Part 4 Light Exercises and Notes

The reading I have done before commencing with this part of the module has really been invaluable.  There has been so many situations in the past when this prior knowledge would have helped considerably in achieving some great photographs.

I look forward to the future and all the rest that I will be learning! Well back to it.

Ask yourself when you look in the viewfinder at the image if you want it to be recorded as an average tone?  

Project:- The Intensity of Light

Exercise 1 Measuring Exposure (Part A)

Produce between four and six photographs deliberately darker or lighter than average and say why.

Darker

Skate Park

f11@1/125 sec ISO 100 18mm

Taken darker to pop out the colours and writing.  I wanted to enusre that the colours were vivid and had an impact that I am sure was meant when the sign was created.

 

Lamp Post

f4.5 @1/2000 sec ISO 100 12mm

The corner was dark but there was a lot of direct sunlight upon the subject.  I chose to make the photograph darker in order to retain the effect of the shadows

Morning Mist

f11 @1/4000 ISO400 18mm

In the beauty of a winters morning and my usual drive to work around the back lanes surrounding our home, I looked across at a field that I pass by everyday and was struck by the beauty.

Taken darker.  The sky was very light as the sun was breaking through the clouds.  This took away any detail in the cloud so by taking the shot at a higher aperture setting I increased the detail in the sky and managed to achieve a less dominet sun while retaining the morning mist and the beautiful setting.  All round I was very pleased with the results.

The Wall

  f22 @ 1/10sec  ISO 400 18mm

Taken darker as the stone was extremely light when viewed from the lens. It did up up being a flat image that required a fair amount of work in lightroom for me to get it to it's present state.  I wanted to emphasis the texture of the brick and the exposure setting helped me to do this by increasing the blacks and also heaviness adjusting the contrast.


The idea had come from a photograph I had seen in a hotel while in Liverpool earlier in the year.  It is not John Lennon but has the same sort of presence in it's impact.  


Using the information I had learnt from the colour section I adjusted the red, orange and yellow levels to assist with the adjustments, closely followed by my favourites clarity, contrast and blacks.  The whole point was to show the grain and pull out the small area of graffiti, keeping it not too dominant.


The photograph below is not the actual print but gives you an idea of what I had in mind.........................

Lighter


Produce between four and six photographs deliberately darker or lighter than average and say why.

Sloped Roof 

f4.5 @ 1/200 

The same lamp post as the earlier photography but on a very different day. A very dark corner, taken deliberately lighter to show the textures of the brick and wood and also details of the buildings and slopes of the roofs.  The image could not be too bright so as not to blow out the sky.

Salvation Door

1/25 sec at f8 ISO 200 11mm

The area was quite dark and I wanted to ensure that I could hand tint to remove the surrounding colour but leave the door blue.  I hope it enhanced the effect of old and from past era's

Platinum Pool

f5.6 @ 1/.320 sec ISO200 15mm

Original Shot before Post Processing

This is a very dark area down at the bottom of our village, because of this I took the photograph lighter though not massively otherwise the reflections would have been lost with the overblown sky. The image was then given a palladium print plug in treatment to create the larger print as shown above.

Field of Poppies

f20 1/40sec ISO 200 200mm

One of my favourite photographs that I have on my website.  I used a filter as the photograph was taken in direct sunlight.  Apart from that I have made no other change.  I made the photograph lighter so I could increase the contrast and darks in Lightroom to fully show the difference in the crop and the poppies.


Exercise 1 (Part B)

Take 5 or 6 Photographs, of any subject, but for each one make five exposures, arranged what is measured as the best exposure.


When complete see which one is the most central exposure and if it was the one you expected it to be

The Church Cross

ISO 200 1/4000 sec

This photograph was taken initally for an experiment on edge lighting that not work.  So while I was there I thought I would use it for this exercise.  My preference is the one that is a stop darker than the central exposure.  There is a little detail in the grounds surrounding the cross with, the sky having some colour, not totally washed out by the sun.

I kept the shutter speed consistent at /14000 sec and the ISO at 200 to prevent as much light leakage as possible.   I then altered the aperture settings in order to gain the 4 different exposures

The GP 

The Best Exposure

Number 1

f5.0 @1/10 sec ISO 200 15mm

1/13 sec

1/5 sec

1.50 sec

1/20sec

This was the central choice as it kept the most tone and colour intensity.  The light on the factory is dim and I did not have any external flash with me so that may influence the decision.

The Silver Birch Coppice

The Best Exposure

Number 1

In HDR

f5.6 @1/160sec ISO 200 18mm


As taken

On a cold winters day, early January 2010 I was driving back from taking my partner to meet up for a day at the races.  As I drove past this coppice of birch tress I was taken a back by their colour and presence.  The light was not great and I had little experience in such situations.

1/8 sec

1/125sec

1/160 sec

Silver Birch

1. h
2. m
3. ,
4. m
5. Far too much light exposure.  There is no silver colour in the trees and everywhere looks washed out.

Exercise 2 

Take similar shots are both normal and high sensitivity settings.  Choose a situation that is marginal, with a mixture of light levels and subject movement or depth of field is only just possible.

Project:- The Colour of Light

Exercise 3 Judging Colour Balance 1

Use a subject you can move around, this is colourless.  On a clear day take three photographs 

Full Sun, middle of the day.  Mid-morning or afternoon

One in shade same time

One is sunlight when the sun is close to the horizon




Make sure the camera white balance is set to daylight NOT automatic






Exercise 4 Judging Colour Balance 2


Look at 3 images from first exercise (and read your notes of discovery)


Take a similar situation to the last one and shoot the same three kinds of photograph, but for each one vary the cameras white balance setting take in


Daylight/sunlight




Shade




Auto

Project:- The Time of Day

Exercise 5 Light through the Day  (12 Images)

On a sunny day, photograph one scene from from dusk to dawn, at least one an hour.  Landscape location that will that will catch the sunlight even when the sun is close to the horizon.  It needs to offer a good clear view that is lit throughout the day.

Exercise 6 Variety with a Low Sun

Choose any subject, but must be in full light

Frontal Lighting

Side Lighting

Back Lighting

Edge Lighting

Exercise 7 Weather and Rain

Part 1 
Photograph the same view in sunlight and under cloud. 4-6 images

Looking through some old photographs I came across this one from last winter when the water from the road immediately turned to ice as the air was so cold.  The sunlight would have given too much reflection and made the area look too fresh and clean so I believe that the cloudy day was the better option.

Part 2 
Take three photographs outdoors, on an overcast day with shadowless light.  Look for details that have pronounced relief (Strongly marked, distinctive).  Also, a subject with strong colour 3 images.

Tree Felling

Taken locally there was some tree felling going on to clear an area which there were some dispute as to the ownership of.  It was a horrible grey day but the edge of the tress make a good contrast.

Part 3 
You need rain, three photographs required. Look for reflections, patterns of raindrops or any interesting visual effects 2 images

Market Place

Add caption

The reflections from the market area are loud and proud and show the stand for what it is.  Brings you in and gets you buying!

Rainbow

f16 1/100 SEC ISO 1600 13mm

The rainbow seemed very difficult to capture and I had a hard getting the lighting right.  I don't think that I managed a great shot and feel a bit at odds to post but, it is the exercise so here it is!



Artificial Light

Taking yourself out of the comfort zone and working around the light that is available. 

I have been working in this area for a little while with bands and people. There are times when I have had great success and times when things have gone horribly wrong. My biggest bug bear is understanding all the information that comes with the external flash. Also, understanding my 70-200mm 2.8 lens has been a real challenge. 

I have today purchased a light diffuser and also a remote for my flash.  There are a few small problems with the remote which I hope will be solved before the weekend.  I hate the fact that you purchase something and things don't work.  Oh well.

Project:- Available Light

Exercise 1 Tungsten and fluorescent lighting

Tungsten Light - Heated by an element until it glows (Light Bulb)


They look orange or yellow to the eye and photographs reddish.


Florescent Light - Long tubes found in factories or supermarkets.

Exercise 2 Outdoors at night

Project:- Photographic Lighting

Assignment thoughts.


I have found this article today when looking for an answer to another question about flash units.  Photograph a hairy flower for assignment?

"The fine hairs on this flower are perfect for backlighting, especially when combined with a dark background. The light from behind has revealed their structure and texture. To light the flower head, the remote flash was placed on a tripod behind the subject, with a large diffusing screen to soften the shadows, and aimed towards the flower. It was triggered with an ST-E2 mounted on the camera. The great advantage of using a wireless flash system is that it can be used in the field without any difficulty"