View Point Images

Today we did an entire lecture on view points and were asked to produce at least two good images which show view points.  I went out and about and I shot these two images which I decided to put up on my blog.

 

I love the image above which shows a good example of view point.  I took this image in Didsbury Village this afternoon as part of today's exercise. 

This is another perfect example of View Point, which I shot just outside college.

Studio Photography

 For this part of the assignment, we were asked to produce at least 10 images different to show our understanding of the different characteristics of studio photography.

I will now review my own studio photography images below as well as evaluate these characteristics

Research:

• To achieve maximum image quality with minimum noise the camera should be set to the lowest ISO setting available, usually ISO 100 or 200.
• Shooting in RAW so that the maximum amount of picture information is stored for later is always ideal.
• Setting White Balance to Daylight to enable easy batch editing later is always ideal
• Using single shot drive mode, rather than continuous is highly recommended
• Using small apertures to maximise detail – at very close range, even the smallest aperture can result in depth of field measured in millimetres.
• Using wide apertures to emphasise a sharply focused subject against a blurred background is also ideal

1).Flower Photography

For this particular photograph, I used a wide-angle lens to do the job. It enabled me to include the plant as well as the background hence there’s more information available for the viewer. Depth of field was also greatly increased, so my image was nice and sharp all the way from the foreground to the background.

For this session, we used different lighting techniques to reflect light from different angles of the reflectors in order to capture every detail of the image. For this particular image I was mainly interested in capturing the front of the flower therefore soft light on a very low setting in front of the flower was ideal.

This session was also particularly interesting because we got the chance to experiment with different gel sheets, for example greens, orange, reds, and purples. Some colours worked slightly better than others, for example the blue.  It is evident from the image above that the blue gel sheet worked perfectly to bring out the flower's vibrancy.   At one point I experimented with at least 3 different sheets (see image below) but it did not have the same effect as having one sheet on the reflector.








2).Textures

I found photographing texture particularly difficult.  I did not want to give an impression that I was photographing glass and therefore I tried as hard as I could to bring out the textures of the flowers and glass rather than the glass itself.   Using a macro lens for this particular shoot would have enabled me to focus up close and to really fill the frame with my image. A macro lens produces images recorded on the sensor at life-size or larger. The only downfall is that when using a macro lenses, great care has to be taken when focusing on the image as depth of field is very limited when up so close to the subject. Therefore, it would still not have been ideal for this shoot as I was trying to capture everything in the image

 Shooting in manual
 Shooting these images for my task on textures in manual enabled me to choose the aperture and shutter combination that gave me the results I really wanted.  I also discovered through editing some of my images that checking the histograms will show if there is any need to change a setting in order to produce a correctly exposed image. Bright flowers can fool the camera into underexposing, so shooting in manual and checking histograms helped overcome some of these problems.



3). Low Key 
Low Key refers to the different tones which are used in a image.  It is also made up mainly of dark tones and this part of the assignment, I experimented with diffrernt tones including high key inorder to achieve the look below.  I would like to point out that I am not particularly excited about the potrait belowbecause it has burned out highlights on the guy's face.  Perhaps I should have underexposed by two stops which would have possibly corrected the different exposures on my camera to get the perfect balance for this shot. 

For this shot I used 1 light suorce (see below) I aslo experimented without a reflec­tor to bounce light back into the sub­jects’ face.  Perhaps I aslo allowed light to reach the background and hence the burnt out highlights.

I have just added some images of what it is I was actually doing when I was preparing the set for my model.  These are not the final images, but however it was part of my research and planning.  I was tring to get the correct exposure, ISO, etc before actually beginning the shoot.  The low key image above was the final shot, but howver as mentioned earlier, I was not particularly happy with the final results.  I rectifid exactly what it is I needed to do to improve the images.

4). Still Life

This was probably my best day in college.  I really enjoyed the lesson on still life photography. For me personally, I enjoyed looking into Jan Groover's still life photography work, and below are some of the examples of the work she has carried out over the years.

Jan Groover is noted for her use of emerging color technologies. I rememebr when we asked to research on different photographers who specialised in still life photography and Jan Groover was my number one choice no doubt. I love how some of her images are just very simple but at the same time are very beautiful to look at. I chose this image in particular beacuse this is where I got the inspiritation to do my still life shoot.  The image looks similar to mine, although this one was done by a professional photographer. 




                                                                                                                        Jan Groover



I wanted my image to appeal to the public so I put a few things into consideration when I was taking this image.  For example, for this particular image, I used a table with the ligthing shininmg through from below and behind the it. If you look closely at the image, inorder to be creative I added a pice of wood I picked up on my into college which has made a huge difference to the final outcome of the image This also gave it a pure white background which made the shells look more vibrant in the image.  Furthermore, the colours and textures in the image complemtnt each other very well, hence this beautiful pice of art work.  Well Done me!!!

5). Jewellery

For some inspiration I looked at work done by Jim Duncan, personally I did not enjoy this particular lesson because I found it really really difficult to get the correct exposures for the shoot.



Using a reflector however, really helped to boost the appearance of my jewellery and I also learnt through doing this shoot that when the reflector is positioned closer to the subject, depending on the its angle, it actually directs light into shadow areas to reveal detail and reduces uneven contrast.

For this shoot we used a honeycomb lighting and tried using different backgrounds in order to make the jewerelly stand out more. 

6). Portrait

For this shot, I used two soft boxes which I just set slightly over the height of my model. I set one on either side with my model in between them to help highlight lighten up my model's face.
I also used a reflector and this has helped reduce uneven tones and shadows which may have affected the end result of the final image.  The reflector also highlighted my mode;s face beautifully and every detail of her face is highly visible.  Beautiful image, I am impressed with the end result.

For the shoot below, I was keen to learn how you would do the set up in a studio. So with the help of a few classmates we managed to gather around a beauty dish, frame, snoot, reflectors as well as poly boards.   

This is the end result of the shoot I did. The first image is nice I like it, and the tones are blending well with each other.  On the other hand however, I do not like the second image because my model's hands are partially cropped off and yet the image itself is actually better than the one above.  I am not impressed at all.

 7). Commercial

Although this image was not shot in a studio, I chose it for my commercial photography.  I shot this image outside and it was actually snowing and freezing therefore the causing the camera to shake a little.  I just like the idea that despite all this, I still went out there in the freezing cold and actually attempted to take the photograpth.  Of all the pictures I took, this is the best one, although it is still not good enough.  I have learnt that weather can affect how an image can be taken and also how it comes out.  I have also learnt that it is important to plan for a shoot before hand because regardless of the weather, a shoot can tyrn out great depending on how well you have planned for it.  On this particular it was someting I had to do on short notice to show our different skills if I wre a professional photographer, so it did not turn out as graet as it could have done had I got given more time ti do the shoot.  If  I were to to this commercial shoot again, I would definitley do it differently, for instance, I would consider things such as the lighting, the background, the place I am carrying out the shoot, the type of camera and lens to use for this sort of shoot, the subject itself as well as the audience.



Research:

Below is some of the studio ighting we used throughout the course especially when we were doing anything to do with studio photography.  I really had a lovely time during studio lessons because it meant we had the chance to do hands on work.  I personally do not have a studion, so this was a perfect opportunity for me to gain more experience within a studion setting.  It also meant that we could set up our own lighting which made us learn from the mistakes that we were doing throughout the whole process.  I will miss this course greatly.


 Studio Lighting1

Studio Lighting  2




Studio Lighting 3

Studio Lighting 4

This  is me experimenting with the different lighting in today's lesson and below are the resultsof potrait photography

Photoshop- Digital Montage

For this assignment I chose to do a montage on my life story.  Basically, the story behind my montage is how as a young kid I have always dreamed of going to school to get educated and have a good career. So I put together a few pictures from when I was young up until I moved here into the UK and graduated, and I will also explain how I managed to put the images together into one montage.

Firstly I grouped the images in different layers and gave them each a different name. I then did command N on my keyboard then on my presets I chose international paper which I changed to A3 size then 150 resolution instead of the 300.

I then added my graduation picture onto the blank document and then saved it as a JPEG, which I used the command A button to select all the document and then command C to copy the document onto the newly opened document.  I used the command V to paste the document and then the T on my keyboard 

to bring out the free transformation.  

I the repeated the same steps for this image and selected only myself first before pasting it to the newly opened document.  The shift and alt button enabled me to scroll the image up and down then pressed enter on my keyboard.  I then clicked image, mode then grey scale and because I was not ready to flatten the image as yet I then clicked on discard.  

Command L brought up the different levels which then helped me decide how best to maintain the key features of my image.  I then clicked on okay.  I also used the eraser tool to get rid of some of the detail I did not need from my image and from the menu I the selected the textured brush to erase some of this. I then used the filter from the menu and used the maximum tool to give the image a different texture.  

Once I got to the final layer and when I was happy with my final image, I then went back to Gray scale so that I would change the colour of my final image.  So below is my final image:

Task: Create a Product Advert

This is what we did in today's lesson with Rich.  We were asked to create a product which you could then go on to sell.  It was pretty challenging considering the weather was pretty miserable.

Reference List

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Kiely, J (2011) Water Works Intimate Landscapes: Authothouse Publishers: USA

REFERENCES:

Baldwin G, et al. (2009) Looking at Photographers: A guide to Technical Terms: J. Paul Gerry Meseum: UK

Buselle, M. (1987) The Photographer's Question and Answer Book: Revised Edition: Collins Publishers

Freeman, J. (1999) The Photographer's Manual: How to get the best picture everytime, with any kind of camera: Annes Publishing Limited. UK

Jeffrey, Ian et at al. (2008) How to Read a Photograph: Understanding Intepreting and Enjoying the Great Photographers :Thames and Husdon Publishers: UK


Langford. M, (1986) Basic Photography Fifth Edition: Eagle Colourbrooks: Focal Press

Brief 1: Exterior Location

Below are my chosen images for the exterior brief.  I chose to do garages and petrol station for this particular assignment.
For this task I was particularly inspired by Ed Ruscha's 26 Gas Stationsdidn'tphoto shoot.  His main aim was to reproducing 26 photographs of gasoline stations next to captions indicating their brand and location and this is exactly what I was trying to achieve.


A useful technique in night photography is the long exposure. The effects that can be captured with a long exposure are stunning and have an ethereal quality. The most important tool that you will need is a sturdy tripod, and a DSLR camera that allows for long exposures.


This is my best images

It was shot at around 5pm. When photographing signs at night, one of the most important factors is light metering. The combination of a bright sign and a dark background can confuse the camera, meaning that you can end up with an under or over exposed image. For this is I needed an accurate metering mode, e.g., spot metering for a balanced shot. I also used a tripod to avoid camera shake and turned off the flash because I was too close to the sign.

As I’ve stated above, the lower the ISO the smoother, cleaner, and better images, lower ISO images will also be more accurate in colour and more captivating. ISOs between 100 and 200 will give the best results, and depending on the image sensor and the camera’s engineering, ISOs of up to 400 can also still be clear, clean and sharp.   This picture is the one I really wanted to print, but I realised when it was too late that it was the wrong one.  I still hope John will mark this one instead.

Aperture f4.5 ISO 100

For this image I set my camera to aperture priority, and also experimented with the flash.

Image by Ed Ruscha

I photographed this petrol station because I was trying to imitate the one below done by Photographer Ed Ruscha.  Although the one he photographed seems to be deserted and very well isolated, the one I shot was done just a couple of weeks and probably his was shot years back after it had been closed down.

Image by Ed Ruscha

For this shot I used a mate's Canon EOS 5D, just to see if I would get the same results as my Nikon D90. The aperture was set to f/5.0 and because I was stood behind the bushes I had to zoom in and therefore I used 24 mm focal length.  The ISO was set to1600 at shutter priority.

Shutter Speed 1/100 Aperture:F16  ISO: 160

This is also amongst my favourite.  I just love how you see all those reflections in the water.  The sky is gorgeous and it was a beautiful sunny day.  The image may be overexposed here and there but I do like how you can see almost everything in one image.  To improve this image, I should have twicked a few things in photoshop in order to get the correct exposures and tones 

                                                          Shutter Speed 1/100 Aperture:F16  ISO: 160

 The reason I chose this image is didn't I quite like the reflections on the road.  It was raining when I took this photograph and I like how you can see the lights and signs reflecting in water on the ground.

Aperture f16 ISO 200

This is an image by Photographer Ed Ruscha which I tried to imitate.  It didn't quite work out the way I hoping it would, but I still like my image above. For me shooting these images was at times challenging as it quickly got dark. Experimentation was very important for this exercise and was the key to my success of most of my images which required a wider aperture, a higher ISO rating and some flash so that the images would not become too blurry.  I was usually working with shutter speeds of 1/15th of a second or slower, so therefore using these settings allowed for better images.

Assignment 4: White Balance

White balance is basically a way to measure the temperature of light and to balance out the colours of your photography for the desired results.

Basically it is the light colour temperature. A low colour temperature shifts light toward the red; a high colour temperature shifts light toward the blue. Different light sources emit light at different colour temperatures, and thus the colour cast. With digital cameras, we can simply tell the image sensor to apply a colour shift.


White balance (WB) is the process of removing unrealistic colour casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photo. Proper camera white balance has to take into account the “colour temperature” of a light source, which refers to the relative warmth or coolness of white light.  Our eyes are very good at judging what is white under different light sources, however digital cameras often have great difficulty with auto white balance (AWB).
An incorrect WB can create unsightly blue, orange, or even green colour casts, which are unrealistic and particularly damaging to portraits.  Performing WB in traditional film photography requires attaching a different cast-removing filter for each lighting condition, whereas with digital this is no longer required.  Understanding digital white balance can help you avoid colour casts created by your camera’s AWB, thereby improving your photos under a wider range of lighting conditions. Hoy A (2005)

Color Temperature	Light Source
1000-2000 K	Candlelight
2500-3500 K	Tungsten Bulb (household variety)
3000-4000 K	Sunrise/Sunset (clear sky)
4000-5000 K	Fluorescent Lamps
5000-5500 K	Electronic Flash
5000-6500 K	Daylight with Clear Sky (sun overhead)
6500-8000 K	Moderately Overcast Sky
9000-10000 K	Shade or Heavily Overcast Sky

These are the two images I have tried to take using different white balances. The first image was taken on shade and the other on fluorescent and hence the first image came out slightly darker than the second image. I personally prefer fluorescent or auto white balance to shade as they produce better quality images.