Kat Eye Studio

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Exploring with a Camera: Finding Form

Happy Exploring with a Camera Thursday! I’m so excited that for the next couple of weeks we will be Finding Form in our photographs. While I’ve been exploring form for a while, I didn’t become quite so focused on it until our recent trip to Greece. Today I will explain the idea of form and show you how I use it in my photographs. At the end of the post you will find the link tool to share your own photographs of form, or you can add them to the Exploring with a Camera Flickr pool.

What is Form?


It helps to explain form by contrasting it with shape. Shape is two dimensional, flat. Form is three dimensional, it has volume. In our photographs we can often find elements of both shape and form. In some cases, the object we are photographing really is flat, and has only shape. In most cases, however, the object we are photographing is really three dimensional, it has volume. We communicate those 3D forms in our 2D photographs through the angle and lighting we choose to capture.

Before diving into examples of form, I’ll show you an example photograph of shape, absent of form. A silhouette is a shape, it has no volume. In the photo below, you can tell that these are people, but you don’t get much indication of the form by the silhouette, only the shape. Contrast that with the lead-in photo of the stairway on Santorini island, in Greece. In the stairway photo, there is dimension and movement. You move through the stairway and can see and feel its dimension – that’s form.


The light you use in your photographs is what expresses form. Do you need direct light or indirect light? What’s best? I found it interesting, as I consulted my photography reference books on this topic,  how discussion of form was either completely absent or contradictory. Only two books even mentioned shape and form as design elements in photography, and those two disagreed on what light best expresses form. 
So, in my explorations I looked at images where form was a dominant element and what type of light I was using, to share with you here. My conclusion: The light that best expresses form will depend both on what is available and on what you are trying to convey. Each type of light emphasizes different elements of form: Direct light seems to emphasize planes and edges while indrect light emphasizes curves.
Direct Light

Here is an example of direct afternoon sunlight, on the turret of this church on Santorini. The form is definitely expressed, you can see the dimension of the building through the different faces and the curve of the dome. The resulting form is very planar or angular, however, and the curves are minimized.

The volume of this carving, from a door found in Cefalu, Sicily, is clearly evident. There is a strong element of shape with the circles but the strong light and shadow gives the dimension of form. I almost want to reach out and touch it, run my fingers along the carved surfaces.

This image of footprints in the sand is all about form. There is really nothing “there” in this image. The photograph is of what is not there, the displaced sand, that the light and shadow highlight. Without the direct light, these footprints would not have the strong dimensional form you see here.

Indirect Light


Indirect light is softer, more gentle; It emphasizes the curves. I love indirect light for the gradations it provides, which serve to show volume. The indirect light on this Canova sculpture in the Louvre is marvelous for capturing the details of the form. Can you imagine this sculpture with a strong front or back light? The depth would be gone.



I have completely fallen in love with sculpture as an art, I think because it is pure form. Photography and sculpture have an amazing amount in common – both are about expressing light on a volume. The significant difference is that sculptors create the form from nothing while photographers capture the form that exists. Aren’t we lucky that those of us who aren’t going to carve marble have a way to communicate form?  I think so!

Here’s another example of form, expressed through light on a sculpture. You saw this image of a Rodin sculpture several weeks ago when we explored rim light, but the form is definitely captured by the indirect lighting from both sides.

The attic of Gaudi’s Casa Battlo in Barcelona is a heavenly place to capture form in indirect light. This stairway has indirect light from several directions, which serves to highlight the various forms that it is made up of. The gradation of light and shadow give the image a lot of depth and layers to move through. The curves are emphasized.
Here is a final example of lighting from Santorini, a combination of both direct and indirect light in this scene. How do you think they work together? What does each type of light emphasize?
Color

In looking at my photographs that have form as a primary design element, I’ve noticed that they are almost always monochromatic. Removing variation in color helps to focus on the form. This can either be done by converting to black and white, or capturing a mainly monochromatic scene. This street corner in Brescia, Italy is a good example. The form of the buildings is emphasized through the light on the different surfaces. Since both buildings were pink, the image retains a feeling of form as one of the main elements.
This group of images from Burano, Italy show variation in color when taken together. If you look at each one individually, you will see form as a dominant element in each photograph. These photos also serve as examples of how indirect light works differently than direct light to show form. The curves of the pipes and other elements are emphasized rather than the planes and edges. The indirect light gives a softness to the images, where direct light would give harder, distinct edges.
Images don’t have to be completely monochromatic to highlight form, as this photo from Santorini shows. The form of the wall and steps is a strong element in this photo because the colors are softer and don’t compete.

When there is strong color contrast, however, form can recede to a secondary element in the photograph. This image from Burano has a strong element of form, however the strongest design element of the image is color because of the contrast of the bright primary colors. Form takes a supporting role here.

I hope this has helped you to see what form is, and how you can use it in your photographs. Since photography is a two-dimensional expression of our three-dimensional world, finding and conveying form is a way to give our images depth. You may notice most photographs have an element of form in them, but it may not be the primary design element. 
Take some time over the next couple of weeks to find form. Natural or man-made, straight or curvy, every three-dimensional object has form. Go through your archives, or explore with your camera, and come back and share what you’ve found with everyone here. I say it every time, but I learn so much through the images you choose to share here! We grow our community knowledge that way. You can link your images in below or add them to the Flickr pool.  

Thanks so much for joining me here! Have fun exploring!


FYI – Links will be moderated. Please ensure that your linked image is on topic, and include a short explanation of how it relates to the current theme. Link back to this site through the Exploring with a Camera button (available here) or a text link. Thanks!

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Learning Traditions of other Cultures

We were in Greece on Easter Sunday so we had the opportunity to learn some of the local traditions for celebrating Easter. A red egg, a symbol of renewal, is served to each person at breakfast. Isn’t that a gorgeous red? I loved the primary color combination at our breakfast table that morning. Brandon loves the yolks of hard boiled eggs, so he ate all three of them.

The other Easter tradition we learned about is the large gatherings of family and friends on Sunday afternoon, where a whole lamb is roasted over an open pit fire. It was an interesting sight, these whole lambs rotating over a bed of coals. Nothing I particularly cared to photograph though! Patrick loves lamb so he enjoyed having a platter of freshly roasted meat at both lunch and dinner. I’m not fond of lamb, so I stuck to other options like a yummy Greek Salad.

Learning about the traditions of other places is one of the fun things about traveling and living abroad. You learn that there are more ways of celebrating, believing or even day-to-day living than you could ever imagine from the point of view of your home culture. I don’t think you ever stop being surprised, but you become more open and accepting of just about anything.

I think our world would be a more accepting and friendly place, if we all just travelled more. Do you agree?

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For the Love of Blue + Postcard Giveaway and Swap Update

So, I go to Greece to take pictures of white houses and blue sea. Which I did, and I enjoyed. But as I shared in Monday’s post, the things that inspired me the most continued to be the places with texture, the colors, and little details like this door handle and lock. I captured this in the small town Megalochori when we rented a car one day and visited some of the smaller towns around the island of Santorini. Once you got out of the tourist zones where everything was postcard-perfect, Santorini was texture heaven. Just goes to show, style will always come through. You’ve probably heard the saying: “No matter where you go, there you are.” Even artistically, this is so true. (I’m linking this in to The Creative Exchange for that reason!)

Today I’ve also got a lot of little updates so hang on through the end if you are interested in a Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap update, my Paint Party Friday entry, entering a postcard giveaway and a quick newsletter tip.


Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap Update and Postcard Giveaway

I’m so excited with the response to the postcard swap. There are 87 people signed up for the swap so far. That’s 435 pieces of art that will be winging their way around the world come late July. Isn’t that awesome? And it’s all because you are helping me get the word out!  Thank you so much!

If you’re already signed up, you can expect an email this week with some more ideas and resources about making or printing your postcards. If you have some resources or tips you want to share with the group, send them to me and I’ll add them to the update. If you haven’t signed up yet, there’s plenty of time. Go here to sign up and get the details.

To thank you for the great response to the swap and your help with growing it, I’m doing a postcard giveaway, to liberate more art into the world.  There will be two winners. I’ll be giving away a set of my own “Favorite Flowers” postcards, as well as a set of “Superhero” postcards from my good friend Jenny Shih. Any one of these postcards is guaranteed to make the recipient smile.

 

Even better, you can have up to three entries into the pool. Here is what you need to do to enter:
1. Comment on this post for one entry. Just say hi and you are in!
2. If you are a signed up for the postcard swap, you get a second entry. Leave a second comment on this post that you are signed up, for your second entry. It’s not too late – sign up here and then come back and use this entry!
3. If you have helped get the word out on the postcard swap (a blog post, a tweet, putting the button on your blog sidebar, etc.), you get a third entry. Leave a third comment on this post telling us what you did to help get the word out, and provide a link if you have one, for your third entry. It’s not to late for this either – if you help get the word out between now and Monday, come back and comment again.

I will draw for the winners on Tuesday morning here in Italy, so you have until Monday night around midnight EST to leave your comments. Please make sure that there is a way for me to get at your email through your comment – either by a link back to your website where I can find it or commenting with a method that will allow me to reply. If you win and I can’t find your email to contact you for the address, I’ll re-draw for the prize.

Quick Newsletter Tip


My newsletter will be going out on Sunday, with the Visual Contrast printable file I told you about in yesterday’s post. Be sure to add my email address to your address book so it doesn’t end up in your spam folder. If you signed up but don’t see it by Monday morning, or didn’t see the first one I sent a couple of weeks ago, check your spam folder.

Paint Party Friday!


I had so much fun participating in Paint Party Friday the first time a couple of weeks ago. That, along the wonderful blues I experienced in Greece last week, have motivated me to start another painting. This is a small 20x20cm canvas, painted in acrylics. I haven’t finished it yet, but thought I would share my progress.

Step One: I wanted to get a watery looking background so I used quite a bit of water with Cerulean blue paint to initially paint the background. Then I crumpled a paper towel and dabbed at the canvas to unevenly take paint away. It was an experiment, and I liked the results.

Step Two: I started painting a circle of Aquamarine, from the outside in. I still used quite a bit of water and overlapped as I went. Eventually I worked to the center and then spiraled out, darkening the places that seemed to be naturally dark. I had no intention with the subject, but the result at the end of this step look like a rose to me.

This is all I’ve done so far. Next I’m planning to go along with the emerging rose I see and add some highlights. We’ll see where this goes in future updates. It’s funny how both this painting and the last one I did have ended up looking like flowers, that was not intentional.

Have a great weekend!!

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Exploring with a Camera: Visual Contrast

One of the best tools a photographer has to create a powerful photograph is contrast. Today in Exploring with a Camera, I’m going to talk about the concept Visual Contrast and how it can help you create interesting images. At the end of the post, there is a link tool for you to link in your images on the theme, either new or archive. I hope you’ll join in!

For this exploration, I’m going to define Visual Contrast as the inclusion of contrast in the elements of a photograph that leads to a higher impact. The first thing that comes to mind for me when I think “contrast” and “photograph” together is contrast in light/dark. Here’s an example:

In our study of light and exposure as photographers, this is an obvious kind of contrast. Our camera, which has a limited dynamic range (range between light and dark) compared to our eyes, almost creates this type of contrast for us. For this theme, let’s look beyond light/dark contrast into other types of contrast that are more subtle but just as powerful for creating images.

The idea for this theme comes from Michael Freeman’s The Photographer’s Eye. In this book, he refers to a list of contrasts created by Johannes Itten, a Swiss painter and teacher at the Bauhaus school in the early 1900’s. Itten developed some revolutionary ways of looking at basic artistic concepts as part of his “preliminary course” on art. Using contrasts to create interesting compositions was one of his ideas. While these contrasts were original intended for painters and other fine arts of that time, they work just as well for photographers today.

Here is the list of contrasts that Freeman shares in his book and also in this post if you would like to read a bit more:
point / line
area / line
area / body
line / body
plane / volume
large / small
high / low
smooth / rough
long / short
hard / soft
broad / narrow
still / moving
thick / thin
light / heavy
light / dark
transparent / opaque
black / white
continuous / intermittent
much / little
liquid / solid
straight / curved
sweet / sour
pointed / blunt
strong / weak
horizontal / vertical
loud / soft
diagonal / circular
delicate / brash (added from Freeman’s examples in the book)

After playing with this concept, I also added a few of my own:
old / new or young
bright / neutral
natural / man-made
What other contrasts can you think of? Leave a note in the comments if you have something to add to the list. I’ll be sending a printable download of the list in my next newsletter this weekend, and will add any contrasts that you come up with here too. You’ll be able to tuck this list into your bag and keep it with you for inspiration on the go. (If you aren’t signed up for the newsletter yet, you can find the sign up form on the blog sidebar.)

Now that you have the list, let’s look at some examples of contrast in my photographs…

Large / Small

This photo is one of my favorites of my son’s early years. It’s one of the few prints from my film days I actually have here in Italy, and I was happy I had it available to share with you for this theme.  I love the large/small contrast between the hands of my husband and son. There is also a parallel old/young contrast in this image.

Old / New

Our travels around Europe have provided us with plenty of examples of contrast between old and new. This image of a Roman theater at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens is an especially clear example of old/new. Millenia old ruins against the backdrop of a large, modern city. Quite a contrast.

Natural / Man-Made

Along with old/new, visits to ruins can give a great contrast between natural and man-made. I love showing decaying ruins along with thriving nature. It makes quite a commentary on the permanence of what we create in the larger scheme, doesn’t it? The opening photograph of the poppies and the Greek ruins at the Acropolis, and this image of a blooming tree by the Roman ruins of Ostia Antica near Rome are good examples.

Hard / Soft

The hard, rocky pavement contrasts dramatically with the soft leaf in this image. The image also includes the contrasts of  many/few and bright/neutral color. 

Bright / Neutral

Just being back from Greece, you didn’t think I could go a day without showing some white and blue, did you? The bright blue pot against the neutral white background is a strong contrast of color. The popular technique of a black and white image with selective color showing takes advantage of this type of color contrast. This image also includes contrasts in smooth and rough textures.

Curved / Straight

The straight, geometric lines of the floor contrast with the gentle curves in the walls in this image from Barcelona. The contrast is further enhanced by the softer, underfined edges on the curves versus the very hard and defined edges of the lines in the floor.
Smooth / Rough

The variation in textures is the main contrast in this photograph from Burano. The contrast created by light/dark also helps define the edges and separate the different textures.

That’s enough examples to get you started! I’ll share more over the next couple of weeks as we explore this topic. I was actually surprised at home many I came up with, once I started looking. 

Now it’s your turn. Take a look through your archive or go out with your camera this next week or two and look for Visual Contrast. Then, come back and link in the images you found in this post and/or add them to the Flickr pool. How many contrasts do you think we can find as a group? I can’t wait to see!
Don’t forget to comment on this post, if you have ideas for other contrasts to include in the list. If you haven’t already, sign up for the newsletter and you’ll get a printable list of Visual Contrasts in your email this Sunday. 

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Making it Mine

Before I left for Greece, I mentioned that I wanted to photograph white, white buildings with blue, blue sea. I think maybe I was wrong, I wanted to photograph white, white buildings with blue, blue windows and doors and domes. These colors are everywhere in on Santorini and I loved them! The residents must spend a lot of time painting, judging from the perfect conditions of many buildings as well as the number of paint stores along the road.  In the mile (1.6km) between where we stayed in Finikia and the small community of Ia (also spelled Oia) on the tip of the island, there were at least three paint stores alone.

As always, I love to wander the back streets (back stairways in the case of Ia) and make a place my own through my photographs. A photograph is a of a place, but it has me in it too. How I saw it and chose to capture it, my mood on that day, the light I found – all play in to the final image I end up sharing with you here.

While navigating the maze-like stairways to get out to a certain point I saw in the distance, I came around a corner and saw this scene below:

This is the scene found in quite a few postcards. Just imagine it with a slightly wider angle to get in more sea on the left and some beautiful sunset light. I obviously didn’t have those same conditions for my image, but it’s always fun to recognize these “postcard shots” as I wander around. I like to figure out where and how the photographers captured them when I can, it’s a fun way to learn more about creating beautiful images.

I waited for the sun to come out for a while, it was coming and going all day. I sat on the steps gazing on this scene and listened to the sounds of people talking and clinking dishes in the distant restaurants. The sun never peeked out this time. Instead I continued on down the steps and kept studying the church with my camera as I approached. Trying angles and compositions, deciding what it was I really wanted to show. Finally, changing it from the generic postcard shot and making it my own.

My little piece of Ia, shared with you today.

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