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GCSE PHOTOGRAPHY - ROSIE REDMAN
D A R O M O N T A G
Dr Daro Montag is a photographer and artist who creates art using a variety of living organisms and plants insects and microbes to create his artwork. When he was a young adult, he had a professional course based in Sweden called Living Soil Forum and one of his photographs the same one as the one of the side. This piece of art is part of the Thinking Soil collection and Montag used a super organism to develop his photographs further. This effect created by Dr Daro makes his work more detailed and the soil pieces create little spike effects to the photograph .His research and create skills which took him many years to conquer is one of the many reasons why he is one of the greatest identity photographer in the world. He blended many colours together and he placed a petri dish to illuminate the work and the black shade was created for the colours to stand out more. In this photograph I can see highly saturated colours such as blue's , red's and yellows.When I look at this photograph it makes me feel as if it is busy and a lot of things squish into one place .When I look at the image I see that the colours are swarmed amongst the dark shades in the picture. Daro Montag used a circled petri dish to scope in on the work and capture on the camera the attention to detail. It shows us first person of what the bacteria would look like if you were to look into the microscope. I like this picture since the brightness and the colours of the image reflect my personality. The photograph makes the work looked crowded since there is many different colours intertwining with each other. In my opinion, the dark patches of the work is shown the most important due to the fact it makes the picture seem not too much where as if it was just bright and blinding it would be too much on the eye.
Contact sheet
Whiles taking this photoshoot I used many tricks and techniques to make it successful. I took pictures of 'bacteria' in a 'petri dish' to show my style of Daro's work. I used different plastics and squirted ink into the pouch to create a look where there are different types of soil and bacteria .Then I cut out a black circle to make it look like a petri dish to make people think I was in a lab. I liked how the colours were blended and incorporated into each other. Daro Montag dedicated his work in a scientific way since he is known as Dr Daro Montag so he chose to photograph and make his work in a scientific way. I could improve the work by making more accurate circles to make them as realistic as possible. This can be achieved by using a scalpel to carve the circle out .Next time , I am going to use colours which pop and stand out.
First Developments
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In this photoshoot I created images in the style of Daro Montag. I decided to do this due to the fact the doctors work is impeccable to look at and inspired me. I did this by blending different colours together and created my own style of Daro Montag's work. To edit these photographs I used many techniques to create these effects. In these edits I changed the hue and saturation to expand my options of colours in my end result. For example I took one of the ordinary photos and developed it from a purple and blue 'bacteria' to a pink and turquoise by experimenting with the editing tools which in this case was the hue. Where as in some of my edits I had changed the whole look of the image by pressing invert to invert button which switches the colours to the complete opposite colour. I discovered this whiles learning about all the different editing medias. I had found out when using this technique it made my work more interesting. I like how the camera picked up many details of my work and was able to develop it to make it look intriguing. However, next time I could improve my work by mirroring the photos or experiment further with Photoshop. Next time I am going to mirror my photos and change the looks of my work.
Experimenting with colour
Here I was experimenting my work with colours which I was able to do by changing the gradient .I was able to change the appearance of my work since when opening the gradient tool you cam change background colour and in this case the colour/colours in the circle. I chose this when I was experimenting to make it my OWN style of work .I like the diversity of the colours which I think worked well. For example I used a mint green and dark blue which at the start I wasn't sure if it was going to work but I experimented with the app and in my opinion I feel like the ink made a big impact on how the blues and greens mist into the work in lighter areas. Next time how I would want to improve my work is by experimenting further with my edits by mirroring them whiles changing gradient to see how it turns out. As well as next time , I would want to change up the style of my work.
Further Developments exploring double exposure
Here I used the medias and techniques I used in the first 2 edits and expanded my developments further by adding double exposure to make my work more interesting as well as me inverting my edits and changing hue ,saturation and in one case gradient .The bubbles represent organic bacteria .Through the editing I had created very unordinary pattern which created a very abstract effect on the work. Whiles in the process of double exposure some of the images became lighter which resulted in desaturation in colour that made the images more dream like.
Contact Sheet Redraft
Whiles doing my photoshoot I changed up how I took these photos due to my first shoot not looking as neat .So I decided to use a glass pot to capture my images. This time it is an even circle which makes my work in closer style of Daro Montag. I used water resistant drawing ink to create patterns and squirted the ink's in different parts of the pot to create different effects. Sometimes I squirted more ink than usual to show a big splash of colour so the work stands out as much as well as emphasize the burst of the 'bacteria' (which is what I am on the topic of).I like the use of the inks and how I blended complimentary colours together. In my opinion I feel like my photoshoot went well and my edits will turn out amazing due to the turnout. However , with the colourful colours in my photoshoot I feel like I could've used a more lighter blue since the dark blue took over the other colours since it looks too strong which did not compliment the other colours.
Redraft Developments
In my work, I developed my ideas further to experiment with my motion work where it is captured in motion at different times. The glass creates a reflective effect where the colours smudge to make the work more detailed and compacted so it creates a more vocal point on the image. I decided to edit my work by using a high saturation and change the hue to create stronger and brighter effects to my final product .This helped me since the lighting has not been as good so changing that decides my work to become better. My artwork fits in with my project since it is linked to bacteria and I have been exploring bacterial photographs. I like how my work is compressed so the colours is the main concept. I can improve my work by making it seem more realistic and raw.
Further Development Redrafts
In my redraft developments I used skills and techniques I have exported over my project and created images with different methods. For example I used heavy gradients to create deep images with a harsh contrast .Whereas other images I had increased the contrast of the background and changed the hue to change tones of some of my photographs as well as changing the saturation to make the colours stronger and brighter. Whiles doing many techniques to switch up my work I also mirrored and double exposed my work to create unique patterns. My artwork fits in with my project due to the deep colours which is used many times in Daro Montags work. I like the 2 colours which I used for my gradient due to them being complimentary colours or works well with each other.
Experimenting with black and white imagery
Whiles creating bright contrasted photographs I decided to form edits in black and white to experiment different types of models in Daro Montag's style. The dark composition creates a harsh zone in parts of my work. I think the low contrast in my photos helps me imagine the picture deeper. For example, the ink in the middle shows a poison spreading around since poison is stereotyped to be gloomy and like disease that can be contagious. I made this images by turning them to black and white and changing the brightness and contrast to create a dark effect . I also used levels to change the tone of the work and determine what parts should be lighter than others. I chose these techniques since I feel they are the m.ost effective tools to help me complete what was needed to be completed. These developments shows my understanding of Montag's work and shows how I had my own incite and thoughts to do with his work .As well as me experimenting with black and white with my 2nd Artist it also leads up to my 3rd Artist where he dominantly uses black and white features in his work. In my opinion I like how my work had turned out since it shows my development of black and white edits through both of my projects of fantastic and strange and identity.
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