Assignment 5: Applying the techniques of illustration and narrative. - Reflection

Well here we are with the final assignment feedback. I am very happy with the tutor comments as it shows the ideas I wanted to get across with the images have been successful conveyed. I have posted the images in the articles here so that they can be viewed in a larger size - clicking on an image will open it full screen. I have also carried out some of the suggested improvements. Each edit is noted with the image.

One point I would like to clarify in the assignment feedback is the mention of slow shutter speed. Although it may seem a little slow for hand holding, I was using a lens with image stabilisation - the Canon 24-105 F4L. I had this switched on for this shoot in an attempt to keep the ISO as low as possible as the weather was pretty grim. I was trying to prevent too much noise creeping in to the images. For other images I tried to capture a little movement in the tractor wheels or plough. Having said that, some of the images may have benefited from a slightly higher shutter speed.

Research
I first found out about the ploughing event from a sign I passed on the way to work. The timing was just about right for this to feature as my assignment so I set about finding out what I could.  A search on the internet resulted in me finding this web site: http://chichesterploughingmatch.web.officelive.com/default.aspx.

I spent some time on here, looking at the images from previous years and getting some idea of how things worked. From this I drew up the list of shots I wanted to get. The list is outlined in the actual assignment.

The Images
Here are the images from this assignment. Clicking on an image will open it full size.!

Cover Image

The Cover Image
I wanted the cover image to be striking and be clear of the subject. Filling most of the frame with the tractor and ploughed field in close-up serves to let the viewer know that the article is about ploughing. I am happy with this side of the image although I do see that without the wording we would not know that this is a ploughing competition and may think it is just about ploughing. Maybe I should have included some more competitors?

Image 1

Image 1
This image was created to show that there was a variety of competitors attending. I wanted something more dramatic than a simply angled view across the fields. This straight on shot looks down across all the different equipment to show that there is a lot going on. Unfortunately I had a little trouble with the sky being very pale and did not have any graduated neutral density filters to combat this, so I had to make a decision on exposure and opted for the machinery and fields.

Image 2

Image 2
Really pleased with this image. I was happy I spotted this as it adds a more 'reportage' feel to the sequence. I chose a medium depth of field and this has worked well to highlight the subject of this image - the dog waiting for his master to return.

Image 3

Image 3
This image has been re-edited to lighten the face of the woman on the left and the furrow in the foreground. When viewing this in full size, you will notice the movement in the horses feet. I did shoot for this at 1/50 of a second. I don't think having the shutter any slower would have improved the image as this would have resulted in too much movement.

Image 4

Image 4
The purpose of this image was two-fold. I wanted to show the variety of machinery that attended on the day as well as add in some more human interest. If I had to retake this image I may have tried to re-frame to lose some of the clutter by the man's left arm.

Image 5

Image 5
The tutor feels this is the least successful image in this assignment which it guess it must be! The image was placed at the bottom of the right hand page of the article as it was meant to juxtaposition the shire horses at the bottom of the left hand page in an 'old' vs 'new' type of context. The tractor image itself is not really that spectacular although I do like the movement in the wheels and the plough.

I have lightened the tractor a little more as per suggestion of the tutor by using the 'Dodge' tool in Photoshop.

Image 6

Image 7

Image 8

Image 6, 7 & 8
I am very happy with this little series of images. I had spent some time photographing this chap and this is a small selection from many shots. The sequence has been included here so that the larger versions can be examined.

Image 9

Image 9
This image serves to show both a bit more of the scale of the event and also gives an idea of how the ploughing is carried out for a competition. This is a crop to get rid of some of the bland sky and foreground so as to focus on the action.

Image 10

Image 10
I included this image as it has such a strange machine and good detail of the guy using it. There are also some leading lines which draw you into the image.

Image 11

Image 11
A simple detail which shows the conditions but also encapsulates the day - mud, straw and machinery!

Image 12

Image 12
Here a view of the judges. It may have been nice if I had got a shot of the judge  with the clipboard writing something down?

Image 13

Image 13
Again a detail shot to show some of the machinery in use. Perhaps a slightly slower shutter speed here would have given a bit more movement to the soil being turned over.

Image 14

Image 14
Finally, I needed an image to end on but I unfortunately couldn't be there the prize giving so I had to pick a suitable image from the shots I took that day. This was the best I could come up with but I admit it maybe isn't the best to show the end of the day.

Assignment 5: Applying the techniques of illustration and narrative.

It had been my intention to use a sixties style photo shoot I was planning as the basis for this assignment but on then day circumstances didn't quite work out as planned. As my deadline is looming I have had to fall back on my original idea, which was the coverage of a ploughing match.

Chichester Ploughing Match - research
The Chichester Ploughing Match takes place on the last Sunday of October every year in fields just outside Chichester, West Sussex. Although this is a competition, the match is just as much about keeping the skill of ploughing alive. The competition is judged on the ploughman's ability to cut straight and tidy furrows.

Photographically there should be variety in the types of machines attending, from the old to the new. I will also be on the lookout for some good  'farmer folk' onlookers. I am expecting a prize giving at the end of the day, so some shots of the winner would be good.

The publication
First, here is the publication I created.

Conclusions
This turned into a challenging exercise for me. This had been my original idea but I had abandoned it once due to the weather on the day not being very good. What this meant in real terms is that there wasn't much of a crowd of on-lookers and I was unable to stay for the final judging announcements. After my second choice also fell apart I returned to this project and found I was able to look at it in a new light. I still do not have images of onlookers or the final judges announcements but I think I am still able to get the story across. Admittedly some  nicer weather would have provided for nicer images.

If I were to do this exercise again I think I would try and find a much bigger event, provided such an event is available of course. If the event went on into the evening or even covered several days, so much the better.

The images
Cover image: 1/80, ISO400, F8 -2/3EC 84mm
Page 1: 1/13, ISO400, F22, 60mm
Page 2 top: 1/40, ISO160, F5.6 -2/3EC, 47mm
Page 2 bottom: 1/50, ISO100, F8 -2/3EC, 58mm
Page 3 top: 1/125, ISO100, F4 -2/3EC, 32mm
Page 3 bottom: 1/15, ISO400, F22, 45mm
Page 4 top: 1/160, ISO100, F4 -1/3EC, 58mm
Page 4 middle: 1/640, ISO100,F4 -2/3EC, 102mm
Page 4 bottom: 1/250, ISO100, F4 -1/3EC, 105mm
Page 5 top: 1/250, ISO100, F4 -1EC, 84mm
Page 5 bottom: 1/60, ISO160, F5.6 -2/3EC, 55mm
Page 6: 1/100, ISO100, F4 -1/3EC, 65mm
Page 7 top: 1/30, ISO100, F8 -2/3EC, 40mm
Page 7 middle: 1/100, ISO1000, F8 -2/3EC, 105mm
Page 7 bottom: 1/50, ISO200, F8 -2/3EC, 55mm

Assignment 4: Applying lighting techniques - Reflection

I have finally managed to sit down and take some action based on my tutors observations of assignment 4. There are a few bits of tidying up to do but one comment rings very true. Somewhere during this assignment I lost the 'Art' side of the project and ended up with a bland 'technical' exercise.

In this post I am going to address some of the shortcomings and try to do it in a more artistic way.

Form
The first issue is with Form 1. It was suggested that some vignetting would help to anchor the figure in the frame. I have added some vignetting to the bottom of the image by burning in Photoshop which does help. Note also how the black background appears to alter the texture of the statue when compared to other shots. This must be due to the black material not reflecting as much light back on to the statue. This in turn causes less light to hit the highlight areas and lowers the contrast between the background and the object. Here is the corrected image.

I have also re-shot the second 'Form' image to give a more abstract feel to the framing. Again the statue was lit with a torch. I had the camera on a tripod in my garage. After setting manual focus I fired the shutter with a thirty second exposure and painted the statue with light from the torch. I took quite a few shots as it was very trial and error.

Re-shot to show form in a more abstract manner.

Texture

Cropped to show texture.

The original image has been shot with strong side lighting which shows up the texture. In shooting I have slightly lit the background which has put some dark lines in the shot. To get rid of the distractions I could darken down the back a bit in Photoshop or crop the image.

In keeping with the lack of artistic framing I mentioned earlier, I am taking the second approach. I want to crop the image and as I am showing texture I can crop to just part of the image. I have chosen to get rid of everything except the chest area. The shape of the object really shows the texture off well here.

There was also a problem with my second texture picture. As the shot was framed in a landscape format, the image is left with two large black area's, one either side of the statue. Again I cropped to loose this dead space. I have re-framed and used the rule of thirds to provide a more pleasing composition.

Re-framed by cropping to eliminate the large black areas of the original shot. I have placed the child roughly on thirds and also allowed some 'looking space'.

Colour
The first colour picture has been replaced with another that was shot at the same time. This is to get rid of the wooden table top in the original photo. I have taken just a small section of the statue as this shows the colour well. Doing it this way adds more variety to the group of shots in the assignment. Unfortunately there is a little blur at the bottom of the shot.

Colour.

Finally, the second colour image was cropped to balance out the picture a bit better.

I have to say that I lost my way a bit with this exercise. With this redo I hope to have swung the balance back in favour of the 'Art' side of this course!

Preparation for assignment 5 - Applying the techniques of illustration and narrative.

Assignment five is the final assignment for this module. The task requires us to illustrate a story for a magazine. The story should provide images for six to twelve pages and I will also be required to provide a magazine cover. Words for the story are not required but captions for the pictures are.

I should be pulling together all the techniques and experience I have learnt so far. The final part of the brief states that any theme that has a narrative element could be suitable.

As this is the final piece I have decided to combine it closely with my interest in fashion style photography and a fairly large project that I have just started organising. It is clear from the assignments in part five that the planning and ability to get the shots required are important aspects. This post deals with some of the organisation required for this shoot.

The Concept
The concept is that of two women, friends, that are on a small road trip in their Volkswagen beetle. The style is 60's and the various scenarios depict incidents that happen on route. I will be using a make-up artist who specialises in vintage make-up. I will also be assisted by another photographer.

The Assets
OK, so we obviously need a car. It is no coincidence that we are using a Volkswagen Beetle as a friend of mine has a 1966 restored model. As previously mentioned the story revolves around two friends so I need two models. I also require a certain amount of props such as clothing and smaller items such as bags etc.

Planning Shots
Planning ahead I have several ideas for shots:

• Filling the car with petrol 
• Checking a map for directions. Maybe by a sign post?
• Photographing sites
• Trouble with the car - looking under the bonnet.
• The car has broken down. The girls are trying to push it.
• They give up and decide to Hitch hike.

Some of the items have been sourced already. There are also some images here for inspiration and ideas.

A date has been added to the diary (weather permitting) to carry out this shoot towards the end of November.

Check List of items already obtained
Dress 1
Dress 2
Car
Maps
Camera's (vintage for models)
Coca Cola in glass bottles
Accessories

This post is somewhat organic and may grow as the project unfolds!

Assignment 4: Applying lighting techniques

This assignment pulls together elements of lighting and colour from the exercises in part four. We should now be able to use light to demonstrate properties of our subject such as shape, form, texture and colour. We are required to use a portable subject and take about eight photographs that best show these properties.

Prior to taking the photographs I made some notes on each property which are as follows:

Shape: I am not worried about detail here. Shape is well represented by an outline which could be achieved by exposing the camera for a strong back light. This could be from a flash unit or as the subject is portable, we could take this outside and simply use the sky as a light source.

Form: For form I need to show the 'volume' of the object. For this I need the show the object with good detail and overall lighting. Here I need shadows to show the shape but with some detail in the dark area's - unlike texture. Detail in the shadows calls for some control over lighting and the ability to influence how dark the shadows are. This may call for a two light set-up or some form of reflector to bounce light back into the subject.

Texture: We should know from our experiment with a single light source that shadows can be made to be very strong if we have a single un-diffused light coming from one side. Strong shadows will be ideal to show the texture of our subject so this may be a good approach here.

Colour: From our light throughout the day and other natural light exercises I think I will try to represent the colour of the object with natural light.

In addition to this any other interesting light sources can be photographed. Here are the exercises.

Shape
To show the shape of the object I have concentrated on showing the curvy outline of the statue. The first method I have used is to set the exposure of the camera for the sky. The statue was then photographed against the sky the result being an underexposed object allowing us to concentrate on the shape . When I took this image the day was quite overcast which has resulted in a slightly more balanced shot (less contrast) but I think that this is alright. The level of detail we can see is not too distracting from the shape.

I then tried the same thing with a different approach. I wanted to light this with my off camera flash. In a previous exercise I had shot against a diffused light sitting behind the subject so for this shot I used  the light off to the right of the subject aimed at the background. I had to place a piece of card between the flash and the subject to stop light spilling onto the subject. I metered with a flash meter and deliberately over exposed the background.

Form
To show the form of our subject I am trying to capture all the curves and angles in such a way as to get an overall impression of it's three dimensionality. The information our brain needs to build this picture is some reference to depth which we can provide by way of shadows. I have approached  'form' two different ways.

The first is with a natural light rendering where I have used a reflector to lighten the shadows a little. This was to give a better idea of depth on the back curve of the statue's legs and around the arms. The subject is standing on a piece of black velvet to minimise distractions from the background. As the light is diffused, it is coming from all around but in this instance with a slight bias towards high and on the left. The reflector, which is silver, is placed to the right of the subject.

For the second shot I have used a totally different approach inspired by the exercise with traffic at night. Here the subject has been placed on the velvet in a completely dark environment. The camera, which is tripod mounted, has been set to the smallest aperture and slowest shutter speed. I have tripped the shutter and then 'painted' the statue with light from a small LED torch. I did many of these shots as it is difficult to know what the outcome will be as you are painting. Below is the one I best feel shows form.

As an interesting foot note, I did not have a white balance setting for LED on my camera so I shot in auto. When I edited the RAW a did a quick lookup on the internet and found the colour temperature for LED. There were a couple of ranges but I set the white balance by using colour temperature and found a temperature of around 9500k to be a fairly close match.


Texture

Home made cardboard snoot.

From our previous experiments we know that strong side lighting is good to show up texture. Here I have used the cardboard snoot I made for the 'Concentrating light' exercise as a sidelight for the subject. The snoot is fixed to a camera flash to the left of the subject and at approximately the same hight. The flash is then fired by radio trigger. I have made no effort to fill in any of the shadows as the shadows actually help to show the texture of this object. The camera was set to manual and I used flash photography settings (shown below the image). This helped to eliminate the background.

The second image was taken in natural diffused light with a little light bounced back with a silver reflector. The background is a piece of black velvet. The location is my conservatory which I have used before due to it's semi transparent roof which really diffuses the light nicely. In one respect this image goes against what we have learnt as the light is diffused and not very strong but this shot still shows good texture detail. When you look at the image closely you can see why it still works. The first image is using shadow to highlight the texture but the one below is working in the opposite way. The light is reflecting off of the highlights thereby accentuating them which is giving the texture some relief, particularly in the chest area of the statue.

Colour
From the exercises we should know that a good way to show the colour of an object is by natural light from roughly mid day. We also know that colour can be made stronger by exposing a stop or so below the actual light reading of the subject. In the following image I have used natural light from a window with a piece of white paper just reflecting a tiny amount of light back into the shadows. The exposure is dropped about half a stop lower than it metered. White balance is set to sunlight.

This is the more accurate colour representation of the subject.

The second shot was taken in the shade in my garden early afternoon with the white balance set to auto. At first I thought this image had the better colour reproduction but looking at the statue again I can see that this is actually not the case. I believe that the addition of a slight blue cast has cooled the colours down.

Initially this was perceived to be the more accurate colour representation

Conclusion
The chapter on light was quite an extensive chapter which I guess makes sense as without light there would be no photography! The main lesson to take away from this is that to have some control over light gives a great deal of control over your photography. If you do not have control over the light source such as in the case of natural light, understanding how light works will still give you more choices about how you wish to make your photo.Finally, there is a link between light and colour that must be understood to give us more control. over what we create.


Finally, some of the other results I had when experimenting for this exercise.

Assignment 3: Colour - Reflection

After my feedback from assignment three, I have tried to incorperate some of the suggestions made by the tutor. It has not been possible to re-photograph all of the shots but i have been able to make some of the changes in Photoshop to be able to visualise the differences.

Complementary 1

Original Image

It was suggested that the first image of the posts would benefit from the front pot being closer to the front of the frame to make it the main subject. The many specular highlights were pointed out and these could have been avoided with a more diffuse light source.

Using cropping and a little cloning I have attempted to address these issues in the second photograph.

Complementary 3
The original image of the red shoes was found simple but effective and required no re-working. The tutor did suggest trying a more abstract version as well so here it is!

Complementary 4
The photograph of the bananas on the violet background was found too busy. Again I have re-cropped this image making it more abstract. Although there are still some undulations in the cloth, they now follow a similar shape to the bananas and I think this works quite well. The colour contrast also seems more 'contrasty' in this limited view.

Original

Edited

Similar 1
The flower at the bottom of the frame was cut in half on the original shot. I have cropped the shot to show just the main focus of the image and loose the distracting bottom part.

Original

Edited

Similar 3
The combination of blue/green worked fairly well. The tutor thought that the tree was a little heavy and could do with some lightening. I used the dodge tool in Photoshop to gently lighten the tree.

Original

Edited

Contrast 2
The side of the boat shot was again found to be ok but seemed a little light on the screen. I have taken the original shot and using the levels control in Photoshop, have added more black. It has given the image much more punch. I am pretty annoyed with myself for not spotting this earlier!

Original

Edited

Contrast 4
The tutor commented on the main point of focal interest being lost in the busyness of the leaves. I can now see that clearly. As it is not possible to re-take this image now, I have used Photoshop to try and mimic a suggested solution i.e. using a shallower depth of field. Here is the result. Unfortunately this hasn't really worked at all and this could do with being re-photographed.

Original

Edited

Accent 2
The accent image of the ireses suffers from a similar problem to the contrast shot above. Unfortunately the irises aren't out any more to redo this shot, and that is what is required. A valuable lesson here seems to be that violet also does not stand out well from green.

Original

Accent 3
For the final correction I was asked if I had a shot where the red hoody was in focus. Unfortunately I don't but the other tutor comment was about the old gentleman's shadow being cropped out of the frame. This I can correct and the modified version can be seen below.

Original

Edited