SYSTEMS & PROCESSES - CAMERA/LENS TECHNIQUES 3

ASSIGNMENT BRIEF


CAMERA/LENS TECHNIQUES

• Use both wide and telephoto lenses (or focal lengths) to make 2 photographs of the same subject

below are my to images using wide and telephoto focal lengths

to achieve telephoto focal lenght image a long focal length lens with shorter back focus is used allowing it to be relatively compact image.

to achieve a wide focal length image a short focal length lens of extreme covering power is used to give a wide angle of view.

as you can see from the images above the first picture is quite compact and the second allows you to see alot more of the surroundings.

STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY - Bottle

ASSIGNMENT BRIEF

STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY


Using a bottle of water (preferably a coloured bottle), employ the use of the following modifiers;

• honeycomb


• soft-box (masked),


• beauty dish


• umbrella.

these are the pictures i took using the above modifiers, i also used black boards and white reflectors to change the effects slightly.

modifier: soft box with masking (low down)

modifier: soft box masked with back light

modifier: soft box, with masking (high light)

modifier: umbrella

modifier: umbrella with 2 side detractors

modifier: umbrella, with back light on

modifier: beauty dish

modifier: beauty dish, with black detractor at the side and white reflector above to lighten the lid.

modifier: honeycomb

modifier: honeycomb

modifier: honeycomb with white reflector to right

from this task I've learnt that using soft box with masked lighting is what seemed to work best for the effect i was trying to achieve which was to get a line of light down the bottle. i found that the honeycomb modifier didn't show enough light on the bottle and was confined to one spot around the centre and the beauty dish and umbrella light which was quite thick and only down half the bottle. If i was to do this again i would use the soft box with masked lighting and have it down both sides to create a more even look and to represent the "curves" of a woman as this is a product that is aimed at women.

BOTTLE LIGHTING TECHNIQUES

Today's class was about lighting techniques that could be used on a bottle and the effects, below are the pictures taken and setups used.



CAMERA SETTINGS

• ISO 400


• F-STOP 5.6


• SHUTTER SPEED varied from 1/2000s - 1/250s

set up with continuous lighting from behind and underneath, bottle and effect.

lighting: bottom lit
effect: very dark not much detail or definition.












lighting: continuous lighting from bottom and behind but low down.

effect: bottle lit well but lid very dark and not much detail visible.








lighting: top and bottom continuous light


effect: well lit bottle and lid with detail showing clear.






lighting: lit from both left and right


effect: well lit bottle and lid not much definition.






Lighting: up lit with side subtractors and a top reflector


effect: definintion along side of bottle and lid lite ok detail more clear but still quite dark.




lighting: bottom light with black side subtractors

effect: deffinition along sides of bottle but lid quit dark with not much detail showing.

CV PREPERATION NOTES

CV

RESEARCH JOB MARKET

• Look on websites such as galleries, museums, magazines, newspapers, studios, photographic/multi-media/graphic design agencies, university/colleges and art organisations.


• make enquires even if job is not advertised.


• get myself and work known


• look at the things they want from you and reseach include thee in your cv


• research nature of the job


• work voluntry

CV CONTENTS

• consise


• correct and honest


• appropriate to the post


• intresting and positive


• links to statement - get it checked, include inspirations, remember the content.


• referee - who's best? get permission, still there? contact details

LENS CONTROL WORKSHOP

today i attended John's lens control workshop.

Focal length is how far away subject is to the sensor, within the lenses there are elements which are for colour and tonal balance.

FIXED LENS - elements within housing are fixed and don't move.

ZOOM LENS - elements within housing move to zoom in and out.


Typical focal lengths are:-

• 15mm, 24mm, 28mm are wide focal lengths


• 35mm, 50mm, 85mm are standard focal lengths


• 135mm, 200mm are telephoto focal lengths


• 400mm, 800mm are extreme telephoto focal lengths

standard (same perspective) lens for a DSLR is a 28mm. we exaggerate perspective if we move from a standard to a telephoto lens.

WIDE ANGLE LENS

• more coverage


• exaggerate perspective

TELEPHOTO LENS

• subject closer


• flatten perspective


• less coverage

*Telephoto lenses are best for portrait photography*

wide angle lenses are typically used for landscape.

*WHEN USING A TRIPOD THE IMAGE STABILISER ON CAMERA SHOULD BE TURNED OFF*

135mm lens with soft focus connector is very good for portraits, portraits should also be shot using a shallow depth of field.

depth of field website - http://www.dofmaster.com/

SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD - F2.8, F4, F5.6,

DEEP DEPTH OF FIELD - F11, F16, F22

Aperture (F number) controls depth of field and intensity of light.

depth of field is distributed 1/3 towards the camera and 2/3 away from the camera.

DIFFERENT LIGHT SOURCES

During our class with Andy we were asked to go out and find different light sources and photograph them here are some of the different sources we found.





the light here is from a traffic signal
























this lighting is from a vending machine




















indoor lighting bulbs

the red lighting here is coming from above is from the darkroom

this was taken in the studio and is light from the window

taken in studio using florescent lighting

taken in the studio using tungsten lighting

from going out and finding the light sources i found that a light that tends to just come from above can be very unflattering as shadow are cast on the face and under the chin making for quite a dark image. i also found out that different lighting sources have various colours ie tungsten can be quite orange and florescent blue.

WEEKLY PROJECT PICTURE - TIME

Every fortnight during our group tutorial we get a work/phrase. we then have to create a picture that we associate with this word/ phrase.


our first 'weekly' picture project was....TIME.

Initially i was going to show the hands with sand running through them up but after photographing it i felt it didnt look right so decided to go with this, simply the sand falling...........


this is the process which i went through to get to my final image.

My final image.

"The Sands of Time"

taken using house lamp as my light source with paper to act as a diffuser i only wanted light on one side of the image so i used the 45/45 lighting technique which i'd learnt whilst taking pictures for my assignment (pear), i also used a tripod so i could slow the shutter speed right down then the sand falling would be blurred, which i felt was a representation of time when editing the image i changed it to black and white and put the contrast right up to make it very dark on one side and light on the other, another representation of time to.

STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY 2 (reject)

For part of the assignment we were asked to take a picture of a pear and employ the following lighting techniques.

• 45/45
• high key
• low key
• back light
• top light

EQUIPMENT USED

• Bowen's Esprite 2500 watt strobe light (on stand)
• Honeycomb diffuser power setting on 4
• Hot shoe for flash
• Light meter (used to find out aperture)
• Mini product table
• Tripod
  

When taking my pictures i decided to use a tripod so i could have the fruit in the same place and just move the lighting this way it was easier to see the effect the different lighting techniques had on the product and picture.

LOW KEY

TOP LIGHT

BACK LIT

HIGH KEY

45/45



As you can see from the pictures above that some of the lighting is very similar i.e back lit and high key were both bright with similar shadows etc, and also low key is very dark. so i decided to to some research on the lighting techniques and then re-shoot the fruit i also decided to use a pear as on the low key shot the background and aubergine were quite hard to differentiate between.

EXPOSURE WORKSHOP

Today i attended John's exposure workshop, which was to help us learn about camera exposure and how it effects the pictures we take.



Exposure - amount of light received by the sensor.



There are 3 main things to consider when taking a picture these are

• ISO (film speed)


• TIME (shutter speed)


• INTENSITY (aperture)

ISO - International Standers Organisation. film speed, sensitivity of sensor control how fast or how slow it records information.

example - f8 @ 1/125 iso 50 is slower film speed, f8 @ 1/125 iso 1600 is a faster film speed.

ISO's 25, 50, 1oo are slow film speeds, usually higher definition (rich with lots of detail).

ISO's 200, 400 are medium film speeds used for more general use (200 ISO is usually the optimum film speed for a digital camera).

ISO's 800, 1600 are fast film speeds with lower defination (corse and grainy)

How fast of slow light is absorbed, landscape photographers tend to use slower film speeds while sports photographers would use a faster film speed.

ISO CONTROLS -

• SPEED SAND SENSOR (light absorbtion)


• AMOUNT OF DEFINITION (levels)

INTENSITY - APERTURE

F2.8 F4 F5.6 F8 F11 F16 F22

At F2.8 the aperture ring would be wide open and at F22 the ring would be a small hole.

Aperture controls the light that falls on the sensor.

APERTURE CONTROLS -

• INTENSITY OF LIGHT FALLING ON THE SUBJECT


• DEPTH OF FIELD (2.8 low depth - 22 high depth)

TIME- SHUTTER SPEED

• B - bulb 10sec to 1min


• 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15 - used for landscape, time lapse photography.


• 1/30, 1/60


• 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000 - used for sport photography

shutter speed controls the amount of time the shutter curtain is open and light spills in.

SHUTTER CONTROLS -

• TIME ALLOCATED FOR LIGHT TO FALL ON THE SENSOR


• SUBJECT MOVEMENT (to freeze action or not?)

Using any of the above setting with effect the picture in various ways.

INCIDENT LIGHT - the light which falls on to a subject.

REFLECTIVE LIGHT - the light which falls of the subject.

*CAMERAS ONLY READ REFLECTIVE LIGHT*

When taking a portrait its always best to take a reading on incident light. It's very important to shoot to the right of the histogram getting plenty of mid tones means a picture can be edited with out losing and information (quality of picture).

DIGITAL DARKROOM - grey balance, warm & cool

ASSIGNMENT BREIF

DIGITAL DARKROOM

1. Demonstrate the action of importing, organising and naming files/folders in Lightroom or Aperture.


2. Write a caption for a least 1 photograph in you Lightroom catalogue.


3. Using the white balance slider in lightroom produce 1 cool 1 'grey balanced' and 1 warm version of one of your photographs

For parts 1 & 2 please see my lightroom catalogue.

part 3

1. original image

2. warm version

3. cool version

4. grey balanced