Outline: Take approximately 6 images of a similar theme, incorporating at least one each of the following qualities:
- A high dynamic range (high contrast) image
- A low dynamic range (low contrast) image
- A low lighting image where you would need a high ISO setting
- A mixed lighting image.
Planning:
I had really not been looking forward to this exercise. It took my a long while to decide what theme I wanted to use and what types of photographs I could take, that fulfilled the requirements of the exercise but were also interesting to view. I pondered over a few ideas and then happened to have a brainwave. It's christmas! And everywhere you look are all these beautiful christmas decorations so I thought that 'Christmas' would be a convenient and great theme to photograph for this assignment.
I wanted to try to capture a christmas theme in between 6-10 images, using a mixture of natural and also set up scenes. The subjects of my images I planned to be anything that would give the viewer a thought of christmas as soon as they saw the images so my initial ideas were:
- christmas tree
- twinkly lights
- cards
- santa
- baubles
- presents
- wreaths
All these ideas were, for me, perfect christmas symbolism and therefore whenever I see images of the above, I think of christmas!
I have a great new compact camera which I wanted to use during this assignment alongside my Canon SLR, to see if there would be any significant difference in the outcome of the final shots. Also, I decided to take sets of images over two days to experiment with lighting, to see if different weather conditions, and different camera settings to coinside with those conditions, could alter the final images.
Assignment:
Revisiting following tutor feedback:
I seem to have made a really silly error and forgotten to label which quality I was trying to portray in each image so firstly I will be adding these labels to each of the images.
Image 1 - Low lighting/ high ISO
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| Canon 1000D F8 1/100 WB auto ISO 1600 |
This image was set up late at night with a lightbox and a single tungsten lamp set up behind the subject, creating low lighting conditions. I took a similar image for 'The Art of Photography' and was so impressed with the outcome, I wanted to try this set up for this image. I needed to use a high ISO setting to get the image but obviously this has caused the image to have a lot of noise. I started at ISO 400 and increased the setting on each image, and 1600 is the highest setting my camera has so fortunately, this image came out clear. I also experimented with the camera position and focal length here. I tried postioning the camera slightly higher with a closer focal length but I found the baubles weren't in as much shadow as I wanted and you could also see a lot more reflection in the bauble.
I chose this as the best image and then during the editing stage, I cropped the image down to include just the baubles and effectively increased the noticeable noise by doing so, but I only wanted the baubles in the image without a lot of space around them. I also increased the brightness and contrast to darken the front of the baubles and reduce the reflection.
My tutor liked the idea of this set up but suggested maybe using a brighter more colourful light behind to lift the composition slightly. I'm not too sure what a more colourful light here would achieve. I wanted the image to purely be the silhouette of the baubles and was happy with the effect of the slight edge of colour on the baubles in this final image.
Image 2 - High dynamic range:
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| Canon 1000D F4.5 1/50 WB daylight ISO 100 |
I know that this image doesn't have the immediate christmas symbol but for me it is a natural part of christmas, due to family members having them for christmas. Plus, I liked the traditional red and green christmas colours so included this image as my 'wildcard'. This image has a high dynamic range, from the flowers, to the leaves and the shadow. In terms of the shooting aspect, this image was a lot easier to shoot with it being in a window setting on a sunny day with plenty of light available. Therefore, I was able to use a low ISO setting and use a daylight white balance setting. My aim was to really bring out the colours of the plant and I think I managed to capture them very well. I did have to change camera angle during shooting though. This was because firstly the window was to my right and the sun was positioned directly to the left of the plant and I was gettying a lot of glare and the images were coming out completely over exposed. By moving to the opposite side so that the window was to my left, the sun was then just above my left shoulder and sitting better on the plant.
During editing, I only had to slightly crop out a bit of glare to the right of the image.
I agree with the tutor's comment on this image with it seeming more like an exercise than just a natural 'creative venture'. I did seem to overthink some of the images in this assignment, as stated in my conclusion, so i was a bit too 'textbook' when taking this image to incorporate the qualities to the image. I will retake this image in front of a white background as suggested to see if I can better the image in any way.
I have now retaken this shot and I have to admit, they look much better. I processed the image to repair the over exposure from the bright sunlight on the white background, and slightly increased the contrast:
As you can see, the background looks more blue now and the colourful leaves look a bit faded, so I think I'm going to keep the image over exposed to keep the background looking white and crisp.
Image 3 - Low lighting/ High ISO:
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| Nikon Coolpix S9100 F4.2 1/5 WB shade ISO 800 |
I found this image slightly challenging to shoot. I wanted to capture the wonderful texture of these baubles but also show that they were on a christmas tree, so I really took the time to experiment with focal length, composition and camera angles. The image was also taken on a rainy day where the natural light was low and in a room with a tungsten light. I had to also alter my ISO settings and white balance to find the best settings to capture this image. I started with a low ISO setting and increased by one stop and this image was taken with a relatively high ISO of 800. I also changed the white balance from daylight to shade to tungsten and thought that this image with a shade setting was the best. This image only needed a slight crop during editing to remove unwanted detail to the edge of the image.
Image 4 - mixed lighting:
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| Canon 1000D F4 1/4 WB auto ISO 800 |
This image was taken at night with a tungsten room light on but also with the tree lights in the background. I shot this image with a high ISO setting and also with aperture priority to create some depth to the image. I took a lot of frames for this image. I had an idea of what I wanted the final image to look like however, It was mainly the focal length I was toying with. I liked this best due to being able to see the majority of the bag with the obvious christmas tree in the background. In the processing stage I had a lot of highlight clipping and shadow warning so to rectify this I dropped the exposure -1.5 fstops and increased the fill light.
My tutor commented that the tungsten light in this image is very overpowering so maybe a tungsten white balance setting would've worked better to remove that colour cast. However, as the decorations are now away for another year, I'm not able to experiment with that now.
Image 5 - low dynamic range:
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| Canon 1000D F5 1/10 WB auto ISO 1600 |
This is another composition that I set up. I wanted to see if I could create a low contrast image using the red baubles on a red background and I was actually very pleased with the outcome. This was set with a light box at night with one tungsten lamp to the right of the camera. A high ISO setting was needed again and this created a lot of noise in the image, which is highlighted when the image is enlarged. However, I did use a lot of camera angles while shooting to create an interesting composition for such a flat image.
There was also a lot of editing during the processing stage I slightly cropped the image to remove a shadow to the foreground of the image and also decreased the contrast slightly to flatten out some of the vibrancy of the red.
Image 6 - high dynamic range:
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| Canon 1000D F4.5 1/4 WB daylight ISO 400 |
Again, I set this image up but this time I just created different compositions with table decorations during the day. The room was lit naturally and so I kept the white balance to daylight but on an overcast winters day the ISO setting of 400 was needed. I managed to keep some of the detail on the tree to try to highlight the texture of it but this was pretty uneventful while shooting. During processing I only needed to slightly increase the recovery slider as there was a lot of highlight clipping on the tree sparkles and by using the recovery slider, the highlights were removed.
My tutor has commented on the 'purple tinge' to this image, stating that maybe over exposing the image may have altered this to make it seem like a nice white background. However, the purple casting over the image is due to the wall in the background as it is painted lilac. So composition wise, maybe a set up would've worked better, as suggested for image 2, complete with a white background. I have tweaked the exposure to create this image:
I agree that the image is much better without the purple haze, however i think the over exposure is losing some detail to the left side of the tree decoration.
Image 7 - mixed lighting:
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| Nikon coolpix S9100 F3.5 1/5 WB auto ISO 400 |
This image was taken with the compact camera during a full mixed lighting situation. I had natural lighting from the door in the hall, the tungsten lighing from upstairs and also the lighting from the twinkly lights on the staircase. In spite of all this, the lighting conditions are still quite low and required a test for the best ISO setting. I left the white balance on auto to allow the camera to choose the better setting for all the different lighting. I really like the different colours in this image created by the different lighting sources and to highlight them, I increased the contrast a bit while decreasing the brightness slightly. This increased the shadows on the banister to allow emphasis to the lighting.
Image 8 - high dynamic range:
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| Nikon coolpix S9100 F3.5 0.6 secs WB daylight ISO 400 |
I think this image was the easiest to shoot. The wreath is in a doorway with plenty of natural light and a nice plain white background. This emphasized the tones colouring in the wreath and also it's shaping. I kept the ISO to 400 as this was the lowest I was able to use without an blurring appearing. During processing I only had to straighten and crop the image ever so slightly to level out the horizontal line at the top of the image and to take out a big space at the bottom. I also slightly tweaked the contrast up to bring out the colours a bit more.
As with the previous image, my tutor commented that maybe over exposing this image would make the background more white and crisp, however it's the same as the previous image. The colour in the background is the wall paint behind the door that the wreath is mounted on. I have tweaked the brightness and contrast in photoshop elements to amend the image to this:
Again, I agree that the composition is better but again, I feel some detail in the wreath ( where the light reflects ) may be lost due to this over exposure.
Conclusion:
I wasn't looking forward to carrying out this assignment and, if i'm honest, I'm still unconvinced that I actually enjoyed doing it. I think that I worried too much about creating the images and making sure that I undertook all necessary aspects that I forgot to just have fun with it and so I think that maybe be this may have come through a bit in the images. But overall, I am happy with the final shots and they have fullfilled the goal I set myself in the beginning of wanting the christmas theme to really shine through in each photograph. The plus side to overthinking the exercise though has to be that looking through my photo library from this assignment, I must've doubled the amount of images I took due to experimenting with settings. And this has highlighted that experimenting is great in that you can have a variety of the same image but with slight differences due to altering the settings, as it does give a wide choice of images to choose the best from. And then from deciding 'the best', you are allowing your personal creativity and character to come through, as what you think is the best image, may not be the best to someone else.
I was dreading the feedback on this assignment as I was unsure if I had over thought some of the images but I am extremely happy with the comments my tutor made and she also gave me some really good suggestions on things to alter. I did say that I used a mixture of natural in home decorations as well as setting up an arrangement for other shots. It seems maybe a set up arrangement would've worked better overall as the background seems to be the major factor in the images my tutor has suggested to amend.
Afterthought: After sending off my images to be printed and receiving them back today, I can see why prints are needed for the submissions. Some of the images look completely different on print than they do on screen. I am still happy with them and look forward to receiving my tutor's feedback.
On receiving my fedback my tutor has noticed that the quality of the prints does not seem to be as good or clear as the on scren prints and suggested that i have them reprinted by another print company before submitting the assignment for formal assessment.
Tutor Feedback
Overall Comments
Well done for completing another assignment so quickly, Amanda. You are showing great commitment to the course.
Assessment potential
I note that you have submitted a previous unit for formal assessment. I am therefore going to assume that you would like to submit this unit too. The key to success at formal assessment will be the development of your blog (please see notes on this section) and producing nice sharp images.
Feedback on the assignment
Elements to consider with your assignments:
This assignment is concerned with the quality of the image that you take and the amount of control that you take in the planning of each shot. Images should be in keeping with the theme of the assignment, and should show your consideration of the effects of light on your subject and your level of understanding over the outcome of the picture.
Your assignment in connection with the above points
Planning
You have given some careful thought to your subject matter and worked appropriately with a theme of Christmas. This has worked well for you allowing you to work with some nice reflective items with lots of colour.
NB Your prints are not nearly as clear and sharp as your on screen images and there is a slight colour bias that is not very favourable. I would suggest having these re-printed by a different print company if you are submitting them for formal assessment. These prints really aren’t doing justice to your photography.
Images
Your conclusion on this work has been quite interesting. In some images you have clearly enjoyed the challenge while in others the photography has become more of an exercise. Although this unit is based around technical considerations it is nice to see you make explorations and experiment with your images. You haven’t clearly identified in your notes which of the various image qualities you are demonstrating. I would suggest giving each the appropriate setting before submitting for formal assessment, so that the assessors can see instantly what your intention has been behind the shot.
High Dynamic Range
Image 2: The colours are nice and bright on this shot, but this has turned into an exercise rather than a creative venture. Think well known high street family group photographers here with bright white backdrops and over-exposed informal group placements. It might have been fun to try and set up something similar with your plant.
Image 6: I’m really not sure which image quality you are demonstrating with this shot. However, I would like to see it sit here comfortably in the high dynamic range. The background in this shot looks a little purple for daylight. Could you have over-exposed this picture and created a nice bright still life image? The shallow depth of field works very nicely.
Image 8: Again – I’m not sure what your intention was with this image. High Dynamic Range? Could you have over-exposed this a little to give a nice crisp white background to your garland?
Low Dynamic Range
Image 5: This works really well! I love the red on red arrangement and you have worked very hard with your lighting here to create the desired effect. You are showing a good level of experimentation here – well done.
Low Light/ High ISO
Image 1: This example of shadowed baubles demonstrates the requirement well and shows some strong consideration to lighting. The beauty of Christmas baubles is the colour and reflective qualities and reducing them to a silhouette does ask us to observe the shape and little else. Would a brighter more colourful light source behind have lifted this composition a little?
Image 3: Nice bold colours her and an interesting angle of view. You’ve thought about texture detail here and adding environment to your shot. The photograph version I have here isn’t quite as sharp as the one on screen, which is a bit of a shame.
Mixed Lighting
Image 4: The tungsten light is very overpowering in this picture. The compositional arrangement works well giving a nice Christmassy feel.
Image 7:
The mixed lighting here has given you a nice result. Increasing the contrast has helped to give the desired effect.
Summary
This has been a bit of a guessing game, in terms of which images refer to which techniques. I hope I’ve guessed right on each occasion, having read through your notes for clues as to your intentions. It may be that you can tweak some of these images a little with post processing in order to make your visual messages a little clearer. The enlargements aren’t as sharp as they could be but I think this is your print company rather than your photography.
Learning Logs
I note that you have mentioned that a couple of photographers have inspired your work. I would like to see you explore, investigate and reflect on the work of other photographers. This may mean including one or two images in each case, in your blog, relevant to your own practice, and then reflecting on them. State what you like about them, what you don’t like, how they have been taken and how this research may shape your future practice.
