Form

Definiton & Theory

•Form is a three dimensional shape, such as a cube, sphere or cone.

•Sculpture and 3D design are about creating forms.

•In 2D artworks, tone and perspective can be used to create an illusion of form.

      To me, the pepper looks like a fist clenched in anger, this is to do with the intertwining parts of the pepper- that grip together - create a muscular shape. Symbolising strength and solidarity.

I feel like this image of flowers has been created in a pyramid shape because it shows the connectivity and bond between nature, he may have used the pink analogous colours to present calm and peaceful connotations of love. However, this image is abstract because its creates a geometric shape which Is viewed as unnatural , which contradicts the stereotype of flowers. 

IDEAS FOR FORM

dice

mouse 

pens 

rubbers 

camera

cups

bottles

plantpot

fruit

shoes

hat

watch

sweets 

carton

eggs 

glasses

IMAGE BANK - these images show the definition and theory of form.

Artists Research

The photographer I have chosen to research is Johnathan Knowles, he is an award winning english advertising Photographer and film maker. His work specialises in drinks,liquids, still life and people.

The above images focus on creating 3D shapes, therefore illustrating form. Johnathon Knowles carefully manipulates direction of light and the angles he takes his photos at to illustrate a realistic image. These images deliberately create a centre focus on a specific item and have been used in advertisement. In the first image, Knowles shoots from a low angle to create strong and powerful connotations of the Guinness glasses. He creates a 3D effect in the image of the nike shoes by carefully spacing the shoes so you can see a shadow beneath the sole, creating the illusion that the shoes are elevated. This connotes to me that the expense of these shoes are very high and they are rare. The third image of the milk bottles shows form using reflecton which allows the image to incorporate a 3D effect, the slanted angle which the objects are placed,shows the cylinder shape of the bottle, the colours used in this image connote purity and as the milk is not labelled, the freshness of the contents. I noticed that Knowles has used contrasting colours in a few of his images to really highlight the product being sold.

From this research I have been inspired to take pictures of popular consumer products. I will extend my research by looking at how form can be created using illusion.

IMAGES FROM OTHER PHOTOGRAPHERS -
The following images were added as part of my visual research.

These images all represent photographs that I believe I can capture with the resources that I have, I will include these images by other photographers in my contact sheet. I will vary some of my images so a few are in black and white, whereas a few I will intensify the colour.

(AO:1.  You must ensure that several of the visual ideas/inspirations within the image bank are pursued. )

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

Selected Images

My Best images (target 4 - 6)

I captured all of my photographs at an aperture of f8, ISO 200 and shutter speed of 1/25, this was determined by the light meter as I was using a soft box. My idea for representing form was to study popular consumerist products, and the different 3D shapes that I can capture within that theme. This was inspired by Jonathon Knowles's strong portfolio in advertisement photography.

This image was inspired by Johnathon Knowles's image of the Guinness glasses, I re-created the photo using the drink Lucozade, which I researched to be in the top 3 fizzy drinks bought in the UK. I did this by taking the shot as a close up from a very low angle, which like Knowles's photography connotes power, which I aimed to highlight as the drink gives you energy.

I chose this particular item as it represents the stereotypical English consumerist item - tea -, inspired by Johnathon Knowles's advertising photography. It also represents my views on fair-trade products which I strongly agree with.It was placed at an angle to highlight the form of the 3D shape, which I believe demonstrates a simplistic feeling. Also if the rule of third was placed over this it would be positioned to give a visual aesthetic.

 I chose this image as I was inspired by Knowles's photo of the nike trainers, this obviously fits in perfectly with my consumer products theme as trainers especially vans are popular shoes. I took this photograph at a low angle to give the shoes the connotations of strength, this links to the fact that these particular trainers last very long and are reasonably priced.

 This is my favourite image as I chose a very different stance when interpreting my theme through my photo. This is a picture of a beauty blender (well known and very popular to make-up users) which has an oddly unique egg-like shape, which gave me an interesting form to capture. I used a different coloured surface to highlight the contrasting colours like Johnathon Knowles did.

 This image was very much inspired by the tones in Jonathon Knowles's image of the milk bottle. The white colours represent purity and clarity which I think perfectly link with music as it is something that I think everybody loves. I have presented this idea through these earphones, which in turn a popular consumerist product, due to the rapid rise in technology use.

Photographs to Improve

This image needs to be improved as not all the items in the photograph are in focus. To improve this I could increase the aperture to create a wider depth of field, in turn increasing the ISO to achieve the best amount of lighting. This was inspired by Knowles's photography as I noticed he does a lot of advertisement photography for alcohol brands, but I chose shot glasses to capture a different form that still links together.

I took this image inspired by my research from other photographers. However, I think this image needs to be improved because the angle of lighting,which doesn't express the true form of the image. I could improve this by taking the image using artificial lighting so I can adjust the shadows that are being create to emphasis the 3D shape.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

I used a canon EOS 1300D DSLR camera for all my photographs. for my best images I took my photographs at at an aperture of f8, ISO 200 and shutter speed of 1/25, this was determined by the light meter as I was using a soft box. However, This image below is one of the images that I aimed to capture the detail of the form as it is a very abstract 3D shape, using a higher aperture of f11. It fits in my theme of popular consumer items and to me represents the urge for consumers to feel and look wealthy by wearing traditionally expensive items. I took this image using an illusion that the object is standing straight using blue-tac then editing in photoshop.

I edited all of my images in Photoshop by changing the white balance I did this as I noticed that the background and particular elements of the image were off-white making the photograph look unprofessional. This was inspired by Johnathon Knowles as he did advertisement photography, which mean his images would always be of outstanding quality.

Due to the white colours in both the background and the shoes, I had to add many layers to ensure I managed to make the items look as professional as possible, and exclude the yellow tones as well as ensure the background doesn't blend in too much with the trainers. For this specific image to make the photo look smarter I also used the spot healing brush tool to remove the dirty marks.

I also changed the black point on the image of the beauty blender to create smoother colours increasing the quality of the image, then also changed the white balance, highlighting the contrasting colours as I intended to.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

The artist research on Johnathon Knowles was extremely beneficial as it gave me the idea of popular consumerist products to focus on. This gave me a wide range of form to capture and has made me think about a lot of issues concerning consumerism in the world. I also received information from other sources which I have linked to this blog post, which showed me the rankings of popular items so my work would be as realistic in information as possible, yet abstract in the photos I capture. My research from other photographers influenced me to think outside the box with my approach to form, as it made me look at items that demonstrate form in critical and creative way.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.  

My Final Images 

I am confident that my images highlight and in a sense re-create ideas represented by Johnathon Knowles, through the quality and products featured in the images. my final set of images definitely illustrates my theme of popular consumerist products, and my changing of white balance and black points in photoshop has significantly improved the quality of my images, making them feel more professional.

Although this was not my original intention , all of these items relate to the kind of things that I drink, use and wear; very much representing items that I consume and buy. I believe this is ironic as it shows that I follow lots of mainstream fashion and enjoy the stereotypical british hot drink, tea. This shows to me that I have channelled my personality and interests through my photographs.

As an extension of this work I thought about times that can represent form to do with technology, linking back to my theme of popular consumerist products.

I feel this last image is not my best photo as I could not move the computer to a studio to take a professional shot, and when taking portrait images . As I overall feel that this image is not professional, mainly because it was not in the best of lighting.

I will use photoshop's, spot healing brush tool, white balance tool and other basic editing tools such as brightness and contrast as I did with my original best photographs, to create a stronger extension of my form photography. With the first image below I did my best to try and remove the blutac from the image whilst still maintaining a shadow, I used the clone stamp tool.