On the 27/9/2011 I attended Richard Peregrines lecture on systems and process's, we went through our photographs that we had all taken, we had to make a 'Triptych' of photographs that examine an aspect or subject in Blackburn, that is unusual or out of the ordinary. I looked into Matt Stuarts work so I had more of an idea what was expected of me.
Richard has taught us about visual irony (ironic photographs), juxtaposition (capturing the relationship between subjects in a photograph so that each part of the image has some bearing on and relativity to the other) and decisive moment (taking the photograph at the right moment). I tried to use these to help me take my three picture that we had been set to take in Blackburn.
We then got the chance to have a look at other peoples work, we talked about what we thought was good about them and what we thought they could have improved on, I found this very helpful as the criticism will help me with my photography.
We also talked about goldenhour photography, this is the first and last hour of sunlight during the day. I have looked into this type of photography and hopefully I will be able to capture a photograph that represents this.
Here is the link to describe in more detail what the golden hour is all about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_hour_(photography)
We went into more detail about some photographers that would give us more inspiration for our own work,
Lee Friedlander
This man was an American Photographer and also an artist, in the early stages on his career he worked with a 35mm camera and a black and white film. His early work was inspired by artists such as, Eugene Atget, Robert Frank and Walker Evans.
Eugene Atget
Walker Evans
Robert Frank
I have researched each of the photographers he was inspired by, here there is one photograph taken by each one, I choose these ones as they caught my eye, they are all different but also similar in certain ways. Each photographer seems to have achieved visual irony, juxtaposition or decisive moment.
Lee Friedlander
This photograph was taken in Washington DC in 1999, was Lee actually trying to catch the image in the wing mirror or was he trying to capture a photograph of the trees beyond the mirror? To me this makes the image more interesting because there could be several reasons behind it.
Henri Cartier Bresson
This man was a French photographer and was said to be the father of modern photojournalism, he was an early adopter to 35mm format and the master on candid photography.
Portrait of Henri
Henri started off with a Box brownie, this was to take holiday snap shots, he was lucky as his parents had enough money to buy him his first camera, he later experimented with a 3×4 inch view camera.
He was introduced to oil painting after failing to get into the rhythm of music, he was very passionate about painting but then Henri started to experiment with photography,
To me this photograph is mesmerizing, this was placed in an exhibition in Atlanta, many people have been to see the art that is placed in the museum and have commented saying this was their favorite piece.
We then discussed what we needed to do for next weeks picture project, we have been set the task of shooting a black and white portrait.
We are to use only natural, available light, set our cameras to aperture then set it to its maximum which would be the smallest number and to try and capture the 'brokeh' affect (It is Japanese in origin and refers to blur or a blurry quality). We have to look into the work of Jane Bown to give us some inspiration.
These are pictures I got for weekly picture project, week 1,
I tried to capture something that you see in everyday life in a different way, I enjoyed doing this project as it makes you see things in a totally different way to what you usually would.
These are pictures I got for weekly picture project, week 1,
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On the 4/10/2011 we went into more detail about our weekly picture project because Richard has decided to make it a bi weekly project so we can do a picture project one week and a theory lesson on the other, this will make it less stressful for us and more enjoyable.
We looked at a powerpoint presentation that Richard had put together,
Here are just a couple of the things we looked at,
Camera functions
- Sensitivity, film or sensor
- Exposure mode (M,A,S,P) Nikon (M,Av,Tv,P) Canon
- Focus
- Compose, visualize and capture
If you use the first three bullet points to the best of your ability the last bullet point will be more impressive.
I have a Nikon camera so I use (M,A,S,P), I will explain each of these functions are used for,
M-(Manual) The photographer used both aperture and shutter speed, providing the greatest latitude for creative expression. Choosing the wrong combination could, however, result in photographs that are too bright (overexposed) or too dark (underexposed).
A-(Aperture - priority auto) The photographer chooses the aperture and the camera automatically adjusts the shutter speed for optimal exposure.
S-(Shutter - priority auto) The photographer chooses the shutter speed and the camera automatically adjusts aperture for optimal exposure.
P-(Programmed auto) The camera automatically adjusts the aperture and shutter speed for optimal exposure, but the photographer can choose from different combinations of aperture and shutter speed that will produce the same exposure. This is known as flexible program.
Mode | Shutter Speed | Aperture |
|---|---|---|
P (programmed auto) | Selected by camera | Selected by camera |
S (shutter-priority auto) | Selected by photographer | Selected by camera |
A (aperture-priority auto) | Selected by camera | Selected by photographer |
M (manual) | Selected by photographer | Selected by photographer |
This is a table showing what the camera selects and what the photographer selects.
- Film speed (light sensitivity) ISO, ASA
- Shutter speed (time) seconds
- Aperture (size of diaphram) F numbers
- Exposure
- Focus
- Compose
ISO is what you use to suit the general light level, if you are trying to take a photograph where you have minimal light you would set your ISO quite high but if you already have quite alot of natural light you would set it lower.
This is a comparison of the same scene taken once at ISO 100 and then again at ISO 1600, the image with the ISO set to 100 is better quality and this has happened because there must have been enough natural light in the room for the ISO to be set low.
Depth of field
It is the amount of distance between the nearest and the farthest objects that appear in acceptably sharp focus in a photograph. It is all a matter of personal preference when trying to determine the appropriate depth of field "DOF" to enhance an effect in a photograph.
There are a few factors that effect depth of field,
- Aperture size
- Lens local length
- Image size, film or sensor
This image is showing you how much you would capture in you photograph depending on the size of aperture you are using.
You also have to focus on what you have your Fstop is at when trying to capture a certain depth of field, this is the ratio between the aperture diameter and the focal length.
As you can see the larger the number the smaller the diaphram.
A simpler way to remember the relationship between fstop, aperture and depth of field is:
- Large Fstop = large depth of field = more light needed
- Small Fstop = small depth of field = less light needed
Shallow depth of field
As you can see the dragonfly in this photograph has been isolated from it chaotic surroundings, By using shallow depth of field the surrounding background is blurred (bokeh) and only the dragonfly appears sharp. You would use a large aperture and a fast shutter speed to achieve an image like this.
Large depth of field
You would use large depth of field on landscape photographs to ensure that everything in the image looks sharp. You would use a small aperture so the shutter speed would be quite slow so it would probably be handy to use a tripod so there was no shaking involved.
We then went into more detail about what we needed to do to shoot a good portrait, we would need to select the widest fstop, set the ISO to 400 as we have to use natural light, focus on the eyes and try and get the 'bokeh' affect.
To make things easier for ourselves when trying to get a good portrait we should talk to the model so they feel more at ease, stand quite close to them and try and photograph them from above eye line.
To give us some inspiration we looked at a photographer called Jane Bown, she is a British photographer who has worked for the observer newspaper in the UK since 1939. Her portraits of the famous of the 20th and 21st centuries have received critical acclaim, earning her an exhibition of her work in the national portrait gallery in London in 1980.
This is an image that Jane Bown shoot of Parkinson because he was retiring after 25 years of hosting a chat show.
I have looked at quite abit of Jane Bown`s work to help me with my weekly picture project, I have completed my task and also uploaded it onto flickr, Richard will be viewing our work next lesson which is on Tuesday the 11th.
We only had an hour with Richard this week as the whole class got the chance to go and watch 2 presentations by previous students that attended Blackburn university and after completing their degree they both achieved a 1st. I was very interested it what they both had to say as it gave me an idea as to what is expected of me, it was also very reassuring as writing essays and case study's can be daunting but they both made me feel a bit more at ease with these.
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On the 11/10/2011 we all had to bring in our portrait's that we have been working on for two weeks, all of us had uploaded them onto flickr so we each took it in turn to show the class what our end result was. Richard told us what was good about our image and also what we could have improved on, I like getting constructive criticism as this will help me to get better at taking photographs.
When I was shooting my portrait with my Nikon 5100 I set the ISO to 400 and I borrowed a 50mm lens from Kevin so I set the Fstop to 1.4, because I used these settings my images came out very clear and the background of them had the 'bokeh' affect.
This is the image that I presented to the class, to get a more natural look I made him feel more comfortable by chatting to him about school and making him laugh, he enjoyed doing these as he said it was fun.
Next time I do portrait work I will use the same settings as I got the affect I was wanting but I will tilt the camera into portrait instead of shooting it landscape.
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On the 20/10/2011 we went through how to capture a good landscape photograph, we looked through a powerpoint that Richard had created.
We looked at the 4 different picture formats,
- Landscape rectangle
- Portrait rectangle
- Square
- Panoramic
Now I will show you an example of each of these,
Landscape rectangle
Aspect ratios vary from 4:5 (above) to 16:9.
Portrait rectangle
Portrait rectangle can emphasise depth and foreground subjects, with wide angle lenses, be careful of camera angle.
Square
Square images are balanced and require careful composition. Many landscape photographers use Hasselblad 6x6 cm medium format cameras.
Panoramic
Usually view or landscape with an aspect ratio of 16:9 upwards.
When we had looked at all the different formats we went on to look at different photographs from different photographers to see what they thought was a great landscape picture.
This week we have been set the task of getting a landscape photograph, Richard then gave us an idea of what our settings on our camera should be on,
- White balance on daylight
- ISO 200 or 100 if there is enough light
- Have on shutter priority
- Use Manuel focus
We also have to turn our photographs black and white.
If we want to we can use a light meter so we know what light source will be captured in our photographs, we take the reading from either the subject or if that is too far away we can take it from a patch of grass, which could be the easiest option as we will be outdoor with trying to capture a landscape photograph.
I have done quite a bit of research on black and white photography to give me some inspiration on what kind of photograph I would like to take.
Micheal Mizonov
When I have completed this task I will upload my image onto flickr because in next weeks lesson we will be looking at each others images and Richard will be grading us on them.
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On the 1/11/2011 we had to show our images to the class and Richard that we had taken, we were also getting graded on them, the brief was to take a landscape photograph and turn it black and white, we each took it in turn to go up to the front off the class, show our image that was posted on flickr and explain it. This is the image I choose of mine to present,
Richard did give me some good feedback, he liked my composition and how I have managed the rule of thirds but the image its self is over exposed, which means it is quite bright. Over exposure happens because you have sent you camera to a long exposure time which means there is a lot of light getting into the image which makes it look bleached out. I do like the image but it could have looked sharper with a slightly different exposure time.
I did go to a 1 to 1 with Richard to discuss exposures and how to get the right exposure depending on the amount of light in your image. I now understand a lot more about it and hopefully my next images will be a lot sharper. There is a light meter on your camera, to try and get the best image as you possibly can you need to make sure that there is either no dashes either side of the 0 or only one or two,
I now understand what exposure is all about and how to get sharp images.
I also showed other photographs I had taken,
Pendle hill, 1/20 exposure, ISO 100
Forelane ends, 1/8 exposure, ISO 100
I now know with thanks to Richard and the research I have done that next time I take an image what settings I should be using and how to achieve a good image.
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On the 8/11/2011 we talked about our weekly picture project, week 4, a vase of flowers. To start off with we talked about a photographer called Robert Mapplethorpe, here are some examples of his work,
Some of the techniques I should be thinking about this week when photographing my vase off flowers are,
- Macro - True macro is when your lens can reproduce the subject at a life size image, i.e. 1:1.
- Manual exposure - this should be used as I will be able to slow down, use a tripod and take my time to get the correct exposure, focusing, depth of field and the subjects composition right.
- Colour temperature settings - setting my camera to the correct white balance
- Colour temperature range
I also have to think about,
- Light
- Aesthetics of my vase and flowers
- Flora Photographica - look at their work
- Emphasis is in capture and camera work
Then we looked at Horst P Horst,
I love how he has captured this, he has really thought about the composition, light and shadows to get the effect that he really wanted. I will be taking all of this into consideration when capturing my photograph. When I have managed to get a photograph that I like I will be posting it on flickr so it is ready to present to the class in my next lecture.
These are the photographs that I took to represent a vase of flowers, it could have been in black and white or colour,
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On the 15/11/2011 we all presented our vase of flower images to Richard and the rest of the class, I was pleased with the output that I received and it was really good to see what everybody else did, it showed me that everybody has a different imagination as to what they want to do. Some were 1 flower some were bunches, some were lite up and some were dark. It actually gave me some inspiration as to what kind of things I could try out, see what results I would get.
When we had finished viewing the images we talked about photographic laboratory's, what they have to offer to everyone, what kind of processes they go through, what type off paper they use and that a place in Lancaster that David Farnell owns is a good one to visit, he processes film and digital.
E6 process - is a chromogenic photographic process for developing Ektachrome, Fujichrome and other colour reversal photographic film.
C41 process - is a chromogenic colour print developing process. C-41, also known as CN-16 by Fuji, CNK-4 by Konica, and AP-70 by AGFA, is the most popular film process in use, with most photofinishing labs devoting at least one machine to this development process.
Digital print - refers to methods of printing from a digital based image directly to a variety of media.
Giclee print (ink jet) - is a neologism coined in 1991 by print maker Jack Duganne for fine art digital print made on ink-jet printers.
Photographic print - is the process of producing a final image on paper for viewing, using chemically sensitized paper.
Here are a few things that you should take into consideration when taking a photograph,
- SRGB not Adobe
- 300 dpi (dots per inch)
- TIFF
- 8 bit (depth of data)
Printing anything upto A3, JPG, 8MB
Printing anything over A3, TIFF, 15MB
Recommendations - for dark room
Black and white (fibre based) - paper - glossy
Black and white (resign coated) - lustre - pearl
Ink-jet
Try
- Fibre based
- Glossy
- Matt
Try
- Metallic
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On the 21/11/2011 we talked about our weekly picture project 5, Great British. First of all we looked at what types of things that have been created by Britain,
- Sports:-Football, rugby, cricket, golf, boxing, tennis
- Language:-Widespread throughout the world
- Culture:-Movies, literature, pop music, TV
- Industry and invention:-Steam engine, jet engines, electric light bulbs, computer science
Then we went on to look at photographers that photograph areas, objects and people that are all about being British,
Tony Ray Jones
Tony was a successful photographer even though he died at quite a young age because of getting leukaemia, he still managed to do what he wanted to do in the time he had, for example, he attended the London School of Printing, where he concentrated on graphic design. In the early 1960s he obtained a scholarship that enabled him to join Yale University School of Art on the strength of photographs he had taken in north Africa from a taxi window. Although only 19 on his arrival at Yale, Ray-Jones' talent was obvious, and in 1963 he was given assignments for the magazines Car and Driver and Saturday Evening Post.
Mark power
Mark powers did the shipping forecast between 1993 - 1996, it is said to be Intangible and mysterious, familiar yet obscure, the shipping forecast is broadcast four times daily on BBC Radio 4. For those at, or about to put to sea, the forecast may mean the difference between life and death.
But for millions of landlubbing radio listeners it is more than this; the enigmatic language of the forecast has entered the public consciousness, creating a landscape of the imagination and confirming romantic notions of Britain's island status.Captioned by the 0600hrs forecast on the day they were taken, these photographs attempt to challenge our assumptions of these far-flung places.
Have a look at his work, he has many projects that you can look at,
http://www.markpower.co.uk/
Martin Parr
Martin Parr was born 24 May 1952, he is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take a critical look at aspects of modern life, in particular provincial and suburban life in England. He is a member of Magnum Photos.
I like this picture, it shows you what little cafes by the seaside used to be like and to be honest I don't think they have changed that much, you can still find them up and down the sea front.
Don McCullin
Donald McCullin, was born 9 October 1935, he is an internationally known British photojournalist, particularly recognized for his war photography and images of urban strife. His career, which began in 1959, has specialised in examining the underside of society, and his photographs have depicted the unemployed, downtrodden and the impoverished.
Paul Wakefield
This photograph was taken in northern Ireland, it shows how beautiful Britain is. British tend to take this country for granted, this is beautiful, when I see images like this it makes me realise what Britain actually has to offer.
When looking at what I want to photograph to represent Britain I should think about things like,
- Landscape that typifies our Country
- Documentary images
- Semi staged documentary
- Environmentally people
Also think about,
- Decisive moment, juxtaposition and visual irony
- Depth of field
- Composition and suggestion
- Opportunity searching, going in search of images, spontaneity
When I have taken my photographs I will upload them onto flickr, I am going to research the photographers in more depth to give me some more inspiration.
These are a few of the photographs I took to represent Great British,
This last photograph is the one that Richard choose to show the class, I like this one as it can tell a few stories, you want to know what each of the tables are talking about. In many years to come people will be able to look back at this and be like, oh so that's what it used to look like, that's what I did when I saw other photographers work. It is very interesting to see.
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On the 6/12/11 we went through the histograms on our cameras, what they should look like, overexposed and underexposed ones.
It is a simple graph that displays where all of the brightness levels contained in the scene are found, from the darkest to the brightest. These values are arrayed across the bottom of the graph from left (darkest) to right (brightest). The vertical axis (the height of points on the graph) shows how much of the image is found at any particular brightness level.
Underexposed
These are a few of the photographs I took to represent Great British,
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On the 6/12/11 we went through the histograms on our cameras, what they should look like, overexposed and underexposed ones.
It is a simple graph that displays where all of the brightness levels contained in the scene are found, from the darkest to the brightest. These values are arrayed across the bottom of the graph from left (darkest) to right (brightest). The vertical axis (the height of points on the graph) shows how much of the image is found at any particular brightness level.
Underexposed
Overexposed
Here we see the same photograph taken with exposures about three and a half stops apart. Both were at an aperture of f/9. The underexposed was shot at 1/2000 sec and the overexposed was at 1/200 sec. The histogram of the underexposed is bunched up at the dark end and the overexposed is bunched up at the light end.
A good histogram should be as symmetrical as possible,
This is what a histogram looks like on your DSLR's,
Richard then showed us what his histogram looked like from an image he had taken, he showed us on Photoshop, also how to change it so the image changes aswell for example, if I want to change the brightness and levels of any of my images I should use the histogram not just the brightness or level tool.
We then went on to talk about how to use Photoshop because for the next weekly picture project we have to use any of our images and use Photoshop to make at least 10 changes.
I am a bit more comfortable with Photoshop as I now know what some of the icons allow you to do,
I took quite a few notes on how to use some of the icons because I want to learn Photoshop quite well as I don't want to have to keep wondering how you use each one. When I have completed my Photoshopped image I will post it on my blog and on Flickr.
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This is my photoshop image,
To make it look different I,
- Cropped
- Blurred
- levels
- feathering
- curves
- cloning
- file type
- layers
These are all the things I did to my image, it looks like I have used a lens baby to capture this photograph but all I have done is put it n photoshop and change a few things, this is what my image looked like before,
If you look at them together you can see some of the adjustments I have made, I like both of my images but with just changing a few little things in photoshop it has changed the image quite a lot. It gives it a different character.
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