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You have TWO classes to complete this project.
1) DAVID HOCKNEY'S "JOINERS"
2) HOW TO CREATE A DAVID HOCKNEY-INSPIRED "JOINER" COLLAGE (Video & Steps)
3) PROJECT: JOINERS (MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES)
4) STUDENT EXAMPLES:
1) DAVID HOCKNEY'S "JOINERS"
British artist and photographer David Hockney is partly best-known for his photography work in the early 1980s, where he created photo collages (called "joiners"). These were made using Polaroid snaps of a single subject, taken from multiple perspectives and at slightly different times, that were then manually assembled to create something very similar to cubism, the art form made famous by Pablo Picasso.
Take a look (all examples created by David Hockney):
If you wish to learn more about David Hockney and his process, check out this short clip from a documentary about him:
Fun fact: In November 2018, a David Hockney painting sold for $90 million (NINETY MILLION!!!!) at auction, a record amount for a living artist.
2) HOW TO CREATE A DAVID HOCKNEY-INSPIRED "JOINER" COLLAGE:
1) Pick a subject (for our purposes, let's stick to a single subject: person, object).
2) Photograph your subject many times. Do so from a close distance. Change your angle frequently, and make sure that you've photographed all parts of your subject at one point or another. Remember, you're going to digitally "assemble" these close-ups into a collage so don't feel like you need to capture the entire subject in one image.
3) In Photoshop, go to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack. Click on "Browse" and select all of the images. When you open these, a new Photoshop file will open with all of your images as separate layers (you might have to wait a minute for them to all render).
4) This file is going to be massive, so let's drop the resolution to be more manageable. Go to Image > Image Size and set the resolution to 72 ppi, NOT 300 ppi.
5) Now you need to create a large canvas to work with. Go to Image > Canvas Size, set the measurement to Percent, and put in much larger numbers. Maybe it's 1000% x 1000%, maybe it's 500% x 500%...that really depends on how much you zoomed in and how much bigger your canvas needs to be than a single image. You can always adjust this later.
6) Scroll down your layers palette until you see the lowermost layer. Click on it to select it, then click at the very bottom-right of your screen on the Create New layer button (it's right beside the trash can). This new layer should be at the bottom now.
7) Select the new layer, and go to Edit > Fill and select White. Now you have a basic white background to work with. Later on you can replace this with something different if you'd like.
8) Select all of your layers except this new white background (click on the top layer you want, then SHIFT-click on the bottom layer you want; this will select all the layers in between as well).
9) Using the Move tool (little four-arrow cross icon at the top of the left column in Photoshop; keyboard shortcut: V), drag the stack of images so they're all in the very corner of the image. We want them out of the way so we can start building our collage.
10) Turn off all of the layers (eyeballs) except the background.
11) Time to build your collage! Turn on your first layer, then move it to approximately where you think it should be.
12) Turn on your second layer and place it where you think it should go.
13) Do this with the rest of your layers, one at a time!
(Steps 14-19 after these important tips!)
IMPORTANT TIP #1:
While using the Move tool, you might want to ensure that the "Auto-select" box is checked. This means that whatever image you click on, that layer will be selected and respond to your clicking-and-dragging. You might, however, want to disable this feature if you're trying to move an image that's hidden under other images. In that case, un-check the box and select the layer you want to move by selecting it on the layer tab, not on your actual document.
IMPORTANT TIP #2:
To change which images appear on top and which will go underneath others, you need to change the layer order. Simply click on a layer in the layer tab and drag it up or down to determine which layers go to the "top of the deck" and which go further down.
IMPORTANT TIP #3:
To enlarge or shrink an image, use the Free Transform command by pressing CTRL-T. You can then "drag in" the corners my holding down SHIFT and click-dragging inwards. Click ENTER to accept the change or ESC to cancel. Bonus tip: To have an image enlarge or shrink but stay centered where it is, hold down ALT-SHIFT while clicking.
IMPORTANT TIP #4:
To rotate an image, use Free Transform (CTRL-T) but hover your cursor above the selection box until it turns to a little curvy arrow. Then, click and drag left or right to rotate the image. Click ENTER to accept the change or ESC to cancel.
IMPORTANT TIP #5:
To crop individual images, don't use the crop tool, as that will crop your entire canvas. Instead, follow these steps:
- Select the layer that you wish to crop
- Use the rectangular marquee tool (M) to draw a box where you want the crop to occur
- Invert your selection (Select > Inverse or Ctrl-Shift-I)
- Press Delete to erase everything (on that layer) outside of your selection.
- Press Ctrl-D to deselect your box and make the marching ants disappear
14) After all your images have been arranged to your satisfaction, consider adding a little border around each individual image to give it that "collage" look. To do this, select your top image layer, click on the fx button in the bottom right of the screen, select Blending Options, then in the menu that pops up click on the word Stroke. Select white (or black or another colour) and adjust the thickness so there's a small edge. (Alternate option: use Drop Shadow or a different effect instead).
14B) To copy that layer style to your other layers, right-click on that layer and select Copy Layer Style from the menu, then select all remaining (desired) layers, right-click, and select Paste Layer Style. The other way is to do the effect on a single layer, then alt-left-click on the "Effects" sub-layer that appears, and drag (alt-drag, really) that onto each other individual layer. (Alt makes you copy the effect; not pressing Alt means you move it instead.
15) Make your background something other than pure white. Options include:
- You can fill with another colour (Edit > Fill, select Color)
- You can create a gradient (G) by selecting two colours in your pallette and drawing a line
- You can also add a texture look by selecting your background, going to Filter > Filter Gallery, and choosing one of the options in the Texturizer tab. This can be done in combination with solid colours or gradients.
16) Use the Crop tool (C) to crop the final image to the dimensions you like.
17) VERY IMPORTANT STEP: Your file is massive so we need to re-size it. Go to Image > Image Size, and re-size your image so that the longest dimension (probably the width) is 8000 pixels. If it was already less than 8000 pixels then you don't need to do anything. The other axis will scale proportionally.
18) Save your file as a .psd to your F:\.
19) Save it again, but this time as a .jpg. THIS is the file that you will hand in.
3) PROJECT: MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES (JOINERS)
You are to create one "joiner" collage and post it to your website.
The project must contain a minimum of 10 images but 20-25 is recommended. More images typically results in a better-quality and more interesting collage.
Use the steps listed above to create your masterpiece!
TO HAND IN:
1) Save your completed project as a .jpg.
2) Upload your image to your website (COM2205 Photography: Composition > PROJECT 6: MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES (JOINERS))
3) PUBLISH your site.
4) Go to CLASSROOM and add your image directly.
5) Complete the self-evaluation rubric and TURN IN.
4) STUDENT EXAMPLES
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