Exercise - Evidence of Action

This exercise is to show that something has happened, something broken or emptied or finished.

Shattered Mirror - ISO 200, f/4.0, 32mm efl, 1/30 sec

I did not deliberately break this mirror, but heard a tremendous crash one night in a storm and it had fallen away from the wall and shattered. This illustrates broken as a concept.

Only one image was needed - but the house opposite is having its roof replaced before winter and another crash drew me outside to find this, the concept her is rubbish, thrown away or old and worn out.

Welsh Slate - ISO 320, f/9.0, 90mm efl, 1/60 sec.

Other concepts that are shown in magazines and on TV are: 

• wealth, poverty
• taste - food or clothing
• safety
• space (or lack of space)
• happiness

None of these are easy to photograph directly - so symbols are required. Some come so familiar that the symbol is enough to bring the concept to mind ,  a- castle = protection.  Some symbols give mixed messages and understanding depends on the context. Fire can mean warmth or danger, very different meanings, almost opposite in nature.

Exercise - Rain

In this exercise the idea was to show, in one image, rain. This sounds simple - but it isn't. The photo also needs to be original, and a 'good' photograph. I have tried several goes at it and am not yet entirely satisfied.

Attempt 1.

Walking in the Rain. - ISO 100, f/5.6, 24mm efl, 1/60 sec

This was taken in Edinburgh at Holyrood Palace while we were waiting for a break in the torrential rain. RAW edited in Lightroom 3, mono conversion in Silver Efex Pro, and some minor work in PSE8 (mostly removing a TV aerial).

Attempt 2.

Raindrops - ISO 250, f/5.6, 90mm efl, 1/125 sec

This was an attempt to show the raindrops bouncing up from the pavement. It was less than successful, although the paving certainly looks wet!

Attempt 3.

After the Rain - ISO 80, f/2.7, 47mm efl, 1/500 sec

This was after a very heavy rainstorm and the clouds are still lowering overhead. I love the picture - but am not sure that it really shows rain, maybe storms, or light.

So far I am not happy that any of these really fulfill the brief, however, the other day I was sitting inside the office at work and the rain was pouring down the window and everything outside was given a rippled effect. I couldn't immediately get up and take a photo, but - maybe it could be replicated with a hose pipe. An experiment is required.

Exercise - Juxtaposition

This exercise is designed to show how things work together to give an illustration of a theme. I choose to illustrate a book cover, partly because my narrative story is about a person and their hobby, partly because I find still life setups challenging, both to make and also to light and photograph.

The first challenge was to find an appropriate book, many of the books in our house are science fiction, and I struggled to think of a still life that would work. Eventually I remembered one of my favourite books of modern poetry - Of Rowan and Pearl - poems about rural Scotland.

                                                              'these berries

                                           that flare out in bunches

                                           enamelled in sheerest red..'.

                                                           ( Margaret Gillies Brown)

I set out by finding a rowan branch, they are full of berries at the moment, some seashells and strings of pearls. The arrangement went though many permutations, initially getting more complex, but I finally settled on a simple close up of the berries and pearls. I went though a slow process of setting up, photographing, checking images on the PC and then altering the arrangement. This meant I could leave the camera and lights in position and only change one variable at a time. I also carefully followed my checklist developed earlier, after assignment 4 feedback.

• think about what you are taking 
• rowan and pearls
• why are you taking it?
• for a book cover - therefore a portrait  shot is likely to work better
• what detail are you concentrating on?
• the colour of the berries
• what light are you using?
• artificial , lit from a slight angle, at the level of the berries and reflected via a gold reflector
• shutter speed and aperture
• aperture chosen to get as much of the picture in focus as possible, shutter speed not important as using a tripod, and cable release. ISO 100 to minimise grain.
• focal point
• the point at the middle of the berries and the top of the pearls, manual focus used to get this spot on.

ISO 100, f/22, 90mm efl, 2.5 secs.

• did it work?
• yes
• if so – why
• plenty of thought during the process!
• if not – why not
• what settings did you use
• as above, slow shutter speed, and small aperture
• what lighting
• artificial - but moved the light around until it really shined on the pearls
• what post-processing
• minimal, RAW processed in Lightroom 2, slight sharpening and enhancement of the red colour, levels checked in PSE8
•  

I then had some more fun making a book cover using the picture. I did try various more complicated layouts - but finally went for something simple. The title font is called 'Broken Ghost' and is available free online. The names are in 'Century'.

 

Exercise - Light though the day

This exercise should have been easy! I picked my spot and then ------ no sun. Every day that was a possibility for me (i.e. a weekend that I wasn't otherwise committed, wedding, work, family event) it either rained or was overcast.

Eventually I decided on another tack. This statue is of Andrew Carnegie. It is in our local park because he was born here and is our main local benefactor. I have taken lots of photos of it in different lights - so I went back over the last year and found some. They do not make up an entire day, and are not all at the same time of year, but they do show varying possibilities.

Taken approx 10am early this spring.

1 pm in the summer

1430 the same day (sun gone)

1530 (also in the summer)

1800 - but with no sun

1715 - against the sun

In the morning this statue is best seen from the front, in all his glory (plus seagulls usually).  By lunchtime the sun has moved around and lights the side view, and shadows are cast across the front. This does tend to highlight the 3-dimensional nature of the statue, and you can see the texture in the stone well. In the evening the back is lit, so you can either take from that side, or you can often get a very impressive silhouette, and (if you are lucky) a fabulous sky.

It is very important to consider time of day , and also time of year, when taking landscape images. You have no direct control over the direction of the light, and therefore the shadows at a given time, but watchful waiting, or indeed, returning another day either earlier or later may give you the image you want.

Exercise - Contrast and shadow fill

The aim here is to use a still life together with a fixed light and various reflectors to show the effect of reflected light on altering the contrast and the shadow.

This exercise was done with a simple still life, a household reading lamp (60 watt) and various sheets of card. The f/stop and focal length were kept the same. All RAW images were processed in Lightroom 2, with the exposure as given by the camera, and the contrast set to +50.

Overhead lighting ISO 400, 1/6 sec

The initial picture was taken with the general room lighting and has a 'flat' look. The contrast and shadow are minimal.

Side light - ISO 400, 1/20 sec

Here the picture is taken with a relatively bright light source coming from the left. There is high contrast and a lot of shadow. The right halves of the pots have little detail. The creases in the cloth are very visible (and exaggerated by the shadows).

With diffuser - ISO 400, 1/13 sec

Here the lamp is used via a diffuser, the general look is softened, with less harsh shadows, however there is still very little detail visible in the right hand side. The exposure has had to be lengthened.

 I then experimented with the reflectors. The tablecloth was slightly straightened when placing the card in position. Nothing else was altered. The exposure remains as chosen by the camera's light meter, ISO 400, 1/20 sec exposure.

White reflector - far away - ISO 400, 1/20 sec

Here a white sheet of card placed about 1 metre from the arrangement has been used to reflect the light. Using a reflector has definitely increased the amount of light on the right hand side, although it is still slightly dark. It also seems to have had the effect of changing the colour temperature. I have deliberately not altered this in the post-processing.

White reflector - near - ISO 400, 1/20 sec

Moving the white card nearer to the pots has evened out the light slightly more. The shadows are now much more even.

Dull foil reflector -  ISO 400, 1/20 sec

On moving to using a silver reflector made of the dull side of kitchen foil, the contrast is increased again, although there is more of a reflection showing on the gold bands and handles. This is more obvious on a larger image.

Shiny foil reflector - ISO 400, 1/20 sec

The shiny side of the foil has reflected more light back onto the pots, with more of a glitter in the gold handle. The shadows are very definite here, possibly because even with reflected light the  cloth is remains in shade .

Crumpled foil reflector - ISO400, 1/.20 sec

There is little difference here with the reflector made from crumpled foil, although on close inspection the light is reflected onto slightly different areas of the pots.

The difference between the last 3 images is subtle and much more visible with a larger image. They would probably be much more obvious with a stronger light , as much of the light will have 'diffused' naturally across the length of the  set up (approx.2 metres). It would be worth repeating the exercise with everything much closer together or with a more powerful light source. The images with side lighting and contrast are much more interesting than the first one with the overhead light. 

In the images by Stieglitz and Weston shown as examples the shadow is essential to give definition to the faces, they would have been much less interesting without them.

Learning points:

• side lighting can be much more interesting than overhead
• a household light bulb has limitations!
• diffusing the light can give a softening of contrast, without loosing it altogether
• home-made reflectors with kitchen foil do work
• the distance between light, subject and reflector is important.

Exercise - The Lighting Angle

In this exercise you are looking at the different effects produced by lighting an image from a variety of different sides and heights. All else is kept equal.

Lighting level and in front

Here the lighting comes from in front of the statue of the cats. Most of it is well lit.

Lighting level and from side

Here the light is from the side, only a small amount of the cats are lit, with most of the faces in deep shadow.

Lighting level and behind to the side

Here the cats are virtually unlit, other than a rim of light around the left side, little detail is visible.

Lighting level and behind

Here the lighting comes via the diffuser directly behind the cats, this forms a silhouette, with some vignetting effect showing the shape of the bulb.

Lighting 45deg. and from  in front

The lighting has now been raised and is coming from about a 45 degree angle above the statue. This shows the shapes of the heads and upper parts of the bodied well.

Lighting 45deg. and from the side

Here the side lighting is ineffective in showing the planes of the cats. The overall shape is shown, but with little detail.

Lighting 45 deg. and behind to the side

This is more successful and shows some rim lighting on top of the cats heads as well as showing the shapes of the bodies.

Lighting 45 deg. and behind.

I am not sure why this has come out with such a different colour than the rest. Here the lights almost give a silhouette, but her is some light showing on the cats heads, and just enough on the bodies to act to separate the two cats.

Lighting above and centre

Here the light is held directly above the statue, the top edges are lit, but the rest is in darkness.

Lighting above and in front

In this one more of the cat is shown in detail and the faces are modelled more clearly.

Lighting above and behind

Oddly enough this is successful - with enough light coming though between the statues to illuminate the body of the smaller cat.

In retrospect this exercise would have been better if carried out using a lighter statue, possibly one with colour. In the full images (not made smaller for the web) the changes in  light patterning are much more visible showing a wide range of possibilities.

Out of these my preferred image is the last one, although the first one shows most detail.

Exercise - Softening the Light

This exercise involves look at the effect of a diffused on a harsh light and examining the difference. For this exercise I used a plant in a glass pot. The plant has a large number of this leaves that cast a detailed shadow, and the glass pot gives a bright reflection.

ISO 400, f/14, 36mm efl, 0.6 sec

This is the image without any diffusion to the light. The light source came from in front, slightly angled to my camera, as this gave the best shadow pattern. The shadows are harsh, and the glass pot throws a bright highlight. The shadows give a strongly 3-d look to the image.

ISO 400, f/14, 39mm efl, 0.8 sec

Here I used a diffuser in front of the light, the shadows have almost disappeared and have might softer edges and the lighting on the leaves is more even. The glass pot is still too bright. This image looks much 'flatter'.

The only difference in settings is in the slightly longer exposure. Overall I prefer the second image with the diffuser, although I might have liked slightly more shadows of the leaves. The first image is too harsh and there is less detail in the leaves.

Exercise - Outdoors at Night

This is an interesting exercise, I managed to take some 'new' images for it, but have also looked for some older images to round it out.

ISO 800, f/3.5, 28mm efl, 1/15 sec

 Part of our local Music Institute, donated, like much in the town, by Andrew Carnegie. Taken early in the evening.

Iso 200, f/20, 28mm efl, 15secs

Same building, later in the same evening.

ISO 200, f/20, 14mm efl, 8 secs

The rest of the Music Institute. I particularly liked the ghostly effect in the foreground which came from a car passing in front of the lens.

ISO 800, f/22, 14mm efl, 8 secs

View from a bridge locally.

ISO400, f/22,60mm efl, 25 secs

The Forth Road Bridge.

f/8, 2 secs, (firework setting)

November 5th

f/8, 2 secs, (firework setting)

More flashes and bangs.

f/3.2, 1/60 + autoflash

Christmas Lights.

ISO 500, f3.5, 28mm efl, 0,4 sec

The Millennium Bridge, Newcastle (deliberately wiggled).

ISO 400, f/5.2, 58mm efl, 1/25 sec

Park Gates - with ghostly, ghastly green

ISO 400, f/22,60mm efl, 8 sec

Even more green!

ISO 400, f/16, 84mm efl, 0.8 sec

and ornamantal lights

More outside images need to be taken, and tripod carried, opportunity and planning need to go together. Co-operation is required form husband (to act as carrier).

Exercise - Variety with a Low Sun

This exercise is to show the type of effects you can get by shooting with a low sun, usually early in the morning or late evening, dependant on the time of year.

Frontal lighting.

ISO 200, f/4.5, 102mm efl, 1/20 sec

Low sun in the evening, almost fully against the end of the hay bale, gives a golden colour.

ISO 200, f/5.4, 66mm efl, 1/30 sec

Slightly later on with the sun slightly lower, shows a lot of detail in the wheat stalks.

ISO 100, f/1.8, 40mm efl, 1/100 sec

Taken last year, this deliberately uses the long shadows caused by a low sun, pointing toward the brightly lit building.

Back Lighting.

ISO 160, f/7.1, 90mm efl, 1/320 sec

Taken later the same day, this example of 'back lighting', shows one of the most spectacular sunsets I have seen.

ISO 80, f/3.9, 90mm efl, 1/250 sec

Here the camera is looking straight at the sun, which is mainly hidden behind the branches, the overspill of light gives a star effect.

Side lighting.

ISO 200, f/5.3, 316mm efl, 1/25 sec

This time the light is sideways on to the bales, the shadows give a strong modelling effect.

ISO 200, f/5.2, 294mm efl, 1/250 sec

Walking along the street I saw these side lit windows, the blur (only seen after taking the first shot) is a cloud of insects lit up in the low sun.

Twilight.

ISO 200, f/6.8, 168mm efl, 1/60 sec

'In the dying of the light' - the colours are subtle and her very pale yellow and blue.

ISO 200, f/5.6, 90mm efl, 1/160 sec

The sun is just setting and the last rays are reflected in the windows.

ISO 180, f'3.3, 1/125 sec

Later on the same evening.

ISO 250, f/2, 20mm efl, 1/60 sec.,

and last thing, another night , another colour.

Widely varying colours,  lots of low shadows, beautiful effects. Well worth the effort, and, in Scotland, at least in winter, not too early or too late, of course it is the other way around in the summer.