Physical Images

•     How does Gilliam’s animations link with Hannah Hoch’s photo-composites?

      They link because they both use other images to manipulate one original image. They both use similar processes because they both involve taking elements from different images and manipulating another image to make it look completely different. Also, the both uses images from magazines and their own original images to produce these photo-composites.

   

      The image on the left is from Hannah Hoch and the one on the right is from Terry Gilliam. They both use physical methods to create their images by taking images from magazines, newspapers, books etc. The images that thy create are both very different, Hoch's images are obvious which parts have been stuck on and Gilliam's are less obvious.

      How is meaning changed through creating photo-composites?

      The meaning of an image is changed through photo-composites because by adding other elements of a different image it might not relate to the image at all. It has been taken out of it's original context and put into a different environment. 

      Photo manipulation involves transforming or altering a photograph using various methods and techniques to achieve desired results.

Whilst this is usually done using software,  the physical adaptation of images is practised through e.g.

–Tearing,

–painting

–scratching,

–etc.

Composite Image Making

Composite image making is how an image is made using several other images which have been manipulated to form the image. I think composite image making is right for magazines in some circumstances because the editor of the magazine has to make the cover look approachable so people will buy it. However, if it is being used to change how someone looks completely to show how people are supposed to look I think this is wrong as it gives false hope to people who are viewing this image. It shouldn't be used if it is set up to lie to someone, for example if it is used on the news this isn't right because people want to see the real things that are happening rather than a made up image that may extend the truth of what is actually happening.

We use photoshop to manipulate the captured image to an extent determined by the artist/retoucher. In some senses photoshop is used in a reasonable way to colour balance, contrast, cropping. In other senses such as retouching and airbrushing to an extent is okay but if is completely changing the look of someone then it is wrong. It is completely wrong to composition a person because it is changing the person completely to look like a different person.

In this case I think composite imaging is wrong as they have changes the appearance of his skin which can be seen as controversial as they are playing with his race. By making him darker they are saying that he looks more guilty. This can be seen as racist as they are showing that people with darker skin look more guilty. It would be the same if they had made his skin lighter and said he looks more approachable just because he has lighter skin. Composite imaging should absolutely not be used in this way at all. 

In this case I think composite imaging is acceptable because it has just been used to create a nice image. There is nothing controversial about this image, it doesn't offend anyone in anyway. This picture may just be being used for an advert in a magazine which we all know composite imaging is used to make the adept look more inciting so we take a second look. If composite imaging was used in this case it is acceptable because nobody takes office to it.

This is a composite image I made using Photoshop. To create this image I used two images, on of the River Thames and a rubber duck. It shows three ducks on the Thames to appear as if they are actually floating which we obviously know isn't real. In this case we can see that composite imaging has been used so we learn to accept it. If this was being used to convince someone that this had really happened it would be wrong because it is a lie.

Documentary Definition

Documentary Photography

Documentary photography follows a single topic or story in-depth over time, as opposed to photojournalism’s real-time coverage of breaking news and events. By deepening our understanding and emotional connection to stories of injustice, documentary photography can capture and sustain public attention, and mobilize people around pressing social and human rights issues. 

This image represents documentary photography because it represents several different meanings. It tells us a story by showing the boy trapped behind the barbed wire. This can represents war and starvation because the barbed wire represents war and the fact that he is so skinny shows he is starving. I think this image represents documentary well because it allows us to read into the picture.

Portraiture Definition

Portraiture 

A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person.

I chose this image because I like how the lighting is dark and very masculine. The dark colours give a very masculine vibe and the fact that it is a picture of a man adds to the effect. I also like how the image is in black and white because it helps with the tones in the image. This image also has good tones because his features are made clearer by the darker and lighter tones, for example his beard has a shadow against it which makes it stand out more. His facial expression also adds to the effect because his stern look makes him seem more threatening which corresponds with the lighting and the tones.

The way this portrait has been taken meets our standards of a political war hero because he looks strong because of the way he is standing, it makes him look like a dominant figure. He is showing a serious demeanour and the lighting adds to this serious effect because it is a dark. The image appears dark and serious which is the feelings that most of us share about war, the fact that he was a political war hero helps us link the feelings portrayed in this image with the feeling we have about war. Although he is seen as a hero the image doesn't portray him as such a 'hero' because we would associate lighter and happier images to make the person look inviting but this is not portrayed here at all.

When we look at this photo we are instantly attracted to the different colours and patterns being portrayed in the image. The make up also stands out to us because it is a very extreme make-up look which we would associate with models and magazines. Researching further into this image we find out that this woman is Amanda Lepore, a transgender model. Instantly we understand why the colours are so bright and stand out from other magazine shoots or front covers that we see regularly. I think that the colours are there to show us that she shows her true personality and who she really is even though some people may have different opinions of it. The colours in the image relate to the LGBT community because their symbol is the rainbow and she displays a very colourful image here. 

Landscape Definition

Landscapes show all the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal. When taking images of landscapes the recommended f stop is 20/22 because it gives a greater depth of field so we can see deep into the image.

Ansel Adams represents landscapes well as he has an interest in nature and takes photos mainly of landscapes.  

Ansel Adams is part of Group f/64. Group f/64 was a group of seven 20th-century San Francisco photographers who shared a common photographic style characterized by sharp-focused and carefully framed images seen through a particularly Western (U.S.) viewpoint. In part, they formed in opposition to the pictorialist photographic style that had dominated much of the early 20th century, but moreover they wanted to promote a new modernist aesthetic that was based on precisely exposed images of natural forms and found objects.

Ansel Adams uses pictorialism. Pictorialism, an approach to photography that emphasizes beauty of subject matter, tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality.

The Zone System is a technique that was formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer back in the 1930's. It is an approach to a standardized way of working that guarantees a correct exposure in every situation, even in the trickiest lighting conditions such as back lighting, extreme difference between light and shadow areas of a scene, and many similar conditions that are most likely going to throw off your camera's metering giving you a completely incorrect exposure. 

Previsualization is a function to visualize complex scenes in a movie before filming. It is also a concept in still photography. Previsualization is applied to techniques such as storyboarding, either in the form of charcoal drawn
sketches or in digital technology in the planning and conceptualization of movie scenery make up.