Assignment
Two.
Seeing Like
Your Camera.
The Brief.
The
assignment revolves around high-contrast scenes. You will need to produce a set
of three images for each of the four situations that you choose that
demonstrate that you can pre-visualise how your digital camera ‘sees’ a scene.
The ability to anticipate how your camera sensor will render a scene will help
you produce higher quality images which will need less post-processing.
Throughout
working on the exercises that precede this assignment I have always had it at
the back of my mind. I put a lot of thought into the subjects I would shoot and
like to have a running theme between my images. To cover the variety of situations
mentioned in the brief I decided I would ideally shoot in a large town/city. This
left my most realistic options as Cambridge (my nearest City) or Bury St
Edmunds, a town I am not so familiar with. I decided that I wanted to explore
Bury St Edmunds and hoped to naturally gather images that filled the assignment
criteria whilst being a ‘tourist’. My previous assignment involved shooting at
my place of work, somewhere I am very comfortable after 7 ½ years, and feel
that by going somewhere less familiar I will be out of my comfort zone and will
find out if this affects the images I take.
Part One.
Choose a
minimum of four situations from the following models. I have highlighted my
choices.
1. Street scene
in the middle of a clear, sunny day – narrow streets and high buildings which
cast deep, long shadows.
2.
Indoor space
in which the only available light is strong natural window light.
3. Photographing
people in the shade while the background is in the sunshine.
4. Early
morning or late evening landscapes with low angle incident light.
5.
Any backlit
scene, whether in direct or indirect light.
6.
Scenes which
include objects of very different reflectivity, even in flat light such as an
overcast day.
7. Indoor
scenes illuminated by a single source of artificial light of high luminance
e.g. a desk lamp.
8.
A scene with
strong incident dappled light – these conditions are often found when
photographing in a forest in a sunny day.
Planning the shoot.
I decided to
take a week off work as I feel that I have fallen behind my time frame for
completing the exercises and this assignment. I also did not want to have to
rush through it and wanted the time to visit my location several times. Before
shooting I visited the town to get my bearings and assess what was there and
come up with potential ideas.
I was hoping
for a bright sunny day so that I could fulfil the criteria, rather than wet,
dull weather which is the weather we always seem to be having at the moment.
I then gave
equipment some consideration. I still only have the one lens (having bought
other things such as a flash), an 18-105 mm which has still served as a good
all round lens. I chose not to bring the tripod with me on my first shoot as I
did not think it was necessary and as a lot of walking was involved I thought
that it would be more of a hindrance. I would review this decision if necessary
and could always use it on my second shoot.
Before
setting out I reset my camera settings making sure that I switched from RAW to
JPEG as the brief instructs, wiped my memory card so that I would not run out
of space, made sure my camera lens was clean, checked the memory space on my
laptop so that I would have room to transfer the images over, charged the
cameras battery as well as bringing along another fully charged spare battery..
The Shoot.
The shoot
went as planned and I made a total of three trips over the course of a week.
The first day was used to assess the area and provisionally decide on the
shooting situations. I revisited two days later when the weather was much
brighter which gave me high contrast scenes. By the time I had got myself
organised it was nearly the middle of the day and the sun was at its highest
making shooting more of a challenge. I did find this a lot more challenging
than I thought and decided to treat it as more of a learning process. I
understood the brief and am reasonably good at anticipating how my camera will
react but feel that the assignment did not flow as well as I had hoped.
Indoor space
in which the only available light is strong natural window light.
This proved
challenging from the off. I had chosen to photograph inside St Edmundsbury
Cathedral as I thought that I would get some great images of the light
streaming in through the large stained glass windows. This was not really the
case as the sun was not strong enough to create the effects I was after.
Because the sun was so weak inside the cathedral my initial images came out
much darker than I was expecting. In some of the windows you could see where
there were areas of highlight clipping.
I really
struggled getting a balance with these images even though I knew they would
come out rather dark. I particularly liked how the candlestick had caught and
reflected light from another window and had tried several different
compositions to increase light level but this did not improve the situation. I
have lost some of the detail from the stained glass window which is a shame. I
think that having the tripod in this situation would have been beneficial as it
would have allowed for a slower shutter speed and my overall image would have
then been lighter. Having spoken to several people working in the cathedral I
was unlucky in the time that I had chosen to shoot as the light had been much
better earlier on in the day. If I was shooting here again I would experiment
with different times of the day to see if this made a difference to the
lighting conditions. I also think that I should have tried spot metering to see
if that had given me a better exposure.
I feel that
this image is much more consistent with what I was expecting from the lighting
conditions. There are areas of highlight clipping in the window but I do not
feel that they detract from the image as a whole. I was aiming for the light to
illuminate the patterned ceiling and think that I have achieved this quite well,
although there is room for improvement. I used centre weighted exposure here
and I think that this has worked and given me a good exposure overall. I also
needed to use a high ISO to be able to lift the scene.
1/45 f5.6
ISO 200 32mm
When trying
to find the exit I walked down a long dark corridor which had these windows all
along the same side. I decided to try and take a photo which showed the clean
lines of the walls and detail near the ceiling. I checked the exposure using
spot metering and then took several images as the exposure was not quite right.
I needed to change the composition as the highlights were still too harsh but
feel that I have ended up with an image that I am happy with.
Any backlit
scene whether in direct or indirect light.
1/1000 f5.6
ISO 200 38mm
It was
necessary to use a fast shutter speed as the wind had suddenly got up and I was
being blown around all over the place. It was hard to keep my hands steady. I don’t
think having a tripod here would have helped as I think that would have also
been blown about. I am really happy with the composition which I had
experimented with quite a bit before deciding to include the house behind which
was built into the ruins. It reminded me of something from Lord of the Rings!
Again I have lost some of the detail in this statue of St Edmund and remember
the overall scene appearing brighter where as I feel that here St Edmund looks
quite dark. If I was to shoot this image again I think that I would try again
on a more overcast day so that the contrast would not be as high.
1/350 f8 ISO
200 26mm
The wind had
died down again for this shot so I managed to regain some control. I was
attracted to this fence around a park in the Abbey gardens particularly because
of how the light fell through it and created a mirror image of itself on the
ground. I think the composition could have been better here. There are a couple
of very small areas of highlight clipping. I chose centre weighted metering as
there are no reasonably sized areas of dark and light but looking back maybe
using spot metering may have ensured that the subject was correctly exposed
given that the background is much brighter. I think that I should have
experimented a bit more here to see if there had been much of a difference
using different metering methods.
This shot
required a fast shutter speed mainly because I needed to take it quickly or
risk being run over. I also wanted to let less light in as the sky became so
bright behind the statue. I remember being able to see more detail at the time
of shooting but I actually really like the silhouette effect here. I also shot
the stature purposely so that you could not see any of the buildings behind it.
If I was to re take this photo I think I would shoot at a different time of day
and with a different composition. I also realise that I accidently left the
camera on centre weighted metering when I should of used spot metering.
Scenes which
include objects of very different reflectivity.
1/500 f5.6
ISO 200 105mm
Again I
experimented with composition as I wanted the sundial to appear as reflective
as possible, particularly as the top was covered in water from the rain we had
the night before. At the time I remember being able to see more detail on the
dial but expected to lose some of it because of the bright light being
reflected. On reflection I think that I could have gone for a better exposure
here but at the time I think that this image looked better on camera.
1/1000 f5.6
ISO 200 105mm
I came
across this statue in the same part of the Abbey gardens as the sundial. It was
presented to the people of Bury St Edmunds to honour the men of the 94th
bombardment group who gave their lives in World War II. With the sun particularly
bright it reflected well on the plane. I remember the scene appearing very high
contrast with areas of the plane looking very bright or very dark. I think that
I have managed to keep the detail of the plane well whilst still showing its
reflective quality.
1/350 f8 ISO
200 70mm
Having
walked through the Arc shopping centre to take all of the previous shots I
remember seeing how the windows of Debenhams reflected the shops opposite. I am
really pleased with how this image came out and think that it is one of my
favourites from this assignment. I am happy with the exposure and composition
that I selected and I am glad that I have managed to keep some of the detail
from inside the shops cafe.
A scene with
strong incident dappled light.
This was
actually the first image I shot. As you enter the Abbey gardens there are many
trees and instantly I was drawn to the dappled light. It took a while for me to
get this shot right. It was very windy so I needed a fast shutter speed so that
I did not capture camera shake. It also took me a while to get the exposure
right as the whole image appeared way to dark to start off with and then looked
very bright which caused quite large areas of highlight clipping. I managed to
eliminate the clipped areas, capture the bright day but also show the shadows
of the trees well. Overall I am happy and think that I have created an accurate
representation of the scene.
1/1000 f5.6
ISO 200 45mm
I really
wanted to capture part of the Abbey ruins and I am happy with the composition I
have chosen. I particularly like the way the trees have created horizontal
lines across the pavement. I exposed this image well using centre weighted
metering which assessed the image as a whole.
I really
wanted to be able to photograph the whole shadow of a tree which turned out to
be harder than expected. Ideally I would of like to photograph the tree with
the shadow coming towards the camera but this was not possible due to space and
the direction of the light. This scene was my only photo opportunity and it
took a while to create a composition I was happy with. I also had to partly
hide behind the tree as I did not want my shadow in the shot. I also wanted the
building to be in the shot but there are slight areas of highlight clipping
around the window frames which I could not get rid of without compromising the
rest of the image. I do not think they are particularly noticeable however. If
I was to retake this image I think that I would reconsider having my shadow in
the scene, why not have a little bit of myself in image? I would also aim to
achieve my ideal composition. Exposure wise I am happy with the choices I made.
Downloading
the images.
I downloaded
all of the images onto my laptop in the pictures folder and then viewed them
all using Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 and Adobe Lightroom 4 which I have only
just purchased and am still getting to grips with. I am still happy with my
labelling system and can quite easily find any images I require.
Pictures> Digital Photographic Practice>
DPP Assignment2
Part Two.
Select one
of the four situations that you chose in Part One and think about what the
lighting conditions should be in order to reduce the contrast of the scenes
that you photographed or even make them low contrast scenes. Think about the
different variables over which you have certain control.
Once you
have decided which conditions would result in low contrast scenes, photograph
the same three images in your chosen situation in those conditions.
The Shoot.
I revisited
the area two days after shooting part one. I wanted to leave a couple of days
to review the images and give them a lot of thought so that I could decide how
I would go about reducing the contrast in the scenes. My plan was to arrive for the shoot much
earlier in the day so that the sun would be much lower. The day in general
actually turned out to be quite overcast which I also felt would work well in
my favour.
I had
decided to retake the images from the any
backlit scene whether in direct or indirect light.
1/180 f5.6
ISO 500 25mm
Centre
weighted metering has exposure the image well and has created an accurate
representation of the scene at the time of shooting. I have to say that I
actually prefer the original image as the shadows through the backlit fence
made for a more interesting composition. There is still a very tiny bit of
highlight clipping on a couple of the leaves which I could not get rid of
without making the whole image more under exposed.
I decided to
keep the composition the same as I think it works well. I switched the white
balance from auto to cloudy as the day was overcast, and altering the WB can
make for a more accurate representation of what was seen at the time of
shooting. This picture took a while to get right as initially the image came
out looking rather dark. I experimented with the built in flash to see if that
helped but it just made St Edmund appear unnaturally bright. I set the shutter
speed slower so that it would let more light in. I am pleased with this more
low contrast scene and think that I have created a nicely balance image which
is a definite improvement on my first shot of St Edmund.
White
balance is back on auto for this shot as the cloudy setting gave the statue an
unnatural tone. It was necessary to alter the composition as this statue is in
the middle of the market square and I had unwittingly come on market day. This
meant that unfortunately options for composition were limited by stalls and a
rather large lorry containing meat. On camera the image looks a little lighter
than it does here which is probably more accurate to how it appeared on the
day. I much preferred the composition and style of the high contrast image of
this statue and would of like the composition to of been the same, but with the
addition of detail. I think that this shot has been exposed reasonably well but
I still feel that there is room for improvement.
Conclusion.
I think that
it was a good idea to treat this assignment as a learning process as that is
what all the exercises and assignments are about. I think that I have made some
improvement on my technical ability to anticipate how my camera will react
before taking a shot. I have also tried to draw on the previous assignment and
show my workflow through this assignment. Skills picked up during the course
should also be applied to the following assignments rather than forgotten as we
move on to what comes next. I think that I could have experimented a bit more
with various shots but feel that I have covered the criteria well. I think that
I lack confidence when dealing with exposure and sometimes panic that I do not
know what I am doing. I have tried to combat this by carrying out further
research and reading up on this area. I have also looked at other students work
to see how they have approached this assignment and projects involving
exposure. By the end of the assignment I did notice that I was much quicker and
more accurate when altering the settings to create a better exposure so I feel
that I have made some improvement. I also think that in some respects, this
assignment shows that there is a place for high contrast images. At the start I
almost felt that high contrast images were ‘wrong’ and should be avoided but as
I progressed through the criteria I now understand what contrast can do for a
scene. Some compositions do work well being low contrast; it is all dependant
on the qualities you are looking for. I actually think that I prefer some on
the high contrast shots I took, but I do understand that a lot of this is down
to personal preference and style.
Reflection
I
re-read the assignment criteria and have tried to assess how well I have done.
Demonstration
of Technical and Visual Skills – I feel that at the start I lacked confidence
in technical decisions I made but I have now made some improvement in this
area. I feel that I am continuously learning new skills and try to apply them
when appropriate. I think that I have good observational skills but I am
obviously learning all of the time
Quality
of Outcome I think that I always try to present my work neatly with well
written accompanying notes. I could try to be more detailed at times when explaining
why I have made certain technical decisions. I always try and relate the
knowledge I have gained when relevant.
Demonstration
of Creativity – I always try and be creative with my shots but I feel that I
can still improve in this area and try and be more imaginative.
Context
– I think that I am good at reflecting on my work and can see areas I need to
improve on. I carry out my own research, visit galleries, work on my own
projects and undertake further reading. I have also tried to view other
students work more to see how others approach the same projects.
References.
Light,
Science and Magic: An introduction to photographic lighting. Fil Hunter, Steven
Biver, Paul Faqua. Taylor and Francis 2007.
Mastering
Digital Photography. Michael Freeman. Ilex 2010.
