(5/1) Digital Photography Project

My first idea works with the relationship of digital photography and traditional art materials. I’m curious about the visual differences between the two mediums, and whether they can be combined to make a visually aesthetically pleasing piece. I would take the photograph of the weeds, and also take five more photographs of similar subject matter: any plants on the sidewalk, vegetables, trees, flowers, etc. Next, I would combine all five images on photoshop and then use and the most traditional material of oil paint and a canvas to create a painting. I’m interested to see whether starting with digital photography but ending with a regular painting makes a difference in the final product. Personally, I have made a painting working on still lives of greenery, literal observation, as shown below, and I’m wondering if using digital photography as a ‘sketchbook’ would enhance this piece.

My second idea, which is what I chose to execute, seeks to turn the literal into something abstract. Digital photography is able to capture great detail, textures, and differences in light. While this is one of its advantages, sometimes it can be too literal and limiting in message. I decided to incorporate digital drawing/painting from last week (in line with my personal objectives), to edit the photograph in Photoshop. I used brushes to highlight the light and bring attention to the relationship of negative and positive space. Nature often is thought as something that stems out of light — sunshine. I changed the adjustments of the photograph, and added a few stylized filters such as palette brush. Here are some intermediary images of the process:

This is the final product, where I cropped it, and I think it shows how such a vibrant, literal photograph can become a quiet and abstract image, showing the scope and potential of this medium.