Shoot from the Heart #photogs #togs

I grew up in a world where the current day “rules of photography” were an unknown, probably did not exist (at least not in art circles.) We learned to look, feel and produce from the heart; to see in our mind's eye first, then to move out in our specific medium to produce what our creative eye has seen.  We explored our inner souls and sought a way to express ourselves through the medium of our choosing.  We looked intently at our world; we framed things, watched light and color and saw shapes and forms.  We looked at how our world was put together and we studied the passing of our world around us. We learned how to see, how what we saw affected us and what we wanted to convey to others or produce for ourselves. We were taught freedom of expression.  Nothing was too outrageous and we learned to deal with our limitations by expanding our horizons or knowledge or we threw caution to the wind and stepped outside our comfort zones.  We learned to put our soul into what we did.  It is never an easy choice to do this; after all we bare ourselves for the world to see and leave ourselves open to rejection.  But there is also something to gain.  We gain respect.  We gain a freedom that only our souls can touch.  We gain a truth and loyalty to our soul.  We gain a unique expression.   

People may think we are a bit crazy; we have to be willing to let them.  Thankfully we are each a unique being with a unique expression.  Some of us love art, some do not.  Some see this kind of exploration as a waste of time when there are rules that exist.  Those who do not explore their soul take a risk that they will be producing just one more landscape that will be one that looks like every other one just with a different sunset, different water and different set of rocks instead of something that speaks to your own soul.  Or risk that they will produce one more portrait that doesn’t reach into the soul of their subject.  The elements or principles of art are not rules.  They are found everywhere in our world.  How we put them within the frame should reflect how we see and feel about that world.  Knowing our own response to these aspects of art helps us to create work that speaks not only from the heart but to the heart. It should evoke a response.  It could be as simple as wow or a joy at a treasure found or a unique perspective to a known world or as complex as a provocation to action.   If you try to live within rules or your perception that the only way to compose a frame is by someone whose decision that this is what makes a "nice" work you risk losing the elements that evoke a reaction and tie your own hands of creativity.  It is up to you to reach into the depth of yourself or your subject to show your perspective.  Be courageous.

In the Shadow of the Master

Remember art is completely subjective.  If we think that what we like or for that matter, may not like, and someone else will feel the same...it is time to think again.  The most wonderful thing about art is that there are people who will love what you do.   Be fearless.  Look at yourself.  Look at your world.  Breathe.  Then breathe again.  Take it in.  Then, create from the heart. 

As a photographer, it is time to shoot from the heart.  I think it will open a whole new realm for you as an artist.

Movement and Rhythm-a principle of art

Two-step, tango, waltz, hip hop, ballet, jazz…how do your eyes dance through your art or photography?  The rhythm or movement your photographs have is achieved through many different ways and there are some things to consider when you think about the movement through any confined space.  Movement in its simplest form is the rhythmical and progressive suggestion or illusion of motion in a painting, sculpture, or design.  Movement, like this:

Joyful

Spinning Wool

There are also several ways to move people’s eyes through your work.  Leading lines, the S or Z figures, the invisible movement of looking or movement of a subject, weight either by size or value, or the dance of light.

 

One concept in movement is very basic, that of leading lines.  Created by some of the obvious are paths, architectural lines, perspective, fences, rivers or any other lines you find that carry you through a photograph.  Some of the most dynamic lines are diagonal lines but the idea in this post is to think about movement of your eyes through your work.  Seems a bit like the Irish “Riverdance” or country line dancing, a lot of movement along a linear plane! How does it serve your vision and the feel you want to create in it.  That is and always will be your primary consideration how does it make you “feel.”  Does the linear movement contribute to the sense of what I am trying to accomplish or say?

Swing Bridge Shadows

Radiance

A Night at the Opera

The use of the S or Z figures is also a good use of movement.  One of the things to remember is the Z movement is the natural way we read.  I realize for all cultures this is not true, but generally the use of the Z is natural reading from left to right in a photograph makes sense, yet both figures produce a total “read” or “see” of your entire photograph or artwork.  It is like a dancer who uses the entire stage.  Again though, does it contribute to what you want your work to convey to your viewer or more so the sense of “feeling” you want to create in it.

Cairns Morning L

Smokies Gold

 

The invisible movement implied by a figure in motion or the invisible glance between people or toward things is another form of movement in a photograph.  When you look at a photograph of someone, your general reaction is to follow their gaze; if you see them in motion you are urged to follow their steps.  It is the reason why the careful placement of the action becomes important.  If you want to “read” the entire photograph, to see what is happening placing the movement that occurs between the subjects will make all the difference. Where you want that movement to finally end is also part of the story; rather like the exclamation point or final pose.  How much implied motion there is in your photograph depends on the vision for your work.  Consider these children in motion…

Or follow the glances of these statues...where does it take you?

Now consider these two children who during patty-cake have the motion of their gaze of concentration and their hand and arm movement, to generate a back and forth movement between them.

Now consider the weight an object has and where that “weight” leads your eyes.  Generally the darker value an object has the more weight it carries.  Unless there is something more that leads your eyes in another direction, the darker value of an object or area of your photograph will drop either into or out of your frame depending on where it is placed.  If it makes sense place darker objects in a place that will make your eyes fall into the frame.  You must take everything I am saying with a grain of salt because there may be a place in your vision to make things disappear out of the frame of your work.  I just want to make you aware of how weight and value of objects come into play within the concept of movement.  I also hope that this is beginning to impress on you the importance of knowing your vision and what you want to convey in your work.  Think about whom you are and how you see the world and just where you want to take the people who view it.

Finally.  Light.  It cannot be understated.  Your eyes are drawn to light every time.  It is why we strive for the glint in the eyes or the light at the end of the tunnel or the light to highlight and put pizzazz in a flower or the light that defines color.  Begin to train your eye to see light.  With or without your camera look at everything you see in terms of light.  When you see it, remember it.  Frame it.  Take your photograph.  Or keep it in your mind’s eye.  But don’t forget it.  No matter where you are or what you are doing, look and see and compose with light in mind.  In terms of movement, remember that your eyes will follow it and fall on it and read it, usually first and last and it will leave the greatest impression. 

Watch it as it dances about your photograph and choreograph it in a way people will remember and it will have impact and will make a statement that fits with your own vision.  Or watch it as it breaks down as a prism into color which can act like something that will wrap you around the entire photograph like a pirouette or arms in an embrace.

There will be multiple means in which you utilize movement in your photography.  All the principles and elements of art can be utilized throughout your work as long as it conveys the feeling you want to have in your work.  All of the elements and principles of art are just tools to help you find and realize your vision.  They should not be confining but liberating and constructive to lead you on a dance to find your vision and carry it through in your work.  There is only one more Principle of Art to cover next week and that is composition!  Hopefully I will offer you more than just rules to help!

Other examples can be found here on flickr and facebook.

Space how much are you giving your vision?

In the quest of trying to keep focused on your photography or art and what you want it to emanate; think about these photographs and let yourself feel…

Sydney, Australia

 

Sydney, Australia

What is the difference of the evocative mood or feeling you get from these two different perspectives created by moving the horizon line?

What about the distant versus the more close-up photograph? What is the difference in feeling they create within you?  How do they make you feel?  How does that fit with what you want to evoke in your work?

Sydney, Australia

Sydney, Australia

Consider the role that space may have in your photography.  Think positive and negative space, think dimensional space and what that means in creating your evocative images.  What I want to do is continue to provoke you to think consciously about how the photographs or drawings or paintings you create convey your own perceptions of your world and do they fulfill what you are trying to do in your work.  

Space is essential when considering composition.  What isn’t there is just as important as what is there.  There is both positive and negative space in any confined frame.    And how you handle “space” determines if what you are producing is more two-dimensional or three-dimensional in the perception of the viewer.

Perhaps the easiest aspect of space to grasp is that of positive and negative space.  It comes into play when you consider balance as well as composition.  Think about those illusions where you perhaps have two people face to face.  In one person’s view they see the positive space of two people while someone else reads the negative space and sees the goblet.  In portraiture generally the positive space would be the person in the photograph while the negative space is the rest of the photograph.  The amount of space you give to each will produce a different feel to the photograph.  

Wetherby Station, Australia

Kula Eco Park, Fiji

Consider the freedom the distant Opera House has with the larger negative space around it and how it makes you feel with the wide open space, then consider the confines of the photograph with it filling the frame.  The purposes and intent is very different in each case, so is the feeling it conveys.   Neither is right or wrong but it fully has to do with what you want to say and convey in your work, how you feel and what you want to project to others.

Overlapping, perspective, focus and blur, size, value or a hue change will all help someone perceive your work as having more dimensions.   In works with true dimension there is a foreground, middle ground and a background and they will all be treated differently and appear to have different qualities of the given illusions.

Auckland, New Zealand

An overlapping of objects creates the illusion of space and dimension particularly when the foreground object is brighter, clearer, has more detail and is larger.  This will create a foreground space that is unmistakable, alone the dimensional space only exists as a pattern but when overlapped or combined with objects in a middle ground slightly reduced in all of those aspects will help to create a more two-dimensional space, when combined with a background that is blurry, reduced in hue or color and indistinct will add a third dimension to your work.  Shadows or shading will also give the illusion of dimension to objects so be conscious of this.  To totally remove shadows say in portraiture creates a flatness that may not be exactly what you want to convey in your work unless of course that is your particular style.  Just as vice versa, if you increase the contrast in your photographs it helps to create greater dimension.  Although in photography if you do this you can create “halos” around objects and therefore create more of a pattern than a perception of depth.

Darling Harbour, Sydney, AU

Space might include pattern to help create a certain perspective or perception of your work.  Pattern or repeats can create an interesting photograph but will keep it very two dimensional in nature, more of a design element than artistic element unless some of the other aspects of three-dimensional space are included in your photograph.  Notice the marked difference in these two leaf photographs in terms of dimension of space.

Great Smoky Mtn National Park, TN, USA

Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC, USA

Morecambe, England, GB

The perception of space can also be achieved through size.  Those objects closer to you are larger while the ones that are at a greater depth will be smaller creating the illusion of perspective and space and dimension.

Lancaster, England, GB

There is also a linear perspective that will help to create a sense of three-dimensional space.  A good example of this is a path or road that seems to disappear in the distance and gets smaller as it recedes.  Buildings will also have this same linear perspective as will picnic tables!

Hue or value is also a tool to help create the depth you may seek in your work.  As colors recede they decrease in hue and become a bit more subdued in saturation of color.  Colors will appear brighter and more clear and as they recede into the middle and background spaces the intensity will also diminish.  It is a good realization to have because you can create that “pop” of color that can create drama in a photograph when this concept is adjusted.  If you are working strictly in black and white, value becomes your friend in the creation of depth and dimension.  Whites will draw your eye and blacks and grays will create the depth.  See my earlier post on value as an element of art here.

Kadena, Okinawa, Japan

Indianapolis, IN, USA

The combination of several of these tools to create a three-dimensional space can create what is called atmospheric space.  This is simply what we know to be true particularly in landscape work where the atmosphere in a photograph or drawing, where objects in the distance become blurred, less detailed, become bluish or gray in color or the shading of a hue to reduce color intensity creating atmospheric conditions and the illusion of greater three-dimensional space.

Dandridge, TN, USA

Christchurch, New Zealand

Christchurch, New Zealand

This week think about space in terms of your vision and intent.  How does it make you feel?  How can you use it to evoke a sense of your view of the world?  What way can it best be used to create your evocative images?

Emphasis-are your photographs saying what you want them to?

Why is it sometimes that a photograph or piece of art really speaks to your soul?  What are your photographs really saying? To you?  To others?    What is your vision?  What does your work emphasize?

Focal point in photography is something artists will talk about as part of their work.  The principle of art called emphasis also seems obvious at first thought yet if you look closer the principle of art called emphasis is much fuller in scope than simply a focal point.  Whether a specific element of art, emotion, general feeling, a person or a part of nature, it is what the picture emphasizes.  It could be color or one of the other elements, but it is what your eye is drawn to in a photo or drawing or what captures the intensity of emotional reaction in those who view your work. 

Emotive emphasis-more than just a focal point

Focal point using depth of field capturing a sense of place

 

A focal point is often what you hear brings emphasis in photography, the place that draws your eye yet it is used a bit differently than in art as emphasis.  Emphasis having a bit of a broader brush is more than what your eye is drawn to; it is what your heart is drawn to.  A focal point can be achieved in many ways in photography.  It can be achieved through a shallow depth of field and a focused foreground on a blurred background.  Your eye will automatically read the detailed aspects of your photograph.  

focal point through depth of field

It could be where lines in your photograph lead you to look or light or value.   

Leading lines

Light as a focal point

It could be a color that is contrasting and therefore takes dominance in the photograph or a shape that is different than what the rest of your photograph entails.   

Color that draws your eye and focal point of interest

shape as a focal point

A change in texture might cause your eye to focus on a certain aspect of your photograph. 

texture change as a focal interest

There are many articles on the web speaking more directly to focal point, but it seems to be an easier concept to grasp than emphasis and photographers who seem to like “rules” to help understand certain compositional aspects of photography.  It is simply a point in your photograph or drawing that your eye is drawn to or focuses on and is achieved through various compositional considerations.

 

Emphasis speaks of a forcefulness and intention of expression that will give importance to something specific.  If you have read some of my past posts you will know that I speak a lot about the feeling or emotions that your work will evoke from those who view it.  It could be as simple as a WOW! Or “breathtaking” or “beautiful” it could lead or be a more intense emotional feeling of peace or joy or despair or evoke a feeling or desire to help or raise emotions of awareness that make you intensely aware of someone else and their plight or lifestyle differences.   The achievement of that is much broader in scope than just a focal point and while that is part of what emphasis is, it is not what it is in its entirety.  Emphasizing color can play a major role in creating an evocative emotional reaction and used in the expression of your work.  When it plays the primary role in your photograph or artwork it is the emphasis you use to convey your thought and emotions and will be what people react to, even when the viewer doesn’t realize it!  Emphasis can be achieved through the use of any one or combination of the elements of art.  Art is an expression of emotive elements and emphasis is a major role player in it.  It is the force or intensity oozing from your work.  It is an idea that gathers its existence from sharpness, blur, clarity, shape, line, value, texture and/or color.    A harmonious whole can be achieved through this unifying principle.

 Just stop and let a single photograph speak to your heart.  What does it evoke in you?

I hope you are beginning to see how formulating what you want to evoke or what part of your heart you want to share with your viewer becomes paramount for you to understand or come to some realization of your creativity and unique perspective of this world.  Letting yourself go in that expression, being creative in the form it takes to convey it, is what will set you apart and make people recognize who you are and what you have to offer in understanding themselves and the world we live in and therefore your artful expression.   Once you let your emotions or your inner most self direct or lead you in your work, you can begin to formulate how your art might achieve emotion in its expression and form.   Emphasis will be its major role player. 

So what do your photographs trigger in others and their emotions?  What do your photographs complete in their thoughts and emotions?  Better yet, what are they saying to you?  Do they emphasize what you want to convey? 

What is it that your creative self wants to share with the rest of the world?  Your creativity and the ambiance you set in your art and photography will help determine the reaction of your viewer, so what will you choose to emphasize?  Ideas are good but being able to carry them through to an end product that is evocative and says something about you and your world is the ultimate in goal and vision.  It is created by subject matter and your choice of what you emphasize in your work.

As always various example of these points are found on Facebook focal point and emphasis and Flickr. 

Focal Point articles:  See Digital Photography School's article here and from PictureCorrect here.

Value-an element of art

The element of art called value. Value means exposure variance, the darks, lights and mediums of  art or in a  photograph.  This can more easily be seen when a photo or drawing is produced in black and white.  The depth of shadow and the height of highlights are on either ends of the idea of value.  A histogram is valuable for determining the overall tonal quality of a photograph.  If the curve leans to one direction or another it shows the overall value of the photograph.  One of the best ways to see value in a photograph or picture can be to squint or blur it to see what it looks like without definition.  In essence it is a way to see the compositional arrangement and where the eye is brought to in the photograph or picture because the lights will always draw your eye to them.  Rembrandt, though a very realistic painter, was magical at this as the painter of light.  If you blur any of his paintings you can see what I mean, he was abstract in a very realistic way just by the way he used lights and darks in his work.  Value can REALLY make a piece of art good.  Without value a piece of work is without definition.  Sometimes using one tonal quality is valuable in conveying certain moods, but you have to realize the impact of value before you remove it to be on only one tonal level and understand what it does for your work.

From conceptualization to actualization value should be considered in the creation of your work.

In abstract work, the mindset is different than if you want something to be very realistic; yet they both require a clear understanding of value range.  Realism demands a good range of values to create definition of your subject, from the blackest black to the whitest white.  Once you move away from realism the floodgates of creativity arrive.  One word of caution.  Don’t use bad camera skills  or poor quality work to justify a vision devoid of value or to push the contrast level high to attain what you should have captured initially. 

I would recommend that you take the time to learn your camera or other medium well, getting good with realism and realistic shots so you know what your camera or medium is capable of before you use value to fully define your vision or style.  Starting with a good photograph is essential to using value in your vision.  As an artist learning to draw realistically what your eye sees is an essential precursor to allowing your creativity to have free reign.  In art you have to really know how to draw well to be a good artist and as a photographer, you really have to know how to use your camera well to be a good photographer and to stretch the bounds of your vision.  Practice those skills continually and simultaneously to being creative in what you do.  Once you reach a point where you can selectively create the evocative mood you want in what you do with proper manipulation and not just by accident, your vision can become much clearer.  Refining and defining what you do and what you want to say with your work is a constant transformation.  To get people to feel what it is you are trying to evoke from your work makes for one very happy artist!

Consider this pair of photographs, one in color, the other transformed to black and white yet the mood stays the same because it is not just the color but the value in the photograph that creates the pleasant mood.

As a photographer there are several tools you can use to achieve the full range of value in your work.  You have the gray card or color charts like the color passport from Xrite to help you in post-processing to get the correct lighting in which you were photographing, on to your computer and that is a good start; they do work wonders and can create some ease in post-processing especially for the portrait, fashion or wedding photographer.  In post-processing there are ways to achieve a better range of value as well, such as the black in light room or using the histogram to bring the blacks and whites forward in your photograph.  If you can get to a true black in your photograph you will find that the rest of the photograph will follow to bring in more contrast and depth to your work, which is the aim of value, to define depth and subject. Far more than you might realize the blacks are extremely necessary.

Low value photography has more of a feel for the contemplative or sad and depressing so it might be a way to use the darker values to convey those types of scenes or concepts. High value photography might convey a more carefree or cheerful and happy feeling so it’s use seems more appropriate. 

Once value is mastered it can be a powerful element in your work and vision.  A picture or photograph with extremely high or low value does not mean it is over or under-exposed as part of your vision.  Value can play a large role in conveying your vision and the feelings you want to evoke with your work.

Albums for the element of value are found here on Facebook and here on Flickr.