Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Formal Assessment - People & Place
Well I received my formal notification of my results for People & Place 1 last night. I was very pleased to see I have passed with a Class 1 again, the same as for The Art of Photography. I didn't think I'd done quite as well as TAOP, so I was pleased that the assessors disagreed with me! I also appreciated the comments, one of which reads "Continuing to develop your personal style and take innovative risks will further strengthen your work". This I feel is an excellent comment and something I am working towards as I progress through the degree pathway. My other blog (for Digital Photography Practice) is being kept up to date, and now that I have finished the first module (Workflow) for that, I am taking some time out to do more reading and looking at other peoples work, which I am finding enlightening and inspiring.
Monday, 20 February 2012
Portraits
Off to the market again with camera and flash...
I asked this lady to pose for me and am quite pleased with this natural shot. Some minor post processing with curves, crop and removal of a small background imperfection. I like the narrow DOF which isolates her from the dark background which still has some interest, and she looks smart and fresh despite her age. I may try doing some alternate images (in post-processing) for this one...
I asked this lady to pose for me and am quite pleased with this natural shot. Some minor post processing with curves, crop and removal of a small background imperfection. I like the narrow DOF which isolates her from the dark background which still has some interest, and she looks smart and fresh despite her age. I may try doing some alternate images (in post-processing) for this one...
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Digital Photography Practice 1
Well I've enrolled on my new course, DPP 1 and am looking forward to my course material being delivered. I've also put in a large order on amazon so I'll have lots of reading to do in my (non-existent) spare time. Exciting. I'm starting a new blog and it's located here. Please visit some time and see how I'm doing. I'll keep posting the odd interesting (or not?) thing on this blog too.
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Deleting Photos
Does anyone else feel a sense of guilt when deleting photos off the computer? I rarely do it, but as our computer has told me it has 1.5GB left of space on it, I have decided to have a cull... I often take a couple of shots when trying to get the right picture, but sometimes can't decide which I like best so just keep them all. I star the good ones and just filter to look at those, so never see the slightly blurry/out of focus/just not right photos. But really, it would be better to look at them all and get rid of the ones that are no good, but I find it hard. I'm rationalising it by saying, well I took it in the first place so I should be able to remove it, but I find it's particularly hard when it's of a loved one for example!
I think part of it is not having a good system for rating photos. I tend to 3 star anything I like and then occasionally give a 4 or 5 star to something really good, but I should use it more rigorously than that, and perhaps delete anything that doesn't get a star at all. I'd love to hear how other people get around the issue of taking thousands of photos and dealing with them afterwards without just buying more and more hard drive space!
However I must admit it feels a little cleansing to start with 150 photos in a folder and whittle it down to 50. It makes the browsing experience much more pleasant certainly! It's probably also good to realise that while it's great to make the most of digital and take lots of photos from different angles of the same scene, it's better to take time at the taking and get it right with one or two shots. Something I'm learning as I progress in my studies perhaps...
But there are some photos that are keepers no matter what technical quality they are... my son must be the most photographed little boy ever (or close to...)
I think part of it is not having a good system for rating photos. I tend to 3 star anything I like and then occasionally give a 4 or 5 star to something really good, but I should use it more rigorously than that, and perhaps delete anything that doesn't get a star at all. I'd love to hear how other people get around the issue of taking thousands of photos and dealing with them afterwards without just buying more and more hard drive space!
However I must admit it feels a little cleansing to start with 150 photos in a folder and whittle it down to 50. It makes the browsing experience much more pleasant certainly! It's probably also good to realise that while it's great to make the most of digital and take lots of photos from different angles of the same scene, it's better to take time at the taking and get it right with one or two shots. Something I'm learning as I progress in my studies perhaps...
But there are some photos that are keepers no matter what technical quality they are... my son must be the most photographed little boy ever (or close to...)
Dress ups
Saturday, 4 February 2012
Middleton
I visited the seaside town of Middleton at Christmas, and I captured this image of the open sky and water. It's not much of a landscape as it has no foreground, but I feel like it captures the summer warmth I felt at the time.
Skater Girls
We were at the park today and I had my camera with me with my 70-200mm telephoto fitted, which is quite unusual at the moment. There were some girls on skates who I thought looked very retro and cool skating on the netball courts, so I decided to try to capture them for a few minutes. I have not done much photography at all the last few months so it was a bit like getting back on my bike, and particularly using this lens which is quite different to my shorter (24-70mm) telephoto. Nonetheless, I got a couple of shots which I am pleased with and post below. The light was late afternoon and quite flattering, and formed some nice shadows for the background grass and trees which are nicely out of focus. It felt good to take some photos just for me without any specific purpose except to capture some images.
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Beyond People & Place...
I sent off my work for the March assessment yesterday. Pretty exciting to send off another finished subject, two years in the making. I feel like I've come a long way but also realise how far I've got to go...
I plan to enroll in Digital Photography 1 next. I feel like I need to improve my post-processing skills and this is the logical way to do so whilst continuing to study for my degree. I'm also going to try to install lightroom and make this my main platform for work.
I plan to enroll in Digital Photography 1 next. I feel like I need to improve my post-processing skills and this is the logical way to do so whilst continuing to study for my degree. I'm also going to try to install lightroom and make this my main platform for work.
Other projects I'd like to work on this
year, time permitting.
Cropping & shapes – this is a
project I'd like to do – make more interesting photographs with a
variety of crops, and use these in a project such as one for a
magazine.
Macro photography – work on seeing
the detail again, a passion I used to have but have not practiced for
a while.
Portrait photography – get the studio
set up and start taking photos of friends and family (and children,
since we'll have two by mid-year).
Off camera flash – I'm getting to
grips with my flash more now after completing a short course here in
Brisbane. Now I need to get out and start using it more!
Read some of the mass of photography books I have collected recently but not had adequate time to read!
I'm sure there are more, but thats a good start...
Saturday, 21 January 2012
Assignment 3: Revisited
I have made a number of changes to my Assignment 3 over the past few months as I have learnt more about post-processing in photoshop. I also needed to reshoot some images and have been unable to get out for the last few months and only got an opportunity recently. So I thought I would share the changes I made.
Correcting the skew on a couple of my bridge images. This was a definite improvement to these images, and quite simple to do once I learnt how.
Processing the Spicers Retreat images as colour instead of black and white, as they would be more effective in a publication or advertising as colour. I think my processing skills have improved since I first took these images and do think the colour ones work well now.
I reshot this image of the indoor view of the Northey St Office building, this time using a tripod and cable release and used a smaller aperture. The result is a better framed and better lit image. I perhaps should have used some fill flash but have not done so in this photo.
Finally I went back to the Powerhouse museum and decided this time to shoot the rear of the building instead of the front, which has limited access due to it's location right on the river front. I have included a person for scale and have also adjusted the photo for skew in photoshop. I think this photo fits in well with my set.
The original photos are here. I am pleased that my tutor Norman has constructively given me lots of hints and tips on how to improve my images throughout my assignments.
Correcting the skew on a couple of my bridge images. This was a definite improvement to these images, and quite simple to do once I learnt how.
Processing the Spicers Retreat images as colour instead of black and white, as they would be more effective in a publication or advertising as colour. I think my processing skills have improved since I first took these images and do think the colour ones work well now.
I reshot this image of the indoor view of the Northey St Office building, this time using a tripod and cable release and used a smaller aperture. The result is a better framed and better lit image. I perhaps should have used some fill flash but have not done so in this photo.
Finally I went back to the Powerhouse museum and decided this time to shoot the rear of the building instead of the front, which has limited access due to it's location right on the river front. I have included a person for scale and have also adjusted the photo for skew in photoshop. I think this photo fits in well with my set.
The original photos are here. I am pleased that my tutor Norman has constructively given me lots of hints and tips on how to improve my images throughout my assignments.
Photobooks
I have been reading more recently about photobooks. I like the idea of having the chance to get a message/theme across in a series of photos that flow from one to the next in photobook format. The concept is quite different from trying to produce photographs for an exhibition for example, or a single image for the 'art market', whatever that means these days. Photobooks have been made since the start of photography and cover such an amazingly wide range of topics and subjects.
A photobook I bought last year is Andre Kertesz 'On Reading', which is a delightful small hardback with all photos containing some reference to books/reading. The diversity of the images is inspirational and shows how incredibly observational Kertesz was. This particular book is a reprint and the preface is by Robert Gurbo, Curator Estate of Andre Kertesz. Curiously he proposes that printed books are in demise with the current digital age. I disagree with his statements and believe that since it is now easier than ever to print a book (without even going to a publisher) that more and more photobooks will be printed. For example, the Blurb website, which also hosts the photobooknow competition which continues to raise awareness of the medium makes it incredibly easy to print your own photobook. However, the topic that Kertesz covered in his book is for sure on the demise, as now people are seen 'reading' their phones, laptops or tablet computers instead of books, or not reading at all but listening to music through their chosen device. The world that is captured in this book is indeed going or already gone. Perhaps that is what Gurbo is actually commenting on...
A photobook I bought last year is Andre Kertesz 'On Reading', which is a delightful small hardback with all photos containing some reference to books/reading. The diversity of the images is inspirational and shows how incredibly observational Kertesz was. This particular book is a reprint and the preface is by Robert Gurbo, Curator Estate of Andre Kertesz. Curiously he proposes that printed books are in demise with the current digital age. I disagree with his statements and believe that since it is now easier than ever to print a book (without even going to a publisher) that more and more photobooks will be printed. For example, the Blurb website, which also hosts the photobooknow competition which continues to raise awareness of the medium makes it incredibly easy to print your own photobook. However, the topic that Kertesz covered in his book is for sure on the demise, as now people are seen 'reading' their phones, laptops or tablet computers instead of books, or not reading at all but listening to music through their chosen device. The world that is captured in this book is indeed going or already gone. Perhaps that is what Gurbo is actually commenting on...
Exercise 20: Busy traffic
This is the final project that I had to finish for People & Place. I had taken some photos in the train/bus station a few months ago for this but was not happy with them. So today I went to the local farmers market which I know is a busy place, and set up my tripod, camera and variable neutral density filter.
I stayed pretty much in one place, the corner of the market, and changed my view from there. I have been before to the market so I knew that this was a good spot to catch the crowds and also people lining up to pay or peruse goods. I chose to use my variable neutral density filter to enable me to get multi-second exposures which I thought would show the movement of the people nicely. It was also important to have some people 'still' in the image otherwise it was all ghostly people moving past. I have put 6 shots below, 3 from each rough viewpoint which show the movement of the crowd around the market.
Photo 1: 1/8 sec
Photo 2: 2 sec
Photo 3: 6 sec
Photo 4: 4 sec
Photo 5: 2 sec
Photo 6: 3 sec
I think these photos show the movement and flow of people, and they are interesting and colourful at the same time. I think this technique (previously I've only used neutral density filters to slow shutter speeds in landscape work) is a good one for showing the flow of people in broad daylight. Obviously a tripod is essential, and a cable release helps to stop any camera shake also.
I stayed pretty much in one place, the corner of the market, and changed my view from there. I have been before to the market so I knew that this was a good spot to catch the crowds and also people lining up to pay or peruse goods. I chose to use my variable neutral density filter to enable me to get multi-second exposures which I thought would show the movement of the people nicely. It was also important to have some people 'still' in the image otherwise it was all ghostly people moving past. I have put 6 shots below, 3 from each rough viewpoint which show the movement of the crowd around the market.
Photo 1: 1/8 sec
Photo 2: 2 sec
Photo 3: 6 sec
Photo 4: 4 sec
Photo 5: 2 sec
Photo 6: 3 sec
I think these photos show the movement and flow of people, and they are interesting and colourful at the same time. I think this technique (previously I've only used neutral density filters to slow shutter speeds in landscape work) is a good one for showing the flow of people in broad daylight. Obviously a tripod is essential, and a cable release helps to stop any camera shake also.
Colour Level 1: Weeks 7 and 8
In week 7 we discussed more of the same topics.
Tonal value for exposure - run a bracket if you need to - he emphasised again how important 'getting it right in the camera' was. For a red car, you need to overexpose by 1 stop to get the exposure right. For bright yellows, it's +1.5, and for rich blacks, underexpose by 2 stops.
Some suggestions for macro - use a tripod, mirror lockup and a remote release, and the smallest aperture you can on your lens. Important to remember that DOF reduces with short lens-to-subject distance.
Environmental portraiture - your background should match yoru subject, eg the photo below by Arnold Newman shows a portrait of a pianist. Strong lines, the figure is barely there, but he is obviously a pianist! A google images search of his work comes up with many great environmental portraits.
He also suggested trying to use lighting to emphasise character of a person.
We went down to the studio to shoot some window light portraits. The three below show how important it is to meter (partial or spot) off the lit side of the face.
Photo 1: Metering off whole face
Photo 2: Partial metering off lit side of face
Photo 3: Partial metering off lit side of face, reflector held on other side to even lighting somewhat
They do look slightly underexposed to me, but the message is clear to be careful about how you meter - important to control the highlights on your subject (apart from catchlights etc which are only spot points). Obviously a dedicated light on the background would improve these images.
Week 8 is the final week and we reviewed some topics we had covered before.
More macro and landscape suggestions by way of a short video (Tony Sweet). Warm and cool tonalities look good together. Line up to be parallel with subject (for DOF), and look for patterns. For sunrise landscapes (shooting into the sun for example), use a polariser. Important to bracket with landscapes.
We also discussed our final assignment, which was 'movement'. I include my photos below. It was interesting to see the variety of shooting styles and experience of the group, which was quite varied.
Photo 1: Girl at Roma St Bus Station.
Photo 2: Small child learns to fly. Rear curtain flash.
Photo 3: Shower showing movement of water frozen.
Photo 4: The steering wheel goes round and round.
Photo 5: Zooming during the photo to give a sense of movement
Photo 6: Moving the camera whilst photographing the Christmas lights on a neighbours house
I have enjoyed this course and got lots of good tips and tricks and definitely feel more confident with my flash, which was one of the main reasons I did the course in the first place. I'm not sure if I'll do another course, I was a bit disappointed that there was not much chat amongst the group, perhaps that is unusual. I also wanted to meet some other keen photographers here in Brisbane. Nonetheless, it was a fun and worthwhile experience to do this short course.
Tonal value for exposure - run a bracket if you need to - he emphasised again how important 'getting it right in the camera' was. For a red car, you need to overexpose by 1 stop to get the exposure right. For bright yellows, it's +1.5, and for rich blacks, underexpose by 2 stops.
Some suggestions for macro - use a tripod, mirror lockup and a remote release, and the smallest aperture you can on your lens. Important to remember that DOF reduces with short lens-to-subject distance.
Environmental portraiture - your background should match yoru subject, eg the photo below by Arnold Newman shows a portrait of a pianist. Strong lines, the figure is barely there, but he is obviously a pianist! A google images search of his work comes up with many great environmental portraits.
He also suggested trying to use lighting to emphasise character of a person.
We went down to the studio to shoot some window light portraits. The three below show how important it is to meter (partial or spot) off the lit side of the face.
Photo 1: Metering off whole face
Photo 2: Partial metering off lit side of face
Photo 3: Partial metering off lit side of face, reflector held on other side to even lighting somewhat
They do look slightly underexposed to me, but the message is clear to be careful about how you meter - important to control the highlights on your subject (apart from catchlights etc which are only spot points). Obviously a dedicated light on the background would improve these images.
Week 8 is the final week and we reviewed some topics we had covered before.
More macro and landscape suggestions by way of a short video (Tony Sweet). Warm and cool tonalities look good together. Line up to be parallel with subject (for DOF), and look for patterns. For sunrise landscapes (shooting into the sun for example), use a polariser. Important to bracket with landscapes.
We also discussed our final assignment, which was 'movement'. I include my photos below. It was interesting to see the variety of shooting styles and experience of the group, which was quite varied.
Photo 1: Girl at Roma St Bus Station.
Photo 2: Small child learns to fly. Rear curtain flash.
Photo 3: Shower showing movement of water frozen.
Photo 4: The steering wheel goes round and round.
Photo 5: Zooming during the photo to give a sense of movement
Photo 6: Moving the camera whilst photographing the Christmas lights on a neighbours house
I have enjoyed this course and got lots of good tips and tricks and definitely feel more confident with my flash, which was one of the main reasons I did the course in the first place. I'm not sure if I'll do another course, I was a bit disappointed that there was not much chat amongst the group, perhaps that is unusual. I also wanted to meet some other keen photographers here in Brisbane. Nonetheless, it was a fun and worthwhile experience to do this short course.
Assignment 4: A Sense of Place
North Stradbroke
Island, QLD
I have chosen to photograph an
island which is very close to Brisbane. This assignment is to
photograph for an intelligent, thoughtful travel publication, so I
did some research looking at magazines such as those in the national
newspaper, The Australian, and also the Qantas in-flight magazine.
The images in those travel sections were bright, complementary
colours and carefully chosen depending on the story at hand. Thus for
my assignment I had to think carefully about what story I was try to
show in my photographs, and not just shoot randomly. This made the
project quite challenging and meant a number of ideas had to be
discarded due to a lack of a cohesive story. I have chosen to
document a relaxed weekend at Stradbroke, consisting of time on the
beach and also time walking in the beautiful national park areas.
This is the sort of holiday we enjoy, and I also decided to capture
some slightly personal images of my family as I thought the article
which might go with my photo essay would emphasise activities for a
young family at North Stradbroke Island for a weekend.
Photo 1. Brown Lake
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon
30D, f/11, 24mm, 1/90sec, ISO 200, natural light, dodge at low
opacity over people.
Photo 2. Main Beach
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon
30D, f/16, 46mm, 1/250sec, ISO 200, natural light, minor contrast
enhancement via curves tool.
Photo 3. Blue Cat Red Cat
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon
30D, f/16, 24mm, 1/90sec, ISO 200, natural light minor contrast
enhancement via curves tool.
Photo 4. Domain Resort
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon
30D, f/6.7, 24mm, 1/250sec, ISO 200, natural light, minor contrast
enhancement via curves tool.
Photo 5. Spiderweb on bark
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon
30D, f/11, 34mm, 1/60sec, ISO 400, natural light, minor contrast
enhancement via curves tool.
Photo 6. Abstract water
droplets
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon
30D, f/2.8, 70mm, 1/350sec, ISO 400, natural light.
Photo 7. Beach reflections
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon
30D, f/11, 48mm, 1/1000sec, ISO 200, natural light, minor contrast
enhancement via curves tool.
Photo 8. Beach abstract
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon
30D, f/11, 17mm, 1/90sec, ISO 400, graduated neutral density filter,
natural light, very minor contrast enhancement via curves tool.
Photo 9. Greenery near Blue
Lake
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon
30D, f/11, 30mm, 1/60sec, ISO 400, natural light, very minor contrast
enhancement via curves tool.
Photo 10. Kite Flying
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon
30D, f/11, 24mm, 1/750sec, ISO 200, natural light, free transform
rotate and crop.
Photo 11. Surf Patrol
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon
30D, f/16, 24mm, 1/250sec, ISO 100, natural light.
Photo 12. Ice Cream and Gelati
24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon
30D, f/4, 24mm, 1/350sec, ISO 100, natural light.
It's a relief to finally finish this last assignment and to be happy with the results. I am now in the process of preparing for assessment, finishing off my logbook and one final project before I have completed this subject. It's been challenging and rewarding, particularly given how busy I've been personally over the last two years as well!
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