Camera Functions
ISO/ASA
ISO determines the light sensitivity of the sensor inside
the camera. The higher the ISO the more sensitive to light the camera is, a higher
ISO will allow you to take images in lower level lighting conditions however
having a higher ISO will give the image a grainy noisy look. ISO is a
determining factor in exposures along with shutter speed and aperture, for
example if you double the ISO you halve the exposure time.
ISO Values.
25 50 100 200 400 700 1600 2200 6800
Aperture/F stop/ Diaphragm
Aperture determines the amount of light being allowed
through the lens to the sensor and affects the exposure of an image; it is also
used to create depth of field in an image. A higher value for aperture means a
smaller opening to allow light and a large depth of field. A lower value gives
you a shallow depth of field and wider opening.
Aperture values
F1.8 F2 F2.8 F4
F5.6 F8 F11
F16 F18 F22
F32 F60
Shutter Speed
Shutter Speed determines how long the camera shutter is open
and therefore how much time the light is allowed to touch the sensor. Shutter
Speed is a key factor in exposure.
1/8000 1/4000 1/2000 1/1000
1/500 1/250 1/125
1/60 1/50 1/75
1/8 ¼ ½ 1.
Shutter Speed and Aperture are inversely proportional.
Shutter speed and aperture have a relationship that is
directly proportional when it comes to exposures. If the shutter speed is decreasing
the aperture value must increase meaning that the diameter of the aperture is decreasing
to allow less light so as not to over expose the image. If the shutter speed becomes too fast the mathematical
relationship between the two fails and this is called reciprocity failure and
is only a problem for film camera users. Reciprocity failure can be fixed by
using a faster shutter speed increasing the aperture and therefore sacrificing some
depth of field.
Weekly Picture Project 1.
- Shoot a black and white portrait using natural, available light. Focus on
the eyes and set the aperture to its maximum i.e. smallest number. F1.8,
2.8 etc. Try and achieve the ‘bokeh’ affect.
In session today we looked at several well known photographers that make portraits in different ways, One of my favourites was Jane Brown a British photographer who worked for the observer paper since 1949 who's portraits of famous people have earned her a respected name among the worlds photographers, as she created stunning portraits with just the use of ambient light and a simple film camera and standard ilford HP5 black&white film, showing her skill as an artist and practitioner rather than relying on the capability of technology. The simplicity of the images makes them even more interesting as the process they were made becomes artistic as well as the images themselves.
(David Hockney by Jane Brown)
Because of the simple equipment that Jane uses her interesting images become more about her connection and interaction with the model than between the camera and the model. Which poses the thought that she would be an interesting photographer to work with, because to get such natural poses from the sitter the photographer has to be able to make them feel truly comfortable in their surroundings.
Jane makes good use of a shallow depth of field in most of her images creating a nice bokeh effect and keeping a nice uncomplicated background so as to not draw the eye away from the subject.
Another interesting photographer that we looked at is Rebekka Guoleifsdottir she has made a lot of self portraits in various interesting sets in almost surreal styles all her images are shot and post edited by herself.
This image has a very shallow depth of field and the background behind her isn't too complicated and doesn't take away from the image, It is important to have an uncomplicated background within portrait photography to draw the eye to the model themselves. I really like how the face of the model has been replaced with a photograph. To me this represents the photographer expressing herself as part of the photograph saying she is physically a photographer not just someone who makes images. I would like to try experimenting with models and printed photographs as part of my weekly picture project as I think this could give an interesting outlook on portraits, looking back at our induction session about identity and the questions that photography poses when it comes to identity. As portraits are very much a representation of the self.
My Images
After lesson I tried a bit of dodging and burning on the face of the model it brought out a bit of detail but I don't like the plastic look it has given to her skin. It also hasn't brought any detail back to the hair.
Here's another image I took during that week that I think fits the brief better. It has a stronger depth of field and the lighting is a lot better. The only lighting used was natural lighting from the sun the sky was overcast that day.
Weekly picture project 2
This weeks picture project was to take an image of a landscape in black and white or color using hyperfocal distance. For this we all went on a trip to Morecambe and Silver dale and spent the day shooting. THe weather wasn't too nice but we got some nice shots.
As some research for this project I looked into award winning Landscape photographer Adam Burton for some inspiration and a look into other landscape photographers techniques.
Adam Burton is one of the UKs leading landscape photographers and author of five books. Since 2008 he has been working as a full time professional landscape photographer, regularly supplying imagery and undertaking commissions for a wide range of business clients.
He has photographed five of the seven continents and now specialises in the landscapes of the UK, particularly Southwest England.
Info from : http://www.adamburtonphotography.com/profile
(Adam Burton)
I chose this image to look at because I feel it is the most similar landscape to what we may be getting on our trip, Adam has used hyperfocal distance here with a tripod and most probably very accurately measured it out with a tape measure. I love the deep contrast and High saturation of the image that makes the colors pop right out. It looks to be early morning or early evening (the golden hour) as the lighting is just pefect and the sun can be seen just rising over the horizon.
My images
Here's an image I have tried to shoot with Adam Burtons work in mind, I was absolutely freezing so it isn't 100% sharp and I didn't submit it to Richard. I thought I'd just upload it on here anyway to show the composition and my attempt at inspired photographer work as it was all part of my thought process that day.
This was my main shot for the week that I liked the most, I'm still trying to get the hyperfocal distance thing down to a T as It is harder on a modern lens I've decided to go and do a shoot on film to experiment with hyperfocal distance.
This image was taken at about midday the image appears to be sharp throughout and the horizon line is mostly straight. I'd like to go back there at some point for some more shoots. 
Here's a black and white image of morecambe from a far, I used the grass as a focusing point to try and estimate my hyper focal distance point as I didn't have a measuring tape. The clouds in this image look really heavy and nice, However I didn't achieve any movement in my image I would like to have gotten some in the grass.
Weekly Picture Project 3
This weeks picture project was to take an image of a vase of flowers. After thinking about what I might do for a while I had a look at a few artists and photographers to give me some inspiration for my imagery.
Tara Fisher.
Growing up in a creative family between England and Australia, Tara initially studied painting, earning her BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Winchester School of Art. After graduating in 1995 she moved to London and spent four years learning the business as a photographer’s assistant.Tara has been working as a photographer for over ten years. Her commissions have taken her across the world, and she is as comfortable on location abroad as in her studio at home. She has photographed numerous books, contributes regularly to magazines and works for many design and advertising agencies. Tara manages to address both the commercial demands of a competitive industry whilst retaining her artist’s vision and her own unique, visual sensibility.Tara lives in London with her partner, two daughters and black cat.
info from : http://www.tarafisher.co.uk/about.html
This image looks to have been taken using a tilt shift effect as only a very small proportion of the image has been focused. Also in the studio on a white backdrop with maybe a soft box coming from above and to the left of the subject. I like this tilt shift effect and will try recreating it in my imagery. It makes the eye of the viewer draw directly to the beautiful flowers on display as they are the main subject of the image. I also like the softness it gives to the slightly opaque ribbon.
Alot of the images I looked at were location based images on tables, window sills or homely sets so with my images I took this into account and made some images of my flowers on a window ledge.
This first image is my location based shot choosing a window ledge to compliment the vase of flowers I have experimented with destaturation in my post production to give the images an old fashioned feel to them. I used hard flash on my camera as the area was dark, I think If I'd waited until day time the available light would have made the images a lot stronger. However I do like the gloominess of the back windows going off into the distance.
This next image was looking at close ups of the flowers, to focus on just the actual flowers themselves like Tara fisher has in her image, I didn't have a tilt shift lens so photographed from above to make the stems and vase out of focus..
Great british
For this image i used my Nikon D3000 the lighting conditions were quite bad as it was evening time so I changed exposure in photoshop a bit and added a lot of contrast. I think these images work better in black and white as it works for the british heritage theme.
A class mate gave me the idea of merging layer with images so I just wanted to experiment with it in photoshop with a flag in the sky and in the water, However I think these images are strong without the flag and I will submit my final without the flag.
Flag in the water doesnt blend with the bank very well and looks out of place.
This first image is my location based shot choosing a window ledge to compliment the vase of flowers I have experimented with destaturation in my post production to give the images an old fashioned feel to them. I used hard flash on my camera as the area was dark, I think If I'd waited until day time the available light would have made the images a lot stronger. However I do like the gloominess of the back windows going off into the distance.
This next image was looking at close ups of the flowers, to focus on just the actual flowers themselves like Tara fisher has in her image, I didn't have a tilt shift lens so photographed from above to make the stems and vase out of focus..
Great british
This weeks picture project we were tasked to take an image that represents britain, i have done some research into great british photography and decided that british heritage and landscapes is the way I want to go with my imagery.
(simon Roberts)
This image by simon roberts shows the classic british countryside, green topped hills and lush blue skies, when driving through britain this is what you will see a lot of the time. Brits tend to be proud of our country side. The photographer has also captured 2 people sat by the side of the road in deck chairs. Aswell as deck chairs being very british, these people show the "eccentric" personality that us Brits tend to have sitting by the road side in chairs just to observe the view. Technically wise though It doesn't appear that hte photographer has used hyper focal distance as the image isnt crisp sharp right through.
my images:
I decided to look at british landscape and heritage and did my images on the british canals in coventry.
This will be my final image for great british, It is Sutton stop The grey hound pub on the coventry canal. It was taken from under the bridge that goes over the canal, Using my Nikon D3000.
Lighting.
The advantages of studio flash are the amount of controls you have over the settings so you can really control what lighting you get on an image.
Modelling lamp:
Flash units have a modelling lamp fitted which accurately displaces the angle and intensity of light on your subject without firing off the flash itself, This makes set ups incredibly easy to control. The only thing you need to think about is that the flash is stronger than the modeling lamp so the shadows will be harder in the main image.
Consistency:
As a tungsten bulb burns the color temperature of the light gets more and more warm, where as with flash every time the bulb sets off it automatically sets back to daylight temperature.
Power:
Flash units have power and intensity controls, so as well as controlling the angle of lighting you can control the the intensity of the light meaning you can create hard and soft shadows, sharp highlights and soft highlights.
Sync:
Flash units have the capability to use more than one light at once synchronised to fire at the same time
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