Context

You need to start addressing context, as this is one of the Learning Outcomes that we measure for assessment.

The only way to understand the contextual position of an artist is to research, this allows you to discover WHERE the person is from, WHAT their cultural heritage is, HOW they make work, WHEN they made the work, etc

Go to EMIT to view the Powerpoint on context if you require further explanation. 

Repetition

I Build a Pyramid, by Duane Michals, 1978

Repetition can also be used to create a narrative. 

Can you use multiple images to tell a story?

Go to this link for some more information on Diptychs and Triptychs

Pattern

Tea cup ballet, by Olive Cotton, 1935

Life is full of patterns and repetition.

Two techniques come into practice while working with patterns; you can emphasise the pattern, or you can break it:

Emphasising a pattern can accentuate a sense of scale and expansion. The idea is to zoom in onto the pattern and fill the frame with it. 

Breaking a pattern is all about finding an object that disrupts the continuous flow of a pattern. It can be an object that is in clear contrast with the rest of the objects; be it in shape, color, or even texture.  You can also play with your depth of field. Have the contrasting item in sharp focus and the items around it fading slowly into the out-of-focus. 

Texture

Hairy Catsear Young Leaf, by Karl Blossfeldt, 1928

Texture

No design element is more capable of moving your deep emotions than texture. The challenge of seeing and capturing texture is mostly based on one element - light. Texture can be accentuated by the side light of early sunny mornings or early evenings, or by overhead light when the sun is vertical and high in the sky.

With the sun high in the sky, the roughness of the walls of buildings, or the wood textures of tree trunks, or any kind of texture along vertical surfaces is emphasized as the overhead light casts small shadows along those surfaces. While the impact is subtle, it adds more depth, interest, and reality to the shots.

Stairs, by Aleksandr Rodchenko, 1930

Line can provide many elements to a photo: movement, pattern, energy, etc

Making the eye of the viewer move in certain directions

Line

Out of the 6 elements of design, line is the strongest and most important and influential. Without line there can be no shape. Without shape there can be no form. Without form there can be no texture and there can be no pattern. Lines are powerful tools that can be used smartly to lead the viewers eyes towards the point of interest in a photograph, and alter the overall feeling and mood of an image.

Lines can be vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or curved. Lines can be short or tall, can be thick or thin. Lines can lead you away, or move you forward in an image. A line's emotional effect on an image cannot be overlooked. They sometimes feel restful, soothing, rigid, active, guiding, or threatening.

Thin lines can be experienced by some as unstable, and by others as vulnerable. Thick lines can be experienced as rigid and dependant, or can be experienced as dominating or stern. Curved lines are often perceived as soft, soothing, settling, and relaxing. Jagged lines can be perceived as forceful, chaotic, sharp, and threatening.

Vertical lines in a photograph tend to convey different moods, ranging from power and strength, to growth. Vertical lines can include strands of hair, poles, trees, buildings, and a lot of other different objects that expand vertically rather than horizontally.

Composition and cropping

In-depth research: you are like a hunter following a trail

The below handout is to assist you with your in-depth research

Go to EMIT to view the PowerPoint on in-depth research