100 Days of Posters / Day 047 of 100

Day 47: Crop to Abstraction

Get so close that a photo becomes a shape.

Chapter
05 Image Making
Level
Intermediate
Time
30–45 minutes
Canvas
1080 × 1350 px

The principle

Cropping changes meaning. Crop a photograph tightly enough and it stops being a picture of something and becomes pure colour, line and form. Abstraction asks the viewer to feel before they understand, and the moment they recognise the source can be a powerful reveal.

Objective. Use extreme cropping to turn photography into abstraction.

The brief

Take a photograph and crop it until it becomes abstract. Use the result in a poster for a contemporary art gallery.

Constraints

  • Use your own photograph
  • The original subject should not be immediately recognisable
  • Minimal typography

You're done when

  • A compelling abstract image
  • Considered relationship between image and type
  • A gallery-appropriate tone

Stretch goal

Make a series of three crops from one photograph that work together.