Evaluation

To start with I really struggled coming up with an idea for this project because I wanted something new, original and something different from the mass thats already out there. I knew I wanted to work with landscapes but wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them to make them different from every other landscape shot. I knew the aesthetic I wanted to do, black and white fine art working with long exposures, but because this was how I normally worked I needed to make it different some how. My first thoughts were of making it into a surreal landscape project, but again I still wasn't sure how I wanted to do this. I researched all sorts of surreal artists and got no real inspiration from it. I finally decided on putting objects in environments that they don't belong when looking at artists like George Christakis, and using techniques like forced perspective and image composites to make it happen. As this is a common technique and subject matter I needed to think of other ways to make the images different from everything else out there. This was when I came up with the idea of making the images 3D with either anaglyphs or stereograms. Both old but seemingly forgotten techniques. With all three of these techniques, fine art style, surreal subject and 3D presenting method I should be able to come up with something new and original, something that will stand out against the others, depending on the execution.

Overall I'm not entirely happy with the way the planning has gone for this project. I was completely at a loss of what to do and no motivation at the start so didn't know where to begin. Things finally picked up but then I had problems finding particularly relevant artists that worked in similar ways and shot similar things. I think its because the idea of the project is based on so many different things, the landscape, surrealism and 3D. The landscape and surrealism has plenty to research into individually but when combining them it becomes a struggle. 3D alone was difficult to find research for, its an old technique but finding practising current artists was near impossible.

For the test shoot I really needed to plan it better, I had no idea where to go and ending going to Epping forest quite spontaneously. However this did work out as ended up finding a location for further shoots. It did mean I wasn't able to implement the surreal idea however. But because it meant I could see if the 3D effect would work and meant I could see how easy it was to use it was successful because I knew I would be able to use it for the rest of the project.

Overall I think the project could end up being a little bit too complicated. Too many elements in it could make or break it. Depending on how things go I might have to drop the surreal element out to make the whole project more feasible. Apart from that I'm happy with the idea of the project, although time management could have been done better. 

Joel Fletcher

Joel Fletcher is a character animation and visual artists for feature films, commercials and video games. He is based in Los Angeles and also does photography, in particular he works with anaglyphs.

Fletcher started painting from an early age and had his goals set on becoming a book illustrator. For a school project Fletcher worked with Super 8 film where he found his passion for animation. After his college years Fletcher continued his painting and took up carpentering, picture framing and being a waiter to pay his bills and cover expenses. In 1981 Fletcher was given a grant from University of Wisconsin Board of Regents for film making after which he moved to LA to pursue a career in filmmaking where he managed to get work as a model maker, prop fabricator, set builder and eventually an animator. (Fletcher. J. 2014)

Joel Fletcher

What attracted me to Fletcher's work was his gallery on landscape anaglyphs as he was one of very few I have managed to find, if not the only. Looking through his website Fletcher has published a lot of work utilising stereo anaglyphs, he has several galleries dedicated to the art including landscape, nightmare, glamour, digital and movie related.

The majority of Fletcher's anaglyphic work is in black and white while he landscape work is in colour. Comparing the two I think the black and white work is much more effective and illustrates the 3D illusion much better than the colour work. There is a ghosting effect that can occur when making anaglyphs because of over layering colours and lines, this effect seems to appear a lot more in the colour images so the black and white images seems to be a lot higher quality, crisper and sharper, from other research I gathered this seems to be a general thing between black and white and colour anaglyphs no matter what the quality, the black and white version generally looks better.

Joel Fletcher

When comparing the above black and white images to the colour ones below its easy to see the quality appears to be better with the black and white images, perhaps this is the because of the nature of the subject, the geometry of the subjects, or because of the previously mentioned black and white and colour quality thing.

When looking at the images below I think the 3D effect struggles with the trees, in particular with trees in the background. The images with the trees as the foreground work well, but when they start to creep towards the background the image starts to become unclear and blurred.

Joel Fletcher

Joel Fletcher

Joel Fletcher

Joel Fletcher

 

Anaglyphs

Like stereograms, anaglyphs require two offset images to create the 3D illusion. However anaglyphs can be made out of one photograph, meaning they don’t require any specialist cameras to capture the original images, making anaglyphs a better choice for this project, rather than stereograms.

The 3D illusion is created by isolated two colour channels with in the image, red and cyan, and then offsetting the layers to create two images of the scene in red and cyan with either subtle or dramatic position movements to the side, depending on how prominent you want the 3D illusion. The final image is then viewed using filtered glasses reacting to the different offset layers. Each eye sees one of the colour layers and the brain creates a 3^rd image, from these two, with increased depth perception giving the appearance of 3D effects. I’ve chosen this technique of creating 3D images over stereograms because it just seems more feasible and less hassle, stereograms require either two identical cameras or one specialised one, they also have to be viewed through stereoscopes giving the images size restrictions and increasing costs and time taken to produce the final output, anaglyphs require specialised glasses, but these are very cheap and can be bought on mass and compared to the production is relatively simple to produce compared to the alternative method. Its also a more modern method of producing 3D images and so hopefully will result in higher quality results.

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Anaglyphs have multiple applications and outputs including; moving and still images, science and design (where depth perception is critical), entertainment purposes such as 3D films to name a few. NASA use the method for the Mars Rover images to give them a clearer perception of the geography of the environments.

However there is a down side to using anaglyphs over stereograms, and that is the colour rendering. Because stereograms are side by side images they produce much clearer results, and anaglyphs have their two images over lapped causing strange colour casts and ghosting to occur, this can be negated with higher quality anaglyphs however.

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A brief history

Anaglyphs first appeared around 1852 in Germany by Wilhelm Rollmann, however his method was only used for line drawings only. The first printed anaglyph appeared around 1891 and was produced by Louis Ducos du Hauron. The first motion picture anaglyph appeared in 1889 created by William Friese-Green and was publicly exhibited in 1893. The anaglyphic films then boomed in the 1920s, in 1954 a particularly successful anaglyphic film was released titled ‘The creature from the Black Lagoon’ and by 1953 anaglyphs were appearing in newspapers, magazines and comic books getting more and more successful and increased quality.

Aidavdbrake

Landscape anaglyphs

When looking through the following landscape anaglyphs I notice they aren't made in the same way as the anaglyphs in the tutorial I looked at, the way I made my landscape anaglyph. In the tutorial only the foreground is duplicated and made 3D, where as in these anaglyphs the whole scene is made 3D with the effect being applied across the entire image. It's hard to see if the entire image is duplicated and offset as a solid block, or if the images are made in layers with each layer being offset by a different amount to change the perspective and intensity of the illusion from foreground to mid to background. Either way the effect is very successful in these images.

I think the composition of the original photograph is quite important to the success of the anaglyphic effect. There needs to be a strong and distinctive foreground, mid-ground and background through out the images. The images with something that start in the foreground and then use leading lines to bring the eye through to the mid and background are particularly effective, the road and bridge images for example utilise this and particularly stand out to me. The image by Joel Fletcher demonstrates the strong foreground composition utilising the rock formations and gradually fades away. I think these kind of images, this image and the road image, work well because there are other indications of depth perception, the large rock formations in the foreground (the wide road) and they gradually get smaller as you look towards the background. I think the most successful anaglyphs will be those that utilise as many methods to create depth perception as possible (vanishing points, colours [darker foregrounds/lighter backgrounds], etc), in other words, composition of the original image is key.  

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Joel Fletcher

Raf Pauwels

Stereoscopy

Stereoscopy is a technique for creating images with increased depth giving the illusion that they are 3D. To create a stereogram you need two images of the scene slightly offset from each other. These images can be acquired using a stereoscopic camera, a camera with two lenses that takes two pictures at the same time, using two cameras set up next to each other, or using a single camera and then carefully moving it for the second shot; are a few common techniques.

The stereograms are then viewed using a stereoscope, a device that isolates each image to each eye, the brain then takes these two images and creates a 3^rd with increased depth perception, giving the 3D effect.

Stereoscopy can be dated back to the 19^th century when people realised they could be used to provide a viewing experience of places and locations unaccessible to others. They became a learning tool for geography, science, history and other such subjects. They continued to be used until the mid 20^th century where gradually became less popular.

Below are some examples of stereocameras and stereoscopes.

DIY Stereo Camera

Diableries

Diableries are a name given to a series of stereo cards created in France in the 1860s to the early 1900s. Roughly translated 'Diableries' means Devilments, the series is a depiction of the underworld, devils, satyrs and skeletons, all alive and having fun. The cards, 'known as French tissues, are constructed in a special way to enable them to be viewed (in a stereoscope) illuminated from the from, for a normal 'day' appearance on monochrome, or illuminated from the back, transforming the view into a 'night' scene, in which hidden colours magically appear, and the eyes of the skeletons leap out in red'. (May, B. 2011).

More information about the prints and how they were created can be found on the following link... http://www.londonstereo.com/diableries/

Brian May, along with Denis Pellerin and Paula Fleming have published a book titled Diableries: Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell. It is a collection of these 'Devilments'. On the above website Brian May explains that the first Diableries were created in the late 1850s, but various sets were produced in large quantities between 1860 and 1900 in France. The most successful of the series was published in 1868, comprising of 72 stereocards. Most were made by artists Hennetier and Habert, both having similar yet distinct styles. Due to the success other artists later got involved in creating more of these Diableries. (May, B. 2013).  

You can see some the stereocards from the Diableries series below.

Test Shoot

First test shoot in Epping forest...

Anaglyph experiment

For the first shoot I was just testing out a possible location and using the images to experiment with making anaglyphs with. For this shoot I decided to check out Epping Forest, it was a location I meant to go to for a project last year but never got round to it, so I thought I'd try it out for this one.

As Epping Forest is quite large I only got see a small part, I chose to go to an area with a lake as I knew at the right time of day it would be a source of fog and mist, something I was looking for in my images since looking at Martin Vlach's atmospheric landscapes.

As shown in my contact images, it started off as a clear day, but as the sun began to go down the mist rose from the waters creating just the atmosphere I was looking for. The location was good but I didn't get the images I was hoping for, I think this was because I stuck quite close to the lake and path surrounding it so things all looked quite similar. I think I need more of a plan for the next shoot, have a better idea of what I want to shoot in terms of compositions etc, to give me more of an idea of what I'm looking for because on this shoot I realised I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to photograph, yes I knew it was forest landscapes but I found that it was too general, I need a clearer idea, perhaps sketches would help out.

In terms of aesthetics, this shoot is nothing like what I want to produce. I'm looking for more minimalistic scenes, with these images theres just way to much going on.

After finding the 'how to make a anaglyph' tutorial on Youtube I tried it out on one of my images from the shoot. The effect was successful but made me realise I need to think about the composition of the photographs more so that they suited the effect. The first time I used the effect on the tree I didn't include then ground and had the colour layers more offset, this mean it looked like a floating tree, which looked 3D, but the ground wasn't so it looked quite strange. After that I went back and included the ground into the effect to make it more believable. This helped but still didn't look right, I had reduce the offset to make the 3D effect this prominent, but it made the effect more convincing and removed the ghosting effect that started to occur. To solve these problems I need to shoot in such a way that the objects in the foreground appear from off frame, and not start in the middle of the image, or include the ground more to implement the 3D better.

Overall the shoot was successful, I found a location for future shoots and I found out the 3D anaglyph effect could work and could be reasonably feasible. I found out further steps I needed to take to get the desired images, the sketches.

Ansel Adams

You can't do a black and white landscape project without mentioning Ansel Adams, the master himself. The Californian photographer is particularly well known for his work in Yosemite National Park and was one of the photographers who helped establish photography as a fine art.

Adam's began experimenting with photography in his early teens learning darkroom techniques and attending camera club's, reading photography magazines and going to exhibitions.

Adam's first portfolio, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras are what really kick started his professional career. Between 1929 & 1942 Adams' spent time in New Mexico with other artists including Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe and Paul Strand where he began to publish essays and books on photography. He also joined Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans in projects affecting social and political change through art.

By the 1960s photography had established itself as art and Adams' was getting his work shown in galleries and museums. From the 70s onwards Adams' spent most of the time printing negatives rather than creating new work because of a demand for his iconic works, until he passed away in 1984. (Ansel Easton Adams. [Internet]. 2014. The Biography.com website. Available from:http://www.biography.com/people/ansel-adams-9175697 [Accessed 06 Dec 2014].)

Along with Fred Archer, Adams created a technique used to standardise a way of working which resulted in correct exposure every time, despite the lighting conditions, they names the technique the Zone System. This is a system that splits the image into 11 zones, each zone being 1 stop brighter than the one before. This is for black and white film and so the system has been modified for shooting digitally, so that only zones 3 through 7 are used. Zone III being absolute black and zone VII being absolute white. Anything over or under zones III and VII being over or under exposed.

As I will most likely be using black and white for my project, I thought it might be relevant to mention this system in order to utilise it for my own work.

Further explanation of the system can be seen by following this link.

http://photography.tutsplus.com/tutorials/understanding-using-ansel-adams-zone-system--photo-5607

Below is an example of the zones III through VII chart, and a example photograph by S k o o v.

S K O O V

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams

While not directly linked with my project, I thought it was fitting to include Ansel Adams' work in my research as its quite inspirational and something strive for as it will help with creating my black and white images.

Harold Ross

Continuing my research into ways of presenting subjects that are similar to us, but in a different way to create the surreal atmosphere, I came across the photographer Harold Ross and his work with light painting.

Ross explains that he had an interest with photography from an early age, it developed from watching his father in the darkroom and escalated from there. He was born into a military family and so travelled a lot and went on regular weekend outings which involved camping, hiking and exploring which was a source of influences.

Ross earned a B.F.A from Maryland Institute College of Art, and after which he stayed at the college to teach and produce fine art and photography. (Ross, H.2014)

What attracted me to Ross's work was his method of light painting. Ross has this to say about his method 'Over 24 years of experimenting with the specialised technique of light painting has given me the ability to show subjects in a “different light” so that viewers can appreciate them in an unexpected way. This light is meticulously applied in each image and is very sculptural in nature.' (Ross,H.2014)

Ross's website and work can be seen by following this link.http://www.haroldrossfineart.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=1&pt=0&pi=2&s=4&p=-1

When exploring ways of photographing known subjects but presenting them in an alien way I find Ross's work and method does exactly that. He takes everyday locations, but photographs them at a time we wouldn't normally see them. The light painting technique allows him to mask out unwanted details and put emphasis on others by making them brighter. He can control exactly what the viewer sees.

Seeing night scenes with so much light, and not seeing the source, gives the images the surreal atmosphere. It creates a big contrast between the highlights and shadows in images, and makes the colours look quite vivid and bright, again adding to this alien world idea, the images look quite cinematic because of this. It's also a good way to show otherwise possibly mundane subjects in a more interesting fashion.

Harold Ross

Harold Ross

Harold Ross

Harold Ross

Along with the work of David Keochkerian, Nadav Bagim and Harold Ross I now have three new ways and ideas of how to create the surreal world or effect I'm looking for in my own work. Changing colour tints to create a similar yet so different alien world, photographing macro subjects to show otherwise missed details, and photographing at night using light painting to give a cinematic style and photograph otherwise boring subjects in a more interesting way. These artists have given me fresh inspiration on how to tackle my own project.

Nadav Bagim

Nadav Bagim is another photographer who is otherwise preoccupied in other professions. Bagim is a brain sciences student from Israel who, like Keochkerian, only recently got into photography and is using it as a hobby and a way of making money on the side. Bagim’s subjects are all nature based from animals to landscapes, but what attracted me to his work was his macro shots of insects. (Bagim, N.2014).

Bagim has one project that was of particular interest to me, his WonderLand project. He has this to say about his work ‘The WonderLand series was composed using a unique but rather simple and elegant artificial lighting and household objects (from vegetables to plastic bags). The photos were shot in a miniature studio on the kitchen table wit a Canon EOS 60D, a Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens and flashes. The photos are real, not a digital manipulation, and the outcome is a beautiful magical set with a fairy flair to it. The small models were found in my apartment and on plants outside my window, all alive and active, none of the was harmed during shooting.’ (Bagim, n. 2014)

The WpmderLand project can be seen my following this link. (http://www.aimishboy.com/wonderland.html)

Bagim’s sets look like surreal alien worlds; this is what attracted me his work. The colours and subject combine to make something that is quite unique and very unworldly. The colours alone create a surreal atmosphere, but then combined with the insects make the whole thing very alien. As there is no sense of scale with in the images its easy to imagine and get lost in the world created within the photographs.

Again, just like Keochkerian’s work, it gets me thinking about using colours within my own work to create the surreal atmosphere. They work really well to create something very alien because it’s something we don’t expect, it’s something different.

Also the sense of scale is a big contributor to the surreal effect, start changing perspective and scale of things that are known to people, but present them in different ways and the subject should stand out. Bagim’s subjects work really well because they are details of the everyday that people miss, photographed in a way which directs attention to them so the audience sees them in a new light so to speak.

Nadav Bagim

Nadav Bagim

Nadav Bagim

Nadav Bagim

Nadav Bagim

The two above images are good examples of photographing something similar but presenting it in a way that is different to the norm, giving the viewer a distorted sense of what they are seeing, creating the surreal atmosphere.

The water and ‘grass’ elements being similar, and the general shape of the insects, but combined with the colours and the scale (macro making them look large and seeing details otherwise missed) makes the whole image look like your peering into some unknown alien world.