Skip to main content

Photography: Macro Photography & karl blossfeldt

Macro Photography.

I wanted to start my research with an understanding of macro photography. I thought macro photography was just a close-up shot. However, in DSLR (digital single-lens reflex camera) photography,it seemed to be used for a photograph with a 1:1 or higher magnification. From what i found out a Macro lens is marked with the magnification, like 1:1 or 1:5.

I found a page online ( see sources) that said 
"A 1:1 ratio means that the image would be the same size on film (negative) as in real life. A 1:5 ratio would mean that the subject would be 1/5 the size on film as it is in real life. Due to the small size of 35mm negatives and digital sensors, a 1:5 ratio is nearly life-size when printed onto 4"x6" paper."

So photographers usually use macro photography to capture small details of objects. Like bugs, drops of water or more texture on objects or plants.

So the actual Macro Lens on a DSLR camera are expensive! But i did read that there is a Macro mode on point and shoot camera's ( i can experiment with the college cameras) but not to zoom in to far because it can lower the quality of the image.

I wanted to start looking at some macro photography and I remembered a photographer we looked at briefly in class and i wanted to look at some of his work.


Karl Blossfeldt was a German photographer known for his close-up photographs of plants and living things.

Dryopteris filix mas (Common male fern)
Polystichum munitum (Sheild fern)

I find his work really interesting because he is more known as a sculptor and there is something very sculptural about these images. His images themselves are very unique for the time, this was a very different way to photograph and not many plants were captured like this.

He used these images to teach drawing classes. He didn't print a lot of these onto paper but used them on projection slides for students to draw from, which i think is key to why these images are so interesting. The compositions are very different from a typical photograph, if you think of them for design purposes they work extremely well ( like a William Morris print).

I thought it was so interesting he was cataloging all these images of plants and i thought he must have spend so much time and money finding these interesting plants but then i read he got most of his plants from around his home. I also read not a lot is known about how he processed his images but that he did make his own cameras.

Anemone blanda (Windblume)
Cotula Coronopifolia



























These kind of immerse me into a different world. They don't look real, i guess because its not something you would see by just looking. I love the depth in them and those dark tones.

I dont have a macro lens or a camera really but i do have my phone, i wanted to experiment a bit and see if i could try and capture objects in a slimier way with what i have with my phone... natural lighting and a zoom.








This was a bit more challenging and obviously i cant magnify as much as i would like to. If i got too close my phone camera wouldn't focus so i had to take it far away and then crop on my phone, i used Instagram to edit these as i like some of the editing features on it.

It is defiantly a from of photography i enjoy and am interested in. I would like to experiment with macro photography and perhaps making scenes with figures or paper cut outs and lighting. 







Sources:
https://www.lifewire.com/an-introduction-to-macro-photography-493727

https://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/artists/58-karl-blossfeldt/overview/

https://amanostudy.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/karl-blossfeldt-an-early-approach-to-nature-photography/

https://www.dummies.com/photography/digital-photography/types-of-photography/why-use-macro-and-close-up-photography/

https://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/what-is-a-dslr-camera/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOc2aUL1834

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

...

When i was a kid, i got asked to produce a drawing that expressed Autumn, the winner got the work in a calendar for the school. I worked and i worked on this drawing, expressing my feelings of Autumn. I won. I told my Mum and Dad that they could buy the calendar with my work in it, i was so proud. I showed my parents my work, and although they were happy for me told me they that although it was good, my sister's new drawing of a bird was better... more realistic. Through out all of my childhood and teenage years, i was told i was not as good as my sister and to this day i still do. I would constantly compare my work to hers, and eventually i gave up art completely. I had a pang of jealousy when i would see other peoples art work, and suppress the jealous feeling towards my sister and the anger i felt towards my parents. I felt even more guilt and as i grew i built up this wall around myself, i put on a mask of a confident girl, who did not feel jealousy, sadness or frustrat
2 comments
Read more

Dada Collage part 2

I released i was trying to copy Hannah Hoch's    Das Schone Madchen/ beautiful girl collage instead of understanding it so i decided to research the artists and this peace of work i found out this is a photomontage made in the 1920's that deals with gender issues amidst the dawning of Germany’s New Woman. the hair and womans body is looking at beauty trends and expectations in women of that time and the Car parts are contrasting with the way society looks at women, even today. I started noting similarities in what i felt Hoch was trying to say was the modern women in the 20's and what is a modern woman today. trying to keep similar colours and tone, i chose a modern day hair style as well as a measuring tape and lipstick to suggest modern day female beauty standards, i chose the black and white woman at the top for minimalism but put the iconic 2015 brows over the top, i kept the BMW badge but c hanged it to the 2015 one as i felt their is still an association with
2 comments
Read more

View point Task 1.

Conduct market research into the range of publications available for the target age group . Free and for sale. Contemporary and historical sources - visual and non - visual.  I wanted to start my research with a range of publications. At this point i am unsure where i am going / what i want to do so i thought i would just start with exploring a wide range of publications as the brief says to try and find my interest. I started with a well known magazine that 18 - 30 year olds would look at, i thought about interests and started with fashion.  Vogue  I liked this cover above because it is very minimal, and i think that is more stylish and clean looking. I like the black and white look and the muted tones in it, like the title 'Vogue' i think works really well with the black and white. The magazine usually has more type in it.... I thought this was a good example of what an issue of vogue usually looks like, it is still quite minimal and looks ver
2 comments
Read more