Good books that I used to research and plan for the subject illustration and Narrative and Assignment V

When I was studying for section five of my Art of Photography course, illustration and narrative, I purchased and read two very good books by AVA publications,  basics Creative Photography series, Context and Narrative by Marie Short and making Photographs by Mike Simmons.

Making Photographs by Mike Simmons is a good book to use to help find ideas and then create a working plan for your photography project.  This book helped me develop the ideas for creating images for my exercises and helped my find the idea for using the M.R. James story for my assignment and story board it with sketched ideas for images.

Context and Narrative helped me with ideas of subject matter and a better understanding and use of juxtaposing images.

Both these books have case studies and exercises at the end of each chapter.  Both are good books and I will revisit then for my new course which is ‘Context and Narrative’.

Formal assessment for my Art of Photography Course

I am now putting together all my photos from my assignments to send for formal assessment.

I have included some prints that I made for two early exercises at the beginning my course in the introduction section as additional to my blogs as further evidence of my work for this course.

Assignment 1, I originally didn’t produce prints to be assessed however, as a result of my Tutor’s comment regarding this I have made prints to be sent for the formal assessment.

Assignment 2, for this assignment I send my Tutor large poster size prints which was on reflection over the top and my again my Tutor pointed this out; so I am sending smaller 7 x5 prints for formal assessment.

I have also included these four additional prints that I didn’t send to my tutor but are prints of the additional images illustrated on my original Assignment blog and therefore I thought that I should also include them as part of the assessment.

I have also added two additional larger prints (9×6) of ‘Diagonals’ and ‘Rhythm’ as I was able to get a better colour reproduction and crop.

Assignment 3, I originally had these printed at my local Tesco store.  Mike commented in his report that the colour reproduction on one or two prints did not match the digital images on my blog; so I therefor reprinted all these images through Jessops to see if I could get a better reproduction and also obtain better crops.  I am now sending both for the formal assessment, the reprints are in a smaller print format and are marked 1a to 16a.

 

I have sent all the reprints with the originals; but some of the original prints reproduced better than the second batch for example  both didn’t re-produce as well as the originals (in my opinion).

Assignment 4, All the original prints that were sent to my tutor.

Assignment 5, Original photos only, no additional, with the accompanying 3 page story text to complement the images.

Thank you for taking the time to assess my work.

Tutor’s report and my reflections for assignment five.

I have just received back my Tutor’s formative feedback for my last assignment for the Art of Photography Course, assignment V, Narrative and Illustration.

  Re-examining my work.

Tutor_report Shaun Mullins 512659 TAOP asst 5 V2

I enjoyed this project immensely, I found it very challenging and I learned a great deal from it.  I had read some very useful books that helped with ideas of how to plan for this project, namely: Context and Narrative, by Maria Short, Basics Creative Photography, 02, AVA.  Making Photographs, by Mike Simmons,  Basics Creative Photography, AVA.

Throughout this project I kept referring back to the brief to be sure that I understood my assignment and feel confident that I met the brief.

The brief being to imagine that I have to illustrate a story for a magazine to include the cover to illustrate and several pages inside to include captions of any length to explain and link each picture.  The cover picture will need some of the techniques of illustration that I have been experimenting with and the picture essay will be more of a narrative.

Any theme which has a narrative element could be a suitable subject for this project; so on first checking with my Tutor, I chose to use a ghost story by M.R. James as the Narrative to illustrate.

Having thus decided upon the story, I set about planning my photographs.

Reflections on my Tutors comments (see attached document).

Image 1.

My Tutor liked this image and comments that it was a good example of risk taking, although I must confess it didn’t occur to me at the time.

Image 2.

Perhaps it is a little stereotypical, I could perhaps have used a still-life image of the map and magnifying glass as an alternative.  However, the third hand was intended to complement and make sense of the caption.  ‘Oh, Parkins,’ said his neighbour ‘If you are going to Burnstow I wish you would look at the site of the Templars…’  Perhaps the third hand wasn’t needed.

Image 3.

A simple image that worked for linking the story.

Image 4.

Although it lacks a visual link to the last image (3) it is necessary to continue the story.

Image 5.

Unfortunately, I could not find a antique whistle as a convincing prop; so I had to make do with a wooden peg that we covered in dirt to make the object as ambiguous as possible.

Image 6.

I was very pleased with this image as I think that it gives an atmospheric feel to the story.

Image 7.

Probably my favourite image and was perfect for what I was looking for for the cover.

Image 8.

My Tutor thinks that this image could arguably have been left out of the narrative.  My feelings is that as this project is a magazine story and the story is essentially about finding a whistle in a grave-yard and whistling up a ghost, I needed to include this image (identification) to help link image 5 (discovery) with the following image 9 (put to use).  however, no two editors may agree the same outcome, therefor as a photographer, I would have at least covered myself having produced the image if an Editor had decided that he wanted it.  In this case I was the Editor.

Image 9.

My Tutor feels that my friends pose appears to be a little over-acted, I think that this is a subjective opinion, the expression was intended to suggest someone tentively blowing through an unfamiliar object.  It looks truthful to  me; but I may be biased.  The shadow effect however, appears to have worked as I wanted.

Image 10.

A simple image; but turned out to be trickier to achieve as my friend could only spare me limited time in the evening when it was already very dark.

Image 11.

It took a lot of pictures before I got this shot!  I particularly like the wide open eye that I am always drawn to.

Image 12.

As with image 10 this photo was more of a challenge as I had already lost the light; so I had to use a speedlight in a soft-box and experiment with settings on my speedlight and camera to get the effect I was looking for,  I then had to make some final adjustments in Lightroom.

Image 13

The ghostly spirit takes form using bedsheets and rushes at the professor.  I was happy with this final image, although I had to combine two images in to one in Photoshop to produce it.

A big thank you to my Tutor for his support and constructive comments.

 

 

 

Tutor’s report and reflections for assignment 2

Tutor Report Shain Mullins 512659 TAOP asst 2

I found this assignment very challenging but I am now starting to think and see in a new way.  My lesson brought forward from my last assignment was that I needed to do more background reading to help me understand what was being asked of me.  Therefore, before starting this assignment I purchased and read: The photographer’s Eye by Michael Freeman; Composition, Basics Photography 01 by David Prakel and Design Principles, Basics Photography 01 by Jeremy Webb.  I wish that I had found these books before doing assignment 1 as on the whole I was way off the mark from what was expected and what I imagined was asked.   These books helped me to understand this subject and has started me to think and see in a new and more artistic way.

I actually first thought that plants would be an easy subject as they are all around us; but Mike has pointed out in his appraisal I quickly began to realize that it wasn’t going to be so easy after all, but I persevered and I am happy with the results.

As I began to take pictures I used the idea of artistically composed images that I would imaging you may find framed on the walls of a Garden Centres Café, which later influenced my idea to print large and on reflection was unnecessary.

Single dominant point.  On reading Mikes comments, I now can see that if I had applied the golden section principle I could have made a better composition.  I believe that the second (middle) colour image in my blog that I illustrated as one of the three that I didn’t use was closer to the golden section and may have been a better choice.  Reason for this is that in my opinion the positioning and direction the rose faces would make for a better balanced picture as it is pointing in towards the empty space; so making use of it by drawing the viewers eye across.

Two dominant points.  This is my favourite shot and all my families.  In order to get this picture I had to take it from a greater distance than I would have liked and had to enlarge to bring out the image, which sacrifices quality.  Fortunately I my D800 has a with very high resolution; so I was just about able to get away with it for printing.

Several points in a deliberate shape.  Yes on reflection the dandelion is a distraction.  I was thinking of including dynamic balance in this composition but the yellow is too strong and draws attention away from the intended subject.

A combination of horizontal and vertical lines.  This was the challenge that seriously had me doubting my wisdom for choosing plants, but I thought this composition offered all the elements that I was searching for.  Perhaps I could have found better examples but the harder I looked the less I could see; so I settled for this.

Diagonals.  I don’t know why the printed image is so much darker, but I am sure I can adjust it for making other prints.

Curves. Again I believe that I can adjust for a better print next time.

Distinct, even if irregular shapes.  Yes, I got a bit carried away and should have kept it simple.

At least two kinds of implied traingles 1,2 and 3.   Again challenging to find interesting images whilst seeing implied triangles.

Rhythm.  I just couldn’t see rhythm in anything I looked at and this was the best attempt that I could make. I think that the photo I used for Distinctive if irregular shapes may have worked for rhythm

Patterns.   Interestingly Mike feels that this is closer to Rhythm, I guess as the song go’s I ain’t got rhythm!  Perhaps in time…

 

 

 

 

 

Assignment V workbook.

For this assignment, I have decided to use an Edwardian ghost story by M.R. James as the narrative for my assignment.

The story is essentially about a college professor who is taking a short holiday on the coast and has been asked by a colleague to visit a ruined Templar’s church that is located close to where he is staying.  During the professors promised visit to the ruin he has a little dig around and finds a strange object that he later discovers is a whistle with a Latin inscription that roughly translates: “Who is this that comes?”.  He playfully blows the whistle to find out and discovers to his cost the meaning of the inscription.

For this project I enlisted the assistance of a friend who is an experienced actor and I then read through the story about five times to be thoroughly familiar with the narrative in order to be able to properly plan my images.

I then chose what I believe to be the key passages out of the text for my narrative in order to visually tell the story, I then created a word document  Story Board as copied and pasted below in order to begin visualizing the required images and sketching out the ideas.

Story Board – Oh, whistle and I’ll come to you my lad

1. If you are going to Burnstow I wish you would look at the site of the Templars….   Prof. Parkins (Graham) sitting at table with friends, map, train time-table. Graham centre, profiles of friends flanking left and right in foreground.
2. Location – He must, he quite rightly concluded, be on the site of the Preceptory he had promised to look at. Waverley Abbey. View of Graham seen from the ruins or Graham foreground and ruins in background. IDEA – Use a window in ruins to frame Graham. Step ladder may be needed.
3.  It might, he thought, be as well to probe the soil here for evidences of masonry… And now following another discovery: A portion of soil fell inward as he scrapped and disclosed a small cavity…. A hole and a pen-knife.
4.  Of course it was empty. No! As he withdrew his knife he heard a metallic clink and when he introduced his hand it met with a cylindrical object…. Close up of hand bringing whistle from hole.
5. Location – Bleak and solemn was the view on which he took a last look before starting homeward. Waverley Abbey. Long distance landscape shot of the ruins. IDEA – Use a graduation filter for the sky.
6. Location – One last look behind to measure the distance he had made since leaving the ruined Templars church showed him a prospect of company on his walk, in the shape of a rather indistinct personage…. Little Hampton. Graham walking towards camera glancing over his shoulder, occupying large area right of centre in background top left is smallish white (out of focus) running figure. IDEA Graham lit by large softbox using CLS for fast shutter speed to darken background, second softbox to illuminate white figure.
7. It was with some considerable curiosity that he turned it over by the light of his candles. It was bronze, he now saw, and was shaped very much after the manner of the modern dog-whistle…. Close up of hand and whistle lit with an amber cast candle in background.
8. He blew tentatively…. Portrait of Graham, amber cast.
9. Whether it was the wind or the excitement of golf, or the researches in the Perceptory that kept Parkins awake…. / Parkins shut his eyes and determined to give sleep a chance…. Graham on pillow. Low key image, edged lighting.
10. Location – Over-excitement asserted itself in another form – that of making pictures…. Parkins experience on this occasion was a very distressing one…. What he saw was this: A long stretch of shore – shingle edged by sand and intersected at intervals with black groynes running down to the water…. A man running, jumping, clambering over the groynes and every few seconds looking eagerly back… Far up the shore a little flicker of something light coloured moving to and fro with great swiftness and irregularity…. Declares itself as a figure in pale fluttering Draperies, ill-defined…. Little Hampton IDEA – Graham hiding with a Groyne against his back arms out face turned to one side for a profile. The white figure waving its arms top left again in the background out of focus
11. He must have slept soundly for an hour or more, when a sudden clutter shook him up in a most un-welcome manner. Graham with a startled stare, out of focus white sheeted figure in background.
12. It is a horrible, an intensely horrible face of crumples linen…. He could not keep back a cry of disgust…. And the linen face was thrust close to his own. Face to face. Sheeted face top left, Graham’s bottom left. IDEA – Scream mask from novelty shop with a sheet then overlaid with separate image of crumpled white linen in Photoshop for texture affect.

I then sketched out the ideas for each shot, one or two of the images only needed one sketch; but others took up to three or four drawings to find the idea that I settled with.

Having selected the scenes from the story and created some visual ideas I was then able to decide what shots required locations and what did not and from that what type of locations needed.  Then it was a simple matter of finding the locations to suit.  I had discovered Waverley Abbey near Frimley, Surrey, quite recently and my friend Graham has a holiday flat in Little Hampton with perfect beech locations; so I had my locations.

I did not decide which image would be my front cover image until I had already made two-thirds of the images.  I felt that image number six was best suited for my front cover, I think that it compliments the title very well.  My reasons is that the silhouette of a figure in the distance and just the feet of someone in mid stride in the foreground suggest that either may respond to a call from the other and the title helps to link the two subjects together.  The beech had a fairly steep slope to the sea as you can see from the image however, the tide was just on the turn and the sand was too soft and wet to be able to photo any closer to the surf; so obtaining reflections and a better view of the beech proved impractical.  I was pleased however to catch a good colour in the sky just as the sun began to set, the weather was very much like the day we visited Waverley Abbey; so I was happy that the sky for this image and image V are both correct for the time line in the story.

Story boarding with sketches and final image, starting with my cover shot, image VI.

Image VI.    Location – One last look behind to measure the distance he had made since leaving the ruined Templars church showed him a prospect of company on his walk, in the shape of a rather indistinct personage…. Little Hampton. Graham walking towards camera glancing over his shoulder, occupying large area right of centre in background top left is smallish white (out of focus) running figure. IDEA Graham lit by large soft-box using CLS for fast shutter speed to darken background, second soft-box to illuminate white figure.

Sketches for image VI for ideas and it was the final sketch that led me to my resulting picture.  The resulting image was photographed on the beech at Little Hampton, late afternoon just as the sun began to set.  The figure was my wife standing to attention and my friend posed to suggest he is in mid-stride but was in fact motionless. 24-120mm f/4 @34mm 1/125, f/5.6, ISO-100, matrix metering, WB-Auto.

 

Image I.  If you are going to Burnstow I wish you would look at the site of the Templars….   Prof. Parkins (Graham) sitting at table with friends, map, train time-table. Graham centre, profiles of friends flanking left and right in foreground.  I kept this image simple and I decided just to have my friend posed studying a map with someone’s hand (mine) pointing out a place on interest on the map.  Camera was set on a tripod with timer set to trip after 15 seconds to take x 3 pictures 3 seconds apart, 85mm f/1.4, 1/125, f/1.8, ISO-125, matrix metering, WB-Auto, remote speedlight in a soft-box and reflector.

 

Image II.  Location – He must, he quite rightly concluded, be on the site of the Preceptory he had promised to look at. Waverley Abbey. View of Graham seen from the ruins or Graham foreground and ruins in background. IDEA – Use a window in ruins to frame Graham. Step ladder may be needed.  On location at Waverley Abbey, standing on a small portable step ladder, I used the stone window opening to frame my friend Graham posing as the professor as he stops to survey the ruin for the first time.  Thus creating the moment when he recognises that he has found the Preceptory including a suggestion of the ruined church in the same image without un-necessary detail.  24/120mm f4, @48mm, 1/40, f/9, ISO-400, matrix metering, WB-manual.

  

Image III.  It might, he thought, be as well to probe the soil here for evidences of masonry… And now following another discovery: A portion of soil fell inward as he scrapped and disclosed a small cavity…. A hole and a pen-knife.

    Initially the idea was to simply create a still-life; but my friend Graham brought a pen knife with him on location which he happily posed to suggest digging amongst the ruins which I feel works well.  I had originally thought to use my garden or some waste land for the shots of finding the whistle as I didn’t want to be seen digging around a historic site.  But the site had lots of broken walls with small openings in them that could be employed for the shots and simple posing the hand and penknife against the stones and by craves in a broken wall suited my requirements perfectly.  24/120mm f/4 @35mm, 1/2500, f/4, ISO-400, matrix metering, WB-manual.

Image IV.  Of course it was empty. No! As he withdrew his knife he heard a metallic clink and when he introduced his hand it met with a cylindrical object…. Close up of hand bringing whistle from hole.  I was unable to find a suitable whistle for my prop; so we decided to simply use a wooden peg which we made dirty to try and disguise the material that it’s made from and suggest that it has been buried in the hole that the hand appears to be removing it from.  24-120mm f/4 @35mm, 1/80, f/4, ISO-6400, matrix metering, WB-manual.

 

Image V.  Location – Bleak and solemn was the view on which he took a last look before starting homeward. Waverley Abbey. Long distance landscape shot of the ruins. IDEA – Use a graduation filter for the sky.

   I chose to photograph this image from a very low level deliberately angled to create a sense of disturbing tension.  When my friend Graham saw this image he didn’t like it and suggested that I alter it to be less angled. I have respected his opinion and reviewed the image to consider his comment; but I feel that the angle creates a sense of discomfort which was what I am looking for from this image.  This is after all a ghost story and I want to create images that help make the reader feel a little uneasy.  24/120mm f/4, @24mm, 1.5000, f/4, ISO-160, matrix metering, WB-manual.

Image VII.  It was with some considerable curiosity that he turned it over by the light of his candles. It was bronze, he now saw, and was shaped very much after the manner of the modern dog-whistle…. Close up of hand and whistle lit with an amber cast candle in background.

 

I used a remote speedlight with a yellow gel set in a soft-box to create a soft candle light type of lighting to complement the text.  We used the same wooden peg that we used at Waverley Abbey and therfore I composed the picture so that the whistle is implied but not clearly seen.  85mm f1.4, 1/125, f5.6, ISO-125, matrix metering, WB-manual.

Image VIII.  He blew tentatively…. Portrait of Graham, amber cast.

 

I decided that a simple image of the Professor appearing to blow on a whistle was not interesting enough; so I thought that I must have an image that implies both action and effect.  Therefor I had the idea that my friend should pose to appear to be blowing on a whistle and to create a shadow behind him to suggest that something has come to him in response.  I found this to be very tricky to light and photograph for reasonable exposure, I was also limited to time that my friend could commit.  However, I was happy with this final result.  I used a speed light with a home made silver foiled vanity dish with a honey-combed grill to help produce a beam of light to create a stretched shadow on a Chinese ornament for the sinister shadow.  I used another Chinese ornament that I put on display in the bottom left corner of this image to suggest that the shadow may be coming from it, may be not.  I used Photoshop to crop, spot heal a picture hook from the wall and adjust levels for both the shadow and the Professor separately using layers.  24-120mm f/4, @62mm, 1/125, f/4, ISO-125,  matrix metering, WB-Auto.

Image IX.  Whether it was the wind or the excitement of golf, or the researches in the Perceptory that kept Parkins awake…. / Parkins shut his eyes and determined to give sleep a chance…. Graham on pillow. Low key image, edged lighting.  To be used with image X.

   

This image juxtaposes with image X in order to suggest to the viewer both the reality of the Professors eyes shut as he tries to sleep and a scary moment in the vision that he sees every time he closes his eyes.  As this was part of a more dramatic image, kept it simple using a fast shutter speed a flash behind Graham’s head to create the edge lighting and I had to use a side table light to produce enough light on his face as I only had one flash with me.  Adjustments in Lightroom for temperature, levels and cropping.  24-120mm f/4 @55mm, 1/320, f/4, ISO-125, matrix metering, WB-Auto.

Image X.  Location – Over-excitement asserted itself in another form – that of making pictures…. Parkins experience on this occasion was a very distressing one…. What he saw was this: A long stretch of shore – shingle edged by sand and intersected at intervals with black groynes running down to the water…. A man running, jumping, clambering over the groynes and every few seconds looking eagerly back… Far up the shore a little flicker of something light coloured moving to and fro with great swiftness and irregularity…. Declares itself as a figure in pale fluttering Draperies, ill-defined…. Little Hampton IDEA – Graham hiding with a Groyne against his back arms out face turned to one side for a profile. The white figure waving its arms top left again in the background out of focus.

 

  In this image I wanted to convey the feeling and impression of the professor’s nightmarish vision that he keeps seeing when he closes his eyes to sleep.  From the idea of a simple image of the Professor hiding behind a groyne from a white figure, moved on to consider a shadow or reflection of the nightmarish figure to a more simple idea of using the zoom to create a form of motion blur to imply seeing through the eyes of the nightmarish figure as it finds the hiding professor in his dream.  24-120mm f/4, 1/13, f/8, ISO-50, matrix metering, WB-Auto.

Image XI.  He must have slept soundly for an hour or more, when a sudden clutter shook him up in a most un-welcome manner.  IDEA – Graham with a startled stare, out of focus white sheeted figure in background.

        

I after my initial thoughts that I put down on paper my final idea through my sketches was to produce an image implying that something had just happened, something that has just woken the Professor.  I decided to photograph my friend posed in bed looking startled, seen through a reflection of the mirror on his dressing table with a vase of flowers tipped over in the foreground to imply that it was the noise from the fallen vase has just awakened him.  I used Lightroom to crop, adjust temperature and levels.  Remote speedlight in soft-box, 24-120mm f/4, @52mm, 1/250, f/4, ISO-125, matrix metering, WB-Auto.

Image XII.  It is a horrible, an intensely horrible face of crumples linen…. He could not keep back a cry of disgust…. And the linen face was thrust close to his own. Face to face. Sheeted face top left, Graham’s bottom left. IDEA – Scream mask from novelty shop with a sheet then overlaid with separate image of crumpled white linen in Photoshop for texture affect.

 

 

To be used across two pages with text on top.   This is my punch-line to the story and for this shot I wanted something dramatic and suitable for a double page spread.  To obtain this image I used Photoshop to merge two images in to one by creating a background image (ghost) and a foreground image Professor’s hands.  I have a polystyrene skull which is a prop for Halloween parties which I covered with a pillow case then laid over a white sheet and photographed standing over it and using the zoom method employed for image X to suggest that it is rushing forward.  In Lightroom I adjusted the temperature, contrast, and levels which created a natural dark bokeh affect to the edges of the sheet which was a welcome and unexpected bonus as it saved me having to create it in Photoshop.  I then took a photo of Graham’s hands as he crouched in front of me reaching his hands up and positioning as directed with a white sheet draped over a door as a background.  After adjustments in Lightroom I exported both images to Photoshop, selected the ghost image first for background then selected the hands photo for foreground and using layers I painted out the white sheet draped over the door in the background of the top layer of the Professors hands to reveal to ghost background image below.  I feel that this final image captures the horror and drama that I was looking for in my “punch-line” image.  Two images combined in Photoshop.  Hands 24-120mm f/4 @44mm 1/125, f/4, ISO-125, matrix metering, WB-Auto. Skull and bedclothes, 24-120mm f/4 1/15, f/4, ISO-125, matrix metering, WB-Auto.

Draft Word Document.  Oh Whistle and I will come to you my lad-draft

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tutor’s report and my reflections on Assignment 4

I have received my Tutor report and I am both relieved and pleased that my work was well received and met the criteria.  Tutor Report Shaun Mullins 512659 asst 4 TAOP

I chose portraits as this is where I expect to specialize as a professional photographer and my wife was the willing (if not long suffering) model.

I considered this section and assignment the most important part of the course for the very reason that knowledge, understanding and control of light must be key to a good photographer.  Without the appreciation of this subject a photographer is likely to be relying on luck rather than judgement for a good image, this maybe Okay for a casual amateur perhaps but when you are taking somebodies money then you are expected to know what you are doing and to be consistent with your standard of work.  Therefore, I felt that I needed more time on this subject and I now feel much more confident in this very important area of photography.

Like everyone else I am confined to budget constraints and I am currently unable to invest in very expensive lighting equipment.  However, I have found that I can get by for the time being using cheaper speedlights and Pocket Wizards.  You can obtain reasonably good speedlights for around £60 each and the main expense is the Pocket Wizards (although cheaper options are available).  I like to look to the longer term when choosing equipment, the speedlights will always come in handy and the Pocket Wizards are both reliable and compatible with more expensive lighting equipment.  I took a piece of advice from one of the authors of my books on lighting, he stated that before purchasing a second speedlight buy a hand held light meter first.  This piece on investment will carry forward for when I have the chance to use larger more professional strobes.

Michael suggests that I could have extended my creativity by applying a more visually creative context such as emotion to the my work to link the images in to a context.  Yes, on reflection this was a good idea and when I was first concentrating on texture I originally was thinking along similar lines for the theme of soft and hard but I got worried that I was departing from the basic required criteria.

85mm f/1.4, 1/250sec, f/3.2, ISO-125, WB-tungsten, remote flash with tungsten Gel 1/64.  Image taken over Sarah’s shoulder of her reflection in bathroom mirror.  Speedlight 2′ to Sarah’s  left on the sink unit pointed up to her face controlled with a Pocket Wizard.

This image was my first attempt at “hard” and was intended to produce a more emotional feel; but I was concerned that I was not creating texture but mood and that wasn’t the brief; so I decided to play it safe and simply create an un unflattering portrait with an obvious visual texture as per the brief.  Perhaps, with more thought and planning I could achieve both but my priority was to finish my assignment on time.

Shape – image 1.

This image needed to be a little sharper with the forehead darkened with just edge lighting and for the top lip under the nose.

Form – image 4

Michael comments that the highlight on the nose competes with the whites of the eyes.  An interesting observation that I had not considered and clearly I need to start looking more critically at my work to help my learning curve and improve on a polished piece of work.  This image could be improved in Photoshop to brighten / burn the whites of the eyes and perhaps dodge the highlights on the nose.  However, in my defence, if I had noticed this I may have been tempted to use Photoshop and this would have been cheating.  I have kept adjustments to a minimum in order to demonstrate my newly acquired knowledge.  Having said that I probably will now have a play in Photoshop to improve this image as my Photoshop skills are still very basic and needs improving with practice.

Colour – image 8

 

Mike tells me that I could have got away with using the second image here with Italian flag concept; but I am glad of my final choice as it has thrown up a very useful and important learning issue for me.  That of differences of colour reproduction between the printed image and the screen image.  I have read about this subject and I regularly re-calibrate my screen using a colour spyder however, my mistake was to simply get prints made at my local Tescos that has a photo printing facility.  The resulting print produced an excess yellow in the skin and hair as the printers defaults did not match the colour profile of the photo and I did not consider this when getting it printed.  If I had used the Italian flag image this may not have been highlighted and a learning opportunity would have been missed.  This is an area I still don’t yet fully understand but is clearly an important subject to learn and fully understand if I am to be able to obtain and provide quality end results.

My thanks to Mike for his valuable and generous comments.

Assignment four – Applying lighting techniques

The Brief

In this assignment I am using the various lighting techniques that I have learned in order to create a selection of images that bring out particular physical properties of the same object.  I have chosen to make a portrait study of my wife as my chosen subject to photograph for this assignment.

       

Shape

 

Sarah wearing a Cloche hat. 105mm f2.8, 1/250sec f/3, ISO-50.

Shape – What defines shape?

A shape is an object that stands out from it’s surroundings, in order to be seen or notices, it has a definable edge to it but it may not have much detail.  Indeed an object with a defined edge and very little or no detail is nothing more than a shape.  However, a shape has to have some quality that offers some clue as to it’s identity or otherwise it may as well be described as – and simply called – a blob.

Chosen images

 

I chose these two images to submit for assessment as I felt that both of these pictures define shape very nicely and interestingly.

My first image has Sarah looking info the picture towards the negative space.  The image has been lit to provide just enough information so as to the identity of the subject using the contrast of highlights against the dark background to define the faces edge and shape.

Sarah in edge lighting was photographed against a black back ground with two naked speed lights set on stands behind her, one to her left and one to her right, both above her and angled down towards her at 45 degrees.  The lefts light was set at 1/32 and the right set to 1/64 and both operated via the camera using Pocket Wizards.  The camera was set on a tripod with a cable release for tripping the shutter, 105mm f/2.8 lens, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO 125. Small adjustments made to sharpness and tonal contrast in Lightroom.

My second is Sarah one of her favourite hats.

Sarah in the hats was taken against a white back cloth illuminated by two speed lights in soft-boxes in order to evenly spread the light across the screen behind Sarah.  The speedlights were both adjusted to 1/16 and controlled by Pocket Wizards.  Ideally I would have liked to have included a black screen behind the camera but I did not have enough space in my dinning room.  I compensated by adjusted my ISO to ISO 50 and to be sure the back ground was as neutral as possible I used the f/3 for minimum depth of field, shutter speed 1/250 sec.  105mm, f/2.8 lens, tripod mounted camera and the shutter tripped using a cable.   Some small adjustments were made in Lightroom to sharpen the image, and add additional tonal contrast.  My choice was between this and the cloche hat to submit; and although the cloche hat produces a simple cameo effect I preferred this ‘ascot’ hat had image which retains some additional detail in tones for the hat.

Form

Describing an objects three dimensional form and or it’s volume.

 

 

85mm f/1.4, 1/250sec, f/5.6, ISO125, 3 x speedlights operated via pocket wizards, soft-box and reflectors.

In this high key image Sarah’s pose appears to be coming out of the picture frame.  For a backdrop I used a white sheet illuminated by two speedlights in soft-boxes to evenly light it and set it back about 1.5m from Sarah in order to maximize the benefit of a shallow depth of field to loose any folds/creases that might otherwise show up.  The main key light was a speedlight set to 1/64 in a 24 x 24 soft-box above and 45 degrees to Sarah’ s right (left of the picture) and a white reflector set on a stand to Sarah’s immediate left.  Sarah was also holding a silver reflector to her chest angled up to fill shadows under her chin, etc.  As a result, I think that this lighting set up has created a nice modelling effect of Sarah’s face putting a nice shadow under her nose and just over her top lip. there is soft shadow on her left cheek and nice highlights on her right cheek and on parts of her face and nose without any blown out areas.  I believe that the white background helps push the image forward and give is a nice definable edge all the way around.

105mm f/2.8, 1/250 sec, f/3, ISO125.

For my second image I chose this low key idea.  Standing on a step ladder above Sarah as she sat below me on a chair, I lit this image using a soft-box above Sarah and to her right with a white reflector to her left but moved a little further away to only give a small amount of fill-light to her left side.  I reduced the power down to 1/128 on the speedlight and exposed for the highlights.  I believe that the combination of lighting and depth of field draws the viewer through and down thus creating a sense of a three dimensional depth to the picture.

Texture

85mm f/1.4, 1/250sec, f/2.8, ISO125.

Soft – In this exercise, I have photographed for a soft look.  Using a remote speedlight set to 1/64 +0.3 EV in a large 34 x 34 soft box directly in front of Sarah and set on a stand directly above the camera. By using large diffused flat light source combined with a narrow depth of field I believe that I have produced a much more flattering soft texture to Sarah’s face.  I chose to position Sara by a window in our kitchen to help provide a natural high key background.

105mm f/2.8, 1/250sec, f/5.6, ISO125, WB flash.

Hard and sharp – A less than flattering portrait of Sarah capturing the texture of Sarah hair and to her skin, the hard edge lighting helps to sharpen the image.  To obtain this image I have used hard strobe lighting, set behind Sarah to the left side and right side of the room.  Sarah also held a reflector in front of her to bounce light on to her face.  I mounted the camera on a tripod, manually focused and operated the strobes via Pocket Wizards.  The Speed light left of camera was set to 1/16 and fitted with a reflector beauty dish with a honeycomb grill attached to direct the light.  The speedlight to right of the camera was set to 1/32 and fitted in to the shell of a 24 x 24 soft-box with a honeycomb cloth grill attached; so as to act as a large direction reflector.  Behind the camera I had set up a black screen to prevent light bouncing back on to the subject from my light green walls.  Behind Sarah I had screened off our French windows to prevent light illuminating the background.

Colour

105mm f/2.8, 1/250sec, f/4, +1step, ISO125, WB – Daylight.

In this deliberate colour cast image, I set the WB to daylight but illuminated the scene using a camera mounted speedlight set to 1/8 with a ‘Oklahoma yellow’ Rogue Gel attached and the speedlight was fitted inside a small soft-box and aimed to bounced off the ceiling from Sarah’s right to suggest that her face is being illuminated by the candle which is in fact just a prop.

105mm f/2.8, 1/13sec, f/3, ISO-125

My wife is part Italian; so I thought it would be fun to try to incorporate the colours of the Italian flag in this portrait.  Controlled by Pocket Wizards I used three speed lights, two gelled and one plain, I set up white fabric backdrop that was lit on one side with an un gelled speedlight in a soft-box and on the other side a green gelled speedlight inside a soft-box to illuminate to other side of the backdrop.  I then set a red gelled speedlight in to a 24 x 24 soft-box positioned above and at 45 degrees to Sarah’s left to illuminate half her face.  I positioned a reflector to Sarah’s right between Sarah and the Backdrop to catch some of the white light and bounce on to her right side for fill light.

85mm f1.4, 1/250sec f/1.8, ISO-125 WB-Sunlight.

On reflection – I have decided to replace my image of Sarah lit by two different coloured gels in preference to this picture that on re-reading the criteria, I feel meets the requirements as stated in the brief, that is to choose a lighting and exposure that shows the subject’s colour as strongly as possible.  This image was taken during the same session for obtaining a soft look.  The lighting process and exposures were very similar.  I used a speedlight in a 34 x 34 soft-box set at 1/128; so as not to overpower the natural light coming through the kitchen window.  I feel that this has created an attractive flesh tone and the sunlight has brought out the colour in Sarah’s hair and produced a natural highlight to the side of her face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assignment Three – Colour

Image taken from Bing: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=colour+wheel&id=849E0780567236C653F53346F0EEE14852D871BF&FORM=IQFRBA#view=detail&id=849E0780567236C653F53346F0EEE14852D871BF&selectedIndex=0

Assignment brief – COLOUR.

In this assignment I had to create sixteen images demonstrating a command of colour in photography by being able to find and use different colours in deliberate relationships.  This was divided in to four categories:

• Colour harmony through complementary colours. – These are colours that sit opposite each other on the colour wheel.
• Colour harmony through similar colours. – These are colours that sit next to each other on the colour wheel.
• Colour contrast through contrasting colours. – These are colours that sit one third of the way around the colour wheel from another colour.
• Colour accent. – Images dominated by one colour with a small area with another colour using any one of the above relationships.

Colour Harmony Through Complementary Colours.

50mm f1.8. ISO 100, 1/30sec, f/2.2.  TTL-Speedlite used. Blue office chair with my cat and enticed using cat treats.  Idea originated from my cat  jumping on to my lap when I am working and his colour worked against my chair.  Lightroom used for colour, contrast , levels,and sharpness.

This idea was inspired from my last project.  105mm f/2.8.  ISO 160, 1/6 sec. f/7.1.  Camera mounted on tripod, light reflectors used, no flash.  Lightroom for colour , levels, contrast and sharpness.

This image was inspired by a suggested project in Practical Photography Magazine, published last year and was fun to do on a rainy day.  105mm f2.8.  ISO 100, 1/30 sec. f/36.  Camera mounted on tripod and operated by cable release. Material used: yellow felt and violet tissue paper.  Subject was lit by hand held LED torch.  Adjustments in Lightroom for colour and sharpness and Photoshop was used for spot healing to remove bubbles in the water and a fold across the tissue paper.

I have seen similar images of hands with painted nails and liked the idea for this theme. 105mm f/2.8.  ISO 100, 1/125 sec. f/11.  Speedlite used off camera by remote controlled from command setting in camera.  Lightroom used for contrast, levels, colour and sharpness.

Colour Harmony Through Similar Colours.

This image was inspired by my lunch the red in the apple and the orange of handle from the peeling knife and complementing orangy colour from my kitchen table-top worked well together.  105mm f/2.8.  ISO 100, 1/3 sec. f/11.  Camera mounted on tripod operated by cable release.  Off camera speedlite bounced off ceiling.  Lightroom used for contrast, colour and sharpness.

This was some rubbish floating in the river, I discovered whilst walking my dog I moved the polystyrene orange block closer to the bag and photographed them using the camera on my phone.  Samsung 4mm f/2.6. ISO 50, 1/125 sec. f/. 2.6, exposure bias -2 steps. Just a tiny amount of Cropping using Lightroom.

This was inspired by a project in Digital Photo magazine last year.  Two “Selfies” blended together in Photoshop.  Both images – 50mm f/1.8.  ISO 250, 1/50 sec. f/11.  Speedlite off camera used for outside subject to add some additional light.  Both images adjusted in Lightroom for colour and contrast then edited in Photoshop in order to merge both images in to one.

Drinking straws using diagonals as a theme, I added a blue straw to be an odd one out and it sits on the other side of the green on the colour wheel; so I thought it still keeps to the rules. 105mm f/2.8.  ISO 100, 3 sec. f/36.  Straws lay over a box using plasticine to hold them in place.  Camera mounted on tripod, speedlite off camera bounced of ceiling and reflector used.  Lightroom used for contrast, levels, colour and sharpness.

Colour Contrast Through Contrasting Colours.

This portrait was simply inspired by my wife sitting at our kitchen table with a vase of roses between us.  50mm f/1.8.  ISO 100, 1/60 sec. f/2.5, in built speedlite used for catch light in eyes.  Lightroom used for colour, contrast, clarity and sharpness.

Roses and Daffodils simply inspired from flowers around the house.  105mm f/2.8.  ISO 160, 1/125 sec. f/4.  Camera hand held, reflector of stand used.  Adjustments made in Lightroom for colour, contrast and sharpening.

This image was taken using my mobile phone.  I had trouble trying to zoom and as a result I had to crop the image; so loosing quality for the final print.  Samsung 4mm f/2.76.  ISO 50, 1/35, f/2.6, exposure bias 0 step.  Cropped using Lightroom.

This enigmatic still life was inspires by my wife’s jewellery, an Arabic henna vase and a green scarf.  105mm f/2.8.  ISO 250, 1/125, f/9.  Off camera Speedlite, camera hand held.  Adjustments made to colour, levels, contrast and sharpness in Lightroom.

Colour Accent.

The swan with his orange beak on the river which was reflecting a cold blue sky inspired this image.  55 – 300mm f/4.5-5.6.  300mm, ISO 640, 1/500, f/9.  Adjustments made in Lightroom, cropped, levels, colour, contrast and sharpness.

The green eyes of my cat were the natural inspiration for this image.  105mm f/2.8.  ISO 400, 1/50 sec. f/3.2.  Speedlight used, camera hand held.  Colour, contrast, levels and sharpness adjusted in Lightroom.

My original idea was to create an image photographing these coloured sweets through a bowl of oil and water; but changed my mind and kept it simple.  105mm f/2.8.  ISO 160, 1/13 sec. f/4.  Off camera speedlite bounced off ceiling.

I used the violet wool broach on my wife’s jumper that makes a good colour accent for this portrait.  50mm f/1.8.  ISO 100, 1/125 sec. f/11 off camera speedlite, camera hand held. Lightroom used to adjust, levels, clarity, colour, contrast and sharpness.

The golden section for a Single point

THE GOLDEN SECTION
To quote from “The Photographers Eye” by Michael Freeman. Published by ILEX Press Ltd.
The golden section which was known to the Greeks is the best known “harmonious” division and is based on pure geometry.
Golden Section Proportions: Two parts are said to be in the golden ratio if the whole (the sum of the two parts) is to the larger part as the larger part is to the smaller part.

This image was submitted as one of the pictures for my second assignment.
However, my Tutor pointed out that this would have had greater punch if I had used the theory of the golden section in my composition.

When selecting my choice of images to work on and submit, I also had this composition which in hind sight would have been a better choice as it comes close to the theory of the golden section to make a more interesting picture.

Below illustrates the golden ratio in order to find a suitable position following this rule. Note that the directional facing rose and the directional angles and lines from the surrounding foliage also helps to creates a dynamic element to the picture which is best exploited with the rose in this chosen position.

If you are using Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop you can find the Golden Ratio option in the cropping tool.