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| ISO100, f/4.0, 1/400 |
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| ISO100, f/4.0, 1/125 |
Monday, April 21, 2014
Assessment 1, Activity 11 - Macro Shooting
For this experiment I used my Canon 18-35mm lens with a macro attachment on the end for close up shooting.
In this image, I used water droplets on my car in the morning light. The lens typically focused on the middle of the image as there was so many droplets it had the potential to focus on. I had to focus carefully to get the droplet I wanted and be careful of glare from the shiny car bonnet.
In this image, I chose to focus on the front flower and the one slightly behind it so both of them are mostly in focus. In the background you can faintly make out more flowers but they are blurred due to the low aperture and the lens.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Assessment 1, Activity 10 - Panoramic Landscape
The aim of this activity was to learn to stitch together images to make one long panoramic image. I used the view of Wentworth Falls at dusk to make this panoramic image, overlapping each image by about 40% to ensure I didn't miss any details.
I used a tripod weighted down by my camera bag for extra stability and a cable release. The tripod has a swivel head which made for smooth, even panning across the valley and an evenly levelled image. I used Manual Mode with a low ISO and 0.50 second shutter speed and switched off the auto focus to ensure a consistent image and make the stitching process easier.
Post production, I imported the images to my computer using Adobe Bridge and then used Adobe Photoshop to stitch them together by using the File --> Automate --> Photomerge command. The four images I chose stitched together neatly and evenly. Afterwards, I tinkered with the contrast and brightness of the sky as well as the blue of the mountains in the foreground and far background.
Overall, I found the process fairly easy. I thought taking photos appropriate for stitching (and the process itself) would be more difficult but Photoshop made it very easy. I had to do a certain amount of cropping from the top and bottom of the finished image to account for the slightly different angles so that made me aware of having a wide enough view that a little copping would not affect the content of the image or cut out any important detail.
Assessment 1, Activity 9 - Landscapes
The aim of this exercise was to create a visually appealing landscape devoid of people, with particular awareness of both foreground and background interest, sharpness of the image and tonal completeness throughout the image.
For this exercise I chose the view from the Wentworth Falls Lookout in the Blue Mountains, NSW. I used a tripod and a cable release to prevent camera shake. It was nearing sundown and light was fading very quickly so I needed to adjust my settings a little as it got darker.
Post production I darkened the sky and increased the contrast to make it less bright and to make it more interesting. I also darkened the blue of the mountains slightly to make it more vibrant and removed some of the saturation.
Below is a screenshot of my images in Adobe Bridge. I experimented with a few different settings during the shoot.
Resulting image below:
For this exercise I chose the view from the Wentworth Falls Lookout in the Blue Mountains, NSW. I used a tripod and a cable release to prevent camera shake. It was nearing sundown and light was fading very quickly so I needed to adjust my settings a little as it got darker.
Post production I darkened the sky and increased the contrast to make it less bright and to make it more interesting. I also darkened the blue of the mountains slightly to make it more vibrant and removed some of the saturation.
Below is a screenshot of my images in Adobe Bridge. I experimented with a few different settings during the shoot.
Resulting image below:
.jpg) |
| 100, f/22, 0.50 secs |
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Assessment 1, Activity 8 - City at Dusk
This activity aimed to show the relationship between city lighting and decreasing levels of sunlight at night.
For this experiment I used my tripod, a remote shutter cable and my Tamron 70-300mm lens as my subject was some distance away.
At the beginning of this exercise I photographed from just before the sun set to just after it went dark using various camera settings in Manual mode. I noticed that as the sun went down, I needed to constantly change the settings to maintain enough light to capture a well exposed image. Most particularly, the ISO consistently increased and the shutter speed got slower and slower.
I used my tripod for stability but ran into difficulty as the lens was so large and heavy that camera shake was frequent. However, I needed the long lens as the distance I was at from the building was the only vantage point available to get photos of the building lit up at dusk.
In my images, I have selected some with higher ISO, some with lower, some with longer and shorter shutter speeds and varying apertures. Higher ISO obviously caused a lot of digital noise in the image which was undesirable and the longer shutter speeds left the camera more prone to movement.
I played with various settings but found the images I liked best in these lighting conditions were with a lower ISO, compensating where possible by extending the shutter speed and widening the aperture.
For this experiment I used my tripod, a remote shutter cable and my Tamron 70-300mm lens as my subject was some distance away.
At the beginning of this exercise I photographed from just before the sun set to just after it went dark using various camera settings in Manual mode. I noticed that as the sun went down, I needed to constantly change the settings to maintain enough light to capture a well exposed image. Most particularly, the ISO consistently increased and the shutter speed got slower and slower.
I used my tripod for stability but ran into difficulty as the lens was so large and heavy that camera shake was frequent. However, I needed the long lens as the distance I was at from the building was the only vantage point available to get photos of the building lit up at dusk.
In my images, I have selected some with higher ISO, some with lower, some with longer and shorter shutter speeds and varying apertures. Higher ISO obviously caused a lot of digital noise in the image which was undesirable and the longer shutter speeds left the camera more prone to movement.
I played with various settings but found the images I liked best in these lighting conditions were with a lower ISO, compensating where possible by extending the shutter speed and widening the aperture.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Night Shooting - Zooming & Bokeh Techniques
In this experiment I played with the bokeh effect and zooming the lens while the shutter remained open. I used a tripod, cable shutter release, the camera was on Manual focus and manual setting.
In image 1 I tried zooming the lens in and out to create the portal effect.
In image 2 I used a wide aperture and distance between the fairy lights and the subject to create the bokeh effect. However, the subject was ill lit and had to be lit by a torch which is not all that becoming but it was all I had to work with at the time unfortunately. To let in enough light to make the shot work I had to slow down the shutter speed substantially to what I had originally planned.
In image 1 I tried zooming the lens in and out to create the portal effect.
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| IMAGE 1: ISO100, f/8.0, 10secs, 23mm |
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| IMAGE 2: ISO100, f/5.6, 1/3, 55mm |
Night Shooting - Painting with Light
For this activity I set my camera up on a tripod in my front yard at around 9pm. I also used a cable shutter release to prevent any camera shake while I left the shutter open for long periods of time. Other equipment included several LED bulbs normally used in paper lanterns and a small torch with a white bulb.
The follow pictures are some of the results of my experimentation with light painting. I used a light on the ground as something to focus on in manual focus to get a clear image.
The follow pictures are some of the results of my experimentation with light painting. I used a light on the ground as something to focus on in manual focus to get a clear image.
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| IMAGE 1: ISO100, f/8.0, 49sec, 29mm |
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| IMAGE 2: ISO100, f/8.0, 28sec, 29mm |
Monday, March 31, 2014
Assessment 1, Activity 7 - Sports Shooting
Sports photography is often faced paced with a lot of action and fast moments to be captured. For this experiment, I have chosen Rugby League to focus on.
Part 1:
Some of the equipment needed to shoot an NRL game includes:
Both the above and below image were found on the official NRL website: www.nrl.com.
Image 1 very successfully captures the excitement and action of the game.The main subject (the player scoring a try) is framed by his opponent and the corner post and is poised in the horizontally in the middle of the frame. His outstretched leg leads the eye to the secondary focus of the image (his opponent) who is not quite as in focus. The depth of field is relatively short so as to distinguish the players from the background but not so blurred that the context is lost.
Some challenges I can see the photographer may have encountered is the bright overhead sunlight. This has caused shadow to fall across the faces and underside of the players, while there is the danger of overexposing the exposed skin, audience and white corner post.
Another challenge is the angle - the players would have been running directly towards the photographer which would make focusing quickly a challenge from that angle. They would also have been quite close at this stage.
Timing would also be crucial - had he waited another half a second, the player would have crashed into the corner post, drawing attention away from the try and more to the flattening of the post.
Image 2 I believe is an important one as the game is not only about the impact and action but about the emotion and the sense of team spirit that comes with it all and the photographer has captured this well.
This could not have been easy to capture as there are so many people to fit into the frame and to organise at one time. The photographer has crouched down to a lower angle to get the shot, making the players look bigger and more victorious.
Another challenge is the bright stadium light in the top left of the image over the coach's head. It means a bit of loss of detail to the coach's head and is rather distracting. As it looks to be getting later in the day by this stage, the stadium lighting would have made exposing the player somewhat difficult also.
Part 2:
Part 1:
Some of the equipment needed to shoot an NRL game includes:
- a DSLR camera body with relatively low digital noise levels at higher ISO levels
- a fast telephoto lens of 300mm to 600mm that is capable of an aperture of at least f2.8
- a lens mount capable of holding the weight of said telephoto lens
- a monopod for easy and fast transportation (and so it's not in the way)
- spare batteries
- spare memory cards
- lens cloths
- in case of bad weather shooting outdoors - an umbrella, waterproof camera bag and rain cover/casings for camera body and lenses
- ideally a second lens with a shorter focal length for close ups and portrait or feature shots
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| IMAGE 1: http://www.nrl.com/Portals/NRL/images/35/35774_32_1.jpg |
Both the above and below image were found on the official NRL website: www.nrl.com.
Image 1 very successfully captures the excitement and action of the game.The main subject (the player scoring a try) is framed by his opponent and the corner post and is poised in the horizontally in the middle of the frame. His outstretched leg leads the eye to the secondary focus of the image (his opponent) who is not quite as in focus. The depth of field is relatively short so as to distinguish the players from the background but not so blurred that the context is lost.
Some challenges I can see the photographer may have encountered is the bright overhead sunlight. This has caused shadow to fall across the faces and underside of the players, while there is the danger of overexposing the exposed skin, audience and white corner post.
Another challenge is the angle - the players would have been running directly towards the photographer which would make focusing quickly a challenge from that angle. They would also have been quite close at this stage.
Timing would also be crucial - had he waited another half a second, the player would have crashed into the corner post, drawing attention away from the try and more to the flattening of the post.
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| IMAGE 2: http://www.nrl.com/Portals/NRL/images/35/35792_32_1.jpg |
Image 2 I believe is an important one as the game is not only about the impact and action but about the emotion and the sense of team spirit that comes with it all and the photographer has captured this well.
This could not have been easy to capture as there are so many people to fit into the frame and to organise at one time. The photographer has crouched down to a lower angle to get the shot, making the players look bigger and more victorious.
Another challenge is the bright stadium light in the top left of the image over the coach's head. It means a bit of loss of detail to the coach's head and is rather distracting. As it looks to be getting later in the day by this stage, the stadium lighting would have made exposing the player somewhat difficult also.
Part 2:
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| Image 1: 191mm, ISO 1600, f/10, 1/4000 |
The light was going fast when I took these pictures towards the end of the day so the ISO was at 1600 which unfortunately meant some digital noise in the images. Shutter speed was fairly fast to accommodate for the fast movement of the ball and the players to freeze the motion.
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| Image 2: 300mm, ISO 1600, f/7.1, 1/4000 |
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