WOLFGANG TILLMANS
Wolfgang Tillmans is a photographer and artist. He took underwater images that I analysed in my previous artist analysis. For these photos I found that he experimented with using light and folded paper for a unique appearance of the shape of paper in the image.
In these photos he used previous images that he then folded to be in front of the image he then used the light from behind the image and took multiple images with a high ISO. For the images to appear in this way he needed the background to appear as bright as it could as if it was a fully white background, however he also needed a sufficient amount of light which meant he could have placed a light behind white paper for both aspects to appear clear in the image. When editing he would have increased the contrast and the exposure to help the aspects of the photos he is experimenting with. For the images, the light in the background appeared to have a yellow tint, showing he used the temperature editing tool to increase the warmth of the image to create or increase the yellow tint. To increase this in the areas behind the image he would have ruled/erased out the areas of this editing tool where it is not needed such as, in the shadows of on the folded paper.
The meaning behind the images he is trying to present is the reflection on the medium of photography itself. For his photos a photograph is not just a two-dimensional image of visual information, but rather a work of art with a physical and sculptural presence. I found his work very interesting, however it could be considered as a further development of his past work and using the angles of his photos to create a completely different image. In these images I found that he used multiple aspects of his old work such as his unique style of photography and the multiple colour combinations in his final image. He also uses his lighting from past photoshoots and adds multiple colour tints when he edits his images.
Overall I found that Wolfgang Tillmans is further developing his old images similar to the aspect I want to create for my photoshoot. He experiments with light more than water however the aspects of the background, colour and shadows stay the same from both his photoshoots. I found these images were the most successful images he had taken in my opinion on his work.
CONTACT SHEET
For this photoshoot I aimed to take images of subjects around the theme of Wolfgang Tillmans folded paper images. For this photoshoot I used paper (printed from my past developments) and I used my school planner for blur behind the paper as it still allowed light to pass through. For the images I used not artificial light as that light would add a contrast of yellowish light and white light.
I found that some images were unnsuccessful in the start due to the paper and the lense I used. In the first images there was to much blur and the camera was not able to focus because I used a macro camera. I experimented with sitting further away, however the background light got darker and I could not increase the ISO as that would make the focus worse. I then changed the lense and I found the focus was much easier to work with however I still had to take the images from a distance. The problem with the paper was that in the start I used to thick paper as although it would fold straight away it took up to much and was not in the style of his thin paper. I then chose to use printed paper of my last developments. Although the paper would not fold I used folds on the edges of the paper to keep it in place, which I could edit out for the developments. I found that with thinner paper the camera found it harder to focus so I took the images from further away and zoom in with the camera. I also experimented with putting red paper and red foil behind the paper and blur as this would change the theme of the images for when I had to edit them. I found these images were successful and I could change their colour to blue or green when editing them. I found I had taken some images while the camera was not in focus and experimenting with taking the images from bird's eye view was unsuccessful as the camera could not focus and their was no source of light. Overall I was happy with the outcome of the images I took and how many I was able to capture for the developments
DEVELOPMENTS
For this photoshoot I edited all the raw images on photoshop. I found these images to be rather successful and to have a low amount of aspects which needed to be edited for the final developments. The aspects which I found successful for this photoshoot were that they had a good amount of contrast from the paper and the background. the use of my planner when taking the photos meant that their was less blur to add in the background for editing. For the blur that I did add I used Iris blur as this allowed me to outline the paper so that it was not blurred out. I used the colour correction tool to edit some of the colours in the photos such as primarily red photos being edited blue. I edited all the images and at the end I added the photoshop preset filter 'Smokey' as this made each edit have yellowish light areas ,similar to Wolfgang Tillmans work, rather than white light coming from the background. For the images I added other preset filters that made the tones appear more yellow tinted in some areas (especially the background). To do this I edited the full image and rubbed out areas that it did not fit in for the image.
For the images below I made the previous images B&W through photoshop. I chose to edit the contrast and highlights lower on most of the bottom images as this would help the full piece of paper stand out. I found that overall these images were partly successful however I would have to take separate raw images and experiment with making those image B&W first. This was mostly due to the background hue and how thin the lines were which was aspects that were not in the raw images, however some edited images such as the coloured images were more successful than the yellowish tinted images as it blended with the background
HIGHLIGHTING SUCCESS
I found this image was one of the most successful images I had taken in this photoshoot and was one of the most successful developments. I liked the background was fully blurred which was helped by drawing with the blur tool on photoshop, when drawing around the inside edges. I also liked the contrast in this image and the colour scheme, which reminded me of the underwater images in Wolfgang Tillmans work, with highly exposed whites and grays and low exposed hues with shadow and glow around them. I liked this image as a raw image as-well, as the object behind the paper and the lighting fit well together so that there was a subtle glow of colour on the table below rather than a unsaturated, grey shadow.
CONCEPT
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Capture more images in a similar style to your first photoshoot for this style of Wolfgnag Tillmans work with more experimentation with angles and light.
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Add more blur in the photoshoot than the editing.
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Experiment with colouring work on camera using the creative-assist tool
CONTACT SHEET
For this photoshoot I focused on the same style of photos I focused on in my first photoshoot for the outcome of a re-draft photoshoot. I used many of the successful aspects of my first photoshoot and change some aspects such as the background lighting to capture a successful re-draft. What I changed for this photoshoot was the type of paper I used in some images and the lighting. The paper I used for some images was fully black and was wider in size. I found these photo's were less successful as they ended up being very out of scale and the paper was not able to support itself. however, I took many other images with similar paper to my first photoshoot, which was printed paper of past developments of Wolfgang Tillmans. Successes of this photoshoot were that the images had artificial lighting which was more successful as I was able to adjust the lighting without moving the planner (blur) or the paper.
DEVELOPMENTS
I found these developments very successful as they were refined versions of my last developments. Most of the negative aspects in the last photoshoot appeared better in the re-draft and I was able to edit these images to be the best developments I had made. For the images I increased the highlight and shadow in the background and copied the image then I overlayered the images, darkening the over-layered image and then increased the curve on the image layer below. I then flattened the images and used different colour corrections and filters on the images. The successful aspects was the outcome of the colour and blur where I chose to do reverse iris blur and also add blur on the inside of the paper. I chose to make the images B&W and then add a filter of colour and use the hue tool to experiment with multiple different hue's and appearance's for the image. This helped me find the most successful outcome on the colours for the images as the B&W made the purplish and red tones in the shadow disappear and then I could also choose where colour was added as I could use the rubber tool over the hue tool.