Image editing software often used to manipulate the captured image to an extent determined by the artist/retoucher.
Colour balance, contrast, cropping.
Retouching, airbrushing.
Compositing.
Arguably Photoshop can be used in a similar way to Dark room processing of prints. The artist can however manipulate images far beyond the capabilities of conventional dark room techniques.
What is a Digital Composite?
Digital compositing is the process of digitally assembling multiple images to make a final image, typically for print.
Note the digital composite in its simplest form is similar to a Photo-montage….
Hannah Hoch.
Raoul Hausmann.
Raoul Hausmann
Raoul Hausmann (July 12, 1886 – February 1, 1971) was an Austrian artist and writer. One of the key figures in Berlin Dada, his experimental photographic collages, sound poetry and institutional critiques would have a profound influence on the European Avant-Garde in the aftermath of World War I. After seeing Expressionist paintings in Herwarth Walden's gallery Der Sturm in 1912, Hausmann started to produce Expressionist prints in Erich Heckel's studio, and became a staff writer for Walden's magazine, also called Der Sturm, which provided a platform for his earliest polemical writings against the art establishment. Hausmann met Hannah Höch in 1915, and embarked upon an extramarital affair that produced an 'artistically productive but turbulent bond'[3] that would last until 1922.
All of these images produced by Raoul Haussman are abstract and look as though they have been created using various images from different sources. The way that the backgrounds and foreground are from different sources creates a story but also an abstract and surreal piece of art. The lack of any form of saturated colour in the second image, and the fact that the couple could connote a melancholic feeling but also a feeling of mystery. In the first and third images, the various different colours, textures, patterns and shapes create an idea of a collage and
Hannah Hoch
Hannah Höch (German: [hœç]; November 1, 1889 – May 31, 1978) was a German Dada artist. She is best known for her work of the Weimar period, when she was one of the originators of photomontage. Photomontage, or fotomontage, is a type of collage in which the pasted items are actual photographs, or photographic reproductions pulled from the press and other widely produced media. Höch's work was intended to dismantle the fable and dichotomy that existed in the concept of the "New Woman": an energetic, professional, and androgynous woman, who is ready to take her place as man's equal. Her interest in the topic was in how the dichotomy was structured, as well as in who structures social roles. Other key themes in Höch's works were androgyny, political discourse, and shifting gender roles. These themes all interacted to create a feminist discourse surrounding Höch's works, which encouraged the liberation and agency of women in Weimar Germany and today.
Jerry Uelsmann
Jerry N. Uelsmann (born June 11, 1934) is an American photographer, and was an early exponent of photomontage in the 20th century in America. Uelsmann is a masterful printer, producing composite photographs with multiple negatives and extensive darkroom work. He uses up to a dozen enlargers at a time to produce his final images, and has a large archive of negatives that he has shot over the years. Uelsmann does not carry multiple attachments, but only one camera, "Most photographers carry many cameras with multiple attachments. Most photographers have one enlarger. I have half a dozen." When beginning to create one of his photomontages, he has a strong intuitive sense of what he's looking for, some strategy for how to find it, and an understanding that mistakes are inevitable and are part of the creative process. Uelsmann's interpretations of landscape elements, reworked, tweaked, and recontextualized, force the viewer to actively interact with his subjects. Continually in his photographs the viewer is confronted with entrances, whether they be gates, windows, trap doors, or ordinary doors. Usually the entrances are shut, but even when they are not, the viewer must imagine what is inside. This is an example of the viewer having to actively interact with the photo they are forced to think more deeply and critically about their own interpretation. In Uelsmann's art there are many right answers - and discovering them is a process that involves both artist and viewer.
Composite Image Making - Duck and Tower Bridge
I created a composite image using an image of a duck and an image of Tower Bridge. To do this, I used Photoshop and put the image in 2 separate layers. In addition to this, I used the 'quick selection tool' to select the image I wanted to paste into the Tower Bridge picture.
My Composite Images
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4
Image 5
AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.
The main idea that I had and the main reason for creating Composite Images focused around the idea of pasting inanimate objects into the space of a landscape photo, which is an idea I have taken inspiration from Jerry Uelsmann. Within my images, I tried to create images in the style of Jerry Uelsmann, but also tried create my own idea. I decided that I liked the idea of pasting urban signs from shops and roadsigns to create a contrast between urban and landscape.
The images that I retrieved from my time completing Composite Image I feel came out well and some of my best images are related closely to the work of Jerry Uelsmann, as they are heavily focused on taking inanimate objects and suspending them in the negative space of the image. However, I feel as though there are some images that I could improve upon to enhance my work and to ensure that I have captured the idea of composite image making in the correct way, and closely link some of my images to another photographer's work, not just one.
With reference to the Best selected images...
For my first composite image, I decided to use these two images to create it. I had the idea of cutting the globe out of its image and pasting it into a landscape shot of Harlow, as there is a lot of negative space suitable for me to paste the image of the globe. I also felt that this reflected the style of Jerry Uelsmann as he suspends objects in the negative spaces of his images.
For my second and third composite image, I decided to take these two images and put them together in a combination of natural landscape photography and urban photography and street signs. Instead of using Jerry Uelsmann's idea of taking inanimate objects and suspending them into the negative space of a landscape image, I decided to run with the theme of taking landscape images and adding urban signs and roadsigns to enhance the images.
For my fourth composite image, I followed the same idea for my previous composite images but decided to experiment with using a black and white background with the main focus of the image being in colour. I felt that this works well as it draws immediate attention to the object in the negative space and reinforces the idea that it does not belong and that there is a contrast between the two images.
My fifth composite image was one of the first ideas that I had when researching into composite image making, which was heavily influenced by Jerry Uelsmann. I feel as though this is not my best image but it does follow in the style of composite image making. In order to improve on this image, I would take the photo of the windows from a central angle to prevent it slanting in the image, and I would also choose a background with a lot more negative space.
For my second and third composite image, I decided to take these two images and put them together in a combination of natural landscape photography and urban photography and street signs. Instead of using Jerry Uelsmann's idea of taking inanimate objects and suspending them into the negative space of a landscape image, I decided to run with the theme of taking landscape images and adding urban signs and roadsigns to enhance the images.
For my fourth composite image, I followed the same idea for my previous composite images but decided to experiment with using a black and white background with the main focus of the image being in colour. I felt that this works well as it draws immediate attention to the object in the negative space and reinforces the idea that it does not belong and that there is a contrast between the two images.
My fifth composite image was one of the first ideas that I had when researching into composite image making, which was heavily influenced by Jerry Uelsmann. I feel as though this is not my best image but it does follow in the style of composite image making. In order to improve on this image, I would take the photo of the windows from a central angle to prevent it slanting in the image, and I would also choose a background with a lot more negative space.
AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.
For all of the above images, I used a CANON EOS 1300D. I feel as though I could still learn a lot about the different settings in manual mode (aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings) and that this would improve on my image compositions in a hugely positive way. I could also learn more about Photoshp to improve on my editing skills to improve my composite images.
In order to improve on the images that I took, I decided to import them into Photoshop in order to enhance them and improve on their composition and the way that they have been shot. In order to do this, I decided to change the levels and use both the healing tool and the burn and dodge tool to accentuate my images and improve on them. I also used the quick selection tools and the select and paste tools to create my composite images.
AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.
The artist research that I did was extremely helpful in the fact that I was able to gain an understanding of the different artists and their different styles. Knowing about when they were born and where they were born helps me to interpret their work and understand what they were thinking when they took a certain image. Researching images that they have created helps me to try and recreate these images and then shooting my own images in their style. For example, my research on Jerry Uelsmann and researching the images of this photographer helped me to choose to take some photos of landscape and of an inanimate object to create a composite image in their style. Additionally to this, I was able to get a better understanding of composite image photography and how you can use this type of photography to capture an abstract type of art and photography. I feel as though I did relate enough to the photographer as my images are heavily influenced by Jerry Uelsmann. However, in order to improve I could have used a tripod for more of my images and applied more theory to creating my documentary images. I could have also improved on my Photoshop to get a more precise composite image in the style of Jerry Uelsmann.
AO4:Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.
Overall, I think that I have produced a good series of images inspired by my research and image bank for composite image making. The final images produced were changed by using the quick selection tool, the select tool and the cut and paste tool to create my composite images. I think if I was to improve on this, I would try and take more photographs of landscape and inanimate objects to create more composite images, as this would help me to have more of a variety of images to choose from when selecting my best images to edit and choose as my final images.
