Abstraction: Texture and Geometry

Ralph Gibson

This assignment is based on the work of Ralph Gibson.  You will see examples of his work in class.  You can also go to his site http://www.ralphgibson.com/.  I caution you, if going online, you will notice a small percentage of his work involve photographing the nude.  You will see a few of them during class in a video documentary of his work.

Assignment Criteria:

1. Photograph parts of objects in the found environment that emphasizes Geometry and/ or texture. The object itself is not the subject.  Rather, the shapes and forms that you frame in the viewfinder as an abstract design becomes the actual subject.  The geometry should be the center of interest, so be sure to remember the use of the rule of thirds in placing content.

2. Use small fragments of large objects and avoid taking extreme close-ups unless you have a telephoto or macro len to clearly focus with a short distance . Most SLR cameras have about 18 inch minimum distance, while most point and shoots have about a 3-6 feet minimum distance for focusing. Using a zoom feature may help avoid blurry pictures as well. But get as close as possible.

3. Harsh side-lighting will emphasize texture the most. A light source directly behind you yields the least texture. Early and late in the day also is great light for textural subjects.

4. Make sure that the subject has good contrast compared to what’s surrounding it. This is called tonal placement. Light subjects against dark backgrounds, for example. Don’t be fooled by color value. Reds and greens can often appear the identical shade of grey, so be sure to just deal with light and dark differences.

5. SLR people should use as small of a lens opening as possible (f11-f22) for deep depth of field as long as your shutter speed stays fast enough to hand hold, 1/60 to 1/2000 of a second. If the shutter speed falls below 1/30, use a tripod or other support.

6. If you use large openings (f4,3.5 or f2) for shallow depth of field, be sure you manually focus on your subject.

7. Change your eye level-be unique!Don’t just stand there and click away.

Due from this assignment:

1 contact sheet of 24 images, edited with x,o,? and crop lines

3 single finals

1 final mounted composite image- dry mounted to create a radial pattern.