I chose Groups and the subject is playing cards. I decided to photograph this cards are easy to photograph yet are effective. There are different varieties of things to present a deck of playing cards like fans, spreads and even scattering them around a table is interesting to look at. Photographing cards while in motion of a move shows huge finesse, for example when you spring them, each card falls to the other hand in a parallel fashion or when you faro cards, they weave into each other making it satisfying to gaze at.
I believe that cards are part of groups because each card are individuals that go together to form big displays.
There is something called cardistry which is when you manipulate playing cards in an artistic way. It comes from a branch of card magic which enhances a magician's performance but now it is a seperate art form expressed in many ways from fans, shuffles to two handed cuts. There are so many things you can do with a deck of cards that it cannot be explained or described through words.
I believe that cards are part of groups because each card are individuals that go together to form big displays.
There is something called cardistry which is when you manipulate playing cards in an artistic way. It comes from a branch of card magic which enhances a magician's performance but now it is a seperate art form expressed in many ways from fans, shuffles to two handed cuts. There are so many things you can do with a deck of cards that it cannot be explained or described through words.
Other problems I have encountered during my research is most of my inspirations come from videos not photographs, putting me at a disadvantage on finding photos. Despite my struggles I managed to find various websites that are dedicated to playing cards.
Dealers Grip
Dealers Grip is a company made up of a pair of individuals who do cardistry. They make video tutorials on card flourishing to people who are getting started at cardistry and are well known for their craft. There website is the only one I can find that has the photographs I need for my research and some of my photos are inspired by them but is in a video format so I have to improvise.
Theory11
Theory11 is a playing card company that sells premium quality playing cards. It is a central hub for magicians and cardists (people who do cardistry). They have a market place were magicians and Cardists from around the world share their ideas to people, giving them recognition and fame but their main priority is selling decks of cards which I have used in my photos.
My ideas
My first set of unedited photographs
What I need to improve is that I need to put more variety into my subjects, there's a little bit of repetition were it mostly consists of spreads and fans. To fix this issue I'm going to add more displays in so that I don't have to rely on close up shots anymore.
second set of unedited photographs
The problems I have with these photographs is that it's too saturated and too much light is being reflected from the cards. To further improve this I will be photographing outdoors, relying on sunlight to brighten my photos instead of the flash in my camera.
I am overusing the blue background since it's the only one that is tolerable and able to use. To fix this, I will have to go outside and explore different backgrounds to be able to increase my grades.
I am overusing the blue background since it's the only one that is tolerable and able to use. To fix this, I will have to go outside and explore different backgrounds to be able to increase my grades.