Sally Stone - Darkroom - Surrealisim

Dark Room recap; Ensure hands are clean, ensure negatives are clean, set masking frame to appropriate size, leave 1/4 gap around all sides for example a 7" x 5" would be 6 1/2" x 4 1/2". Then load your negative in to the film career shiny side up! 0 on all the dials magenta, scan and yellow, set the F to the brightest F, then use the focus finder to focus, then carefully turn F down 2 steps, carry out a test strip to determine the exposure by doing 2 seconds all over and then using the card to cover up horizontally or vertically and do this till your test strip is all done.

Reasons for making a test strip: to save money on photographic paper, to determine the exposure time therefore saves you a lot of time as you do it all on one piece of paper.

Here is my original picture a nice use of tonal range although if i was to do it again I would make sure that the background had a different exposure time!

Here Man Ray has inspired me with the objects placed in my picture. the use of juxtaposition here makes the image much more interesting.

1. Firstly chose your negative that you want to print (make sure it is clean, no scratches and no dust on it)
2. Hold the negatives so you can read the numbers, then turn the negative round (not over) so the number is furthest away from you. 
3. Place your negative in the film carrier in to place. 
4. With a lens on full aperture, turn on the enlarger. Place a normal piece of paper on the easel and use the focus finder to focus the image (use the focus on the enlarger to focus the image).
5. Change the aperture back to f8 to increase the sharpness of the image.
6. If the picture looks flat increase the amount of magenta on the enlarger. 
7. Produce a test strip (3 seconds for light photos & 5 seconds for dark photos), develop the test strip as normal.
8. Then I placed my objects on top of my photo and turn on the enlarger for 6 seconds.

Screenpritning - health and safety - Surrealism

Screen Printing

equipment needed; spoon, acrylic paint, acrylic medium, squeegee, packaging tape.

The screen is made from a fine mesh material which is fixed to a metal frame. A stencil is placed under the screen and ink is forced through the stencil on to the material below. Screen printing with stencils is best for blocks of colour.

Firstly your positive film positive used will be exposed and will harden the light sensitive emulsion on to the tight fabric which is already on the metal frame, then you have to tape up all the yellow areas and the sides of the metal frame. Once you have done this you can then put your mix of acrylic ink with acrylic medium on to the top of the frame and then squeegee the ink across the screen stencil forcing the ink through the open areas, then lift your frame back up and squeegee ink back across to keep the screen wet otherwise it will dry up.

Pen tool and sketch - Graphics tablet

Here is my original image as you can see some of the outlines look darker then the others this is where I have gone over it.

Without the image you can see what i have accomplished. I think this looks very good and simple, aslthough does take some time, I will certainly be usin g this technique again.

Surrealism workshop with Paul Parsons

Using the polygon lesson tool i started cutting shapes up and making them bigger and smaller by using the transform tool.

I did the same with the magic wand tool and pen tool to delete the background of the bubble, then I selected the gap between the women's legs and arms on layer 1 and then went on to the bubble layer and deleted the gap to make it look more realistic.

I then used one of my other images and blended it together by using the paintbrush set to 'clear mode' and then changed the settings to differences. Overall i am happy with my outcome and will be using what I have learnt again!

I added a shadow to make it look more realistic.

Using the star shape and the dash sign to create this, I love this as it look very surreal

 I then created 4 rectangles and coloured them in, I then blended it and changed the setting while using preview to see how it was going to look then I used the white arrow to make it curved as you can see to the left.

 I then  started another surrealism image using Biggie smalls

 I then used the magic wand tool to delete the background and the clone to make the sky look more realistic.

I then did the same again with the coloured lines by blending them, I used the motion blur to blur him but i did it just so you can realise who it is.

Photographers - Physcogeography artists

Hélène Binet

Hélène Binet was born in 1959 in Sorengo and is of both Swiss and French background. She currently lives in London. She studied photography at the Instituto Europeo di Design in Rome, where she grew up, and soon developed an interest in architetural photography.

Over a period of twenty-five years Hélène Binet has photographed both contemporary and historical architecture.  Hélène Binet is shown in both national and international exhibitions.

Black and White photography, very classic, has no time age, 

I like her series 'Tate Modern Construction, London, UK' Photographed in 1999. 

Here are some of the photos from this series:

This photo was completed by Hélène Binet in 1999, the picture is 

Of the tate modern museum during construction in black and white, a lovely photo.

I think the artist is trying to observe capture the surroundings. She has used a camera to capture this photograph. This work suggests to me that Binet is trying to capture the Tate modern when being built, not many other artists do this as its an unusual subject and often buildings don't look very pretty however in this case she makes construction look much more appealing. The use of composistion plays a big part in this photo and makes you focus on content rather then the colour. The use of black & white gives it a classic look even though the photo was taken in 1999 in 2015 the photo still look as good, I think Hélène has done this to make you pay more attention to the picture rather then the colour. The artists style is very classic and straight to the point, I can tell this by the rest of her pictures in the ‘1999 Tate Modern Construction’ I love her work because its very interesting due to the fact she has chosen to photograph this subject.

Daniel Hewitt 

Daniel Hewitt's architectural work is exciting because it is more than just photographs of buildings, He focuses on urban construction. Hewitt was commissioned in February 2012 by the McGee Group to document the concrete work for the Tate Modern Tanks. The lovely collection of photographs makes the the construction process look much more beautiful then normal, Hewitt finds beauty in moving I-beams and positioning of concrete pillars.

I love his series 'Tate modern Tanks' very similair to Binet's photographers however these are in colour, 

Before establishing myself as a photographer, Daniel spent just under a decade pursuing academic interests in philosophy, architecture, and law, specialising in the philosophy of architectural aesthetics.

Daniel's current work is divided into personal and commercial projects. Personal projects explore philosophical questions in architecture and the built environment. Commercial projects so far include documenting major buildings and construction sites in central London, such as Tate Modern, Bloomberg Square and Crossrail.

Pictured below is his series 'Tate Modern Tanks'  

Daniel Hewitt 

This photograph was completed by Daniel Hewitt in 2011, the digger is rthe man focus in the photo with a couple of builders around him  at work, with a glimpse of the normal world above the wooden barrier that’s separating the building site. I think Hewitt is trying to find the simplicity in the building site and from a different perspective it looks a more nice building site, a side that we don’t very often get to see. The reason I think this is because of the perspective he has used and the way he has used the camera to capture this photograph, a very boring picture but with the diggers and other equipment in orange and yellows make them stand out more so you pay more attention to this then you normally would.

 The source of inspiration would of come from his personal interests in architecture. This piece makes me want to go out and find the nearest building site and take some photographs of the construction. The use of composition in this photo is very nice as the wall in the background makes you move your eyes around the photo just like the walls movement. The artists use of mm on his camera suggest that he wants to you to pay attention to everything in the photograph. I think he has done this to catch the eye of people. The artists style is very nice as the use of colour catches your attention, I know this because this is the effect the photo had on me. I love this piece of work as the building site which is normally an ugly view looks beautiful through this photo.

Sources; http://www.helenebinet.com/about.html
http://www.danielhewitt.com

Final piece - Physcogeography

How I created my final piece for Physcogeography 

Firstly I put the picture of my chosen building in to Adobe Ilustrator.

Secondly I selected the layer and used the magic wand tool and selected the blue sky and changed the consistency to get it just right.

Then I deleted the blue sky so I only had my building left.

I then copied the layer because I was clicked on the background, I then duplicated this layer.

I then made it black & white and used the sliders to make the wall roughly the same colour.

Using the brightness and contrast, I changed the contrast to make the wall look roughly the same again.

Using the levels to make the colours within the picture roughly the same for my screen print.

Then I started duplicating my layer several times and rearranging each layer, i moved some layers behind them by using the layers toolbar pictured on the right, also making some bigger and some smaller.

And here it is my final piece ready for a screen print.

Photoshop

Firstly I inserted the image in to Photoshop, I then used the magic wand tool to get rid of the areas I didn't want so the sky and the tree, i changed the tolerance so I didn't delete any of the building. Then I selected the image and pressed inverse and then copied the image to an A3 template. 

I then started to copy the image several times and made the photo either bigger or smaller and used the shift key to make sure the image was done in proportion. I then made sure the images was behind each other so it didn't look odd. 

I then changed the contrast of the image to 100 and changed the levels and made it black and white and made sure all of the black parts all looked a similar colour to each other and same for the white parts. This was then ready for screen printing.

Screenprint

The screen is made from a fine mesh material which is fixed to a metal frame. A stencil is placed under the screen and ink is forced through the stencil on to the material below. Screen printing with stencils is best for blocks of colour.

Firstly your positive film positive used will be exposed and will harden the light sensitive emulsion on to the tight fabric which is already on the metal frame, then you have to tape up all the yellow areas and the sides of the metal frame. Once you have done this you can then put your mix of acrylic ink with acrylic medium on to the top of the frame and then squeegee the ink across the screen stencil forcing the ink through the open areas, then lift your frame back up and squegee ink back across to keep the screen wet otherwise it will dry up.

White gel pen

I then added white gel pen to my screen print which had a red graffiti background, I found it quite difficult to chose what parts to use the white gel pen on so with some experimentation I finally selected the areas I wanted to use the white gel pen on and went for it. I found it very hard because the white gel pen sometimes wouldn't go on the paper so then I went over it which made some lines thicker then others.

Review for camera - I used manual settings so I had more control over the camera rather then auto settings, this includes the aperture and shutter speed, I shot a couple of photos and adjusted the settings to what I needed.

Presentation methods - Physcogeography

How would I display my work in a gallery or public space?

I would use the "framed textiles and prints"display method due to my final piece being a print also i think it looks the best out of all of them.

I believe this would be the most suitable method for presenting my artwork 

What do you think would be the most

suitable display method for your work?

Framed Canvas 

Could be a painting or a photograph on the canvas also due to it having no staples or any other thing showing it looks a very clean method and aesthetically apleaing 

Framed textiles and prints

Normally used for textiles and prints, a nice boarder around the artwork which gives it a distinct look and the frame making the artwork stand out giving it some contrast to the white boarder.

Flat wall mount 

Window Mount 

Another option which I could of used as my print would of looked nice in this method too.

Flat mount

You cannot see anything apart from the artwork which makes the flat mount admirable and simple.