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.

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.

Hidden Vale

I went on a fabulous work trip recently to a little known spot called Hidden Vale. Stunning. Hard to believe we were so close to Brisbane. We did lots of fun team building activites, but I was most excited about the photographic opportunities. Lucky for me we got some free time in the evening and I got up early the next morning too to take photos. And boy was I rewarded. I know I'm not particularly skilled in the landscape area, so I was very pleased to have such a fine view right on the doorstep and was provided with a lovely sunset in the evening and gorgeous mist in the morning. I managed to get nice shots by taking quite a few photos, but also tried to frame my shots in attractive ways and use a range of focal lengths.

Here are two favourites:

Evening light:

From Landscapes

Misty morning:

From Landscapes

Light

Popped out today for a quick (20 minute) shoot to get a start on Assignment 3 for People & Place. It has been raining on and off so there were some great clouds in the sky, and I thought I might get a few overcast images for my planned bridge shot. I was busy shooting away thinking the photos were ... ok... then the sun broke through - awesome light. My favourite - dark clouds with sunlight breaking through. Here's a quick (unprocessed) shot...

From Miscellaneous

Great fun. That should mean one ticked off for this project, if I'm happy with my images as I look at them tonight.

Spring is Here

and is beautiful indeed. Here are some shots from nearby Harrison park taken late one evening last week when I managed to sneak out of the house when the wee one was asleep... photography of anything other than him has rather taken a back-seat lately! Hope to be back onto it soon though...

From Miscellaneous

From Miscellaneous

Project 47: Twilight

I have been waiting until a suitable sunset to undertake this project. Luckily for me, yesterday (yes, Christmas Day) turned beautiful in the afternoon, so we drove to Blackford Hill to take some twilight photos. The lovely light remained for about an hour, which gave me enough time to photograph the snowy Pentlands with different focal lengths, bracketing as necessary to show colour in the sky, and also some silhouettes. The different focal lengths really show different features, and also varying degrees of colour. The super-wide angles (17mm) have a lot of sky in the photo, and thus show not only the sunset colours of red, pink and orange but also the pale to deep blue of the late afternoon sky. The zoom shots (200mm) show the snowy hills with soft clouds behind lit with pastel oranges and yellows. I've arranged them below by focal length, not time, as the light didn't change dramatically while I was shooting.

While the wide-angle shots may have more range of colours, the intensity of the colour is stronger in some of the telephoto shots. I think this project well demonstrates the need to try different angles/viewpoints/focal lengths in difficult light conditions such as twilight.

17mm, f/8, 1/125mm, ISO200, -1EV
17mm, f/8, 1/250s, ISO200, -1EV
17mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO200, -1EV
24mm, f/8, 1/250s, ISO200, -1EV
24mm, f/8, 1/500s, ISO200, -1EV

24mm, f/5.6, 1/180s, ISO200, -1/2EV
24mm, f/5.6, 1/180s, ISO200, -1/2EV

70mm, f/8, 1/180s, ISO200, -1EV

70mm, f/8, 1/180s, ISO200, -1 1/2EV

70mm, f/9.5, 1/125s, ISO200, 0EV
70mm, f/9.5, 1/90s, ISO200, +1/2EV
98mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO200, -1 1/2EV

105mm, f/8, 1/250s, ISO200, -1/2EV

110mm, f/8, 1/180s, ISO200, -1/2EV


135mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO200, -1EV

140mm, f/8, 1/90s, ISO200, -1/2EV

180mm, f/8, 1/180s, ISO200, -1 1/2EV

200mm, f/8, 1/250s, ISO200 -1/2EV

200mm, f/8, 1/350s, ISO200, -1/2EV
200mm, f/8, 1/250s, ISO200, 0EV

Cramond

I went to Cramond on Sunday afternoon in search of a good sunset to enable me to continue on with the projects for this section, but it was quite grey and overcast, and no good sunset appeared. Anyway, I managed to shoot quite a nice landscape shot of the causeway out to Cramond Island, so I thought I'd share that with you all. I'm not sure if it's a bit dark, so I welcome comments as usual.

24mm, f/22, 15sec, ISO 100, Tripod, graduated neutral density filter to decrease brightness of water on left side of photo.

What a difference the light makes!

These two photos were taken only a few hours apart, and the clear difference between flat dull light (the first) and cloudy skies with occasional sun breaking through (the second) is so clear! I thought this was a great example of changing light and the patience we need to have in photography (though on this occasion it was all luck and we happened to be walking in the same area at two parts of the day). These were taken last weekend (7 Nov) in Paris, and are of Notre Dame.

50mm, f/4.5, 1/90s, 0EV, Grad Neutral Density Filter, ISO320

40mm, f/6.7, 1/180s, -1/2EV, Grad Neutral Density Filter, ISO 400

Project 29: Applying the Elements of Design

This project is a mini-assignment really, the aim being to apply the insights learnt so far on the course about design into a set of photographs directed towards one type of subject. I chose to do landscape as the theme, and have taken a series of photos, mostly from the Isle of Mull or the Isle of Arran both on the West coast of Scotland where we have visited recently. Like with the assignments, it was good to have a challenge in mind when out taking photos, and I feel I have been more successful with some shots than others in fulfilling the criteria, though as a group I think it works quite well.

Vertical Lines: Taken off the Isle of Staffa, which is in turn off the Isle of Mull. This is a photo of Fingals Cave in amazing high seas, with the waves crashing against the rocks. The vertical columns are basalt and are commonly seen on Mull and its islands, but Fingals Cave is the most famous. Mendelssohn was so taken he wrote a symphony! I only managed this photo...

120mm, f/5.6, 1/750s, ISO200

Implied Triangle: Also taken of the Isle of Staffa, more basalt, but this time it has expanded and shrunk variably, forming an implied triangle, particularly from the low angle of the boat where I was located (wedged in a corner due to the bad swell!). The white water running down between the columns adds to the photo.

145mm, f/8, 1/500s, ISO200

Curves: Loch Na Keal, Isle of Mull. The high tide marks are identified by the seaweed which has washed ashore. These form nice curves on the rocky beach.

59mm, f/11, 1/350s, ISO200

Point (plus horizontal & diagonal): A single tree, Isle of Mull, stands out against the water and background hills (diagonal and horizontal elements here too), with dappled light playing on the surface of the hills. The tree is a strong single point which the viewers eye keeps coming back to.

200mm, f/11, 1/350s, ISO200

Diagonal: A simple landscape shot of a valley, Isle of Mull, and a house (point) where the main diagonal is simply formed by the background valley. I cropped the sky away at the top to help emphasise the valley.

70mm, f/11, 1/350s, ISO200

Implied Triangle: 3 boats on the water form an implied triangle, Isle of Mull.

170mm, f/19, 1/250s, ISO200

Two points: The contrast here is between the standing stones (similar age to Stonehenge), and the small (modern) house in the distance in this low contrast photo. Isle of Arran Standing Stones.

700mm, f/5.6, 1/180s, ISO100

Several points in a deliberate shape: A photo of sand and seaweed where the seaweed is loosely 'arranged' in a triangluar/squashed rectangle arrangement. Isle of Arran.

70mm, f/6.7, 1/250s, ISO200

Distinct Shape: This photo of two birds on a dark rock, waves breaking and the distinct shape on the horizon of an island called Ailsa Crag is really effective. Taken from the South coast of the Isle of Arran.

200mm, f/5.6, 1/250s, ISO200

Pattern: A close-up photo of swirling white bubbles on dark water gives an abstract feel to this photo. Cambridge, UK.

70mm, f/9.5, 1/350s, ISO400

Rhythm: A narrow DOF emphasises some grasses and against a hill in the background. This is not a really strong rhythm photo but I think it shows elements of rhythm.

70mm, f/8, 1/1000s, ISO200