Category: Part B: Everyday Geometry

Biscuits and chocolates were my next subject idea for this assignment, as they aren’t organic and are mass produced and shaped by machinery, therefore I hoped that each individual item would be the same size and shape, eliminating some of the chances of inaccuracy. I searched the supermarket shelves to find a variety of interesting snacks that were also shaped geometrically and that I could envision would make effective compositions. Party Rings, Chocolate Rounds, Shortbreads, Pink Panthers, Chocolate Digestives and After Eight Mints were all chosen to be my subjects; the most challenging of them were the ones coated in chocolate, which always held the possibility of melting and left the occasional mark on the card I used in the background. It was great fun to experiment with compositions and arranging these delicious treats into eye-catching, novelty images that I think will form an interesting set as a group of 4, with similar subject matters carried across each image. Also, I took the feedback from the last tutorial into account and chose the coloured card in the background by referring to the colour wheel and using complementary colours to further make the images pop.

Here are the original images:

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Next, I chose the most successful, accurate images and took them into Camera Raw and Photoshop to use the pipet tool to selectively choose individual areas of the images and change the Hue, Luminance and Saturation of the colours to really make the colourful backgrounds pop, and make the subject matter stand out from the background. I wanted these images to have high impact due to the bright colours and the novelty of using biscuits, with some nostalgic snacks from childhood in there such as the Party Rings and Pink Panther biscuits. These images are below:

After experimenting with organic matter with the fruit from the last Geometry shoot, I decided to try using a different type of everyday item to photograph. Pencils are used by most people everyday and are mass produced in a sturdy material like wood, which means that each pencil in a new pack should be the same shape and size and they are easier to arrange and compose. I arranged the pencils on some baby pink card that contrasted very effectively against the colours of the pencils. I placed them in the same order that they appeared in the original packaging, to keep them in the order of the rainbow which creates a sense of order in the photograph. Then, I photographed them from varying focal lengths and changed the composition to create variety in my images.

Below are some contact sheets of the original images from this shoot:

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I also took inspiration from Sakir Gökçebag’s images; in particular I tried recreating his image of the watermelon slices arranged in a circle by arranging my pencils in a circle, too, as both of them give an interesting “spiky” kind of texture to the image. Below is a comparison of Gökçebag’s image (left) next to one of my images (right):

Many of the images are underexposed and dark as I photographed them just before the sun was setting and I was losing light fast. I took the images into Camera Raw and Photoshop to try and brighten the images and exposure, and also add Lens Corrections to remove any weird curving and distortion of the images. The best images are below:

UPDATE: 23/11/2018

After the group tutorial today, I was given feedback on these images. My peers said that these images are more effective than those from the fruit photoshoot, however they aren’t yet “perfect” as the pencils are aligned slightly wonky and aren’t immaculately straight, whereas geometry is all about “perfection” and accuracy. Another thing that was pointed out was that the pencils aren’t all facing upwards with the writing facing the camera, therefore it would be even more effective and pleasing to look at if the images were retaken with the writing facing the same way, ensuring the pencils were even more uniform. I may retake these images if I have time, but first I will continue exploring new ideas and undertake a photoshoot with biscuits and similar items, as I feel like this will create an effective set of images, whereas it would be harder to create 4 interesting images with this single media.

Taking inspiration from Sakir Gökçebag, I decided to experiment with photographing fruit for the Everyday Geometry assignment. I decided it would be best to use lemons, limes and kiwis, as these fruits are already quite round in shape, and I find that circles are a pleasing and calming shape as there are no sharp corners; they also have intriguing natural shapes inside them when they are sliced, such as triangles and the unusual shapes and seeds inside a kiwi fruit are particularly unique. Next, I bought a few different coloured pieces of card that I thought would contrast well against the chosen fruits, in colours such as yellow, green and orange. I tested out the most successful colour combinations between background and subject, and found that the green of the kiwis contrasted very effectively against the bright orange card. I also inverted the colours between the lemons and limes, using yellow card for the limes, and green card for the lemons. I sliced the fruit into circular slices and arranged them in various different compositions to find the most effective ones. At the end of my shoot, I found cutting these slices in half and forming triangular shapes was also effective, although I think I prefer the impact of the larger round slices.

Here is a slideshow of the original shots from this shoot:

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Next, I chose the most successful images and edited them in Camera Raw to enable Lens Corrections which removed any slight curving at the edges, adjusted the exposure as the images were quite dark and underexposed, and used Photoshop to remove some of the markings on the card or slight imperfections in the fruit. This was the result:

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UPDATE: 23/11/18

Today, we had an informal tutorial to present and discuss our images with our peers. I was given positive and constructive criticism from both my tutor and peers, such as: the simpler compositions such as “DSC_0156.tif” prompted a smile and created a calming, pleasurable effect as the round shapes and arranging the fruit in a line gives a sense of order. As fruit is organic matter, no two pieces of fruit are shaped exactly identically, therefore some imperfections and differences can be seen in the images, and I was told this takes away from the idea of “perfection and accuracy” in geometry; similarly, arranging the subjects freehand gave imperfect compositions and therefore I was advised to be more accurate when reshooting the images, such as drawing markings on the card and using a ruler to create identical spaces between objects. Then, I communicated my troubles with inconsistent lighting and shadows, and was advised to stand the subjects on bottle top lids to lift them further away from the card and reduce the shadows. Lastly, I was advised when choosing the colour for the card in the background, to look at the colour wheel and use complementary colours to show thought and consideration for the choice of background.

From this feedback, I have decided to do another shoot but this time using biscuits and sweets, as these are mass produced using machinery and will hopefully provide more identical subjects; I will also use rulers to more accurately place the items when composing the images, and hopefully both of these things will help produce more accurate and “perfect” geometrical images. I will also look at the colour wheel when choosing the right background, using opposite colours every time, showing my understanding of this important concept in art and design.

The Everyday Geometry assignment seems like a challenging assignment. Starting from the beginning and to experiment with the camera and my ideas, I found some conkers on an autumnal walk and decided to photograph them arranged in different geometric shapes. The conkers themselves are shaped closely like circles or spheres, with each one being unique as no conker is formed the same. Arranging a handful of these conkers into other geometric shapes further communicates the intention of the assignment. Also, conkers can be nostalgic as they bring back memories of conker picking and battles as a child, which most people can relate to, therefore adding another meaning to the image.

Here are my results: