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.

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!

Colour Level 1, Assignment 1

Assignment 1 for Colour Level 1 looks at the relationship between ambient light and artificial light, ideally in the situation of sunset with the sun behind the camera. I had to make two attempts at this because the first attempt turned out to be an unsuitable sunset (totally cloudy) so I left half way through sunset. We were advised to start shooting 20 minutes before sunset, and photograph roughly every 2 minutes, and finish shooting 20 minutes after sunset. We were to keep aperture constant (f/11) and use ISO 100 setting, obviously using a tripod and preferably a cable release. I enjoyed this exercise. I don't get a whole lot of time for photography, most of it is slipped in between toddler naps and outings etc. So this was an hour to myself to go and take a set of photographs which I am fairly happy with.

I thought carefully about the scene, and chose to photograph a pedestrian bridge over the Brisbane river with the city in the background and the nice curving bridge leading the eye through the image. To get this I positioned myself on the William Jolly Bridge which is a lovely viewpoint over the city of Brisbane. The progression of light changes over a 40 minute period is fascinating. I managed to just capture the last light on the buildings, then just prior to sunset there is a certain grey feeling (fortunately a few boats went past at this time to maintain interest). Then as sunset arrives there is little change apart from shutter speeds getting longer and lights starting to come on first on the bridge, and then illuminated signs on the buildings start turning on. As the time after sunset increases the sky turns a beautiful deep blue and the ambient light becomes more obvious and fills parts of the frame with a lovely warmth.

Below are a dozen photographs of my chosen scene.

5:54pm

6:00pm

6:05pm

6:12pm

6:24pm

6:25pm

6:28pm

6:30pm

6:31pm (note f/19)


6:33pm


6:37 (note f/22)


6:39pm


I like the effect enforced by the smallest aperture images - due to the longer shutter speeds the water has a smoother quality than the other photographs. However the building signs are somewhat burnt and blurred in these longer shutter speed images. The progression of light is lovely and I think well captured in this set of photos. Sunset was at 6:04pm and I note that only two of the twelve best photos were taken before this time - so waiting for the golden hour after sunset definitely appears true in this situation.

Assignment 5: People and Place, on Assignment

Brisbane Organic Growers Inc Annual Fair, Sunday 2^nd October, 2011

I have chosen to photograph a local fair run by the Brisbane Organic Growers Inc (BOGI). I chose the organising committee as my notional client and my brief was to photograph the fair in all it's parts. This would include setup before the actual fair, the stalls, cafe, vegetable growing competition and auction at the end of the day. This was to be prepared in a short photo essay which would be included in the November newsletter and thus had a deadline of two weeks after the fair.

Having not attended a BOGI fair before, I did some research as to what might happen on the day. I made a list of possible targets for photographing.

1. Preparation (both the day before and also the morning of the fair)
2. Cafe ( serving freshly prepared food and home made cakes)
3. Vegetable growing competition and judging (display?)
4. Stalls (selling produce, giving advice, demonstrations etc)
5. Auction of competition items
6. Tidying up at the end of a long day.

Photo 1. Preparation. Setup area for stalls

17-35mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/6.7, 17mm, 1/90sec, ISO 640, natural light.

Photo 2. Preparation. Menu

50mm f/1.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4.5, 50mm, 1/90sec, ISO 640, bounce flash.

Photo 3. Preparation. Red check tablecloth

17-35mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4.5, 17mm, 1/45sec, ISO 640, bounce flash.

Photo 4. Cafe. Preparing cupcakes in the kitchen

17-35mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/2.8, 19mm, 1/60sec, ISO 1000, diffuser on flash.

Photo 5. Cafe. The first punters arrive

17-35mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4.5, 17mm, 1/45sec, ISO 1000, diffuser on flash.

Photo 6. Cafe. Choosing and Paying

17-35mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/6.7, 17mm, 1/45sec, ISO 1000, diffuser on flash.

Photo 7. Stalls. Forbidden Fruits Nursery

17-35mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/11, 17mm, 1/180sec, ISO 640, natural light.

Photo 8. Stalls. Tropical Fruits trio

17-35mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/5.6, 17mm, 1/90sec, ISO 640, diffuser on flash.

Photo 9. Stalls. Tea for sale

50mm f/1.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/5.6, 50mm, 1/250sec, ISO 500, natural light.

Photo 10. Competition. Viewing the entries

50mm f/1.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/2.8, 50mm, 1/90sec, ISO 500, natural light.

Photo 11. Competition. A young prizewinner

50mm f/1.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/5.6, 50mm, 1/60sec, ISO 640, diffuser on flash.

Photo 12. Auction. Graeme and Charlie call the auction

50mm f/1.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/3.5, 50mm, 1/60sec, ISO 640, diffuser on flash.

Photo 13. Auction. Bidding

50mm f/1.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/5.6, 70mm, 1/60sec, ISO 640, diffuser on flash.

Photo 14. Auction. A young bidder

70-200mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/6.7, 120mm, 1/60sec, ISO 640, diffuser on flash.

Photo 15. End of the day

70-200mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/6.7, 125mm, 1/60sec, ISO 640, natural light.

From Penny, BOGI vice president: 'Your photo story depicts from setup to cleanup and so much of the colour in-between, really wonderful.' It's a pleasure being able to provide a great set of photos to a client.

Assignment 5: People and Place, on Assignment

I have taken photos for Assignment 5. A good opportunity came up in the form of the annual BOGI Fair (Brisbane Organic Growers Association). Being interested in organic gardening, I joined the club recently and heard about the fair. I decided to set myself the task of photographing it and making a short photo essay, perhaps for the clubs monthly magazine. The fair was held last weekend, and I went along on Saturday afternoon to meet the organising committee and take some photos of them setting up for the fair. I then went back on Sunday to photograph the stalls being set up, the punters arriving, the busy cafe, the vegetable growing competition and resulting auction, and the tidy up at the end of the day. It was a busy and tiring day for me and quite challenging photographically. I was the official 'BOGI' photographer for the day which helped when people were asking what I was doing and I found it often broke the ice when chatting to people, then stepping back to take their photo and then thank them afterwards. The light conditions were very challenging and definately made me realise the limitations of my (now getting a bit old!) Canon 30D in terms of low light / high ISO and resultant noise.

My brief that I set myself was to prepare a short photo essay (perhaps 12 to 15 photos) for the December BOGI magazine.  In addition I was asked to take one photo that says BOGI Fair... not sure it that is actually achievable but I will take a look through the photos! And they would also like a slideshow of photos for the December meeting. This means a large number of photos that I am happy to show which is not what I initially had in mind. So my first aim will be the photo essay and then I will try to process enough images to have a short (probably 100 photo) slideshow. It's been a great experience taking the photos and now I just need to spend the time working on them and trying to get rid of some noise in the worst images.

Here is one example of the fair, taken on Sunday morning.

f/4, 1/90, ISO 640, 35mm, flash with diffuser

Assignment 3: Buildings in use

I have recently completed Assignment 3, which is titled  Buildings in use. I have chosen 5 buildings to photograph for this Assignment. I have found capturing each of the buildings to be quite challenging – finding both the 'right' angle and viewpoint and then good light is hard.

Building 1. RCH Bus Station, Herston

A bus station on the Northern Busway, Brisbane.

Photo 1. Overview of Station

Photo 2. Bus departing station

Photo 3. Passengers alighting onto bus

Photo 4. Stand behind yellow line, Platform 1

Building 2. Bridge, Airlink project, Herston

Part of Australias largest construction project, a bridge over the entrance to the Clem Jones tunnel.

Photo 5. Isolated bridge

Photo 6. Bridge amidst massive construction project

Photo 7. Light post and crane

Building 3. Spicers Hidden Vale Resort

Luxury resort west of Brisbane - such a treat to visit and photograph!

Photo 8. Red Angus Cottage

Photo 9. Loungeroom

Photo 10. Little luxuries

Photo 11. Bedroom

Building 4. Northey City Farm Office Building

The new, very environmentally friendly office building at our local city farm (located in floodplain which explains its height!).

Photo 12. Rain water tank

Photo 13. Stairs up to office

Photo 14. Office view

Photo 15. Highrise

Building 5. Powerhouse Art Centre

Large arts centre which was the Brisbane powerhouse in its former life.

Photo 16. Stairs to stage

Photo 17. World Press Photography Exhibition

Photo 18. Front of building

This assignment has been another big challenge for me. Choosing the buildings and then executing each photograph and trying to get a complete view of each building was not easy. I have learnt a lot during the course of this assignment, and feel like I have improved considerably in my photography of buildings and spaces. More practice required, as ever...