London trip - photography practice

We had a great long weekend away in London last week and I hoped to have a go at what might have been called street photography (although it was actually in a market!). 

We went to Borough Market - a perfect opportunity to capture people at work and play.  The weather was a bit dire - very heavy rain and not the best light.  This brought plenty of people into the centre of the market to stay under shelter - good for the food stalls, not so good for me being bumped and pushed by people from all sides.  The market was amazing, packed with stalls selling freshly cooked dishes of curry and paella alongside freshly juiced high energy organic fruit and veg.  There were beautiful bright colours everywhere. If I could have recorded the smells and sounds I may have made a  better job of things.

I found that I struggled with my shyness again.  I tried to be discreet when taking photos, aiming to capture the atmosphere of the stall holders without intruding.  By not asking permission of the stall holders before taking photos I found myself unable to stand where I needed a good shot.  Standing in doorways from the outside looking in made the shots dark.  This also proved challenging when trying to decide on the settings.

As you can see by the image below I needed to change this unsuccessful technique.

I had to photoshop this image to make it halfway decent, altering the levels to reduce the appalling very one sided histogram and desaturating it to add more interest. This made the image quite grainy.

So - I had to brave it and approach people directly before photographing them.  These proved much better and I was a little happier with these images.

The trip to the market highlighted just how little I had learnt so far about the practicalities of the camera. Constant use of the camera in all conditions will be the only way for me to embed the knowledge.  All in all this confirmed the need for practice, practice, practice. So I aim to have my camera with me at all times in future.

Project - The Frame Exercise 2

Exercise 2:  object in different positions in the frame

The brief here was to place the subject in different positions in the frame.

Image 1:  Subject in the centre of the frame

This subject was right in the centre of the frame. It makes for an okay composition but has very little interest.  Nothing draws the eye around the image, just straight into the centre where it stops. Luckily, the horse has engaged with me as the photographer which makes the viewer want to stay at this point.

Image 2:  Subject just off centre in the frame

The subject is off centre in the frame adding a little more interest for the viewer, allowing the eye to move ahead of the horse.  There is a slight suggestion that there may be something else in the field.

Image 3:  Subject close to the edge of the frame

This gives the image a different feel.  There is space for the subject to move into and again the horse has engaged with me as the photographer arousing curiousity for the viewer.

My feelings on the 3 different perspectives.

Image 1 is pleasing as the horse is in the centre and looking at the camera. If the horse hadn't been looking at the camera it would probably have been less interesting.  There is nowhere left for the viewers eye to rest. 

Image 2 should be the best one but I feel that it is boring. I think perhaps that I should have taken the image further back to get more of a feel of where the horse was in the field and what was surrounding it to give a better perspective.

Image 3 is too close to the edge of the frame.  Maybe a few millimetres further away from the edge of the shot would make it feel less cramped.
Image two works best for me.  The horse is looking towards the edge of the picture giving the impression that there is something in the space ahead of it.  The space behind the horse also gives more of a feeling of balance.

Project - The Frame Exercise 1

Exercise 1 - Fitting the frame to the subject

I had a slight problem with this.  After completing the exercise I understood where planning and thought make a better photographer.  I tried a couple of subjects - One was a cruiser on the Norfolk broads which didnt work for all of the shots because I had not thought about how to get close enough to get in really tight.  I would have had to walk on water to get that close and my long lens wasnt long enough!

The second subject was better.  This was a Pavilion in a local park.

Image 1: Conventional viewpoint

The first image was taken as a standard record shot.



Image 2: Tighter in the frame

The second shot was taken tighter in the frame of the camera.  The subject was pretty big so there wasnt much difference between the first and second shot. 

Image 3:  Detailed shot 1

A close up of an area of the building.  I liked the lines and the light in this shot.

Image 4:  Detailed shot 2

A different close up shot of the building.  This one appealed to me because of the monkeys on the top.  At first I thought they were the 3 wise monkeys but on closer inspection they were more comical than that.  One was holding a camera, one a telephone and I couldnt see what  the other one was holding.  This image was taken using a long lens.

 



Image 5: Occupying a smaller area of the frame

The picure needed to take up around a quarter or less of the frame.  I had a problem doing this because from the vantage point I needed at the front of the building there were steps which took me below the viewpoint which meant that  I couldn't see the whole of the building. 





Image 6:  Cropped for perspective.

The final image was cropped to give a feel of the extent of the building.  The couple relaxing on the grass in front of the building gives a sense of proportion.

This exercise has shown me how moving your body to get different vantage points can make a big difference to the final image.



Project: Photographing movement

Exercise 1 of 2:  Shutter speeds.

I have had a couple of weekends off from the practical aspect of my studies and am so glad to be back!  I have been doing lots of research online and reading magazines but it is no substitute for actively tackling the camera work.

I think I have been putting off doing this subject because I was having a slight struggle with which subject to shoot.  Should I photograph moving cars, which seems to be the obvious choice?  I don't really like doing the overtly obvious but generally understand that simple is best and is inevitable whilst on this steep learning curve.   I also need to ovecome my shyness when photographing so if I am honest I was procrastinating a little! 

Both of these issues were dealt with by asking my husband  (Dave) to be my guinea pig in a local playing field. Thought was put into the shoot with the wardrobe and location.  I asked him to wear red as it is eye catching and would stand out from the green background.  The location was chosen for its simple backdrop of trees and neutral colour.  We layed a marker down on the grass so that he knew where to cycle from and to and the line he needed to take each time, giving the exercise an element of control.

So, the shots:  In this first exercise of 2 each shot was set up on a tripod, the ISO was set at 200 and the focal length was 66mm.  The camera was set to shutter prority (TV) to compensate for the changes in aperture which would be needed at different shutter speeds.   As I get more experienced I will look at setting these all on manual.

" Okay, I'm ready"

At first I thought it would be nice to have Dave in the shot so that I could see the blue sky.  However, it didn't take too much thought to realise that the subject was Dave on his bike and movement.  So I reassessed the composition to have a tighter frame.

Image 1

1/640 sec, f5, ISO 200, Fl 66mm

A fairly static image due to the high shutter speed.

Image 2

1/250 sec, f7.1, ISO 200, Fl 66mm

This image has a little motion blur which can be seen around the top half of the wheels. 

Image 3

1/30 sec, f22, ISO 200, Fl 66mm

A slower shutter speed provides much more motion blur in this shot.  The aperture was opened up (by the semi automatic camera settings), allowing more light into the image which would have been reduced with the quicker shutter speed .

Image 4

1/10 sec, f29, ISO 200, Fl 66

This image show lots of motion blur here with the background remaining in focus.  This highlights the movement of the subject whilst keeping the camera focused on one point as the subject crosses the frame.

Exercise 2:  Panning with different shutter speeds

I found this exercise much more intuitive.  The exercise was to take the same shots as previously while following movement with the camera using different shutter speeds.

Image 5

1/1000 sec, f6.3, ISO 200, Fl 82mm

As in the first exercise, this is a static image due to the high shutter speed.

Image 6

1/125 sec, f16, ISO 200, Fl 86mm

The beginnings of motion blur are starting to show in the trees in the background with this slower shutter speed.

Image 7

1/80 sec, f16, ISO 200, Fl 90mm

This image is starting to get a real feel of motion, with the background blurring well, the foreground and the spokes on the wheels blurring whilst the subject remains in focus.

Image 8

 1/40 sec, f22, ISO 200, Fl 90mm

The trees in the background and the grass beneath  provide a good motion blur here. There is also motion blur in the wheels which gives a feeling of movement.

Favourite images from this exercise

If I were to choose a favourite shot from each exercise they would be image 4 and image 8.  Image 4 conveys a feeling of speed with the strong blurring of the subject.  It looks as if he was just too fast to capture on film.  Image 8 also gives a strong feeling of speed with the background, foreground and wheel spokes blurring.  The subject looks almost as if he is leaning into the movement giving a further impression of speed. 

Conclusion

I have learnt from this just how important it is to understand what you want from a picture before taking it.  There is a strong difference between taking static images of moving objects and panning with them. I personally prefer the panning technique.  I find it much more intuitive and I prefer the way the background blurs, leaving the subject to pop out.  I personally don't like subjects that are blurred because I feel that I have to rub my eyes or put my glasses on to see them clearly. 

  

Project - Exercise 2 - Focus at different apertures

Exercise:  Focus at different apertures

The second exercise in the Focus Project.  The brief here was to find a subject similar to the one in the previous exercise.  Each photograph was to be framed identically using a tripod and the focal point was to be the same for each image. 

This was a very good exercise for me.  I finally started to get the light bulb moment around the reciprocal relationship between f-stops and shutter speeds.  I have struggled with this in the past.  Because of the exercise and the overcast conditions I was forced to think methodically about what I was doing.  Another little obstacle I overcame today was my shyness when out in public with my camera and tripod.  As I twiddled with my buttons on my camera and scribbled notes in my little black book people walked past with their dogs and I just gave them a big smile and a hello.  After all they have no idea how good or bad I am!!

Back to the exercise:  All three images were taken using a tripod, focused in the middle of the tree line and on ISO 400 setting due to the low light.

The first image was taken at f4 with the shutter speed at 1/60 sec. 

The second image was taken at f11 with the shutter speed slowed down to 1/6 sec.

The third image was taken at f22 with the shutter speed slowed down to 1 second. 

I feel that I failed a bit with the third image.  It looks too light to me.  I didn't quite see that until I had the images on the computer.  I am using the histograms more during my shoots. I can now adjust the aperture and shutter speed when in Manual mode which is a massive learning curve for me. As with all learning processes more practice is needed before it is totally consolidated but this was an excellent exercise for this. 

I have printed these images off as part of the exercise.  There is  an obvious difference between the first and third image, partly due to my over exposing the shot by opening the shutter for a little too long (1 second) which let too much light in.  The difference in relation to the first image is  also due to the difference in f-stops.  f4 means that the aperture is open at its widest setting for this lens, letting more light in.  f22 closes the aperture down which decreases the amount of light reaching the sensor. This is why the shutter speed needs to be altered to accommodate and rebalance the changes in light.  So when the aperture is open the shutter can be speeded up and when the aperture is closed down to a smaller opening the shutter speed needs to be slowed down to let more light in. It is best to use a tripod if possible when the shutter speed is slowed down in this way to avoid camera shake.

On closer inspection of the printed images the area of best focus is different for each one.   In image one the area of best focus is narrower than in image 2 and image 3 has a much wider area of best focus than the first two images.  This is because the aperture effects depth of field as well as the amount of light that it allows in through the lens and onto the sensor.

I intend to go out and practice this exercise more.  Making myself work out the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO is good practice.  I am happy that I have been able to let go of the security blanket of the semi automatic settings at last! 

Project - Exercise 1 - Focus with a set aperture

Exercise: Focus with a set aperture.

At first I thought I might be able to do this project and the next one - photographing movement - in one weekend.  Well I could if I had been playing at it.  But as I am beginning to understand there are no short cuts in this game. 

There were two exercises to this project - Focus with a set aperture and Focus at different apertures. I will blog each separately.

Focus with a set aperture 

The brief for the first exercise was to find a scene which has depth and from an acute angle take two or three pictures each focused on something at a different distance.  The point was to focus on three different points in the same scene with the same aperture for each one, this being at the widest aperture ( f4 on my lens).  All three images were taken using a tripod and with the same settings: 1/15sec, Normal, f4, ISO 200 focal length 28mm.

The focal point in the first image was set on the second tree in on the left hand side.

The focal point in the second image was set half way down the row of trees.

The focal point in the third image was set at the end of the row of trees.

This was possibly not an ideal subject for this exercise.  The day was overcast and of course the woods blocked out whatever sunlight tried to peep through.  I decided that I had no choice but to make the most of what free time I had. It would be a good opportunity to learn to work with whatever available light there was.  

I was tempted to brighten up the images in photoshop but resisted the temptation.  These are therefore true representations of the exercise.  The only major error I did make with these, which I realised after I had got home and was looking at the information on each file was that I had the camera set on "Normal"  instead of manual.  I hope this doesn't make a huge difference.  I won't be able to revisit the site until next weekend.

I prefer the second image of the three.  The focal point draws me into the image and allows my eyes time to stop and look around.  The first image stops me in my tracks and I feel hesitant to go forward into it.  The third image races away a little, taking the viewer out of the scene too quickly.

This confirms the theory that it is best to focus 2/3rds of the way into an image.  (I know, my focus was only half way into the image, but the fact still remains that 2/3rds is best). This way the viewers eye is taken into a scene and is able to rest before moving through it.  The aim of my composition was similar to this.  I wanted the viewer to take a look along the tree line and be curious about what is on the other side of the pathway to the right hand side. 

As an image I am aware that it is not a particularly pleasing one because of the lack of light to "lift it".  I can work more on these areas over time once I have mastered the technicalities of camera settings.

 

Photography exhibition

Yesterday evening I went to a local photography exhibition entitled "Perception".   It was organised by a charity called The Matrix Project.  Their aim for this exhibition and the aim of the artist & photographer Anita Staff was to make ordinary people stop and address their preconceived ideas about what or who a sex worker is.

It was held in the atrium of our beautiful, very large, modern library.  The stands were all very simple with a white background. The images were presented within a plain white mount and a black simple frame.  I felt that this simplicity reflected the non invasive feel of the images.  They were intimate without being intrusive, sympathetic without being patronising.  Any images that showed the faces of the sitters were shown at the express request of the sitter.   The rest of the images were anonomised. Each image had a simple caption beside it which reflected the thoughts of the sitter. 

Images from the exhibition can be found on the photographers website: http://www.ffatsatina.com/  under the "Photographs" page.


I was lucky enough to meet the artist as I was leaving and she explained how she went about getting to know the women and men that she portrayed, taking the time to find out what aspect of themselves they wanted portrayed and how to capture this in her shots.  She respected their confidentiality whilst still revealing insights to their true selves. They trusted her enough to show their vulnerabilites and strengths.

I admire anyone who can find the essence of a person they hardly know and capture that moment.  Right now, this is the kind of photography I aspire to.  I know I havent found my niche yet.  Maybe this is where I am heading?

Staff A/The Matrix Project (2011) Perception [Photographic images]. Norwich, The Forum.  Mon 9th - Sat 14th May 2011.