Final Images...

For my final images i used a series of kitchen utensils and firstly either abstracted them or transformed them, and secondly I created a pattern from the whole or parts of the object. I mainly found inspiration in works of Levi Brown, a product photographer and M.C. Escher, a mathematical graphic artist.

Spoon Transformation...

For the image above I have transformed the spoons into eggs and placed them inside a 1Doz egg carton as a background/supporting scene. the lighting setup was pretty basic with just a single light angled in toward the eggs/spoons, the way this light hits the eggs makes them look like golden eggs which is helped by the sepia overtone of the image. I think this was a very successful transformation because of it's simplicity in both form and objects in the frame.

Spoon Pattern...

The image above is a pattern formed of spoons. For this image I created an intire circle of spoons wich was then repeted through the image and resized. The lighting was simple again having a top down light which fully illuminated the spoons, also what helped this image was the reflection of me taking the photograph, my reflection can only be pin pointed by zooming in to a single spoon but the forms and colours that it gives off really help to add to the slightly bland/blank silver reflection of just the spoon itself.

Sushi Mat Abstraction...

This abstraction of the sushi mat was achieved by a low angle close-up shot of the mat which formed in ridges and valleys. The setup for this image was an underlit translucent white table which gave a very interesting background around the falloff of the light creating a white to black area which at the edge of the mat created a blue fade to black to contrast the stark white entrance that the image has.

Sushi Mat Pattern...

In this image I had intended on making a ninja star out of the sushi mat but as i had previously experimented with the spoons in a pattern I thought I would give it a go with the ninja star sushi mat. I really liked the results as it had a second level of abstraction of the ninja star. The setup for this image was similar to that of the spoons. This was then made black and white as I thought the colour of the sushi mat was a little distracting as i wanted to concentrate on it's form and also it made it siut the other patterns nicely as they are prodominantly black and white. Again like the spoons the form was replicated and the results look really good creating diagonal lines and interesting negative shapes.

Can Opener Abstraction...

This image is proberbly my favourite of the non-pattern shots as the angle and lighting gives the object a personality and reminds me of an election photograph the way the bright beam of light in the background hits the head of the screw and the angle of the head as if it was looking up and out to a brighter future (I know that was cheesy). The shot was taken using the double lens technique which mimics a macro lens allowing extreme close upswith a cool vingette that focuses the eye on the subject. the lighting was simply just a directional light which back lights the object but is slightly offset to highlight the head.

Can Opener Pattern...

The can opener pattern was proberbly the most successful pattern and kind of looks like a wacky 70's wallpaper much like the spoons. The setup for this shot was toplit but slightly angled toward one side to give the tip highlights and lowlights instead of looking flat and uniform, this is what gives the pattern an interesting look which when reflected adds to the pattern also. Much the same as the other patterns it was multiplied

Fourth shoot...

In this fourth shoot i focused on the abstraction of the suchi mat. I mainly used under lighting on a curved translucent background. This created very interesting high and low lights through the sushi mat and created an intersting fade to black around the falloff of the light in the background. Also in some shots i used some directional light to see what shapes would come from this to help abstract the surface of the sushi mat. This did not work so well so i decided to stick to just having the under lighting.

My favourites from this shoot were the last 10 or so where i was very low angle and close up though they had a slightly blueish tinge to them but could easily be edited out in Photoshop.

Third Shoot....

This shoot was focused on the can opener and abstracting its form. I played with directional and diffuse lighting to create differing feels through the images and used the double lens technique as in shoot two to get macro shots with a short focal length...

Here are the best from that shoot.....

Thoughts on images so far...

The egg carton image is quite successful especially with the sepia overtone. This is proberbly my favourite image so far. I think if anything i owuld maybe include some other kitchen objects in the background and find a way to take away the reflection on the spoons.

For these next images I thought a good way to tie togeather the series would be to make patterns of my objects, so have one pattern and one other image of each object. I left the background white so it can read easier as a pattern and not a 'scene' as such. Also the patterns create some awesome negative shapes especially in the sushi mat pattern.

Some thoughts...

Below are a couple of quick creations just to see what they would look like...\

I think the next step will be to play with lighting a lot more to see what kind of effects/abstractions i can create. Also I need to think more about background, what is in it and how it enhances the abstraction/transformation.

Research......

Maritus Escher:

M.Escher was a Dutch graphic artist who was inspired by the mathematical world, optical illusions, impossible constructions, infinity, architecture and tessellations.

He is most famous for his early works such as his 'Drawing Hands' (1948) and 'Relativity'(1953) which feature both his intrests in optical illusions and impossible constructions.

Though the work of his that im interested in is his tessellation works which are basically patterns of which the negative space left behind form a new object (usually animals) which are often the same as the original object. His most famous would have to be 'Sky and Water I' (1938) which features detailed fish of which the negative of it forms a goose in the end through a gradation in detail and use of black and white.

Ideas for final six....

My final three objects i have decided on are: Chopsticks, Sushi mats and Spoons.
As you can see they are all linked by being kitchen utensils.

Spoons:
My first shot will be an abstracton of the spoons making a pattern similar to old school wallpaper. They will be laid out in a circular pattern and may focus on wither the obvious patern or the negative of the pattern (mass and void).

My second shot will transform the spoons, making them look like eggs . The spoons will sit inside an egg carton and all turn and face the camera. will have to be careful with what it in the reflection of the spoons.

Sushi Mats:

My first image of the sushi mats will transform them into a ninja star. I will do this by repetedly folding the mat then sliding it foward to form triangular shapes which when put togeather will make a ninja star shape.

My second shot will be an abstraction of the mat. The mat will be folded and painted black and white and will alternate in these colours in the rise and run of the pattern.

Chopsticks:

My first shot of the chopsticks will transform them into the dark lines in an abstract painting. The spaces left behind will then be filled in with coloured card to complete the painting.

My second shot will transform the chopsticks into a forested landscape and will create both the felled trees and stumps and the undulating landscape.

Time for some more experimentation.....

In this shoot I experimented with macro photography.
I'm really interested in macro photography but I don't have a macro lens, so I experimented with two lenses a regular 18-55mm attached to the camera and then a 50mm fixed lens turned backwards and held up against the 18-55mm lens. This produced some amazing effects, you can get extremely close with a tiny depth of field and by having the second lens it makes a circular black view port that feathers into the image....

Here are some of the best from that shoot....