Continuing Working at the ideas

In an attempt to stop me going rusty and to have me continue to learn the skills from the TAOP course, I have gone back and looked over the exercises and using them as a loose basis I created a brief for myself.

In this case I wanted to have another try at the lighting exercise and have a go at a combined dark field and edge lighting experiment.,

I setup the softbox behind a piece of A4 black paper which was clamped to a lighting stand a little in front of the softbox.

 Brandy Shot

D80, Aperture f27, Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 145mm (35mm Equivalent 217mm), Matrix Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, tripod mounted, 55-200mm, Single Studio 180W Flash head with softbox.

I am pleased with the colouration of the brandy and that the curviture of the inside of the glass is shown by the small amounts of defracted light within the glass itself.

Large Brandy Glass
I then moved on to a larger glass, one which was almost as wide as the piece of black paper once it was composed on the table.

D80, Aperture f27, Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 95mm (35mm Equivalent 142mm), Matrix Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, tripod mounted, 55-200mm, Single Studio 180W Flash head with softbox.

I converted it to black and white and then used photoshop to adjust the saturation colour on the glass to give it a very slight blue hue as I wanted to show the bowl shape of the glass.

Crystal Glass 
Again I changed glasses, this one was slighly smaller, but it had the one advantage of being cut crystal. This allowed the light to reflect around more within the glass as the crystal cuts helped to deflect and disfuse the light.

D80, Aperture f27, Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 105mm (35mm Equivalent 157mm), Matrix Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, tripod mounted, 55-200mm, Single Studio 180W Flash head with softbox.



While I was pleased with the glass and the light effect it produced I was not too happy to see that a lot of the table below the stand and the glass was being reflected up into the bottom of the glass. Next time I will have to place down non reflective black card to stop the reflections and to soak up some of the bounced light.

Crystal Glass Single Side

I adjusted the glass and the lighting stand holding the black piece of paper a little and then had another go at the crystal glass, this time I wanted only to capture one side of the glass.

D80, Aperture f27, Speed 1/250 sec, ISO 100, 105mm (35mm Equivalent 157mm), Matrix Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, tripod mounted, 55-200mm, Single Studio 180W Flash head with softbox.



Using the slightly faster shutter speed meant that with the adjustments I photographed the glass capturing only the light refelecting from once side. I was really pleased with this image.

What I learned

At the end of the shoot I looked over the images and ditched quite a few as I was not fully happy with the performance of the lighting; I have overlooked the power of the lighting and had set it too high forcing me to change ISO, speed and Aperture because once I started shooting I forgot that I could adjust the lighting power down even further. I did however get a few images that I was particularly happy with, including the single edge of the crystal glass.

Bibliography

Ansel Adams: Born Free and Equal

Josef Albers: Interaction of Colour

Eugene Atget: Paris

Steve Bavister: Lighting for Portrait Photography

John Berger: Ways of Seeing

Karl Blossfeldt: The Complete Published Work

Clement Cheroux: Portfolio of images by Henri Cartier Bresson

Graham Clarke: The Photograph

Charlotte Cotton: The Photograph as Contemporary Art

Edward S Curtis: Native Americans. A portfolio of images published by Taschen

Magdalena Droste: Bauhaus

Steve Edwards: Photography. A Very Short Introduction

Michael Freeman: The Photographers Eye

Reuel Golden: Masters of Photography

John Hannavy: A Moment in Time. Scottish Contributions to Photography 1840-1920

John Hedgecoe: The Photographers Handbook

Roger Hicks/Frances Schultz: Still Life and Special Effects Photography

Fil Hunter/Steven Biver/Paul Fuqua: Light. Science and Magic. An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

Johannes Itten: The Elements of Colour

Ian Jeffrey: How to Read a Photograph

Tony Mendoza: Ernie. A Photographers Memoir

Steve Mulligan: Understanding Composition. The Complete Photographers Guide

Museum Ludwig Cologne: 20^th century Photography

NPG: Vanity Fair Portraits

Bryan Peterson: Understanding exposure

Phaidon: The Photo Book

Phaidon: Century

Prestel: Icons of Photography - The 20^th Century

Man Ray: A Portfolio of images published by Taschen

Susan Sontag: On Photography

Sara Stephenson: Light from the Dark Room

John Szarkowski: The Photographers Eye

Taschen: Photo Icons 1 & 2

Thames & Hudson: Magnum Photos

Thames & Hudson: The Great Life Photographers

Edward Weston: A Portfolio of images published by Taschen

just some of the influences!

I would just like a moment to note some of the photographers and artists whose work has an influence on me and who I had discovered as part of the Art of Photography Course.

Ansel Adams – I came to his work quite late, I enjoy looking at his landscapes and I can be lost in the composition for hours, but it was his work capturing the life of Internees which really captured my imagination, his portraits are perfect and work well as a narrative as well as a capture of space and time.

Edward Weston – I have always loved the indoor work on peppers as Weston has captured the shape, contours and contrasts of the subjects in simple but impressive monochromatic images.

Alexander Rodchenko – When I first encountered “Portrait of Mother “ by Rodchenko I was very impressed, with one single image he has shown his influence on film makers and on designers. His use of composition and rhythm in a image have had a great influence on how I see shapes and patterns.

Rankin – Rankin’s’ monochromatic portraits remind me of the production and promotional images created by many Hollywood photographers of the 20’s 30’s and 40’s. I have always been fascinated by this style of portraiture and the creative work that these photographers produced for Time Magazine and Vanity Fair.

Jack Vetriano – I has always liked his work but I have at time struggled to understand what he was presenting. Thanks to the course I now have a better appreciation of his work and some of his portraitures have had an influence of me.

Edward  Curtis – I found some of Curtis work at the start of the course and his simple monochromatic images made me want to see more of them and to examine his work.

Roger Hick and Frances Schultz – their work together in the production of advertising images has had an influence on me as it has taught me to little on the lighting requirements and skills needed to create these images.

The number of images and pieces of work and their artists which have influenced me is a very long list. Thankfully to the teachings of the course I have found a greater appreciation for art and artists than i had before. I know enjoy looking at art and being able to start to understand the representation and with a simple understanding fo colour theory and composition I can now start to understand why some images are more striking to me than others.

Assignment 5 – Applying the Techniques of illustration and narrative

What: The brief of this assignment was to show the command of illustration and narrative by producing a magazine cover and article
Where: Final Location – The Botanic Garden in Edinburgh
When:  Single Day – Just after the storms had finished on the east coast of Scotland.
How: First of all I made sure that I fully understood the brief of the Assignment by rereading the text. The then thought about what kind of article and images I wanted to produce, I spent a few days on line at the National Library of Congress of America looking at scanned copies of books by Edward S Curtis on Native Americans ^[1], Ansel Adams books and images of Americans of Japanese descent who were interred in America during World War 2 ^[2], I also looked at scanned images and articles at theAtlanic.com ^[3] and two articles on Military Working Dogs at foreignpolicy.com ^[4].

Looking at these gave me a few ideas to work on and also a lot to think about regarding the producing of images and how these photographers had an influence on me.

I had originally gone to the garden to do a social documentary comparing the botanic garden and the council owned park right next to it, as they are vastly different to each other. However I did not like the images that I produced of the park and I could not get a good comparison of the two locations. I then decided to document the Botanic garden as a location of interest as it an unusual place located in the heart of the city; again I had problems not only due to the fact that some of the gardens facilities were either closed or not working and also due to the fact that due to my limited mobility I could not get to all the locations within the Botanic Garden.

I then went round the garden again and noted the many differences in the buildings dotted around the location, I then decided to work on the idea of the evolution of the garden as it moved into the 21^st century very much like the National Museum had done when it reopened a month earlier.

I was surprised to find when I started to dig, how much the garden had changed and evolved just at this location.

The evolution of the botanic garden

D80,Aperture f/13, Shutter Speed 1/90 sec, ISO 640, 70mm (35mm equivalent 105mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens

In 1834 the tropical palm house which is now the smaller palm house was constructed to house a number of tropical palm trees; each of which has been culled when it reaches the roof of the palm house to make way for the smaller trees. Sections of previous palm trees are kept just outside the entrance of the palm house for the public to examine.

D80,Aperture f/13, Shutter Speed 1/125 sec, ISO 640, 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens

In 1858 the temperate plam house was constructed beside the tropical palm house  to contain temperate palm trees and is to date the tallest in Britain.

D80,Aperture f/19, Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 640, 27mm (35mm equivalent 40mm),Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens

Part of the redesign was to reuse to original stone benches which now use temporary displays of flowering plants which would normally be kept out of public view in the research and support areas.

Here a pale rose is nestled amongst a collection of citrus plants all of which are sheltered in the shadow of a large palm tree. 

D80,Aperture f/13, Shutter Speed 1/90 sec, ISO 640, 52mm (35mm equivalent 78mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens

The temperate palm house is now under maintenance to keep it in good condition. Glass that was broken in the recent storms is being removed by hand before being replaced with identical glass which is becoming harder to source.

D80,Aperture f/6.7, Shutter Speed 1/1500 sec, ISO 640, 34mm (35mm equivalent 51mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens



In 1960s it was recognised that the original Victorian palm houses were in poor condition. It was decided that they should be restored to good condition and that 10 new glasshouses were to be built completed linking all the houses together. In 1967 this was completed and the new houses held a collection of plants in different environmental conditions.

D80,Aperture f/4 , Shutter Speed 1/750 sec, ISO 640, 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens

The radical design of these new glasshouses allows for maximum internal area as the entire structure is supported on the outside.
D80,Aperture f/6.7 , Shutter Speed 1/2000 sec, ISO 640, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 105mm lens



The main elevation  the new glasshouses is called the Front range providing visitors with a pleasant, quiet space. The planting and is regularly rotated to provide continuing interest.

D80,Aperture f/6.7 , Shutter Speed 1/3000 sec, ISO 640, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 105mm lens

In 1876 the gardens acquired the area surrounding Inverleith house. This was at first used as a home for the regius keeper and his family.

D80,Aperture f/19 , Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 640, 27mm (35mm equivalent 40mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens

It also has undergone several incarnations and between 1960 and 1984 was the founding house of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. It is now an internationally recognised art gallery and it houses a continuous rolling programme of temporary exhibitions.

The landscape surrounding Inverleith house has been reworked and landscaped to create a view looking south out towards the rest of the city silhouetting the castle, St Giles and St Andrews Square.

D40X Converted to IR, Aperture f/9 , Shutter Speed 1/1600 sec, ISO 800, 35mm (35mm equivalent 52mm), Pattern Metering Mode, CustomWhite Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens



The garden itself which has now grown to an 80 acre site is constantly monitored by the staff and researchers to ascertain the condition of the plants, from pine trees to alpines. The horticulture staff maintains the garden to ensure the plants are in good condition

D80,Aperture f/6.7 , Shutter Speed 1/4000 sec, ISO 1000, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 105mm lens

In the last five years the garden has undertaken another evolution when the west gate buildings were cleared and the construction of a new entranceway was started. The John Hope gateway was opened in 2009 not only as the new main entrance for the public, The building also houses other facilities including an improved Shop, education room, a Real Life Science Studio, permanent and temporary exhibitions, interactive media, plant sales and Gateway Restaurant

The gateway was named after Professor John Hope regius keeper of the garden from 1761 to 1786 who was responsible for unifying the differentiates sites into the first botanic garden at its original site on Leith walk.
D80,Aperture f/22, Shutter Speed 1/45 sec, ISO 1000, 15mm (35mm equivalent 22mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Daylight White Balance, Hand Held, 11-16mm lens

Summary

It was a bit of a problem to begin with as at the start none of my original ideas worked out or when I went to scout locations they images I had planned to take just did not work out. I was pleased to find that I just did not start banging off with the camera taking hundreds of images in the hope that I would get something workable. I took my time and planned and replanned on the day when things did not work using the original plan as a structure to work from.

References

1.       http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/067_curt.html

2.       http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/109_anse.html

3.       http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/ww2.html

4.       www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/04/war_dog

Exercise 47 - Rain

What: The brief of this exercise was to show the understanding of illustration by producing an original image for a magazine cover which demonstrates the subject of rain
Where: In the house
When: During the two days of storms
How: First of all I had to do was to reference some book and magazine covers and get an idea of what to avoid when coming up the subject of rain.

At first I wanted to produce an image of someone walking across the road at a set of crossroads where I could capture the silhouetted figure under an umbrella while the rain socked building could be seen going off into the distance using the perspective from the crossroads. However as the wind was so strong I could not find a position in my chosen location where I would not be buffeted by the wind and where I could catch someone using an umbrella, it appeared that umbrellas were not in use due to the very high winds.

I then thought about shooting out of a first flooe window into the dark night, placing a remotely fired flash on the ground floor below. I believed that the rain drops would be light up from below with the flash and this would produce a nicely light image of the rain. However the flash I am using has developed a fault and would not trigger correctly or produce a flash of the correct intensity. SO I had to rethink the idea again.

While at home I remembered an image I had taken a long time ago which had received some good reactions from friends and relatives. I then tracked down the original file and decided that I would like to use the concept to produce a new image

The original image produced in 2005 using one of my first proper point and shoot digital cameras.


I waited during the stormy days until there was a moment when it was not too dark and that the rain was light enough not just to streak down the window. I then just shot a few frames in different directions out through the glass until I was happy with the background of the image.

D80,Aperture f/22, Shutter Speed 1/3000 sec, ISO 3200, 105mm (35mm equivalent 157mm),Centre Weight Metering Mode, Cloud White Balance, Hand Held, 105mm lens



I used cloud white Balance rather than shade as I could not get the right colour representation from either shade or auto white balance.

I then gave the image a title to look like a magazine cover and then a couple of lines of text as you would normally get on a cover.

What I learned

I learned from this exercise that sometimes a plan just does not work out and that you have to be flexible with your ideas. I quite enjoyed the exercise as it was a task where I had to exercise my imagination and come up with some concepts and the second part was the exercise in producing and photograph to a set specification.

Exercise 45 - Symbols

What: The brief of this exercise was to demonstrate an understanding of symbols and symbolism which could be used to illustrate a concepts.
Where: Everywhere – I have been thinking about this a lot
When: All day
How: First of all I had to do was to jot down some notes on what I thought would be a suitable list symbols for the following concepts avoiding clichés

Growth – Building being raised indicating financial growth. A sapling or field of shoots indicating the start of botanical growth. A macro photograph of a shoot as it just bursts through the soil.

Excess – Glasshouse crammed full with a giant banana tree.

A large display of different coloured sweets and chocolates, something like the old fashioned sweetshop displays or on a market stall.

Collection of expensive cars together with their owner.

Crime – Especially after the recent events in London, broken windows come to mind. Vandalism, mugging, fighting in the streets.

Stacks on money beside bags of white powder.

A gun with some bullets beside it, a smoking gun?

Silence – A Victorian statue on a gravestone – statue looking downward in sorrow. These are usually found on children’s  graves or on war graves.

I did think about a hand or finger over the mouth, but I am concerned that could now be a cliché, it certainly was the first thing to spring to mind.

Poverty – First thing that comes to mind in the slums of Glasgow, so I thought about a poor child in the street.

A beggar stilling outside a large chain store or chain restaurant.

I found this quite a provoking exercise as it allowed me to exercise my mind allowing me to think up, note and sometime discard symbols for the concepts. I enjoyed this exercise as it did allow me the freedom to exercise my mind although it was at times difficult to decide if an symbol I had thought of was a cliché or not.

Exercise 44 – Evidence of Action

What: The brief of this exercise was to show the command of illustration by producing an image where something has happened. I took the exercise suggestion of something which had been emptied.
Where: In the house
When: During the afternoon
How: First of all I had to do was to jot down some ideas; at first I had been struck by the exercise suggestion of showing something which was broken, but after looking at what I had to hand which was just glasses and bowls, I could not come up with a good composition which I liked. It was while sitting at a friend’s 40th party that I observed someone clearing up a stack of empty beer bottles, I then re-examined the course notes and decided to change to the example of showing something as being emptied.

Since I do not drink beer and I was not going to procure a dozen bottles to pour down the sink, I examined a cupboard in the house where I stick empty bottles until we have enough to take to the bottle bank. In there were a couple of empty bourbon bottles including one limited edition bottle.

I remembered that the notes had mentioned advertising as an example of dealing with abstract ideas and I decided that I wanted to produce a single image showing several empty bottles of bourbon.

I then setup a light tent, correctly this time around, and after sorting out the background I experimented with different light setups until I got the shot that I wanted.
D80,Aperture f/4.8, Shutter Speed 1/60 sec, ISO 640, 48mm (35mm equivalent 72mm),Pattern Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens



What I learned

I learned from this exercise that is can take some experimentation and practice to demonstrate abstract ideas through illustration; however once the concept has been developed and it can be demonstrated.
I was unfamiliar with the concept of using illustration of portraying ideas, but I now understand the concept and also the concept of symbolism and the requirement to find the right symbol for the illustration of a subject or idea.

Exercise 42 Shiny Surfaces

What: The main brief of this exercise was to make a covering for the camera lens so that I could photograph something shiny without reflecting the camera lens or reflecting the light back from the subject into the lens creating an overexposed image.
Where: Inside the house with the outside light blocked by blackout curtains.
When: During the evening.
How: I first of all I cut up some large sheets of tracing paper and made them into a cone, I then fitted the cone round the camera lens and mounted the whole lot onto a tripod, so that I could point the camera down at the shiny metal cup. I then moved the light around the cone and also move it towards and away from the cone to see what would happen when there was a lot of light or not enough light.

Shiny Surface 1

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/30 sec, ISO 100, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Pattern Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-55mm lens



Shiny Surface 2

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/30 sec, ISO 100, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Pattern Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-55mm lens



Shiny Surface 3

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/30 sec, ISO 100, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Pattern Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-55mm lens



Shiny Surface 4

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/30 sec, ISO 100, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Pattern Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-55mm lens



Shiny Surface 5

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/30 sec, ISO 100, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Pattern Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-55mm lens



Shiny Surface 6

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/30 sec, ISO 100, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Pattern Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-55mm lens



Shiny Surface 7

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/30 sec, ISO 100, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Pattern Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-55mm lens



Shiny Surface 8

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/30 sec, ISO 100, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Pattern Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-55mm lens



Shiny Surface 9

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/30 sec, ISO 100, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Pattern Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-55mm lens




I can see that by moving the light around the cone that I can produce differing levels of contrast and that when the light is near to the cone that it overpowers the diffusing effect of the cone and it lights up everything including the background.

I can see that the cone is acting like an improvised light tent and that the cone is diffusing the light and not allowing it to concentrate in one area. Off all the images I produced on this exercise I prefer the lighting in the very first image as I feel that the image is neither over nor under exposed and that the amount of contrast is perfect for defining the cup.

Exercise 41 Concentrating Light

What: The main brief of this exercise was to make a covering for a light which would concentrate the light onto just part of a scene.
Where: Inside the house with the outside light blocked by blackout curtains.
When: During the evening.
How: I first of all set up a studio flash and a rudimentary snoot to control the light but I found that the amount of light was still a little too much. So I then used a non diffused small standard camera flash head with a couple of A4 white paper sheets taped around the head. I then set the flash on top of a light stand and pointed the whole thing down towards my subject.
I then used a large piece of black card on the other side of my subject as a black flag as I did not want any light to be reflected back onto her.

Concentrating Light 1

D80,Aperture f/32, Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Centre Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Hand held, 18-55mm lens



I like the way that the light just falls off and that only the top of her head and her shoulders are light by the flash. I also like the small shadows on her face as it helps to define the relief and shape.

Concentrating Light 2

D80,Aperture f/11, Shutter Speed 1/125 sec, ISO 125, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Centre Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Hand held, 18-55mm lens



Moving the flash up slightly meant that the light was now being cast over her head and that only the top of her head would be light up. Here I was trying to replicate the portrait and fashion lighting of the 1930s and 1940s which is such an influence on me.


Concentrating Light 3

D80,Aperture f/13, Shutter Speed 1/125 sec, ISO 125, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Centre Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Hand held, 18-55mm lens



Here I pointed the flash head down and forward as I wanted to drop her face into shadow. I wanted to see if I could just concentrate the light in front of her and try to silhouette her face.

Concentrating Light 4

D80,Aperture f/13, Shutter Speed 1/125 sec, ISO 125, 52mm (35mm equivalent 78mm),Centre Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Hand held, 18-55mm lens



Keeping the light in the same position, I had her turn her face and move into the light, so that it passed over her face leaving her body unlight and in shadow. I am happy with this image as it has the effect that I was looking for, just concentrating the light enough so that only part of her face was light.

Concentrating Light 5 -  Monochrome with a Red Filter

D80,Aperture f/13, Shutter Speed 1/125 sec, ISO 125, 52mm (35mm equivalent 78mm),Centre Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Hand held, 18-55mm lens



Here I added a high contrast red filter and shot in black and white. The filter helped to diffuse the light and to bring out her eyes and the relief of her hair. It also helped to redefine the contrast of the image and created nice dark shadows.

I was pleased with this exercise as I really wanted to see if I could replicate the lighting style of images which fascinate me. I was happy to see that using a snoot allowed me to concentrate the light right down to almost pinpoint accuracy and that it can be used to project a beam of light onto the subject.

Exercise 40 Contrast and Shadow Fill

What: The main brief of this exercise was to take a number of photographs of a single subject where the light would be varied to demonstrate contrast and shadow fill.
Where: Inside the house with the outside light blocked by blackout curtains.
When: During the day.
How: I setup the still life with the camera locked off in a tripod pointing directly at the subject on the same level. I then started with a bare bulb flash and then worked through the exercise using a number of homemade reflectors and flags to demonstrate what happens to contrast and shadows when these items are used.

Up until now I had only really used a golden reflector and a black flag I had never tried to used white reflectors or silver reflectors, so I was interested in seeing what would happen.

Again I went back to the small Chinese statue as I wanted something with a lot of relief but also with a little shine on it so that I could see what happens to the light as it is reflected back from the subject from the reflectors.

With the camera in a fixed position and the lighting in a fixed position at right angles to the camera and at the same level as the subject, the exercise asked me use different reflectors and to move them back and forward to demonstrate that the amount of light reflected back was dependant on the reflector and its distance from the subject.

Bare Bulb

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 66mm (35mm equivalent 99mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 55-200mm lens



The first image is from a non diffused flash, just a bare flash bulb flash. I can see that there is a massive amount of light coming from the flash and it is overexposing the subject. The quality of light is hard to control in this case.

Diffused Flash

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 66mm (35mm equivalent 99mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 55-200mm lens



With a white umbrella fitted in front of the flash to act as a diffuser, the amount of light is reduced and the image is not as overexposed as the bare bulb image. I can see that there is a greater amount of contrast and that the subject has regained some detail and definition. I can also see that the side facing the flash is brighter than the opposite side where little light can reach, as the subject is divided into two unequal parts.


White Card One Meter Away

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 66mm (35mm equivalent 99mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 55-200mm lens



Using a large white card placed to the opposite side of the flash, I noted straight away that there was a certain amount of light reflected back into the subject. I can see areas, for example the sleeve on the statues which is now brighter and has less shadow on it as before. This has helped to balance the subject as it is no longer split down the middle with a light side and a dark side, the reflected light has filled in some of the shadows and helped to define the shape of the subject.


White Card Half a Meter Away

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 66mm (35mm equivalent 99mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 55-200mm lens



Moving the card in to half the distance away brings in even more fill light. I was really pleased to see this effect and I was surprised that the Inverse Square Law also worked for reflected light. By halving the distance the amount of reflected light had filled in all the shadows and had reduced the overall contrast of the image as there are now less dark parts to the image. I liked this overall effect which I had to admit I would only have been able to produced before by the use of two lights and a certain amount of work to balance the amount of light from each one.

Foil Reflector Dull Side Out

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 66mm (35mm equivalent 99mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 55-200mm lens



Again I was surprised, I thought that a dull reflector would reflect less light than a white card; I was surprised to see that it reflected even more light, but with a slight different hue. The fill light this time was not white and in this case did not wash out the statue with light. I can see that there is a difference in the blue hue of the statues sleeve and that the contrast levels of the image have again been reduced slightly.

Foil Reflector Shiny Side Out

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 66mm (35mm equivalent 99mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 55-200mm lens



Here things were as I expected, a lot of light was reflected back at the subject and the hue of the light is almost the same. I feel that the shadows are better defined and that the contrast of the image is better.

Crumpled Foil Reflector

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 66mm (35mm equivalent 99mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 55-200mm lens



I was very surprised when I reviewed this image as I somehow expected that the amount of reflected light to be less. However the crumpled foil has caused a slight scattering of the reflected light and this has meant that the fill light is diffused and not as harsh as the shiny foil. I like the effect that this has produced as the subjects contrast is a lot better than before without making the shadows too dark, the shadows now are better defined and the hues of the subject are not as over exposed.


What I learned out of this exercise is that reflectors can be used to bounce light back at the subject and that all reflectors have different usages due to the quality of the reflected light. I shall try to use reflectors a lot more now and continue to experiment as I believe that there is not one answer as to which reflector to use in what situation.

Exercise 38 Softening the Light

What: The main brief of this exercise was to take two photographs one where the subject was light by a bare bulb or flash and the second where the same subject was light by a diffused bulb or
Where: Inside the house, during the day with the outside light blocked by blackout curtains.
When: During the day.
How: I setup the still life with a flash off to one side, photographed once with the bare light and then with the diffused light.

This did not go as expected as the first time I did this exercise the light from the studio light was so bright that there was little difference between the two photographs. I took several days trying to find the little differences between the two images before abandoning the idea and starting again.

The second time I used a small square desktop white box to diffuse the light through one side of the box, this two failed as again the difference between the two photographs was negligible.

I then decided to use less light and I tried a small flash head remotely triggered off camera. While this light up the subject the differences were little due to the fact that the white box was diffusing the light too much.

Finally using the same white box I took off one side and using the same small flash head I took a number of photographs until I was reasonably happy with the bare bulb result. I could still see a lot of white burnout, but at least I could see the subject clearly, I then used a disposable paper tissue to cover the head of the flash to diffuse the light. This work and I could finally see the difference between the two images.

The first attempt.

A small china statue given to us a long time ago; It is quite wide and long and so I thought that as it had a lot of relief that it would be a good subject.

Bare Bulb

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 62mm (35mm equivalent 93mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 55-200mm lens



Diffused Bulb

D80,Aperture f/9.5, Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 62mm (35mm equivalent 93mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 55-200m lens



While I can see a difference in the levels of light and contrast I was surprised to see that the diffused bulb had darker shadows and that it had a larger overall contrast range to the subject. I also fell that the bare bulb image is almost too washed out with light. Trying to control a light that powerful was quite a bit difficult in such a small room.

The Bugs Statue

I changed my mind at tried this out in the end. As the statue itself has a lot of curves and straights on it I thought that I may be better to spot the contrast differences between the two images.

Bare Bulb Bugs

D80,Aperture f/8.0, Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 40mm (35mm equivalent 60mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-55mm lens



Diffused Bulb Bugs

D80,Aperture f/8.0, Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 40mm (35mm equivalent 60mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-55mm lens



This time I can see a lot more contrast in the shadows of the ears, face and feet of the statue.

What I learned out of this exercise is that softening the light is not always the solution to every problem, while it can create a great deal of contrast within an image, it can also create a situation where the final image may lose some of its detail.

However when there is too much light or the light being used creates shadows and light which are too hard and too sharp then these can be softened by the use of scrim or soft boxes to create a flatter softer light which is not as harsh or has too much contrast.

Exercise 37 - Outdoors at Night

What: The main brief of this exercise was to take between twelve and twenty photographs where the subject or areas were light mainly by artificial light. The brief allowed foe outside images to be taken as long as the flood lights lighting up the subject were not easily seen in the image or were obscured completely. The brief also allowed for a number of photographs to be taken inside a building where there was no natural light at all but not using a tripod.
Where: Outside over the main road, in a graveyard, outside a hotel, inside a newly refurbished museum and in a moving car.
When: Mainly at night, although I had seen a number of press and news images of the galleries of the refurbished museum and I knew that they would be suitable at any time of the day.
How: I used a number of setups ; Over the main road I had the camera mounted on a tripod with the head locked off. In the Graveyard I again used the tripod. Inside the museum I stuck to the brief and just hand held the camera. Inside the car I used a combination of hand held and a Delkin “Fat Gecko” suction mounted tripod (See http://delkin.com/i-5829837-fat-gecko-original-dual-suction-camera-mount.html) for more details on the mount.

I had also done a little extra research into photographing neon lights at http://www.popphoto.com/how-to/2010/10/how-to-shoot-neon-lights just in case I came across any but alas I did not.

Main Road

The position that I scouted is a bridge over a long dual carriageway which acts as the main road. I positioned myself in the middle of the bridge and waited for some traffic to arrive. Unexpectedly I found it to be quite a quiet time and I had to wait a while before I saw any traffic at all. I had set the camera to ISO 100 so that I would be able to obtain the light trails from the moving vehicles and I had also set the white balance to shade as it captured the hues to the best representation.

Car Headlights One

D80,Aperture f/4, Shutter Speed 4 sec, ISO 100, 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Shade White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens



I was please to see that the sky had almost the same colours as it had before the sun set and that the green hue of the fields was nicely defined. I like the composition of the image as the lights attract your eye and then draw them off into the distance along the path of the road.

Car Headlights Two

D80,Aperture f/3.8, Shutter Speed 0.3 sec, ISO 100, 29mm (35mm equivalent 43mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Shade White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens



I moved the camera over to the other side of the bridge which looked towards where the sun had set. I was surprised to find that there was still a lot of light in the sky and that I had to adjust the shutter speed to 0.3 of a second. While I achieved getting both the shape of the vehicle and the tail of the lights I find the final image a little on the dark side compared to the first image where the surrounding were light up more and the image composition was balanced more.

Car Headlights Three

D80,Aperture f/3.8, Shutter Speed 3 sec, ISO 100, 29mm (35mm equivalent 43mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Shade White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens

I recomposed the image and waited a little longer for some traffic before taking this image. This time the colours and composition balance. I still was not happy and so took another image.




Car Headlights Four

D80,Aperture f/22, Shutter Speed 25 sec, ISO 100, 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Shade White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens

I adjusted the aperture to f/22 as I wanted quite a long exposure time and I wanted to capture the sky and the surroundings of the road. As the aperture was at f/22 I made the shutter speed 25 seconds. This allowed me to wait on the slow moving tractor with its flashing amber beacon and allow it to move past.



I am very happy with this final image as the dotted effect of the flashing amber beacon has created an unusual light trail and an unusual image.

Graveyard

Just as I was moving off the bridge I noted that the lights on the one floodlight building around were on. I took the first image from the edge of the bridge pointing down towards the building using a telephoto lens.

Church Light Up from a Distance

D80,Aperture f/22, Shutter Speed 3 sec, ISO 100, 270mm (35mm equivalent 405mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Shade White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 70-300mm VR lens



Again I like the way that it looks almost like daytime, the orange of the floodlights balances against the green of the fields and the blue of the sky.

Church Light Up One

I moved down into the graveyard beside the church and took this image of the building positioned at the edge of the path a little way in from the front gate. I had to move around to find a position where I could photograph the church without being blocked by a gravestone, a bush or a tree.

D80,Aperture f/22, Shutter Speed 30 sec, ISO 100, 40mm (35mm equivalent 60mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Fluorescent White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens


I changed the white balance to fluorescent as I noted that the lights on the building were very orange close up and that if I had not adjusted the white balance I would have ended up with an over warm image where it would have been washed out by an orange hue. I like the colour of the sky as it is a dark midnight blue and at the same time I managed to capture the colours of the stain glass window and not allow it to be too over or under exposed.

Church Light Up Two

I moved outside the grounds to the church in an attempt to get another composition of the church and its lighting. In the end I positioned myself close to the ground and moved the tripod down to my level; from there I could photograph the tower of the church between the railings on the wall.

D80,Aperture f/27, Shutter Speed 10 sec, ISO 100, 70mm (35mm equivalent 105mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Fluorescent White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens



I then cropped the final image as I had too much dead space on the right of the frame which was detracting from the composition. At this angle I noted that the lights were less orange and whiter and that the lights from the church would silhouetted the trees on either side of the frame.

Hotel Light Up in Blue

Opposite the church is a hotel which was floodlight in blue. I moved to the very edge of the property and shot down the driveway and between the bushes that bordered the driveway. I noted that there was a combination of blue floodlights and yellow internal lights

D80, Aperture f/27, Shutter Speed 20 sec, ISO 100, 56mm (35mm equivalent 84mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Tungsten White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens



I decided to use Tungsten white balance as I thought that the fluorescent white balance would create a very cold blue hue and I wanted to capture the warmth of the internal lights as well as the light blue hue of the floodlights. Examining the image later I can see that the lights almost split the building in two horizontally; the lower half being the warm orange of the internal decorations against the tungsten lights and the upper half being the colder blue of the floodlights. Again I was pleased to see that I had managed to get an exposure where I could balance the internal and the external lights and not over or under expose either.

Trees Light From Below

Just outside the hotel was a floodlight sign, and as I moved away from the building I could see that there was an overspill of light from the triangular shaped sign and that it was being reflected up into the tree leaves above the sign. I liked the differing colours caused by the spill of light so I set up the tripod across the road from the trees and shot up into the leaves.

D80, Aperture f/22, Shutter Speed 30 sec, ISO 100, 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Fluorescent White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens



I then cropped the final image as I had managed to capture a orange street light in the composition. I like the composition of this image as it has both a silhouetted tree and the branches leaning out of the darkness into the bright light.

Street Light

As we parked up home again I decided to take an image of a street light, something which I had struggled with previously. While not strictly within the brief I wanted to see if I could capture the correct hue of light from the street light.

D80, Aperture f/4.5, Shutter Speed 1/6 sec, ISO 3200, 70mm (35mm equivalent 105mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Fluorescent White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens



While it was better than I had managed before I think I could do better.

Moving Car

Due to my eye condition I do not like to drive at night as I almost have to have my eyes closed at times to protect them from the headlights of other vehicles. I noticed that if I squinted enough the all the street lights and other car lights just became blobs and streaks of light.

Having bought a Delkin mount to use with my previous car, I took it with me when Lindsay was driving me from location to location for this exercise. I mounted it on the passenger window and set the camera up so that I could capture light trails through the windscreen of the car.

Moving Car One.

D80, Aperture f/19, Shutter Speed 20 sec, ISO 100, 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Tungsten White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens

I realised that the windscreen had a slight tint to it so I set the white balance to Tungsten as even today a lot of cars still use tungsten bulbs as their main source of light.



I am very pleased with this image as the light trails really do indicate the movement of the car from my position as a passenger. It is strange to see the many different hues and types of light used, as I managed to capture street lights, car lights, traffic lights and reflected light from buildings.

Moving Car Two

I decided to repeat the shot again, but moved the camera and mount to a different position closer to me in the car, so that I was practically looking out through the viewfinder as we moved.

This time as the camera was closer to me, it received a little more support and it did not vibrate as much. I wanted less of an exposure time so I adjusted the ISO to ISO1000 and set the shutter speed at 6 seconds.

D80, Aperture f/22, Shutter Speed 6 sec, ISO 1000, 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Fluorescent White Balance, Tripod Mounted, 18-70mm lens



Even though there are less light trails I like the sine wave that the movement of that the car set up as it moved over a rather uneven patch of road.

Inside the Museum

Having seen the refurbished museum on the news I decided that it would be ideal for this exercise as there were a number of locations inside the museum which now had no natural light at all.

On entering the museum I found the first location which was a vault like structure which was the ground floor storage area underneath the entrance to the museum.

It was very brightly lit to make it attractive and welcoming to visitors with a number of different lighting styles.
Looking at the colours of the stone and the setup of the lights I decided on tungsten white balance as otherwise the image would have a darker yellow hue to it which detracted from the beauty of the building.

D80, Aperture f/16, Shutter Speed 1/6 sec, ISO 3200, 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Tungsten White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens



It was quite difficult to get a successful hand held shot in such low light conditions, I had to go to the maximum ISO on the camera to allow me to achieve hand held speeds.

Inside the Science Hall

I moved into the back of the museum where they have blocked off all the light coming in through the Victorian arched iron roof and due to the set up of the walls all natural light is blocked off from entering the hall. The main light for the hall comes from the walls and from the exhibition display cabinets.

D80, Aperture f/4.8, Shutter Speed 1/8 sec, ISO 3200, 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Fluorescent White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens



Inside the Science Hall Two

I recomposed the image just to capture the ground floor layout and the lights coming from the exhibition display cabinets only

D80, Aperture f/4.8, Shutter Speed 1/45 sec, ISO 3200, 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Fluorescent White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens


I noticed that there was a lot more light coming off the display cabinets as I needed a faster shutter speed although all I had done was point the camera directly into the room. I can also see that the exhibition display are not so over exposed and that you can now easily see what is in the cabinets.

Inside the Cultural Hall

I then moved up to the top of the museum and went into the cultural gallery where again like the science gallery the natural light has been removed by blocking up the windows and the roof. I wanted to capture the shape of the roof as well as the limited amount of light in the gallery

D80, Aperture f/4.8, Shutter Speed 1/15 sec, ISO 3200, 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Tungsten White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens



A lot of this area is light up using LED lighting which lends itself to tungsten white balance as depending on the colour of the LEDs it can produce a light which is almost the same colour temperature as tungsten.

Inside the Cultural Hall Two

Looking down into the crowded gallery below I noticed that there was a number of different light sources and that the light was coming from all directions. Again I went for tungsten white balance as it made for the best compromise in colour temperature for the whole gallery.

D80, Aperture f/4.8, Shutter Speed 1/15 sec, ISO 3200, 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), Pattern Metering Mode, Tungsten White Balance, Hand Held, 18-70mm lens



This has been quite a hard exercise to perform as I found it difficult to find the right lighting conditions for each circumstance. I took a number of images where the white balance did not work out, the shutter speed was incorrect causing over and under exposure.

I was really out of my comfort zone for many of these images as I had to go complete manual mode and at times work out in my head what would be the right exposure time for the image. I’m pleased to say that I did not panic and I just took a few extra seconds to work out what I wanted before setting the camera up.

Again I have learned that there is a great difference in the colouration of artificial light and that I can use the cameras white balance to correct the image where the final result would end up being too cold or to warm due to the tints and hue caused by the incorrect white balance. I was pleased to find that I could obtain the correct white balance through practice and that during the exercise I was able to set the correct white balance before taking an exposure.

What I was really pleased to find was that I was successful in obtaining a few images which although they had been taken after sunset still appeared as if they had been taken during the day; this was particularly pleasing as I have been trying to obtain this affect after being influenced by some of the photographers and their photographs in http://gizmodo.com/5742383/175-photos-of-day-taken-at-night