Composition 4 | Experiments with scale
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The document discusses the effects of scale in photography, illustrating how altering proximity can render familiar subjects abstract and evoke curiosity in viewers. It highlights various artists and their works that experiment with scale, revealing textures and details often overlooked, while also utilizing techniques like tilt-shift photography to create surreal effects. Additionally, it emphasizes how scale can serve as a metaphor and impact the perception of both natural and man-made objects.
Composition 4 | Experiments with scale
- 1. All artwork is copyright of the artist. Where possible all artists have been named and all artwork dated. This document should be used for educational purposes only. Composition 4: Experiments with Scale Edward Weston Cracked Earth, Borrego Desert 1938
- 2. One of the main effects of scale in photography is that it can render the subject abstract and unrecognizable. Familiar objects become strange and mysterious, and the viewer must ask him- or herself: “What am I looking at?” Photographers can use both extreme proximity and extreme distance to achieve this effect.
- 3. Karl Blossfeldt Beckmannia cruciformis, Slough grass, fruiting spikelets c. 1928-32
- 4. Karl Blossfeldt Cephalaria, Scabious family c. 1928-32
- 5. Karl Blossfeldt Chestnut branches c. 1928-32
- 6. Karl Blossfeldt Horsetail shoots c. 1928-32
- 7. Susannah Hays Smilax Root 2000
- 8. Edward Burtynsky Rice Terraces #2, Western Yunnan Province, China, 2012
- 9. Edward Burtynsky Glacial Runoff #1 2012
- 10. Edward Burtynsky Pivot Irrigation #1 2012
- 11. Edward Burtynsky Xiaolangdi Dam #3, Yellow River, Henan Province, China, 2011
- 12. Experiments with scale can result in the emergence of undiscovered elements in every-day objects, such as textures and other details which are otherwise overlooked. Artists may use such images to contemplate the archival layering age lends to objects, and the impact of age and environment on man-made or natural objects. Such images are often timeless - could you say whether the image was taken in the 1930s or yesterday?
- 13. Aaron Siskind, San Luis Potosi 16 1961
- 14. Aaron Siskind Volcano 54 1980
- 15. Minor White Root and Frost 1958
- 16. Minor White Peeled paint 1959
- 17. Minor White Sound of one hand clapping 1957
- 18. Unexpected difference in scale lends photographs, collages or photomontages a surreal aspect, as in the following photographs. In some photos it suggests a misfit, a break in the normality of things, as in a weird dream. In other photographs it reinforces the intended focus of the scene, for instance the teenage girls in the following photographs. It can also serve as a metaphor, for instance in the work of Marc Da Cunha Lopes, in which giant cockroaches operate machinery.
- 19. Julia Fullerton-Batten Teenage stories, Milk Bottle 2005
- 20. Julia Fullerton-Batten Teenage stories, Broken Eggs, 2005
- 21. Tim Walker Eagle owl and hatched eggs 2010
- 22. Tim Walker Lily Cole 2004
- 23. Marc Da Cunha Lopes Cockroaches at work 2010
- 24. Marc Da Cunha Lopes Cockroaches at work 2010
- 25. The technique known as tilt-shift photography turns photographs of real scenes into seeming miniatures: “Tilt–shift” encompasses two different types of movements: rotation of the lens plane relative to the image plane, called tilt, and movement of the lens parallel to the image plane, called shift. Tilt is used to control the orientation of the plane of focus (PoF), and hence the part of an image that appears sharp. Shift is used to adjust the position of the subject in the image area without moving the camera back; this is often helpful in avoiding the convergence of parallel lines, as when photographing tall buildings. Other photographers working with scale use real installations to confuse the viewer.
- 26. Vincent Laforet Teterboro Airport 2006
- 27. Vincent Laforet Maria Sharapova, U.S. Open 2007
- 28. Vincent Laforet Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs 2007
- 29. Daniel Mennerich Niagara Falls N.Y. - Maid of the Mist 02 2010
- 30. Olivio Barbieri Tilt-Shift Rome Coliseum 2011
- 31. Slinkachu Bank Balance 2014
- 32. Slinkachu Alpining, Fulham, London 2014
- 33. Slinkachu Faded Grandeur, Lalla Hasna Park, Marrakech, Morocco 2013