Project 8- Surrealism and Photomontage

The Final Results:

This photo consists of three pictures- a picture of Portland, my mom holding an umbrella, and the moon.  First I gave the picture of Portland a negative look to create a bizarre background.  Next, I cropped out the background in the picture of my mom by using the magnetic lasso tool.  I then moved the cropped picture onto the background and used a layer mask to shape up the sides.  Next, I used the magnetic lasso tool to crop out the background of the moon photo (which wasn't hard, as the moon looks almost perfectly round).  Next, I duplicated the picture of my mom, scaled some of them down to different sizes and arranged them in different places of the sky.

I didn't really have a specific kind of look I wanted to create with this image.  I brought in random pictures I took, cropped them and arranged them on a background... I am pleasantly surprised how this turned out.  The background image is a slow shutter speed photo of clouds at night, which creates a blurred, dream-like look.  I then added a gradient, which creates a purple, yellow, blue, and orange color scheme.  I showed this photo to my Dad and he said it reminds him of Peter Max's work.   

I created this photo with more of a focus on photo montage than surrealism.  The background is a portrait of Eli against a cool, green colored wall.  To give this photo something more, I took a picture of paint strokes on a wall to create a texture.  Other objects in this picture include a hand full of pedals and Eli reading a book, which seem to lead to his face, making this photo more dramatic.

Project 8- Surrealism and Photomontage Inspiration

Surrealism is a genre of art that can expressed through paintings, photos, and writing.  Surrealists find inspiration for their work through dreams and imagination, which often provides insight into the artists' lives.  Surrealism goes outside the boundaries of reality and everyday life.  Famous surrealist, Salvador Dalí, says, “Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.”

Work From Major Artists of The Surrealist Movement:

Rene Magritte

Salvador Dalí

Joan Miró

Photographers Who's Work Have A Surrealist Bent:

Ayumi Tanaka 

Photographer not specified, found on Tumblr

Lynn Skordal

Project 7- Alternative Process Through Digital Means

Daguerreotype:

The daguerreotype was created by Louis Daguerre in 1939.  A daguerreotype is made by treating a sliver-coated copper plate with light-sensitive chemicals, exposing it with a camera, then finally developing it with mercury vapor.  The result of this process is a highly detailed, bold, silver colored photograph.

Before:

After:

This is an extremely up close photo of a dried flower.  I wanted to turn this photo into a daguerreotype to put emphasis on the details of the flower.  To edit this photo I brought it into Photoshop, merged a texture layer onto it, added a vignette, added a border, took down the saturation, and used a blending mode that gave it a metallic look.  This is a brief summary of my editing process; I can't remember every step I took to create these photos.  I loved creating these photos, and stopped the editing process when I felt satisfied with the results.    

Cyanotype:

The cyanotype was created by John Herschel in 1842.  A cyanotype is made by mixing Potassium ferricyanide and Ferric ammonium citrate (green) in water, the blending them together.  Next, the solution is poured onto a card, piece of paper, or textile and dried in the dark.  Next, the objects or negatives are placed on the material and printed using a UV light.  After it is exposed to light, the material is processed by rinsing it under water.   

Before:

After:

I love cyanotypes of plants, I so decided to use a photograph of cherry blossoms.  I brought it into Photoshop, cropped it into a square, then added a navy blue tint.  Next, I used a brush around the corners to complement the blues and give it an organic look.  

Wet Plate Collodion:
Fredrick Scot introduced the wet plate collodion in 1851.  To make a wet plate collodion, pour collodion on a tin plate, place it into a silver nitrate bath with the light off for about three minutes, expose it with a camera, then finally cover the plate with developer and rock it back and forth until the image appears.

Before:

After:

This is my favorite photograph from this assignment.  I love wet plate collodian portraits, so I took this portrait of my little sister.  I don't remember the whole editing process, but these are the main things I did- I brought it into Photoshop where I made it black and white and slightly took up the contrast.  Next, I increased the intensity of the blues to make my sister's eyes stand out.  After these small tweaks, I blended two different types of textures onto this photo, merged the layers, duplicated the layer, then blended the same two textures onto the photo again.  Next, I used a blending mode that gave his photo an intense, metallic look.

Gum Bichromate:
To create a Gum Bichromate, apply a mix of water color, gum arabic and ommonium potassium dichromate sensitizer onto paper.  After the emulsion is dried, put a UV light directly on it.  Finally, float the print on water to develop it.  This process can be done about three to sixteen times.   

Before:

After:

This is another photo of a dried flower... close up nature photos and portraits are interesting subjects for this assignment.  I brought this photo into Photoshop where I cropped it into a square, made it into a cyanotype, added a border and added a watercolor paper background.  Next, I used a brush to add splotches of different colors such as yellow, pink, purple, blue, green and red to the photo.  These edits make this photo look like a colorful, abstract painting.