Monday 14 February 2011

Exercise 28

What: The main brief of this exercise was to examine how colours and tones and affected when colour filters are used when photographing a subject in black and white
Where: At home in one single shoot.
When: In the afternoon, in a darkened room to allow the use of a soft box to provide uniform lighting.
How: A number of photographs were taken of a still life which contained a red, a green and a yellow object, these were set on a blue background and in one corner of the still life a neutral grey card was placed.

From previous reading I knew that the colours would become tones of greyscale and that the filters would have some form of affect on the exposure in black and white, also from the reading I knew to expect that the neutral grey card would not change tone in any way when compared between the “filtered” exposures.

I expected at the start of this exercise that certain objects within the composition would have an enhanced tone in black and white when certain filters were used. E.g. before the exercise I expected that the red chilli in the composition would have a better contrast and tone range when the red filter is used.
I was very surprised with the results when examining the tonal ranges and what I expected at the start in some cases (i.e. the red filter) was wrong.


Original Colour Shot

I included this colour shot as the starting reference point before I used Photoshop to convert the images to black and white and then applied the presets for each of the colour filters.

D80,Aperture f/29, Shutter Speed 1/160 sec, ISO 1000, 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens, Softbox flash mounted to the right and above of the camera.

Colour DSC_0022


Default Black and White

This is the same shot converted to black and white using the default preset filter within Photoshop, as expected the objects have been stripped of their colour and have been rendered in tones of black and white. As a starting point I quite like the range of tones of each object, no on object has a greater tonal range than the rest and all the detail can be clearly seen on the objects.

D80,Aperture f/29, Shutter Speed 1/160 sec, ISO 1000, 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens, Softbox flash mounted to the right and above of the camera.

bandw-defaultDSC_0022


Red Filter

When starting this exercise I had expected that the red chilli would have a deepened colour range and would have been a darker grey than the default preset. However when I applied the preset of the red filter, I was very surprised to see that the red chilli became almost white and pale and it did not differ in tone from the yellow banana. However some of the shadow and detailed ridges on the red chilli and the green pepper became more defined as they had better tone. The green pepper itself gained a little in tonal range and some of the detail on the pepper was better defined than other parts. I was surprised to find that the blue background darkened as much as it did.

D80,Aperture f/29, Shutter Speed 1/160 sec, ISO 1000, 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens, Softbox flash mounted to the right and above of the camera.

bandw-redfilterDSC_0022

As surprised as I was, I learned a lot from this as it quickly changed my perception of the filters and how they worked when used in black and white.

Yellow Filter

Again I returned to the colour version and then using Photoshop I chose the Black and White conversion with the preset of a yellow filter. As with the red filter I found that the red chilli became very pale although it did gain a wide tonal range and the shadows and ridges on the chilli were well defined with this tonal range. This filter also brought out some of the finer detail in the green pepper but it was not as wide or as deep a tonal range as with the red filter.
In comparing the two I can see that the green pepper looses a little in the tonal range and definition and the red chilli gains some. The yellow banana was unchanged between these two filters and remained mainly white with some shadow and little detail, it was not as detailed nor did it have a wide tonal range as it did in the default settings.

D80,Aperture f/29, Shutter Speed 1/160 sec, ISO 1000, 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens, Softbox flash mounted to the right and above of the camera.

bandw-yellowfilterDSC_0022

Green Filter

Again returning to the colour version using Photoshop I chose the Black and White conversion with the preset of a green filter; straight away I could see a difference in this filter as compared to the red and yellow filters. The red chilli moved into the middle of the full tonal range and became grey and very detailed it had both quite bright whites and dark greys. I could see comparing it to the default setting that this was quite close to the default for the red chilli, but the green pepper, the yellow banana and the blur background differed. The green pepper was a slightly paler grey and lighter in tone and it lost some of the finer detail on the surface, this loss of surface detail could also be seen on the yellow banana, there is little surface detail to be seen compared to the default and due to its limited tonal range it loses almost all of its shadow and definition as it is much brighter, it does gain a little tone compared to the red and green filters. The blue background lightened slightly compared to the red and yellow filters and the detail of the cloth became clearer through higher grain, comparing the backgrounds between the green filter and the default I can see that the background has darkened slightly in tone.


D80,Aperture f/29, Shutter Speed 1/160 sec, ISO 1000, 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens, Softbox flash mounted to the right and above of the camera.

bandw-greenfilterDSC_0022


Blue Filter

I repeated the same process again, choosing this time the blue preset filter in Photoshop. Straight away I could see the difference in this filter; both the green pepper and the red chilli became darker in tone and gained a wider tonal range. The contrast between the dark and white is surprising and very impressive to me. The tonal values on the red chilli and the green pepper were increased in range, both of the objects darkening and having a very wide tonal range, very dark blacks and very bright whites. Even the yellow banana darkened and the tonal range that it has shows up a lot of detail on the surface and comparing it to all the other black and white preset filters it appears to just have lost its yellow hue, the saturation and the brightness of the colour image have not been lost at all. I could see a lot of detail on all the objects that I could not see even on the colour version.

D80,Aperture f/29, Shutter Speed 1/160 sec, ISO 1000, 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens, Softbox flash mounted to the right and above of the camera.

bandw-bluefilterDSC_0022

In all of the black and white presets I could see one common object which did not change and that was the neutral grey card. It remained the same tonal value in all of the shots; the neutral grey I think must therefore be unaffected by the filters and is therefore truly “neutral”.

I am drawn to the green and the blue filters as they both appeal to me as they have a great deal of detail in their tone (although the blue background lost a little of its detail. Both the images from these filters remind me of the images of peppers by Edward Weston; his images of pepper and chillies is unsurpassed in their tonal values and I can now see how he may have achieved some of the detail and tone in these images.

I have learned a lot about the “conversion” of colour into tones in this exercise. Some of my preconceived ideas were shown to be wrong and these ideas have been corrected through this exercise, I am pleased to have learned a lot about black and white and how colour filters have an effect on the tonal range of an image. I have also learned that there is a neutral grey which is unaffected by these filters and that it remains the same no matter what.

Saturday 5 February 2011

Exercise 27

What: The main brief of this exercise was to examine colour relationship and first of all photograph the colour relationship of red/green, blue/orange and violet/yellow in the proportion listed in the text which were taken from Goethe’s theory of colour and the colour relationship taken from the intensity of each colour in relationship to the other primary and secondary colours. The second part of the exercise was to take a freer hand and photograph the colour relationships but not in the forced relationship showing that there is no real correct formula for complementary colours.
Where: In different locations, in all weather including a gale.
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 combinations of complementary colours in the correct ratios. Then for the second part take photographs were the colour relationship in complementary colours did not adhere to the combinations and also to take photographs were there may be more than two colours. Again like the previous exercise I found this exercise quite frustrating as repeatedly I would come up with an idea, which I would photography only to find that combination was not correct or that the colour saturations did not appear as I wanted. Also being restricted by movement and by the weather meant that I lacked the colourful surroundings where I could obtain the correct combinations.

What I first of all learnt that getting the right combinations was quite hard but in the end I was spotting them everywhere, I also started to spot combinations of colours which were not complementary but their clash of colours caught my eye.

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.

Complementary colours in their ratios

Red/Green

I expected this shot to come out fairly quickly as I was surrounded by the colour red and I thought that I would easy find the combination of red and green together. In time however I found that many of the ideas that I came up with (fruit and vegetables, cars, doors, signs, LEDS, etc) either did not have the exact hue or the right combination. I took a vast number of shots using differing lenses distances and composition ideas before I finally chose the combination of the red and green perfume bottles. I spotted them in a shot and although I had to replicate the same combination at home I was happy with the photograph

D80,Aperture f/3.8, Shutter Speed 1/60 sec, ISO 1600, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, FlashWhite Balance, Tripod Mounted, 105mm lens, on board flash

red-green

I feel that this exposure has left the correct hues and that the red and green are balanced together in the 1:1 ratio. I was pleased that the two items sat together closely allowing me to zoom right into the objects. I also liked the composition as the eye is drawn in down through the curves and also into the centre from the sides of the frame.
I also liked this second red/green combination that I photographed where I closely focused into a pair of led indicators on a piece of computer network equipment. I have decided to include this as it ran a close second and I liked the contrast between the very dark background and the isolated spots of colour.

D80,Aperture f/5.3 , Shutter Speed 1/200 sec, ISO 1600, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Hand held, 105mm lens.

red-green2

Blue/Orange

I found in my surroundings that I had a lot of blues combined with other colours but not with orange. I photographed a number of sunsets where the sky was blue but the light was a deep red, a washed out yellow/orange or a washed out pink/red none of which was suitable.
It was while I was walking back over some rough ground that I spotted the orange lights reflected in some pools of water, on closer inspection I found that the tide was out in a small bay and this allowed me to walk right up to the edge of the water and while standing quite high look down into the water and capture the long fingers of orange light reflected over the blue water.

D50,Aperture f/4.5 , Shutter Speed 1/60 sec, ISO 1600, 70mm (35mm equivalent 105mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Manual White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens.

Blue Orange

I was very happy with the final image as this allowed for the 2:1 ratio for the colours and I liked the repetitive nature of the waves and the ripples of light as they flow down the frame.

Violet/Yellow

This was one of the hardest to capture as at the dead of winter there were not many violet and yellow flowers about, which is the idea that I had originally. I played around with a few ideas consisting of car lights and reflected colours but the ideas just did not pan out and I was not happy with the results. It was while watching a colleague talk that I noticed that he had a number of brightly coloured balls and I managed to persuade him to set up a couple so that I could take a few shots. I am not entirely happy with the final image but I was aware that the lens that I was using was extremely slow to focus and that the lighting was very poor so that I had use the lens at a very open aperture to capture all the available light.

D80,Aperture f/3.5, Shutter Speed 1/10 sec, ISO 1000, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Centre Weight Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Hand Held supported on a bean bag, 105mm macro lens.

Violet Yellow

I was surprised to see that although the yellow ball was further back and in a smaller ratio it still appeared to be quite large and to my eyes it makes the yellow ball appear to be larger in size than the violet ball.

I found this part of the exercise quite hard as some of the colour combinations and ratios were quite hard to find and some were almost impossible to capture at this time of the year


Complementary Colours not in their ratios or combinations

This part of the exercise was much more enjoyable, mainly because that I had found that I was spotting colour combinations a lot easier and that it was less restrictive and this allowed me a freer licence to use the combinations that appealed to me.

Green/Yellow

One of the colour combinations that I see a lot of and which appeals to me is the combination of yellow and green commonly seen here in the gorse bush. I liked the fact that the green is almost a background colour and the yellow is bright and almost separate from the rest of the bush. Even late in the day the yellow attracts my eye and the green which dominates the bush is pushed into the background.


D80,Aperture f/1.8 , Shutter Speed 1/100 sec, ISO 1000, 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), Matrix Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Hand Held, 50mm lens.

Green Yellow

There is something about the yellow in the image that makes me happy and although it is a brighter and more intense colour that the green of the image, the imbalance where the yellow dominates the image although it is of a smaller ratio to the green. I feel that this imbalance works for the yellow and against the green.

Blue/Yellow

I spotted this image out the corner of my eye and I played with a few different compositions and framing before deciding on this one. I liked the reflection of the yellow on the blue and the intenseness of the blue against the yellow. The blue to yellow ratio is about 2:1 and I feel that this works for the blue as it makes it dominate the image and it drives the yellow back into the frame. The eye is drawn to the blue and to the reflections and away from the yellow.

D50,Aperture f/4.5, Shutter Speed 1/5 sec, ISO 1600, 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), Matrix Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Hand Held, 50mm lens.

Blue Yellow


Looking at the image, there is almost a red tint to the image that was not there when I took the picture, I think that it may have come from the greyish wall which was behind the yellow grit bucket and must have been reflected in the car.

Blue/Orange

I like the fact that the blues in their varying hues outnumber the orange, but because the orange is so bright and isolated against the blue it allows the orange to standout within the frame. If you take away the blue grey of the sea and the white blue of the sky then the orange ration is higher than the blue of the boats hull.
I liked the repetitive movement of the waves and the fact that the orange bridge on the boat is high in the frame and slightly off centre. Certainly studying the image as a small thumbnail the orange is more eye-catching that the blues.

D50,Aperture f/6.3, Shutter Speed 1/30 sec, ISO 1600, 44mm (35mm equivalent 66mm), Matrix Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Hand Held (in a gale) , 18-70mm lens.

blue orange 2

Red/Green

I had seen this unusual coloured sign earlier on in the day and I went back to photograph it as the ratios of the image are almost but not quite 1:1. I feel that the imbalance in the rations makes the red less intense and allows the green to dominate within the frame.

It was an unusual choice to paint a sign in such a pair of complimentary colours as I would have through that they wanted the sign to stand out more rather than to be as “normal” as this.

D50,Aperture f/4.5, Shutter Speed 1/40 sec, ISO 1600, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm), Matrix Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens.

red green 3

Looking at this I feel that the red is lost amongst the green.


Blue/red/Yellow/Green

I was very happy to see this combination of colours in this ratio as it somehow allows the colours to flow down in size and intensity to the point where the green is almost not seen even though it is almost the same size and ratio as the yellow.

The blue dominates the frame, but I feel that my eye is drawn away from it to the red where my eye then slides down to the yellow and the green. I feel that the red because of its’ intensity is the main focal point of the image and the ratio of 4:2:1:1 somehow works against the blue.

D50,Aperture f/4.5, Shutter Speed 1/25 sec, ISO 1600, 29mm (35mm equivalent 43mm), Matrix Metering Mode, Auto White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens.

blue red yellow green

I found this exercise quite frustrating at the start but after a while I did find that I was beginning to examine my surroundings constantly for combinations of colours and seeing whether they were complimentary colours or not. I am beginning to understand why some images appeal to me while others do not, and the use of colours to create certain effects within a frame and composition.