Mock exam-
Context
This photograph was taken by Gjon Mili, who was a technical prodigy and a lighting innovator; he took this photograph in the South of France in 1949. He took this Photograph after visiting Pablo Picasso, Mili showed Picasso an example of a picture he took involving ice skaters with tiny lights, creating a cool effect, this gave Picasso the idea of creating a picture painting with light. This is where his drawing with light project began. Picasso gave Mili fifteen minutes to experiment with painting with light as he was so fascinated by the pictures that Mili had shown him. He experimented by leaving the shutter open for an extended period of time catching extended light streaks as they swirled through empty space; two cameras were used to achieve this effect. Mili and Picasso ended up taking 30 images experimenting with painting with light, which were later displayed in a show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Content
Pablo Picasso drew a centaur in the air using light. In a lot of Picasso’s work he pictures what he is feeling on the inside and turns it into his artwork. This image is an abstract, figurative image, in this image we can see that he tried to create an image of a centaur, centaurs have been used to represent barbarism and unbridled chaos in the past, this could infer that the message of the art work is barbarism or chaos or both which could say alot about how he is feeling at the time, Picasso hasn't given a name to this piece of work, this could represent a feeling of unknown and could reinstate a feeling a chaos, the entire project is called ‘Behind the Picture: Picasso Draw With Light’,in which this picture is part of, the word behind could infer that a lot of the picture contain many hidden feelings and messages. This photograph to me gives a surreal feeling but it is still in a way realistic as it has not been edited heavily. This image may not have been enhanced heavily as it was made in 1949 when less technology was around.
Composition
In this Photograph Mili and Picasso have used various compositional techniques to achieve the final outcome of the image, they have purposely placed the light painting directly in the centre of the image to bring the viewers attention straight to it and make it stand out more. They have also placed Picasso behind the drawing slightly off centre to make sure he does not distract the viewer from the drawing, but him being there still has an effect and adds something to the photograph. In the foreground of the photograph Mili and Picasso have placed the painting with light, bringing the viewer's attention straight to it, leaving Picasso in the middle ground and the wall containing shelves with pots and plates as the background, which might also add something to the images. Mili has used a large depth of field as everything is in focus, placing the painting with light in the centre as a central focal point and creating a strong leading line running across the entire image. The light is coming in from the left side to the right as Picasso’s shadow is visible creating a darker tone on the ground, creating a more sombre mood. A tripod would have been used, I know this because in order to capture a painting with a light image you are required to keep your camera completely still to avoid the photography becoming blurry as the shutter on the camera is open for an extended period of time. I assume a low ISO has been used of around 100 to 200, I think this because of how crisp the image is. An aperture of around f/11 has been used to help capture everything in this image and an extended shutter speed has been used to create the painting with light effect. As the image was taken in the mid 20th century it is black and white and the white balance would have been changed to fit the lighting of the room.
Connection
In this piece I like all aspects of it such as the compositional features and the camera setting used, if I was to do another painting with light shoot I would magpie features that Picasso and Mili have used such as having the person in the mid ground of the image, but would I would incorporate more colours as their picture is black and white and I feel there is a lot of opportunities to include colours within painting with light. Something that they could have done to improve the photograph would be to make the room darker so the light painting stands out more and is more bold, I like how they have used black and white but still managed to create a fascinating image and make the light stand out and be seen even though there was light in the room. The subject matter is good, as although the painting is the main subject Picasso being in the image also creates another subject and meaning. In future shoots I would like to use more colour in my work and edit using neon effects and I will work on making sure my camera settings are correct to get the outcome I desire. I could take inspiration from the camera settings Mili has used.
This photograph was taken by Gjon Mili, who was a technical prodigy and a lighting innovator; he took this photograph in the South of France in 1949. He took this Photograph after visiting Pablo Picasso, Mili showed Picasso an example of a picture he took involving ice skaters with tiny lights, creating a cool effect, this gave Picasso the idea of creating a picture painting with light. This is where his drawing with light project began. Picasso gave Mili fifteen minutes to experiment with painting with light as he was so fascinated by the pictures that Mili had shown him. He experimented by leaving the shutter open for an extended period of time catching extended light streaks as they swirled through empty space; two cameras were used to achieve this effect. Mili and Picasso ended up taking 30 images experimenting with painting with light, which were later displayed in a show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Content
Pablo Picasso drew a centaur in the air using light. In a lot of Picasso’s work he pictures what he is feeling on the inside and turns it into his artwork. This image is an abstract, figurative image, in this image we can see that he tried to create an image of a centaur, centaurs have been used to represent barbarism and unbridled chaos in the past, this could infer that the message of the art work is barbarism or chaos or both which could say alot about how he is feeling at the time, Picasso hasn't given a name to this piece of work, this could represent a feeling of unknown and could reinstate a feeling a chaos, the entire project is called ‘Behind the Picture: Picasso Draw With Light’,in which this picture is part of, the word behind could infer that a lot of the picture contain many hidden feelings and messages. This photograph to me gives a surreal feeling but it is still in a way realistic as it has not been edited heavily. This image may not have been enhanced heavily as it was made in 1949 when less technology was around.
Composition
In this Photograph Mili and Picasso have used various compositional techniques to achieve the final outcome of the image, they have purposely placed the light painting directly in the centre of the image to bring the viewers attention straight to it and make it stand out more. They have also placed Picasso behind the drawing slightly off centre to make sure he does not distract the viewer from the drawing, but him being there still has an effect and adds something to the photograph. In the foreground of the photograph Mili and Picasso have placed the painting with light, bringing the viewer's attention straight to it, leaving Picasso in the middle ground and the wall containing shelves with pots and plates as the background, which might also add something to the images. Mili has used a large depth of field as everything is in focus, placing the painting with light in the centre as a central focal point and creating a strong leading line running across the entire image. The light is coming in from the left side to the right as Picasso’s shadow is visible creating a darker tone on the ground, creating a more sombre mood. A tripod would have been used, I know this because in order to capture a painting with a light image you are required to keep your camera completely still to avoid the photography becoming blurry as the shutter on the camera is open for an extended period of time. I assume a low ISO has been used of around 100 to 200, I think this because of how crisp the image is. An aperture of around f/11 has been used to help capture everything in this image and an extended shutter speed has been used to create the painting with light effect. As the image was taken in the mid 20th century it is black and white and the white balance would have been changed to fit the lighting of the room.
Connection
In this piece I like all aspects of it such as the compositional features and the camera setting used, if I was to do another painting with light shoot I would magpie features that Picasso and Mili have used such as having the person in the mid ground of the image, but would I would incorporate more colours as their picture is black and white and I feel there is a lot of opportunities to include colours within painting with light. Something that they could have done to improve the photograph would be to make the room darker so the light painting stands out more and is more bold, I like how they have used black and white but still managed to create a fascinating image and make the light stand out and be seen even though there was light in the room. The subject matter is good, as although the painting is the main subject Picasso being in the image also creates another subject and meaning. In future shoots I would like to use more colour in my work and edit using neon effects and I will work on making sure my camera settings are correct to get the outcome I desire. I could take inspiration from the camera settings Mili has used.
Picasso painting with light Mood board-
MoodBoard-Vicki DaSilva
Vicki DaSilva is an American light painter and graffiti artist. She makes single frame time exposure photographs at night, which she terms ‘light graffiti’.
I chose her as I like her style of light painting and could use it to inspire my own work.
She is the first female light painting artist and the first light painter to create “Text Light Graffiti”.
Vicki has shot the majority of her work on film
She is known for her light graffiti work as well as her elaborate installation based light paintings
Painting with light(shoot 1)-
Painting with light edit-
Final edit-
Edit-
Steps used to complete this edit-
Evaluation-
During this project of painting with light photography I have explored many themes such as colours and patterns. At first I thought just about the raw images and attempted to create cool patterns that's I thought were cool, but I soon realized I can enhance my picture by editing them on various software's, this enabled me to create edits focused on a specific emotions using edits such as, colour alteration and added to text to fight for a cause. Within my work I have noticed a trend and a common theme, a lot of the time I explore the colour purple and a more abstract style of painting with light, I liked to do this as I was very influenced by Pablo Picasso's painting with light works. I explored the works of Pablo Picasso, as, yes it was part of my project, but I also took a lot of inspiration from his work as I really liked the way he used lights and the affect he achieved when doing so. I felt as if his style of photography was linked to the work which I intended to create, the abstract, dramatic and incredibly meaningful pieces of artwork, in a lot of my images I used styles he used. I liked these edits as it fit with the theme of sad emotions, and the old fashioned affect gave me the opportunity to put my own modern affect on my work.
Within this project I explored the art of light, focusing on how a change of light can drastically affect the emotion of the picture and also how it makes the viewer feel. Linking to this theme of light within my work, when we began editing our picture I began incorporating neon effects into my work, investigating the different effects I could create and the futuristic aspects that really enhanced the theme of light and opened so many more pathways for me to follow and explore. After I had finished exploring light I realized just how important light is and I believe how I used different aspects of light really proves this point, because of this discovery overtime my work became more and more advanced. All of this work stated previously has really refined my style and what type of photographer I am within this specific field of work. Habits such as making sure the lighting is perfect and adjusting the emotion of the colours I choose are just two examples of how my work is developing and will develop going forward. I found it challenging finding my strong point and working out what I was going to explore going into the future but now that I've found it I strongly believe my work will be of a higher standard in my next project.
The outcomes I have chosen to display explore how you can use photography, specifically how you edit a picture, to fight for cause and send out a message. I have chosen this to explore in my exam as I believe although photography must be pleasing to look at it helps if the image hold a message or means something. What I can take from this is that I like abstract, unusual pictures as my neon and other colourful edits are rather abstract and the unedited pictures I have chosen hold a lot of meaning and emotion so, because of this, are not required to be edited or enhanced as I like how they look raw and believe they would look better unedited, this also displays my raw picture taking ability.