"Impressionism," Weekly Photography Assignment for 19 - 25 April 2010

[keithsnell]

Impressionism was a 19th century art movement that started in Paris, and the name of the movement is derived from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, Sunrise.  Impressionists emphasized color over "line" in an attempt to re-create the sensation felt by the viewer of the original subject (to recreate the "impression" of a subject), rather than recreating the object itself.  They emphasized vivid overall effects rather than details.  Techniques used in the impressionism style include short, thick strokes of paint used to quickly capture the essence of the subject, rather than its details, and colors applied side-by-side with as little mixing as possible, creating a vibrant surface and recreating the "play of light" on the subject.  It is because of these techniques that often the viewer is able to perceive a cohesive view of the scene only when viewing the work from far enough away that the distinct brush strokes and colors blend together to create an impression of the scene.  One of the best examples of the impressionism movement is still Claude Monet's Impression Sunrise:

Impression - Sunrise, Claude Monet

Using photography techniques to create a non-literal "impression" of your subject can expand your compositional skills and artistic abilities.  Just as with our previous assignment on "The Essence," trying to distill a subject to an "impression" can help you recognize what attributes are important in order to effectively convey your subject to your viewer.  An image that effectively uses panning to convey a subject in motion (while capturing very little detail in the subject) could be categorized as "impressionism," as could images that use color and light to recreate the sensations a viewer would experience when viewing a particular scene.  Most often, it is images that are out of focus and provide just an impression of the subject through color and basic forms that are considered to be impressionism.  Here is one image that I would consider to fall within the genre of impressionism:

Tulips

I do have to say that as a photographer, I have a tough time accepting an image where everything is out of focus.  Consequently, I will often include an element in the image that is in focus, even if it is a minor part of the image.  Like this:

Tulips

I find that if my background works by itself as an impressionist work, then it will often complement and strengthen the primary subject without being too distracting.  In this case though, it is the in-focus subject that complements the primary impressionistic components of the composition.

Here is another image in a similar style:

Tulip and Friends
(Primary subject in front of an 'impressionistic" background)

The background by itself would make a pleasing composition, and captures the impression of a large group of multi-colored tulips, and so it complements the foreground subject very well.  Both of the images above violate one of the "rules" of good composition, which is to ensure that the background does not distract the viewer's attention from the primary subject.  In both cases above, the background is the primary subject, with the foreground element simply providing a complementary element (and satisfying our desire to have something to "focus" on in the composition).

And one more, where only a very small portion of the image is in focus:

Peeking Tulip

The final image is probably the best match with the style of impressionism, and also includes a sense of movement, which was considered by some to be an important element of the style:

Wind and Wildflowers

This image was created almost out of necessity.  We had traveled quite far to photograph wildflowers in the Hill Country of Texas, but were plagued by high winds.  Because is was nearly impossible to create a blur-free image of the wildflowers, I decided instead to try to capture the sense of wildflowers in the wind.  I was pleased to see that a slow shutter speed of 1/10th of a second was enough to create an effect that replicated the "brush strokes" of impressionism and provided a sense of the frenetic movement of the wildflowers in the wind.  It is sometimes "liberating" to experiment with creating images in the style of impressionism, since it frees the artist from concentrating so much on creating a literal copy of the subject and instead allows them to concentrate on recreating the "impression" of the scene.  Balance, color and tonality take on much more importance when the viewer is not distracted by a detailed replica of the subject.  

The assignment for the week of 19 - 25 April 2010 is "Impressionism."  Please upload your images to the "Impressionism" album in the Weekly Assignments category of the Gallery no-later-than midnight Mountain Time (GMT - 07:00) on Sunday, 25 April 2010.

I'll look forward to seeing your images.  HAVE FUN!

Keith

[Michele]

Your last one does have a Monet style to it.  I can almost envision the paintings in my head.  You know, it helps when you are going blind, at least, it did for Monet.  Not so good for a photographer...  

Hmmmm, I wonder what photos are going to appear this week.  Looks like it will be a fun style to try and capture.

[Michele]

This is the one I was thinking of...

P.S. Can I take a picture of a painting?

P.P.S.  Your peeking tulip is amazing.

[Michele]

Now, I understand what is impressionism, but would a clear picture with a reflection be considered impressionism.  For example.

[Michele]

As it would not be a clear picture of the church but an interpretation of the church?  I guess it would also be a self-portrait... Tee hee.  This is a picture of the church reflected on the side of the school on the other side of the street.

Not quite impressionism in the classical sense, but an interpretation of it.  Well, I don't know, that is why I am asking.

[keithsnell]

This is the one I was thinking of...

P.S. Can I take a picture of a painting?

P.P.S.  Your peeking tulip is amazing.

Sure, you can take a picture of a painting.  If it is a modern work, there might be copyright issues, but the older classics are all in the public domain.

Thank you.  I debated with myself about whether or not the Peeking Tulip image could really qualify as impressionism, but I liked it so I included it.   :-)   There really is quite a variation in style within the genre of impressionism, and many do include sharply defined elements.  I have several older images (taken on slide film) in the Monet style, but I didn't have time to scan them in order to use them as examples. 

[keithsnell]

Now, I understand what is impressionism, but would a clear picture with a reflection be considered impressionism.  For example.

Yes, this could be considered impressionism.  Basically any "non-literal" (meaning the opposite of "factual and unimaginative") presentation of a subject can be considered impressionism.  Your image is a very good example of presenting an "impression" of a subject without recording a "factual" record of the subject.  I like it.

Keith

[Michele]

Ok, the photo of a painting was a joke....  Note the smiley face.

Also, Manet would be impressionism as well and he had much sharper paintings.   I think it was just that the realism of the painting did not conform with the art world in its time and impressionism (impression of a real work of art) was considered an insult but the term stuck.  It was color, light and movement.

But you did not answer my question.  Do you think a reflection would be impressionism?

[Michele]

You answered me while I was talking to you... 

[keithsnell]

Here's another example of an image photographed by Cindy Miller Hopkins that matches the style of impressionism.  

Photographed by Cindy Miller Hopkins

As Michele mentioned, motion is often considered an important element in the style of impressionism.  The key is to produce the right amount of blur to still retain an "impression" of the subject (or background).

[Michele]

That's a cool image.  That would have been made by panning the camera, right?

[keithsnell]

That's a cool image.  That would have been made by panning the camera, right?

Yes, Cindy was panning the camera for this image.  She took the image with a 170mm focal length lens and a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second (read from the EXIF data in the image file).

There are several more good examples in the gallery from the "Motion" weekly photography assignment.

Keith

[keithsnell]

Dave Leiker (prairiedust) also has several good examples in his Calligraphy of the Plains gallery.

Keith