What makes a creative photograph? This talk summarizes five approaches to make creative photographs. For each approach, many example images from the internet are used to demonstrate how the method works in practice. For more explanations on example images, please visit my blog: http://jbhuang0604.blogspot.com/

1. What Makes a
Creative Photograph?
Jia-Bin Huang
jbhuang0604@gmail.com
http://jbhuang0604.blogspot.com/
July , 2010
Taiwan
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2. What this talk is about?
Five approaches to make a creative photograph
Hundreds of fantastic photographs as examples
Only talk about ideas, no difficult technical stuffs
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3. You don’t take a photograph,
you make it.
-Ansel Adams
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4. Outline
1 Create Context
2 Break Context
3 Prosopopoeia
4 Short Exposure Time
5 Long Exposure Time
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5. Outline
1 Create Context
2 Break Context
3 Prosopopoeia
4 Short Exposure Time
5 Long Exposure Time
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6. Create Context
What is context?
Context is the surroundings, circumstances, environment, background,
or settings which determine, specify, or clarify the meaning of an event.
How can we create a visual context?
Single object
Composition of shape and texture
Multiple objects
Putting (different objects) in context
Putting (human and objects) in context
Putting (objects and environments) in context
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7. Create Context
Composition of shape and texture
Putting (different objects) in context
Putting (human and objects) in context
Putting (objects and environments) in context
Taking shape from one object and texture from another object
to produce a new object.
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8. Shape = scorpion, Texture = carrot
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9. Shape = hourse, Texture = cloud
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10. Shape = shoes, Texture = Bread
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11. Shape = frog, Texture = fruits
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12. Shape = light bulb, Texture = fruit
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13. Create Context
Composition of shape and texture
Putting (different objects) in context
Putting (human and objects) in context
Putting (objects and environments) in context
Combining different objects to create an event. Usually
transform one unrelated object into another via similar
appearance/shape/texture.
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14. Fork + Lines (transformed to noodles) = Pasta
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15. Match + Grain (transformed to fire) = Match on fire
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16. Flame + Lollipop (transformed to match) = Match on
fire
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17. Bulb + Match (transformed to light from bulb)= Light
bulb turning on
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18. Plant + Bulb (transformed to pot) = Pot plant
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19. Create Context
Composition of shape and texture
Putting (different objects) in context
Putting (human and objects) in context
Putting (objects and environments) in context
Putting human and objects in perspective creates an
interesting image.
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20. Interact with a picture
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21. Interact with a picture
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22. Interact with a drawing
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23. Interact with a photograph
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24. Interact with a painting
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25. Interact with the sun
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26. Interact with the sun
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27. Interact with the carpet
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28. Interact with architectures
You probably use this trick often
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29. Create Context
Composition of shape and texture
Putting (different objects) in context
Putting (human and objects) in context
Putting (objects and environments) in context
Putting objects and environments in perspective creates a
reasonable image.
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30. Photograph in perspective
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31. Postcard in perspective
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32. CD cover in perspective
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33. Monitor desktop in perspective
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34. Souvenir in perspective
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35. Souvenir in perspective
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36. Souvenir in perspective
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37. Framing
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38. Framing
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39. Framing (by hand)
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40. Outline
1 Create Context
2 Break Context
3 Prosopopoeia
4 Short Exposure Time
5 Long Exposure Time
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41. Break Context
Where do these visual contexts come from?
Laws of physics and common sense
How can we breack them?
Lighting
Scale
Geometry
Gravitation
Position, functionality, and common sense
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42. One example
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43. Break Context
Lighting
Scale
Geometry
Gravitation
Position, functionality, and common sense
We expect that light path follows the principle of least time in
optics (e.g., Snell’s law of refraction and the law of reflection.)
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44. Wrong reflection
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45. Wrong direct lighting
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46. Wrong refraction
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47. Break Context
Lighting
Scale
Geometry
Gravitation
Position, functionality, and common sense
Scale is the relative size of different objects or of an object to
a common standard. Images that violate our commen sense
on the scales of objects create dramatic effects.
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48. Big heads
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49. Huge fish
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50. Small sharks
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51. Tiny mushroom cloud (or huge hands)
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52. Extremely high building
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53. Large chair (this is real)
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54. Use perspective to enlarge a little girl
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55. or diminish the size of a man
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56. Break Context
Lighting
Scale
Geometry
Gravitation
Position, functionality, and common sense
Geometry is a part of mathematics concerned with questions
of size, shape, relative position of figures, and the properties
of space.
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60. impossible geometry
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61. Impossible escalator
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62. Impossible maze
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63. Folding the city - Inception
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64. Break Context
Lighting
Scale
Geometry
Gravitation
Position, functionality, and common sense
In everyday life, gravitation is most familiar as the agent that
gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to
the ground when dropped.
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76. Break Context
Lighting
Scale
Geometry
Gravitation
Position, functionality, and common sense
Objects appear, behave or are used in an unexpected way. It
contradicts our daily experiences about these
objects.Therefore, it can catch our attention.
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77. Dinosaur in the street
Wrong position
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78. Opposite position of human and bear
Wrong position
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79. Boat in a field
Wrong usage
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80. Woman shaves the beards
Wrong usage
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81. Use fork and knight to eat a pill
Wrong usage
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82. Use telephone lines as ropes
Wrong usage
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83. Use fingernail as a tin opener
Wrong usage
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84. Water pours out from a painting
Contradict common sense
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85. The human melt, not the popsicle
Contradict common sense
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86. The human shattered, not the vase
Contradict common sense
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87. The ants that move money
Contradict common sense
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88. Out of expectation
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89. Outline
1 Create Context
2 Break Context
3 Prosopopoeia
4 Short Exposure Time
5 Long Exposure Time
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90. Prosopopoeia
Why we want to imitate human?
We human are interested in and sensitive to everything related to
human.
What aspects about human can we imitate?
Form
Emotion
Behavior
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91. Prosopopoeia
Form
Emotion
Behavior
Arranging objects to imitate the human form (e.g., eyes,
noise, face, and body).
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92. Imitate a mouth
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93. Imitate a face
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94. Imitate a happy face
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95. Imitate hands
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96. Imitate a human cranium
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97. Imitate a face
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98. Imitate a human skeleton
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99. Imitate a human sillihoute
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100. Prosopopoeia
Form
Emotion
Behavior
Imitate the human emotions by expressions.
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112. Prosopopoeia
Form
Emotion
Behavior
Imitate human behavior, action, or event.
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130. Outline
1 Create Context
2 Break Context
3 Prosopopoeia
4 Short Exposure Time
5 Long Exposure Time
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131. Short Exposure Time
Why do we use high-speed photography?
High-speed shots provide us with photographic glimpses of
faster-than-sight phenomena invisible to the naked eye.
Popular topics in high-speed photography?
Water
Smashing stuffs
Deformation
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132. Short Exposure Time
Water
Smashing stuffs
Deformation
Capture the moments of the splendidly water splashes.
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148. Short Exposure Time
Water
Smashing stuffs
Deformation
Capture the moments of the exploding and shattering stuffs
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154. Short Exposure Time
Water
Smashing stuffs
Deformation
Capture the moments of object deformation
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157. Outline
1 Create Context
2 Break Context
3 Prosopopoeia
4 Short Exposure Time
5 Long Exposure Time
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158. Long Exposure Time
When do we need long exposure time?
People use long exposure time to
Capture the trajectories of light sources
Express motion
Produce silky smooth effect on water/cloud
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159. Long Exposure Time
Capture the trajectories of light sources
Express motion
Produce silky smooth effect on water/cloud
Time-lapse photography in dim light environments can record
the trajectories of light sources (e.g., stars, fire, flashlight)
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167. Painting with light
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171. Long Exposure Time
Capture the trajectories of light sources
Express motion
Produce silky smooth effect on water/cloud
Motion blur in part of the photograph can express the motion.
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172. Subject is in focus while the background is blurred
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175. Background is in focus while the subject is blurred
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183. Long Exposure Time
Capture the trajectories of light sources
Express motion
Produce silky smooth effect on water/cloud
Long exposure shot on moving water or cloud produces a
silky smooth effect.
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184. Moving water
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190. Moving cloud
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201. Photo references
Top 10 Most Awesome Approaches to Photography
60 VIsionary Examples of Creative Photography Part 1
60 VIsionary Examples of Creative Photography Part 2
Creative Photos Part 1
Creative Photos Part 2
56 Awe Inspiring Must See Creative Photographs
Deviantart
The source links of all photographs used as examples in this
slide are listed in http://jbhuang0604.blogspot.com/
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202. Thank you for your kind attention.
Questions?
For more complete materials and explanations, please visit my blog
http://jbhuang0604.blogspot.com/
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