30.01.2012

TOAP Level4.

The Art of Photography.

Focal Length.

Equipment: Olympus E3. 50-200 lens. Tripod.

For this exercise I did no more than poke the camera out of my bedroom window and focus on the twin spires of a redundant church.

   

Wide angle.

In the wide shot the eye is drawn away from the spires to the blue house in the foreground.  The spires are centre shot but almost unseen.  

In the tele-photo shot the spires immediately become the focus of attention.  

During the transition shots the blue house holds its importance until quite late.  While the blue of the house is visible it holds the eye.  (Not shown).

Tele-photo

31.01.2012

TAOP Level 4.

Part 1. The Frame.

Focal lengths and different viewpoints.

Equipment: Canon G12 with 6.1mm-30.5mm lens.  28-130 equivalent.

For this exercise I returned to the Fisherman Stature by Deal Pier.

I took shots at the extremes of the the zoom range and filled the frame with the subject on each  occasion.  It was a grim, grey, overcast day  with poor light quality.

The telephoto shot is rather flat and the stature is not lifted out from its surroundings.  Even my low angle shot has not isolated it from the lamp-posts and flag-poles behind.  The picture merely records the statue but adds nothing to it.

The Wide angle shot is more dynamic and emphasizes the struggle between the fisherman and the fish.  The background clutter has been reduces in size and is far less distracting.

Getting in close to a subject adds drama and dynamism to a shot but can have unfortunate repercussions when applied to people.  Many a celeb shot features the perfect smile and upper body but out of proportion legs because it was taken close up with a wide angle lens.  It gives immediacy and urgency to the celeb shot and is forced on the photographer by the paparazzi scrum.  Such pictures, however,  do not show people at their best.

Tele-photo.

Wide-angle.

30.01.2012

TOAP Level 4.

Part 1. 

The Frame.

Object in different positions in the frame.

Equipment: Olympus E3.  14-54 lens.

Location: Wetland area to the north of Deal.

The wetland area has a number of free roaming horses grazing on it.  My aim was to place one of these horses in its environment.  The first job was to isolate one horse and the second was to exclude a railway embankment, with its attendant fence, that runs down one side of the field.  The air of desolation is added to with the sight of Richborough Power Station peeking up above the tree line.

I took about twenty shots of the horse.  Some further away and some much closer.  Other shots included the other horses, and some the railway embankment.  I had the horse low in the frame and high in the frame, as well as to the left looking out of frame, and bang in the centre.

Although not the best photograph I have ever taken I hope that, by having the horse to the right of centre and looking in to the empty space on the left of shot, it hints at both the desolation of the area and the wildness of the horse.

29.01.2012

TOAP Level 4.

Art of Photography.

Part 1: The Frame.

Exercise: Fitting the frame to the subject.

Equipment: Olympus E330. 14-54 lens.

Place: Statue at landward end of Deal Pier.

Baseline.

For the baseline shot I ignored the background and took a shot with the statue slap in the centre.  There is no focus to the picture and the cluttered background allows the viewer’s eye to wander from the main subject.

Full frame.

The frame filling shot is better but the two poles to the right are a distraction.  If this was a shot I was going to use these would be erased from the picture.

Detail 2

Detail 1

Detail 1 and detail 2 are just that.  1 features the meeting of the man’s eye with the fish’s eye.  2 features the fish eye alone.  There is no chance of the viewer’s eye drifting from those eyes.  Who would notice the poor piece of Photoshop work to the right of the fish’s head in 1.

Context.

In Context I have placed the statue at the landward end of the pier.  The statue fills almost two thirds of the shot and now fulfills it’s true function of leading the eye onto the pier.  Although cluttered the clutter has purpose.  There was a lamp-post and a bicycle to the left  of the statue which I have cropped from the final picture.  I have left in the seat at the right edge of the picture to hint at rest and relaxation.

 25.01.2012.

TOAP Level 4.

Introduction.

Movement.

Panning with different shutter speeds.

Equipment: Canon G12. Employing shutter priority and hand held.

The aim of the exercised is ascertain which shutter speed gave the most pleasing illusion of movement in a still photograph.

For this exercise I chose to photograph cars driving north, left to right, on the seafront at Deal.  This gave me a good light background with sufficient detail to demonstrate the movement of the cars.  The cars were driving at a speed of about 30mph.

I took photographs at shutter speeds from 1/4sec to 1/500sec at one stop intervals.  Even in the camera’s viewer it was apparent that the best results were at around the 1/15sec to 1/30th mark.  I took more pictures at these settings to check the result.

At 1/4sec there was far too much background movement and I found I could not hold steady on the car for that length of time.  Too much movement.

At  1/8sec I again found it very difficult to hold steady on the car.  The movement of the background was pretty good.

At 1/15sec the result was much better.  The background had better detail and the car looked as though it was in motion past the blurred houses.

At 1/30sec the car was sharper but still with enough background blurring to vive the illusion of movement.  There was still sufficient blurring of the wheels to show that the car was in motion.  A car caught by accident traveling in the opposite direction gave an even better impression of motion.

At 1/60sec pretty much all impression of movement was gone.  It just looked like a bad case of camera shake.  Even the rotation of the wheels had been frozen.

At 1/125sec the movement of the background was barely discernible.

At 1/500sec the car looked as though it was parked at the side of the road. 

I have included two photographs, both at 1/30sec., that I think give the most pleasing results.

29.01.2012

TOAP Level 4.

Introduction.

Movement.

Exercise 1. Shutter speeds.  Demonstrating how different shutter speeds will allow or freeze movement in a shot.

Equipment: Olympus E3 with 14-54 lens.  Tripod mounted.

The subject I chose was people walking their dogs.  I was hoping to show the slower movement of the human legs as against the more rapid movement of the dogs legs.  I was attempting produce the feel of the painting, “Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash”, by Giacomo Balla.  See attached.

I started at 1/4sec. and carried on, at one stop increments, to 1/250sec.

The 1/4 sec. was far too blurry for what I was trying to achieve.  The body of the dog was far too elongated and one of the human’s legs had effectively disappeared.

The 1/8sec. shot was right for was I was after.  I thought the result I wanted would have come at a faster shutter speed.  The rear leg of the owner is firmly planted and his front leg is pushing out and striding forward.  His arm is swinging boldly and the whole impression is one of purposeful motion.  The dog on, the other hand, is clearly distracted by me and is looking in my direction.  He is a blur of legs and fur without the same purpose as his owner.  I have attached this picture.

At 1/15sec. the shutter has frozen the movement of the dog’s but allowed the forward movement of the dig to become blurred.  The movement of the owner is now less pronounced with blurring to his body and moving leg.

At 1/30sec.  the movement now looks merely annoying and unplanned.   

At 1/60sec.  the action is all but stopped with only a hint of movement in the owners moving leg.

At 1/125sec. the result was pretty much as at 1/60sec. with hardly any movement.

At 1/250sec. all movement was effectively frozen.

The picture taken at 1/8sec. is the nearest the to the effect I was after, and the most pleasing on the eye.

1/8 sec.

This is the blog of Barney Case who has started down a path that he hopes will end with a BA(Hons).  It is my first ever blog.   I have taken on the course as I am newly retired and feel like a new challenge.  My photographic interests run from architecture and landscape through to people and wildlife.   

15.01.2012.

TAOP Level 4.

Introduction.

Focus.

Exercise 1. Focal Length and Angle of View.

Equipment: Olympus E3 with a 14-54 lens and a fixed 25mm.

Canon AE1 with fixed 50mm lens.

I carried the exercise on the sea front at Deal.  This gave me a number of vertical and horizontal reference points, namely groynes and lamp posts.

To give me a base line I carried out the first part of the exercise with the Canon.  There was an almost perfect correlation between what I could see with my open eye and what I saw through the view finder.  This was what I expected from the 50mm standard lens.

I then repeated the exercise with the E3.  I knew the 4/3 sensor would give a different result but was surprised with the result.  I expected the images to merge at around 25mm but found they merged at about 35mm.  I will point out at this stage I wear glasses with three way varifocal lenses and I struggled with this exercise.  I did however repeat it twice more with same result.

I also did a comparison using the Olympus 25mm lens.  It gave a definite wide angle effect.

I took photographs at 14mm, 35mm and 54mm which I printed on to A4 paper.  I returned to the sea front and carried out the next part of the exercise.  Due to the problems with my glasses I was forced to gauge the length of a lamp post against the the same in the print.

At 14mm I got correlation at 24cm from my eye.

At 35mm I got correlation at 55cm from my eye.

At 54mm I got correlation at about 85cm from my eye.

The “about” in the last reading came about because my arm is not long enough to get a better reading.  It’s about right.

I knew that the 4/3 format would give different readings from the standard format sensor and was interested to see what I got.

These readings would seem to suggest the the Olympus 14-54 corresponds to a 24-85, or thereabouts, on a Canon or Nikon.  

I found this interesting as Olympus claim the lens to nearer to an equivalent 28-108.  More work to be done but in my time. 

15.01.2012.

TAOP Level 4

Introduction. 

Focus.

Exercise 2. Focus With a Set Aperture.

Equipment: Olympus E3 with a 14-54 lens.

All pictures on Manual focus.  35mm focal length. f3.2 @ 1/250sec.

Scene.  A series of wood piles supporting the groynes on Deal beach.

I took three pictures using the same viewpoint. I focused on three different piles, starting at one close to me and ending on one at the waters edge.

I printed out the pictures onto A4 paper and examined the result.  They exhibited what I expected.  At f3.2 there was only a shallow depth of field and only the featured post was in sharp focus in each print.  

The question,”Which do I prefer?”, is difficult to answer without knowing what I was trying to achieve. If I was attempting to show the texture of the wood then the print featuring the nearest pile is the most satisfactory, as the context of that pile in a row is of secondary importance.  If I was trying to place the row of piles in the general scene then the print featuring the furthest pile would achieve this better.

The least satisfactory of the three prints was the one featuring the middle pile.  It fulfilled neither of these roles.  It showed neither detail nor the general context of the piles.

I’ve re-examined the three prints and tried to view them anew.  To answer the question posed I will plump for the furthest pile as it is the one that takes the eye into the picture and places all the piles in context. 

Wet railings @ f3.2 1/250sec.

15.01.2012.

TAOP Level 4.

Introduction.

Focus.

Exercise 3. Focus at Different Apertures.

Equipment: Olympus E3 with a 14-54 lens.  Lens set at 35mm.

Scene: Set of railings after recent rain.

The point of focus for all three shots was a main support.

The first shot was taken at f3.2, the second at f8 and the last at f22.  I printed the results on to glossy paper.

The results were what I anticipated.  The widest aperture would give the shallowest depth of field and the the smallest would give the deepest. It held true.  

At f3.2 the resultant depth of field was only one rail in front of the main post and one and a half rails distance past the main post.  See above.

At f8 the result was much better with everything in focus from the forth rail on front of    the main post to the end of the railings some eight feet away.  

At f22 everything was in focus from the nearest rail to a building about 35 metres behind the railings.

I attach the f3.2 result.