Where: In the house, due mainly to the weather,
When: Various times, sometime with natural light and at other times utilising whatever light source was available.
How: First of all I had to find the right hue of colour I wanted to capture for each part of the exercise.
I found this exercise quite frustrating as repeatedly I would come up with an idea, which I would photography only to find that the saturation and brightness did not differ enough to register, or that the hue was not right, or that the idea just did not work.
At first I expected to go through this exercise fairly quickly, but I quickly found that to obtain the exact hue was quite difficult and that many of my ideas failed to produce a satisfactory image.
In the end I spent a fair amount of a month and a bit just trying to come up with suitable images for this exercise.
What I was fully expecting to see was that the actual saturation of the primary and secondary colour would be affected by the amount of light going through the lens and the aperture of the camera.
As I captured each set of images I uploaded the images from the camera and did a straight conversion of the RAW image into a JPEG without changing any of the settings from the camera.
Primary Colours
Red
I expected this shot to come out fairly quickly as I was surrounded by the colour red, however many ideas that I came up with (curtains, fruit, cars, doors, post-boxes, etc) did not have the exact hue. I finally chose this set of exposures from a flower inside the house.
D80,Aperture f/4, Shutter Speed 1/20 sec, ISO 400, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
I feel that this +1 exposure has left the hue of the red looking much washed out and faded. The shadows from the overlapping petals don’t appear to be as well defined as in the other two exposures (the main one and the -1) and the shapes of the petals are not as well defined. The background also appears to very light and again washed out.
D80,Aperture f/4.5 , Shutter Speed 1/20 sec, ISO 400, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
This normal exposure has the hue that I wanted, the hue appears to be less pink and the shape of the petals are well defined and the surface pattern of the petal can be seen clearly. The hue is not dominated by the shadows from the overlapping petals. The background is just right as it does not draw the eye away from the subject.
D80,Aperture f/5 , Shutter Speed 1/20 sec, ISO 400, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
This -1 exposure almost has the hue that I wanted, the shape of the petals are well defined and the surface pattern of the petal can be seen clearly however I feel that the hue is dominated by the shadows from the overlapping petals distorting the hue away from the red and towards the black, this along with the slightly darker stripe in the background draws the eye away from the subject.
Yellow
I expected this shot to come out fairly quickly as I immediately had an idea and the subject that I wanted. The bright yellow hue of the boots is very eye-catching and I think it is the perfect subject. I was tempted to shoot the image on a black background to examine what affect this would have on the yellow of the boots, but unfortunately the room I use of shoot these images was flooded after the roof developed a leak and I have not had the opportunity to obtain the black background and use it.
D80,Aperture f/8 + EV, Shutter Speed 1/8 sec, ISO 400, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm), Centre Weight Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Hand Held, 55-200mm lens.
I went with the Centre weight metering mode as the lights in the room were overpowering and making the composition too bright and too yellow due to the colour temperature of the ceiling lights.
I feel that this +1 exposure has left a very bright hue of yellow and has spots of white which look burnt out with no definition on the white glare spots, especially on the upper areas of the boots where they catch the light from the ceiling lamps. I almost prefer this to the normal exposure as the yellow is quite bright and “happy” and it gives the greatest contrast between the bright yellow and the blacks.
D80,Aperture f/8 , Shutter Speed 1/8 sec, ISO 400, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm), Centre Weight Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Hand Held, 55-200mm lens.
This normal exposure has the hue that I wanted for the exercise, the hue appears to be less white and the spots of light are less burnt out and are better defined. The surface and shapes of the boots are better defined in this image as the shadows are easier to se, it helps to define the shapes within the subject especially around the ankle area of the boot on the left of the frame. The background however has taken on a red hue from somewhere and draws the eye away from the image. I also feel that it affects the hue of the boots at the toes and heels as they appear to have less of brightness and it appears to me to be affected by the red from the background, although they are not reflecting the light from the background.
D80,Aperture f/8 - EV, Shutter Speed 1/8 sec, ISO 400, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm), Centre Weight Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Hand Held, 55-200mm lens.
This -1 exposure does not have the hue that I was looking for, the hue is heading towards red and it is too dark and the shapes and shadows on the boots dominate the composition drawing the eye into the darkness and away from the yellow. It also shows up the dark marks on the boots that the other two exposures do not.
Blue
Again I expected this shot to come out fairly quickly as I was surrounded by blues, again I experimented with different ideas, sky, glass, paint, cars, fabric, but I could not find the hue that I was looking for. Again and again I would shoot the subject only to find that the differentiation is brightness was minimal or that the hue was not right. As my frustration increased I found that I was left only looking for two hues, blue being one of them. I spent a fair bit of time photographing different hues of blue until I finally found one that I liked. I wanted to closely control the light so I manually set the camera and adjusted the settings for each exposure.
D80,Aperture f7.1, Shutter Speed 1/6 sec, ISO 1600, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Centre Weighted Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
I feel that this +1 exposure leaves the main part of the subject with a slightly brighter hue of blue. But the bottom left hand side of the frame has a yellow tinge from the light above the subject. The contrast in the brightness of the hue is not too great and offers almost a uniform hue of hue due to the brightness of the exposure.
D80,Aperture f8, Shutter Speed 1/6 sec, ISO 1600, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Centre Weighted Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
This normal exposure has the hue that I wanted; the hue appears to be well defined and there is a slight variance in the hue due to the brightness of the exposure, and this is to be expected as the subject as a slight curve to it. This in turn helps to show the shape of the subject (a cleaning brush) making it well defined and the surface pattern can be seen clearly.
D80,Aperture f9, Shutter Speed 1/6 sec, ISO 1600, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Centre Weighted Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
This -1 exposure has a darkened hue caused by the reduced brightness. In the top of the frame the less bright exposure means that the top of the subject has lost a little definition and is lost to the shadow.
Secondary Colours
Green
Again I expected this shot to come out fairly quickly as I was surrounded by the colour green of almost the exact hue however like my ideas for red they did not have the exact hue. This was not helped by the snow which covered everything.
I finally chose this set of exposures from a leaf of a plant inside the house.
D80,Aperture f/9, Shutter Speed 1/40 sec, ISO 400, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
I feel that this +1 exposure has left the hue of the green looking very transparent which combined with the light behind it give it more of a yellow hue than of green. However the dried end of the leaf has very good definition and is almost the best definition for that part of the leaf than the other exposures.
D80,Aperture f/9 , Shutter Speed 1/50 sec, ISO 400, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
This normal exposure has the hue that I wanted; the hue appears to be less yellow and has a good deep hue to the green. The shape of the leaf is well defined and the surface pattern of the leaf can be seen clearly. The repetitive detail from the window behind can be seen in the background but it does not draw the eye away from the subject.
D80,Aperture f/9, Shutter Speed 1/60 sec, ISO 400, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
This -1 exposure has a hue which is too deep a green for what I wanted for the exercise. The shape of the leaf although well defined is too dark, the end of the leaf looked dark and dry and the surface pattern of the petal was lost at the edges of the leaf. I also feel that the final image is dominated by the repetitive shapes in the background which drew the eye away from the subject and onto the background.
Orange
I played around with various ideas, including logos, lights, flowers, fruit, spools of network cable and paints; None of the ideas worked out to my satisfaction and in the end I returned to a piece of fruit
D80,Aperture f/8, Shutter Speed 1/2 sec, ISO 1250, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
I feel that this +1 exposure is too bright and the hue has lost a lot of its properties as it is too washed out, it feels as if the shape of the subject has been lost and it has become almost two dimensional.
D80,Aperture f/9 , Shutter Speed 1/2 sec, ISO 1250, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
This normal exposure has the proper orange hue and is not too dark. I was worried that the normal exposure would not have the right hue and colours would not be bright enough due to the lack of overall light. The colours are not too uniform and the variations in brightness allows the subject to look curved and three dimensional
I especially like the dark loop of colour at the bottom of the subject where it is reflecting some of the black and it helps to make the subject pop out.
D80,Aperture f/10, Shutter Speed 1/2 sec, ISO 1250, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
In this -1 exposure the hue is almost uniform and the lack of brightness once again flattens the subject too much, and the subject is lost to the darkness and shadows. The overall brightness I feel is too dark allowing the hue to overtake the subject and lessen the overall composition of the image.
Violet
This was quite a difficult hue to capture again as I was limited to finding a hue which was not too light or too purple. I finally found it on a piece of material which I then photographed under natural light.
D80,Aperture f6.3, Shutter Speed 1/2 sec, ISO 1600, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
This is quite a bright hue of violet, the +1 exposure making the hue almost pink or red in tinge, I was surprised to find that it was not too blue as I expected it to be bluer than it came out. The definition of the material is easy to see and I was again surprised to find that the contrast was as quite good.
D80,Aperture f/7.1, Shutter Speed 1/2 sec, ISO 1600, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
In this normal exposure I can see that the violet is less bright and the darkness appears not to be in the hue itself more in the weave of the material itself. Although in direct comparison I can see that the hue has been affected by the exposure brightness.
D80,Aperture f/8, Shutter Speed 1/2 sec, ISO 1600, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens.
This -1 exposure shows that the reduced light into the lens has caused the hue to be affected by the brightness; it has gained contrast and definition of the material but at the loss of the overall hue and colour of the subject. The weave appears darker and more defined by the shadows of the weave.
In this exercise I have found that once again the brightness can be controlled by exposure and aperture settings and that the hue of a colour can be helped or hindered by this control.
On a personal note I have however found this quite a difficult exercise and it has taken me the best part of two months to complete this single exercise, I have found at times that I began to doubt myself as I found due to my limitations that I could not always control the exposure and obtain the brightness of hue that I wanted.
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