Formal Elements: Tone

Definition and Theory:

This refers to the lightness or darkness of something. This could be a shade or how dark or light a colour appears.
Tones are created by the way light falls on a 3D object. The parts of the object on which the light is strongest are called highlights and the darker areas are called shadows. There will a range of tones in between the highlights and shadows.
Without tone Form does not exist, tone is therefore an important aspect in the visualisation of 3D objects.

The Zone System is a photographic technique for determining optimal film exposure and development, formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer.

In this portrait it is clear that the path of light is coming from the top centre creating lighter exposure in areas like the mans forehead, nose and the top of his cheeks (just under his eyes). On the other hand, this also creates a much darker exposure in the areas under his eyebrows and towards the bottom of his face (near his mouth area). An element of masculinity is portrayed in this photograph as it has given him quite a defined face, highlighting his wrinkles and being darker underneath the eyes.

However, in this portrait it is a much lighter photograph, whilst still exploring the range of different black and white tones. Her dress is very dark and contrasts very well with her light skin tone. A lot of the shadows and the range of tones is found within the details of her hair. In this portrait there is an element of femininity, the complete opposite to the other photograph above. Marilyn Monroe is the young lady photographed in this image and has been presented very beautifully with clear and blemished skin, as if it has never been touched.

My Image Bank:

My Mind Map on Tone:

Photographer: Lee Jeffries

Lee Jeffries is a spiritual photographer who lives in Manchester in the United Kingdom. Close to the professional football circle, this artist began photographing sporting events. A experience meeting with a young homeless girl in the streets of London completely changed his artistic approach forever. His work expresses such emotion with just simple portraits. The main reason for this is due to the different tones within the peoples faces and details in their face. I believe their work is very clever and expressive and would enjoy attempting to create similar photographs.

Photographer: Imogen Cunningham

Imogen Cunningham was an American photographer known for her botanical photography, nudes, and industrial landscapes. Whether presenting the sensual human body or the interior stamen of a flower, the overall message is not that of sex for the sake of shocking the viewer, but rather to acknowledge the sensual and energetic pulse that runs through all of life. I enjoy the wide range of tones presented in her photographs and would like to attempt creating my own images similar to her style. Especially her style of capturing nature and flowers as it is one of my favourite topics within photography.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

My Contact Sheets:

Throughout these images I have circled my favourite images in green. Whereas, there are a couple of photographs that may need improvements that have been circled in red.

My Best Images (Non Edits):

Images that need Improvements:

Whilst producing my photographs I also produced a couple images that do not show the best of my ability and would need much more improvements in the future. I believe that these photos do not present a wide range of tones and could not link to this formal element. In the future, when shooting I will need to improve on the lighting within a photograph as well as the focus to unsure the subject is in the correct focus and defined correctly.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My Editing Process:

During my editing process I created all the photographs to firstly be processed into black and white. I photographed close up portraits and flowers to link to the photographers I previously researched. Both my photographer inspirations presented the photographs in high contrasts black and white. Therefore, exploring the range of different black and white tones that are found within each person or flower.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

My Edited Images:

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.

The Tone project was a large success during my study of the formal elements. I believe that primary research helped in my process of creating my final edited images because I managed to focus on the different tones in the tonal range from black to white. Also due to the fact that I focused on two different photographers that photographed different things I was able to explore tone in more than one style and effect. For example, photographing the people allowed me to think about the tonal range found within people facial features and expressions. However, also researching and focusing on the subject of flowers allowed me to photograph a favourite topic of mine- nature. Overall, I strongly believe that my tone project had the most successful final outcome edited images in my whole topic of formal elements.