts they must slay

A human skull/A man and woman sitting at a table with a bottle on ice

If you are interested in seeing any more of these fascinating optical illusions, visit the website www.optillusions.com or www.coolopticalillusions.com

Surreal images & Optical illusions...

While researching surrealism in both art and photography form, I came across the images below and found them intruiging. It then helped me to further my research into optical illusions and the thought that things may not always be as they seem...

                                    

At a glance, the picture above seems to be a gun placed with the barrel out of the window. However when looking closer, a completely different image is visible, that of an old man looking through a telescope at the stars :) Two very different themes, violence and astrology, are conveyed in this one picture, an aspect that caught my attention

Again, this picture shows two different images combined. Firstly, the shell of a broken egg can be seen, with the yellow yolk centre of the picture and the white of the egg having spread out below. However, it could also be seen as the sun rising over a shining river, also made apparent by the man dragging his boat from it in the bottom left corner

This surreal image is my favourite due to the themes of romance and beauty that it conveys. Firstly, a shell can be seen partly buried in the sand of the beach, next to the water edge, providing a peaceful and beautiful picture. By looking at this picture for a second time, the shape of two lovers passionately embracing in the sand is made clear as a sail boat gently passes by on the ocean