pre-visualisation exercise for better (landscape) images. · pre-visualisation is the act of making...

Workshop created for Arteveldehogeschool Gent, written by Ludwig Desmet – www.ludwigdesmet.com

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Pre-visualisation exercise for better (landscape) images.

1. What is this workshop about.

• As a (landscape) photographer, we do not always have the right circumstances to make the perfect images. The light can be dull, the moment of the day is not ideal, the weather conditions are not as wanted. This does not have to hold you back exploring a certain area or landscape for image opportunities on a later date. Pre-visualisation is the skill to imag-ine the ‘to be taken’ picture in your mind. A database of imaginary pictures should make your photography more efficient when the conditions are perfect, or should alow you to look out for images more efficiently when on the go. You do not longer have to decide on camera position, the angle of view, foreground, background, framing etcetera, as all these decisions had been made in your mind long before this moment.

• There is one exercise that is to be executed in group: describing a given image to a group of students who have not seen it.

• The second exercise is to be executed in pairs of two students (uneven numbers can be arranged for) but can be explained to the entire group of students at once.

2. What is pre-visualisation, an introduction:

When we are talking about photographing and developing an image, you could argue about the truthiness of the final result. “How do I know the scene presented itself really in the way I depicted it?” The answer tot hat question is not easy …


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Let’s start by saying that we all grew up with the false idea that a camera never lies. Actually the camera tells every lie you want it to tell, and at the same time it brings every truth that we want it to bring. It has no more objective value than a microphone. In the hands of Mar-tin Luther King, it will bring a message of justice and equality, in the hands of a dictator, it will bring oppression and fear.

From the moment you as a photographer, choose a certain viewpoint, you are changing the way the viewer will see the reality you are facing at the moment of the picture. Every camera-setting will influence the aesthetic qualities of the image. Aperture, shutter speed, exposure, focal length, they all have impact on the final look of the image. How about fram-ing? Do you vision the world trough a cardboard box with a rectangular hole in it? From the moment you include a certain part of a scene in your image, you exclude many other elements.

This makes the very nature of photography subjective, so you will never really know that reality and image are showing the same perspective, the image shows the perspective that the photographer wants us to see, of a reality that uncovered before his/her eyes.

As a photographer, I see three distinguishable moments in the creation of an image

• The moment I see a subject that appeals to me in a way that I decide to make a picture of it.

• The moment I decide on the technical aspects of the image creation: framing, expo-sure, camera position etcetera …

• The moment I develop the picture, in a way that it enhances the feeling I had in the first step, the manipulations in post production that define the final look of the image.

Pre-visualisation is the act of making these three distinctive moments work together as a whole, and even expand beyond the first image (scouting a location for a shoot at a differ-ent moment) and after the last image (envisioning an exhibition with a series of images).

Vision.

In an attempt to make photography a personal journey, it is important to develop your own ideas about the world around you or at least about the subject that appeals to your photography activities. The ability to define for yourself what is important in the image(s) you make will help you become a better, more engaged photographer. We are all unique beings, and we can only be unique in our photography if we photograph within our own vision. All too often photographers around the globe try to recreate images they have seen from other photographers. This will probably not lead to your own personal development as a photographer and certainly not to artistic merit. Ask yourself the question, why do I want to take this image, why do I want to take an image of a certain scene, what appeals to me, what makes me grab my camera and start working. This personal search for meaning is no more than your own vision.


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Visual language

Next to the subject you want to photograph, you will have to decide how you will bring your subject visually. What emotion, what atmosphere should the images have to transmit the story you want to tell. As an experienced photographer you should be able to take these considerations into account wile making technical decisions on framing, exposure, camera angle, focal length etcetera, they all have an impact on the visual result. How will the com-position support your story, how will the viewer read trough the image, and how well will your initial idea be understood? Or maybe you want your message to be read on a second-ary level, or only at the viewing of an entire series of images. …

Proces

A workflow based on a vision is not an easy process, and the process in itself will probably be of influence of your vision, so it is more of an organic, creative evolution. A workflow based on vision should contain content based decisions, as well as aesthetic based deci-sions, and technical mastery. By bringing these elements together, you as a photographer should be able to translate your ideas, your story, your vision, into ‘readable’ images. The idea, the visual form, the execution and the post production work together to bring your message. Understanding and accepting that this message can evolve, is probably a neces-sity if you want to give yourself the freedom to grow as a person as well as as a photogra-pher.

3. Exercise 1: One image is worth a thousand words.

One of the students receives a printed version of an existing image. Example below. (Any image with a certain complexity will do)


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The student is asked to describe the image in as much ways as possible, in as much detail as possible, working from the bigger structure to finer details along the way.

The class group is asked to make a sketch from the explanations they get.

The students explanations may look like this: (from large structures to fine details)

• The image has standard 2/3 ratio, horizontally oriented

• The image is depicting an outdoor scene

• The image has its horizon about in the middle

• The image is taken with a slightly wide angle field of view.

• The image is taken at person’s height

• There is a large foreground, unpaved, dry sand and small pebbles/rocks. The fore-ground fills about half the frame. It is fairly flat but sloped down to the left.

• There’s a primitive looking building at the left side, a more modern looking building at the right side. The left building is smaller than the right building, and there’s a gap be-tween the two. The left building fills only a small part of the image, the right building is coming almost to the middle of the image

• Both buildings are ground level only

• The right building is in ¾ perspective view, with the left side (the side facing the older building) in strong perspective.

• The image is showing moderately high mountains behind the gap and above te left building

• There is high sun, hard light, short shadows.

• There’s a large van parked in front of the right building

• …

• The person in the middle of the foreground is carrying two large, white jerry cans and is walking away from the camera.

This exercise is meant to grow awareness of the large amount of elements that describes an image, and how difficult it is to 1. Describe an image in words 2. Derive an image from a discription in words. It calls out to the student in front, to try to explain all elements in a logic manner, from general outline to finer detail, and it calls out to all students, to try to follow the logic in the explanation, with as little as possible fantasies.


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4. Exercise 2. (From idea to execution – exterior exercise)

1. Split the group of students in two groups of equal numbers.

2. Send out students with this task: Go out individually in the area around you, without camera gear, and look for a picture. Try to imagine as many details from the (pre-visualised) picture as you can. (make sure to send the two groups in different directions) Then come back. (15 minutes)

3. When all students have returned, make pairs of students, one of each group.

4. Explain to the students that they will not have to make their own picture, but explain it to their partner-student, who will make the picture based on the explanations given. There is a bi-directional exchange of information. They can use words, sketches … , to help the other student get a good understanding of where to stand – what lens to use – horizontal or vertical framing – what to exclude from the picture … etcetera. (10 minutes each)

5. Every student makes the picture that was described to him/her first. After that, every student makes his/her own picture. (20 minutes)

6. Students compare the images they made to the picture that was made by their peers. They evaluate which details were not well enough explained, which explanations have not been followed, or even which instructions proved to be impossible once on site with camera gear.

Conclusion, we often do not really investigate picture opportunities enough beforehand, and we rely too much on last-minute decisions while making a picture. The better we can pre-visualise an intended picture, the quicker we will be able to work when the light conditions are good.


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Images about this workshop:

Explaining the exercise to a group of students somewhere in the field (left) © cvo KISP – Cody Watson, explanation sketch (right) for the first picture below.

Some resulting image pairs: © different students from cvo KISP, Gent, Belgium.

pre-visualisation exercise for better (landscape) images. · pre-visualisation is the act of making...

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