3.3.1: Fine Art Photography

with

Mrs. Strite

Digital Photography

Fine Art Photography

3.3.1

• Reminders & Review

• What is Fine Art Photography
• Portrait Fine Art Photography
• Landscape Fine Art Photography
• How to take Fine Art Photography Images

Agenda

• 11/20: Photojournalism Assignment
• 11/27: Recording/Work Day
• 12/4: Unit 3 Test
• 12/6: Unit 4 Starts

IMPORTANT DATES

Portrait Assignment

• Subject needs to resemble a person
• LABEL each image with Portrait Type
• Photo need to be in focus!
• No photos taken by professional photographers
• YOU need to take the photographs!!!!!

Reminders

Review 3.2.2.

• Identify the three main modes of persuasion: emotion, credibility, and logic
• Emotion: Creates an emotional response to get to you buy the product.
• Credibility: Trustworthiness of the brand, will use celebrities to endorse to get consumers to buy the product.
• Logic: Uses facts & stats to get you to buy the product.
• How to take effective advistisment photos: Find the right model, match themes and colors, emphasize services and products, & tell a relatable story.

start

Fine Art Photography

3.3.1

Learner's can:

• Identify the moods, emotions, and ideas captured in fine art photographs
• Identify things to consider before capturing fine art photographs
• Express an opinion on the concept used in an artwork
• Outline an idea to compose a fine art photograph

• Fine art
• Fine art photography
• Minimalism

Presentation title

Marius Vieth 21-time award-winning fine art photographer

"Your most important gear is your eye, heart, and soul"

The invention of photography is responsible for the rise of Impressionism, however, photography itself wasn't considered fine art 1940's. Before the 1940's, photography was primarily used as a tool to capture portraits and document history.

Earliest known photographs of people smiling!

In the 1850s, the Photographic Society of London and the Societe Francaise de Photographie were established. Exhibitions showcased photographs aiming to shift perceptions of photography as an art form, though realism remained dominant.

Fine Art Photography

In the twentieth century, small galleries helped photography gain a reputation as fine art. Fine art photography has become one of the creative world's most well-known art forms, and photographers have now found their place among creative artists. Today, you can find photographers using different techniques, costumes and makeup, unusual settings, and digital techniques to create artworks that represent their unique styles and vision.

Fine Art Photography

May Ray, Glass Tears,1932

Fine art emphasizes an artist's vision over technical skill, often breaking compositional rules. Historically, only painting and sculpture were deemed fine art, but now architecture, poetry, music, literature, dance, and photography are also included.

Fine Art Photography

What is fine art Photography and how is it printed?

How to tell a story through photography

Fine Art & Fine Art Photography

Fine art photography transcends realistic depiction, showcasing the photographer's vision and emotions. It prioritizes aesthetics over mere documentation, using the subject to convey ideas. If a photo prompts deeper reflection beyond its subject, it's likely a fine art piece.

Her photographs examine climate change in the landscapes of Canada and Nordic Europe.

Tilting Storm (2018), Tilting, Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canada Ella Morton

Blomstrandbreen (2016) , Blomstrandhalvøya, Svalbard, Norway,  Ella Morton

The Dissolving Landscape by Ella Morton

Types of Fine Art PHotogrpahy

Fine art photography provides photographers with an opportunity to utilize a variety of subjects to communicate their thoughts and emotions.While every genre of photography can be turned into fine artwork, there are two main, widely appreciated types of fine art photography:

• Portrait fine art photography
• Landscape photography

Every fine art portrait has its own story and meaning. Interpretations of a fine art portrait may vary from viewer to viewer, especially since unreal elements are often introduced. Often, a viewer's interpretation or enjoyment of a fine art photograph relies on a sense of personal connection to the photograph, a factor over which a photographer has little control. Still, a fine art photographer relies on a few common elements to express a distinct and unique vision. These may include:

• Backgrounds & creative lighting
• Unexpected or interesting locations
• Props to complement or contrast with the subject
• Unique editing styles

Fine Art Portrait

The purposes of fine art portraiture include making statements as an artist, unlike the purposes of photojournalism or conventional portraiture, which aim to capture realistic portraits of the subjects.

Fine Art Portraits

Man Ray: Dada- Surrealist movement

Our natural world could be seen as strange, if it weren’t familiar. My work seeks not to escape reality, but to demonstrate how it can be shaped beyond what we have grown accustomed to.

Leigh Schneider

Interpretations of a fine art portrait may vary from viewer to viewer because we are all bringing our own views and story to the photograph. Often, a viewer's interpretation or enjoyment of a fine art photograph relies on a sense of personal connection to the photograph.

Every fine art portrait has a story & meaning

Fine art portrait photography is minimalistic, focusing on the subject without distractions. It often features plain backgrounds and dramatic lighting to draw attention. This image uses a black background with edge lighting on the face, emphasizing the subject as intended by the photographer.

Plain Backgrounds & Creative Lighting

Robert Frank

Props are additional elements of interest in a fine art portrait. As with location, props can be chosen to complement or contrast with the photograph's subject or story. The image on the left uses simple plastic as a prop, creating a portrait that draws attention to the lines and shapes of the subject's face.

Props

If the concept needs a location, the photographer may select an interesting architectural spot or a place with great natural light. The photographer might also opt for an unusual location where the subject contrasts with the surroundings.

Locations

Editing allows photographers to enhance portraits, expressing emotions not in the original image. Fine art photography offers freedom in using editing tools for desired effects. In the image on the right, the photographer merged tree branches with a person’s portrait, prompting viewers to explore its meanings.

Editing Style

Recall that landscape photography attempts to capture the expansiveness and openness of nature, and may include photographs of natural landscapes, seascapes, cityscapes, and even skyscapes. Fine art landscape photography treats the same subjects, but moves beyond their realistic representations. Photographs of nature and landscapes can convey deep meanings when captured with an artistic eye, forming one of the goals of fine art landscape photography. To create fine art landscape photographs, photographers infuse a sense of fine art into their landscape photographs.

Fine Art Landscape Photography

Andy Goldsworthy

As they compose their work, photographers are careful to ensure that each fine art landscape photograph reflects their goals for the following points:

• It conveys the desired mood, whatever it may be
• It tells the story the photographer intends for viewers to understand
• It uses negative space wisely

Fine Art Landscape photography

Fine art landscape photography is about understanding your surroundings and expressing your own unique vision. It does not require that you simply capture images of the world as it appears. Instead, you should work to capture distinct moods and to express your own ideas about the world.

Convey Mood

When shooting landscapes, you have less control over the scene than you would if you were shooting a portrait. To add meaning to a landscape photograph, search for things that can help tell your story. Some examples might include:

• A lone tree in a field to convey feelings of isolation or resilience. There is more negative space used to create the feeling of isolation.
• A sapling in the foreground contrasted with a dead tree in the background to evoke thoughts of death or rebirth.
• A tall streetlight beaming light down on someone to evoke a sense of warmth, comfort, and security.

Tell Your Story

Negative space is the space surrounding your main subject. In landscape photography, negative space can be used to draw a viewer's attention to the subject. When the subject is placed off-center, negative space is created. Including negative space can help reduce distractions for a photograph's viewer, making the meaning of the photograph more apparent. As you create fine art landscape photographs, experiment with the use of negative space.

Use Negative Space Wisely

Which image conveys a sense of freedom?

Which image conveys a sense of loneliness?

Which image conveys a sense of fear?

Which image conveys a sense of tranquility?

Some of the simple rules for taking an artistic approach include:

• Think before you take a photograph
• Be sure to have a message you want to convey
• Select a picture style and location suited to your goals

Before photographers take fine art photographs, they think about the ideas they wish to communicate, considering the different ways that they might express them creatively.

Artistic Approach to Photography

Think Before Doing

Before taking a fine art photo, consider what you want to express—an idea or emotion.

• Write down your thoughts.
• Categorize them into topics you wish to convey.

After building your concept and determining the idea, think about how you can convey the message.

• Decide what subject or object will be most suitable for conveying your intention.
• Subjects can include people, buildings, landscapes, animals, a still life, or even something abstract and unrecognizable.

There is no limit to your imagination, so be sure to use it!

Think Before Doing

Choose Picture Style and Location

Choose between color or black-and-white photos to convey your concept effectively. Next, select a suitable location.

• Decide on an indoor studio with artificial or natural light for better subject capture, especially with props or models.

• For outdoor settings, pick a location that meets your needs, considering backgrounds and other elements.

Once you have thought about the goals of your fine art photograph and have determined the message you intend to convey, as well as the style and location you plan to use, you are ready to take the photograph. You now need to use each of the following tips for taking the best photograph you can:

• Use the best approach
• Take creative liberty
• Use equipment to your advantage

Tips for Capturing Fine Art Photographs

Taking engaging photographs Street Photography

Fine art photography is about taking a creative and subtle approach to creating never-before-seen kinds of images.

• Keep your ideas simple.

• Use minimal elements in the photograph to ensure that a viewer's attention will be drawn to the main subject.

Approach

Take full creative liberty in creating a fine art photograph. Keep things simple, but go wild with your thoughts and imagination! Some ways you can experiment with camera techniques and features include the following: .

• Use deliberate camera shakes to create dramatic movements.

• Use creative makeup and costumes for portraits.
• Use mobile camera modes and filters to create moody photographs with different looks.

Creative Techniques

Fine art photography does not require the use of specific equipment, except for a camera. Fine art photography is all about being creative with what you have in your possession. The quality of fine art photographs depends on the photographer's vision and how the photographer uses the vision and available equipment to best advantage.

Equipment

Conveying moods & Messages

Unit Self-Evaluation

Escape Room Activity: Extra Credit

Need help? Book a time with Mrs. Strite!

Summary 3.3.1.

In today's lesson, you learned:

• Various types of fine art photography
• How to approach fine art photography
• Tips and techniques used for capturing fine art photographs
• The moods and emotions captured in fine art photographs

In an upcoming lesson, you will learn about abstract photography.

Mood...

In contrast to the man underwater, this image of a woman gracefully swimming under water may convey a sense of freedom.

Mood...

This black & white image of ducks swimming on a lake may give some a sense of peacefulness, while others may interupt the feeling as loneliness.

Mood...

In contrast to the image of the ducks this image of one surfer surfing conveys a sense of freedom.

Conveying Mood

For example, the photograph on the left, a misty mountain landscape and dark forest, conveys a certain mood and meaning. Although the landscape is beautiful, the photographer may intend for viewers to become aware of a darker underlying mood.

Mood...

This distorted portrait conveys a sense of altered reality or symbolize a distorted self-perception.

Link to Ella Morton's website

The Dissolving Landscape (2016-21) is a series of experimental photos exploring climate change in Canada and Nordic Europe. It questions what we lose spiritually as the climate changes. In 2018, I continued this project in Finland, Iceland, and Estonia, using mordançage to reflect the land's fragile beauty. The warped images capture nature's spiritual power and mourn its destruction. My travels aimed to showcase the North: Finland's boreal forests, Iceland's beaches, and unique architecture in nature.

Dissolving Landscape

Mood...

This image of a man underwater doing work may convey a message that the man is feeling overwhelmed, drowning in work.