3.1 – The Frozen Moment

Exercise 3.1
Using fast shutter speeds, try to isolate a frozen moment of time in a moving subject.  Depending on the available light you may have to select a high ISO to avoid visible blur in the photograph. Try to find the beauty in a fragment of  time that fascinated John Szarkowski. Add a selection of shots, together with relevant shooting data and a description of your process (how you captured the images), to your learning log.

Well what better to do on New’ Year’s Day than go and try to stop time 🙂 !

Our idea was to go and watch some silly nutters running into the sea in the morning, but when we got there the beach was bare!!  Presumably the rain, wind and rough high tide combined to discourage anyone.  Either that or it was cancelled .

Anyway, we finally found ourselves on the beach at Littlehampton where the combination of rolling waves, shoreline birds and mad people running, gave me the opportunity to capture some motion and stop the action.

As instructed I set the camera onto shutter priority, and because it was wet and raining, but still relatively bright, I put the ISO on 640, so that I could keep the speed as high as possible.  I was also using a Tamron 70-200 2.8 lens, which is fairly heavy especially in conjunction with the camera so wanted to ensure I could combat any camera shake as well. 

I am pleased with the outcome of this exercise.  Using shutter priority did make things easier, as I wasn’t worrying about the settings once set up, which meant I could concentrate on watching the scene for movement. 

For most of the shots I tried to stand as still as possible, but with some of the bird shots, I did try panning along with the flight and as I was able to keep the shutter speed up, that was quite successful.

I think that in order to stop motion, you also need to actually see that movement is happening, i.e. if you took a photo of a car, stopping all motion, then it could just be parked!, where as a person running or a bird in flight is still moving in the image even though the motion is stopped.  That’s why I chose to take photos of things that look different when they’re are moving to how they look when they are still.

I agree with Flusser’s view that ‘framing a photograph is not just space, but also time. The human eye certainly doesn’t see all of the different movement of a birds wings, by just watching.

Contact Sheets for this shoot can be seen here: contact sheets

Water Drops

Also tried to emulate Harold Edgerton’s mild drop coronet, 1957 by having a go a milk drops in water.  It took thousands of shots to get a few good ones, but was really enjoyable and a little bit addictive.  In this instance shutter speed is coupled with flash lighting and coloured gels to stop the action.

Technical Notes:

  • 35 mm camera with 105 mm macro lens
  • f/14 & f/20 with ISO100, 105 mm, 1/200 (to sync with flashes)
  • 2 flash guns with various coloured gels, fired with triggers, set at between 1/8 & 1/4
  • remote shutter

for water:

  • tray of water with black plastic on bottom to give reflections
  • black back ground
  • used clear water with xanthium gum added (makes it thicker)
  • and a mixture of skimmed milk and cream

set up for water drop images

contacts for this shoot can be seen here 

Part 3 – Traces of Time – Coursework

Shutter Speed

‘Freezing Time’

I was surprised to discover that today’s fast shutter speeds were developed so recently, and that the first photographs took hours to develop.  I started my photographic journey with film, many years ago, but even then, it seemed quick to take a photo.

Names to remember in shutter speed development:

In being able to stop motion, in the fraction of a second it takes to push the shutter button, we are able to see things that our eyes couldn’t actually see. Szarkowski, 2007, p.5 argues that we can derive much pleasure in the fragmenting of time because of the aesthetic quality of shapes we can capture

Bullet Through Flame (Schlieren Method) © Kim Vandiver and Harold Edgerton, 1973

This image by Harold Edgerton is an example of how there can be beauty in capturing something we wouldn’t normally be able to see.

I believe that images like this, capture both a fragment of time, but also movement, because as humans we do have the ability to discern movement, even if we can’t actually see it happening.

I like the idea of being able to capture both.

 

 

 

 

http://alasdairgill.blogspot.co.uk/

 

 

Project 2 – Lens Work – thoughts

My thoughts about deep and shallow depths of field:

here are some of my own images which demonstrate use of different depths of field.

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Long Furlong, April 2017

24mm f/22, 1/100 sec, ISO100 – came across this view whilst driving between Rustington and Findon.  Reminded me of the Windows default screen and stopped to take this photo. I agree that the small f stop and wide angle do work well for this kind of landscape. However, the notion that by having everything in focus, the view can choose where to look and focus within the scene seems a little mute!  Afterall, as the photographer, haven’t we already chosen where we want our views to look.  In most cases we will have edited the image as well, thereby, enhancing the characteristics we want to promote.  Admittedly, one does have the option to roam around with the image and look at different elements within it. Perhaps that what Bazin means:

(Bazin (1948) quoted in Thompson & Bordwell, 2007)

I think that possibly, I like directing the viewers eyes to what I think is important, because it’s probably why I took the photo in the first place.

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Poppies, Brighton, June 2017

These other photos are more my normal style, using a shallower depth of field, or in the case of the woodpecker, the use of the zoom lens, because the subject is not close, which almost forces the background to be out of focus.

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Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Millers Wood, April 2017

In this autumn leaves photograph I wanted to focus in on the leaves, but I love the colour contrasts between the leaves and the background and with the very shallow depth of field it gives a very abstract look

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Autumn Leaves, Hotham Park, November 2016

Project 2 – Lens Work

Research – Photographers and Artists

Ansel Adams (1901-1984):

Famous for black and white wilderness photos, and membership of club f64, the name of the group is taken from the smallest setting of a large-format camera diaphragm aperture that gives particularly good resolution and depth of field.

The group believed in the “innate honesty” of the camera, which, as Weston described, “should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself, whether it be polished steel or palpitating flesh.” The f/64 photographers were concerned with natural subjects—Weston’s evocative close-ups of fruits and vegetables, for example, or Adams’s sublime images of Yosemite National Park, nudes, and everyday objects. In their 1932 manifesto, Group f/64 described pure photography as “possessing no qualities of technique, composition, or idea derivative of any other art form,” a conviction very much in line with modernism’s celebration of the intrinsic qualities of each medium—paintings should be painterly, photographs should be photographic, and sculptures should be sculptural.

https://www.artsy.net/article/theartgenomeproject-how-ansel-adams-and-the-photography-group

and teaching the ‘zone system‘, which is a way of calculating perfect exposure no matter what the conditions.  It mostly related to film photography but could be used in digital photography.

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Half Dome, Ansel Adams (1927)

 

Fay Godwin (1931-2005)

British photographer, used her images to campaign for conservation of the british countryside. Mostly used deep focus

Godwin’s exceptional body of work, her outspoken personality and her genuine concern for the environment made her a unique figure in British photography. Her unpretentious attitude to photography and her devotion to the landscape are captured in this quote from one of her final interviews, with journalist David Corfield in 2004:

‘I don’t get wrapped up in technique and the like,’ she said. ‘I have a simple rule and that is to spend as much time in the location as possible. You can’t expect to take a definitive image in half an hour. It takes days, often years. And in fact I don’t believe there is such a thing as a definitive picture of something. The land is a living, breathing thing and light changes its character every second of every day. That’s why I love it so much.’
Read more at http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/technique/fay-godwin-1931-2005-iconic-photographer-18907#R7eEhF4wpR6vAmlv.99

images by Fay Godwin – really like the atmosphere created and the depth created by having a focal point in the foreground which leads the eyes into the image.

 

Gianluca Cosci

Gianluca’s work seems a complete opposite from Ansel Adams and Fay Godwin’s.  He uses very shallow depths of field and shows us very limited views of his subjects.

Standardisation is a tool of control and constraint of people into reassuring and harmless psychological and architectural boxes in which any hint of improbable rebellion would be easily sedated.

My work tries to suggest these ideas showing sanitised office blocks, censored landscapes and lifeless environments. With my photographs I would like to insinuate a subtle sense of violence in our deeply hierarchical society. I am interested in the point of view of the loser, the marginalised.

Often we are forced to have only restricted views, uncomfortable to maintain. In spite of this, I believe that one can take advantage of this apparent fault and use it to observe and understand things in a different, unexpected way.

Gianluca Cosci, 2006

In his interview with Kevin Byrne in April 2016, Gianluca says “G.C.: I don’t really consider myself a “photographer” rather an artist without a defined, strict identity… “

He seems to have a real issue with capitalism and the immense wealth of a few.  I think by denying us the full view of their creations he is pouring doubt on their achievements and giving us a more abstract art where we can interpret it how we wish. This may stem from his roots in small town Bologna in Italy where wealth and power may be less obvious. Is this a visual interpretation of his own feelings of self worth or pushing the viewer to think freely?

These 3 photographers had different viewpoints

  • Ansel Adams – the pure wonder of nature
  • Fay Godwin – mans effect of the beauty of nature
  • Gianluca Cosci – Manmade creations and their link with power and suppression of free thinking

 

Mona Kuhn:

As soon as I saw Mona’s images, I absolutely connected with them, I love the imagery, and colouration.  The soft creams and browns coupled with the duel exposures of looking through the windows at her subjects. She has used a fairly shallow depth of field which gives a soft dreamy look.

This is something I’ve tried a lot in my own work, so definitely something I would like to emulate and take forward.

Kim Kirkpatrick:

just 5 photos!!! very shallow depth of field, in industrial landscapes not very inspiring to me.

Guy Bourdin (1928 – 1991)

Guy Bourdin, was a French artist and fashion photographer known for his provocative images. From 1955, Bourdin worked mostly with Vogue as well as other publications including Harper’s Bazaar.

All of Guy’s photos are sharp throughout and yet still have a very graphic and artistic quality.

 

web references:

2.7 – The distorting lens

Use a combination of small apertures and wide lens to take a number of photographs
exploring deep depth of field. Because of the small apertures you’ll be working with
slow shutter speeds and may need to use a tripod or rest the camera on a stable
surface to prevent ‘camera shake’ at low ISOs. Add one or two unedited sequences,
together with relevant shooting data and an indication of your selects, to your
learning log.

Achieving deep depth of field might appear easy compared to the difficulties of
managing shallow depth of field. We’re surrounded by images made with devices
rather than cameras whose short focal lengths and small sensors make it hard
to achieve anything other than deep depth of field. The trick is to include close
foreground elements in focus for an effective deep depth of field image. Foreground
detail also helps to balance the frame, which can easily appear empty in wide shots,
especially in the lower half. When successful, a close viewpoint together with the
dynamic perspective of a wide-angle lens gives the viewer the feeling that they’re
almost inside the scene.

all images taken using Aperture Priority – ISO 200, 24 mm, f/22 (the highest my lens would go) and 1/4 sec. Taken  using a tripod

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These do give a better feel of being there in the landscape

2.6 – The distorting lens

Exercise 2.6
Use a combination of wide apertures, long focal lengths and close viewpoints to take a number of photographs with shallow depth of field. (Remember that smaller f numbers mean wider apertures.) Try to compose the out-of-focus parts of the picture together with the main subject. Add one or two unedited sequences, together with relevant shooting data and an indication of your selects, to your learning log.

Wide apertures create shallow depth of field, especially when combined with a long focal length and a close viewpoint. In human vision the eye registers out-of-focus areas as vague or indistinct – we can’t look directly at the blur. But in a photograph, areas of soft focus can form a large part of the image surface so they need to be handled with just as much care as the main subject.

Don’t forget that the camera’s viewfinder image is obtained at maximum aperture for maximum brightness and therefore at the shallowest depth of field. Use the depth of field preview button to see the actual depth of field at any particular aperture. (This is especially useful in film cameras where you don’t have the benefit of reviewing a shot immediately after you’ve taken it). It’s surprising to see the effect that a single f stop can have on the appearance of an image.

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ISO 200, 70 mm, f/2.8, 1/200

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ISO 200, 70 mm, f/2.8, 1/160

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ISO 200, 70 mm, f/2.8, 1/160

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ISO 200, 70 mm, f/2.8, 1/125

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ISO 200, 70 mm, f/2.8, 1/200

 

2.5 – The distorting lens

Exercise 2.5
Find a subject in front of a background with depth. Take a close viewpoint and zoom
in; you’ll need to be aware of the minimum focusing distance of your lens. Focus on
the subject and take a single shot. Then, without changing the focal length, set the
focus to infinity and take a second shot.

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Shallow Depth of Field, Close viewpoint

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deep depth of field, long focal point

wasn’t sure I got it quite right out in the field, so tried it again at home, although I think both sets demonstrate the point about close viewpoints and focal point

 

2.4 – The distorting lens

Exercise 2.4
Find a location with good light for a portrait shot. Place your subject some distance in front of a simple background and select a wide aperture together with a moderately long focal length such as 100mm on a 35mm full-frame camera (about 65mm on a cropped-frame camera). Take a viewpoint about one and a half metres from your subject, allowing you to compose a headshot comfortably within the frame. Focus on the eyes and take the shot.

Longer focal lengths appear to compress space, giving a shallower depth of acceptable sharpness, which is known as depth of field. This makes a short or medium telephoto lens perfect for portraiture: the slight compression of the features appears attractive while the shallow depth of field adds intensity to the eyes and ‘lifts’ the subject from the background.

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Stanley, December 2017

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Riley, December 2017

This gorgeous pair both wanted to pose for this exercise, so obviously I had to photograph them both.

Aperture Priority: f/2.8, 70 mm, 1/250 sec, ISO1000

Particularly in the image of Riley, you can see the very shallow plane where sharpness is in the three fence strips level with him. The wall in the distance is just a colour and shape. In both images, the subjects standout from the background.

I absolutely love the image of Riley when edited in black and white. I also added a colour look up filmstock layer to give it timeless film quality.   There seems to be a real connection with him, which I think is more pronounced in the black and white version and I like the fact he’s not smiling.

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Riley

2.3 – The distorting lens

Exercise 2.3:

Choose a subject in front of a background with depth.  Select your shortest focal length and take a close low viewpoint, below your subject.  Find a natural point of focus and take the shot.

I chose to display this image in black and white, because it emphasises the distortion.

The model is only 9″ tall, but looks much bigger in relation to its surrounds because of the low viewpoint.  The background also appears to be falling backwards, even though it’s perfectly vertical wall.

Finally the bottom of the model (closest part to the viewpoint) looks out of proportion with the rest of the model.

This answers my question of Exercise 2.2, in relation to my height.  I will need to be aware of that when taking photos, especially portraits as using this angle might distort someones features.

Traditionally, this focal point might be used for a man, in order to make him look taller and more powerful in the frame!