Excercise 6: Fitting the frame to the subject

Whoo hoo!  I've reached Part 1 of the the course.  Part 1 is about "The Frame". 

This is the first photo taken from a distance.

 

The next is placing the subject within a landscape

The next is deatiled shot

 

the next is fitting the subject to the frame although this isn't quite right as it acutally shows the drive and they sky above it (need to redo with a different subject!) 

So what's the purpose of this excercise? The course materials say that it is to experiment with how much space the subject takes up in the viewfinder. My photos can then be compared to those in the folder and they should all be of the same/similar proportions. That brings me back to my original question - so what has this taught me? I guess for me, it displays how the focus/main interest of the photograph changes with the amount the subject is in the frame. For example, with the subject set in a landscape, it puts the subject in context and and show the relationship between it and the landscape it is set in. It is probably the most comfortable scene to view as there is more information available to the viewer. The one with the detailed shot, funnily enough, changes the focus to the details/smaller objects/textures within the frame. I find the subject shot exactly to fit the frame to be less appealing as there is no context or detail to directly focus on. But this tight framing could be used well for photos where the photographer wants to convey the sense of large proprotions. It could be used well for objects that look like they are looming towards the viewer.

Excercise 5: Panning with different shutter speeds

Staying with the same subject from Excercise 4, I tried panning.  I found this a bit difficult as I was in a failry narrow space so the opportunity to pan was limited.  However, I did like some of the shots that came out.


These were all taken at 1/40

1

2

3

The following at 1/60

4

5

 

I really like 2 and 4.  2 because it's quite funny to just get her foot, and 4 because part of it is in focus and part not so it still retains the feeling of movement.

My overall favourite from the sequence in Excercise 4 and 5, on reflection is from Excercise 4 - photo number 4 as it has a lovely smooth motion blur in the skirt and hair but also gives the impression of having parts in focus.  I prefer it cropped like this...

Excercise 4: Shutter Speeds

This is an exercise focusing on shutter speeds which should be good for me as I rarely think of using shutter speed in an artistic way.  I usually only ever worry about it to avoid camera shake or motion blur, which as the exercise has shown me, can actually be used to great effect.

So I choose the shutter speed from very slow, to fast.  I set the camera to TV priority which means I get to choose the speed and the camera chooses the aperture.  My camera doesn't change the iso automatically in changing lights and I forgot to adjust this as the light changed so there are a few blown white spots on the photos when the sunlight was particularly bright.

1. shutter speed 1/4

 

2. shutter speed 1/15

3. shutter speed 1/30

4. shutter speed 1/40

5. shutter speed 1/60

  

6. shutter speed 1/100

  

7. shutter speed 1/125

8. shutter speed 1/250
 

9. shutter speed  1/640

I think that photo 7 at speed 1/125 sec photo is the slowest shutter speed from this collection that froze the motion. 

more flares, more vintage retro feel

I just keep spotting the use of sunflares and the vintage/retro/grunge look everywhere.  I've noticed it on advertising both on television and in magazines, I mean, it was even in the Cbeebies bed time hour!  I guess it's in fashion right now.  I wonder how log it will last?  I love the look but by the time I'm able to replicate it, it'll probably be out of fashion.

Excercise 3: Focus at Different Apertures

The course materials said prints are needed for this exercise to show the distance or limits of the sharp focus.   I chose the same subject as in Exercise 2 to see if having more of the subject in focus would appeal to me better.

1. point of focus is top part of neck 125mm, f/2.5, 1/500, 125mm

2.  125mm, f/11, 1/20

3. 125mm, f/22, 1/8

I chose the highest ISO setting on my camera which was 1600 as it was late afternoon and the light was fading fast.  I also did not have a cable release to try and avoid camera shake. On hindsight I could have released the shutter button via the self timer method. F/2.5 is the widest opening of this lens, and f/22 it's smallest.  I also tried to maintain the correct exposure for these shots but they all seem to have slightly different white balance.  It could be from the changing light (setting sun) although I'm not very sure.  I think there is a colour section in the course materials so maybe it'll all become clear to be at that point.

I think I do need to print these out.  On viewing on the web/computer, I think I prefer number 2 as most of the zebra is in focus but the light and backgound is still pleasing.  no3 appears darker and too harsh to me. But again viewing these two magnified, they both do not appear tack sharp at the tip of the tail.  I am wondering if this is due to camera shake particularly with no 3's very slow shutter speed.

Edited to add:

Ok, I just had a thought,  if I just increased the brightness levels on the third picture, it might match the others better?  I need to give that a try later!

Excercise 2: Focus with a set Aperture

I needed to find a scene with depth, process the photographs, and state which I prefer and why.  I had to shoot indoors and chose this stripey character as my subject.

1. Focus just behind nose F2.5

2. Focus on neck

3. Focus on body (stripe nearest hind leg)

4. Focus on tail

I prefer photo no.1 which has most of the face in focus although not all of it sharp.  The face for me is the most interesting/important part of the picture.  The second has it's eyes and front legs in focus, but the out of focus nose is distracting.  The photograph may also look better if the subject had been placed in a different part of the frame, perhaps the towards the top right third so that it was looking more into the frame rather than out of it altogether.  I might try using this subject again for the exercise on frames.

Excercise 1 Focal Length and Angle of View

This is the first excercise to find the 'standard' focal length of my camera and my comfortable viewing distance.  I found it really difficult to do!  Doesn't bode well for the rest of the course does it?

My difficulties really were mainly to do with the circumstances:  inclement weather, dark dark days so not much natural light indoors, severe weather which meant the kids were off school so less time with my camera...  I also wanted to take photos of something interesting and in natural light but I thought I needed to crack on with this really and get started so apologies for the subject of my first excercise not being exciting.  

Anyway, so the problems really started.  This excercise necessitates me viewing the scene through the viewfinder with one eye but with the other eye also open.  Could I do it? Ha.  Nope.  Then I tried shutting my viewfinder eye and then my unaided eye to try to work out when the scenes matched.  Wasn't that succesful with that either! Anyway, this is the best I could do.  For the photographs, I used fixed focal length lenses; 35, 50, 90 and 125.   Because I was finding it difficult to match what I saw in my unaided eye to what I saw in the viewfinder, I also later practiced looking at other objects in the same way, and used another lens which went up to 70.   I have come to the conclusion that the standard for me is between 70 and 90 (unfortunately I do not have a lens which covers the focal length between these two).   This is unexpected as usually, the standard is between 40-50mm.  On the other hand, this may explain why my favourite focal length is the 90.  I find it very natural shooting with it.  I think I will revisit this exercise later when I've practised viewing scenes with both eyes open but with one looking through the viewfinder.

Iso 400, aperture f/4.0, and shutter speed 1/160 on all.  (nb, for those with an EXIF viewer, some of my lenses are old third party manual lenses which means that they do not have electronic contacts with the camera which record the right f stop, and indeed my 35mm says it's a 90mm but really it's not!)

125mm

90mm

50mm

35mm

The scene isn't particularly exciting, but if I had to choose the best in my view, it would be the first, shot with the 125mm as it has the least distracting elements in it.  I also have another 90mm photo which I actually preferred but I jogged the tripod and shutter speed setting at the time and completely overexposed the snow on the ground.  This is the photo, shutter speed 1/60

I preferred the composition on this one as the bird bath was less central, and I feel it's better balanced with the tree on its left.

Oh, and I chose the 90 as my standard, which was approximately 36 inches - a comfortable viewing distance for me.

The 35 was about 5inches from my face which was not comfortable!  And the 125mm was 45ish inches.