Project: Optimising tone and colour------ Exercise: Managing colour

5/8/2012

0 Comments

 
This exercise looks at correcting colour casts.


 A major advantage of shooting Raw is the ease with which the WB setting can be adjusted post shoot -even  if carefully chosen it does not always produce the desired end result . I find this especially true for skin tones and much prefer being able to adjust and optimize  the colour on my computer than rely entirely on the camera settings. I felt  the portrait below would benefit from some adjustment to enhance the colour tones of the skin.  The skin tones look rather too pink and I wanted to adjust these to enhance the subject. For this image I used a custom WB adjustment , not too severe but just enough to improve the skin colour.  
Raw image using Daylight WB.



The landscape image below was shot early evening and I used a Daylight WB setting which has created a rather blue  cast over the entire image -including the grey concrete area.

Processing the Raw image in LR I was able to change the WB to Shade which removes the overall blue cast.

I reset the image again and also tried the  WB dropper tool to click on an area of neutral grey which altered the colour quite drastically. 
A major advantage of shooting Raw is the advantage of being able to manipulate the WB post -shoot. It is a simple step that can be taken to optimise colour --once shot in Jpeg the choice of WB is unchangeable. I like experimenting with the WB slider--it can produce some quite interesting effects. 
0 Comments

Project: Optimising tone and colour---- Exercise:Managing tone 

1/8/2012

0 Comments

 
I use Lightroom to process and catalogue all my images and tend to use what I think are very basic adjustments to initially improve them. I have the highlight and shadow clipping warnings activated  and use the clarity slider , tone curves , and occasionally the vibrance slider.  Using Lightroom I can also adjust the camera calibration setting. There are seven choices but I tend to use either the Adobe or Camera standard setting , or more frequently the Camera neutral setting. I particularly dislike the Landscape setting –it creates an oversaturated image that looks very unnatural to my mind.

Exercise : Managing tone

The purpose of this exercise is to improve the tonal appearance.

The Raw image I have chosen was , I thought , correctly exposed at the time of shooting but is a little underexposed and the mid tones need some brightening. The image is rather dull and although there is some slight clipping in the shadows that is actually not really a problem it’s the mid range tones that need attention. 

My first step was to increase the exposure by half a stop. This step alone had improved the mid tone range and the image now looks much brighter , the histogram indicates the shift from darker to lighter tones spread across the tonal range. 

My next step was to use the Tone curve slider.  Only making a very minor adjustment I increased both the lights and darks by a small amount of +8.  

I also tried adjusting the brightness slider , having de-selected the tone curve adjustments made earlier, as a comparison . The slider was set to +96. Again this has improved the mid tone range and contrast. However from past experience one problem I find using the brightness slider is the change that can happen to the skin tones, which can become too pale , and generally prefer using the tone curve adjustment sliders. Although very slight I feel the resulting image using this adjustment has made  the T-shirt and skin which look a bit washed out . 

Next I tried a combination of these  adjustments. The clarity slider was set at + 25 , the brightness + 81 , vibrance +13 , a tone curve adjustment of -14 to the lights and + 20 to the darks. The T-shirt looks (slightly) better to me now but there is not a great deal of difference between the two histograms but perhaps indicates slightly fewer lighter tones which is what i wanted. 

Finally I reset the image back to its original as shot settings. This is the real advantage of Raw being able to try out different ways of optimizing and processing the final image. For this final version I increased the exposure by half a stop. Set the clarity slider to + 16 and the vibrance to + 14. I then used a tone curve adjustment of + 20 lights and – 9 darks. 

Before                                                      After 

Comparing before and after it is very obvious the image is greatly improved. 
0 Comments

The bystanders Guardian weekend magazine 28/7/2012

28/7/2012

0 Comments

 
I was horrified when first viewing the images accompanying this article: the impulse to keep shooting being stronger than the repulsion of what was happening in front of them being enough to stop and intervene. However , even though its highly unlikely I will ever be in the sort of situation these photojournalists found themselves in, would I behave any different? Finding themselves in circumstances beyond their control and in potential  personal danger their continued action enabled the rest of the world  to be aware of  the injustice and atrocities being committed however uncomfortable they are to view. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/interactive/2012/jul/28/bystanders-photographers-who-didnt-help

Picture
Image Copyright Graeme Robertson
Picture
This is such  a powerful image . The terror in the mans eyes which in turn are framed by the heavy black boots haunts me. 
0 Comments

Project:The value of raw

15/7/2012

0 Comments

 
The purpose of  the following exercise is to look at some of the advantages of shooting Raw as opposed to JPEG. I have shot in Raw for some years now and even though I generally  keep processing to a minimum still prefer the flexibility offered. Being able to adjust exposure is a major bonus  although I do always try to expose correctly at the time of shooting but being  able to remedy any mistakes means I am able to correct any exposures not quite spot on. However I had  become lazy and left my camera on the Auto WB setting adjusting this at the time  of processing. Working through the exercises and projects in Part 2 forced me to  be more careful and alter the WB as I took my images, something I need to do for this exercise. As I use Lightroom to catalogue my images it makes sense to be able to see the Raw and Jpeg files separately. This is easy to do -- go to Preferences and tick treat jpegs as separate files. One of the great advantages of shooting Raw to me is the ability to make multiple versions of a single shot whilst still retaining the original. 

Exercise: Raw
I need to take three images in three different lighting situations setting my camera to RAW+ high quality JPEG.

My camera has a choice of picture style settings but I keep my camera set to Neutral as I find some of the settings produce really artificial and heavily saturated looking images . This is not a problem if shooting Raw because Lightroom has a camera calibration adjustment so I can easily change the look if no entirely happy with the result , not so for a Jpeg as the setting is embedded. 
1. Daylight 
Taken on a beach on a sunny day the histogram indicates more tonal values in the lighter range for both images  -- as might be expected due to the light sandy background. The Jpeg looks more saturated, the colours deeper,  but I am surprised at really how little difference there is between the two as I usually find Raw files very dull prior to processing. I made virtual copies of both images before making any further adjustments. I used Lightroom to process both images keeping it very simple as I only wanted to perhaps adjust the tonal range and improve the skin tones as felt these were too pale (Caitlin has a tanned skin which looks rather washed out) . 

Raw file as shot                                                 Jpeg as shot

Jpeg before                                            Jpeg after auto tone adjustment 

I am pleasantly surprised at how well the jpeg has turned out and needing minimal post-procssing. The histogram indicates  a slight increase in the range of mid tones  . 
Final Jpeg image below

Raw before                                          Raw after (see below for steps taken) 

Image too pale and bright hence exposure reduced by just 0.05  and a highlight priority negative vignetting slider adjustment applied. Lightroom camera calibration neutral adjustment.  

Final Jpeg                                              Final Raw 

Each image needed some minor post shoot adjustments and looking at the two both are perfectly acceptable versions . However comparing the histograms of each image the dynamic range of the Raw file shows a greater improvement in the mid tone range than than that of the Jpeg . 
0 Comments

Assignment Two : Seeing like your camera

30/6/2012

0 Comments

 
The images for this assignment need to be of high contrast scenes shot in Jpeg not RAW. The human eye, unlike the sensor, quickly adapts to differing levels of light, colour, brightness and shade so understanding how a digital sensor records these scenes and using this knowledge will help produce correctly exposed images requiring no post-processing.

How I have hated and struggled with this assignment! I completed the third assignment prior to finishing this one: I was unhappy with anything that I took and kept trying to improve. I have shot in RAW format for quite a few years so this in itself created a personal challenge even though I am reasonably competent with my equipment. RAW capture allows me to choose exactly how I want the final image to look post shoot; I like the flexibility and creativity it offers. I felt uninspired and unsure exactly how I was going to approach the assignment. 

Furthermore needing 3 images for each situation I then had to decide if each set of 3 would work best as a themed set or perhaps just take unrelated individual images that fitted the criteria. I use photography as a means of expressing myself and although understanding technical issues and choosing the right camera settings are a very important part of this assignment I also hoped to create some thought-provoking images as well. I have included one black and white image, setting my camera to record in monochrome, not something I usually do, as I prefer to convert post – shoot. 

The WB and exposure settings, which can be altered later if shooting Raw, are extremely important considerations when shooting Jpeg to ensure the right mood is created in-camera. The sensor will record faithfully what it exactly sees. Seeing like your camera involves being able to use this knowledge not only to ensure the best colour balance and exposure but also inventively. I found my Sekonic Light meter extremely useful to take ambient light readings, a problem with the camera’s TTL meter is how it sees and measures light: using reflected meter readings it is easily fooled into over or underexposing images. Admittedly this can be overcome but the most important factor to successful photography is learning to use light effectively and in tricky situations I prefer, if time allows, using ambient meter readings.

I can honestly say that I feel some of the images taken for this assignment are not amongst my best work, something I always try to achieve. I felt despondent throughout the time I was working through the assignment and seriously wondered if I should even be doing a degree course.  This is at the heart of why it has taken me so long to complete, I kept hoping I could improve on what I had taken but kept going around in ever decreasing circles achieving even less! However the best way to deal with failure is to learn from it and move on and although I will continue to shoot RAW in the future the assignment has taught me to slow down and consider prior to shooting how best to capture what I want in- camera and try to reduce time spent in front of a computer screen correcting basic mistakes.  

Backlit scenes

When shooting a backlit image the camera will try and compensate for the bright light directly facing it underexposing any subject.  

Moody Blue


F3.2     1/125     IS0 100   28-75mm lens @ 51mm   Tungsten WB  

Tripod    Cable release

I used my hand held meter to expose and also bracketed. To create a silhouette I needed to be sure I underexposed the subject (myself) and took an ambient light meter reading from the window area behind where I was going to sit.  Taken in the middle of the afternoon the light in the room appeared neutral with no visible colour cast.

This summer has been one of the wettest for a long time; whenever I had time off work it rained without fail.  Feeling thoroughly fed up I took this self-portrait on a rainy but surprisingly bright afternoon using a bedroom window as my backlight. Shooting Jpeg meant it was important to choose the correct WB setting at the time of shooting to create the atmosphere I was aiming for. The symbolic meaning of colour varies between cultures and changes over time, but “the poets and artists of the Romantic era made blue the colour of melancholy” Pg. 323 “Celebrating Colour in Photography Chroma”. By choosing an incorrect WB setting, Tungsten in daylight, the camera has recorded a blue hue: perfect to represent my mood that day.

Pinhole Self-portrait

F176  (Very approx. using an adapted pinhole lens cap) 3.2 Sec    ISO 100  

Tripod   Cable release 

Taken with the low early summer sun directly behind me. I took a meter reading using my hand held meter and used a pinhole calculator to get an estimated exposure time then bracketed my shots. 

  What I expected and what the camera recorded really surprised me. The results using the pinhole lens cap are rather unpredictable, that’s one of the reasons I bought myself one as a bit of a challenge and to try something totally different photographically, but I was not expecting such a colourful result.  The camera captured the rays of coloured light invisible to the human eye.

Technically the top of my hair is blown, and obviously the image itself is not as crisp and sharp as is usual from a digital camera but I personally think aesthetically it is visually pleasing.

Mum in the mirror

F11      0.4 sec      ISO 400     50mm prime lens    Cloud WB

I am always fascinated by how a subject looking into a mirror sometimes appears to have a completely different expression in the reflection.

I knew the bright window light would fool the camera into underexposing my subject and planned to get Mum exposed correctly in the mirror using a hand held meter taking an incident light reading and also bracketing.  However I do not think I have achieved the best in-camera exposure and perhaps should have also used a reflector to bounce some light towards her face. 

Indoors using a single source of artificial light. 

A hand held meter is indispensible when shooting in this type of light and I used it for all three shots to expose.


The way we were

F9    ¼ sec    ISO 320     50mm prime lens   Tungsten WB

I have been trying to think of ways to incorporate old photographs with portraiture as a way of showing a connection between past and present--a way of exploring thoughts and feelings. For this image I used a bedside lamp and took a series of self-portraits. I really wanted a wider view to show more of the dressing table and all of the bits and pieces kept there but found it very difficult to frame correctly and use myself as the model.  Keeping the light source out of the frame proved awkward. Shooting at slow speeds made many of the images out of focus if I moved slightly and I wanted the mirror reflection to be reasonably sharp in order to clearly see the person I once was and have now become.

It is interesting to compare the hues of this image with my self-portrait Moody Blue, both taken using Tungsten WB setting but with very different results.


Self Portrait by lamplight

F8      ¼ sec         ISO 200      10-24mm lens @ 24mm      Tungsten WB

In my darkened bedroom I used an ordinary spotlight reading lamp as my single light source. I have cropped the image as I held a piece of white card in my hands to reflect some light back into my face and this was visible in the frame.

Bill by mobile light 

F4        0.3 Sec         ISO 400           50mm prime lens     Auto WB

Tripod     Cable release

Camera set to Black and White mode.

I considered using an Ipad or something similar having read about the work of Donald Weber in the May 2012 edition of the BJP. Working in the Artic Circle with the local Inuit people he used any available digital device to illuminate his subjects. He used the light from mobile phones and as my husband’s mobile has quite a strong light I had a go myself. What I did not do was shoot hand held as Donald Weber did but used a tripod as hubby held his mobile with the light directed towards one side of his face.

 Initially I felt I should have tried to prevent the very dark shadows but the more I looked at it the more I liked how the lighting had created a rather menacing portrait. In actual fact nothing could be further from the truth as we were both laughing so much as I tried to direct him that I am astonished I caught this threatening facial expression. Light and colour   alter how a photograph is read and therefore set my camera to record mono which I think has a more edgy appearance. I wanted a sinister appearance with dark shadows, though perhaps they are a little too dark. A lot of information is lost on the right hand side but it does add to the menacing tone of the image.

Dappled light.


All three images were taken hand held using a 50mm prime lens.

 F3.5       ISO 100       Shade WB       Spot metering

Image 1:  @ 1/800 

Watching

Image 2:  @ 1/320


Walking in the Woods 

Image 3: @ 1/ 800


Waiting

I did not want these three images to look planned or posed but to suggest private moments caught unawares. I hoped to capture more golden tones even though the photographs were taken around midday on an unusually (for this year!) very sunny day with a clear blue sky.  I hope the images work as a narrative set and hope any viewer wonders where she is, what she thinking, where she is going.  I have intentionally excluded her face “leaving it up to the viewer’s imagination to draw out potential explanations” pg. 60 “The photograph as contemporary art”. 


Landscapes with low-angle incident light.

Mounts Bay, Marazion, Cornwall.

Images 1 , 3, 4 , 5 , 6  

9 stop ND filter, which allowed me to shoot at much slower speeds.

All images

Tripod      Cable release      Bracketed shots     Ambient light meter readings
I do not take many landscapes but when I return to Marazion, which I try to do several times a year, I can spend hours just in the small bay and beach area in front of St Michael’s Mount. My dad and his family originate from Marazion and although I have no living family there now, and I was brought up in the Midlands, when I go back I feel I am home. Hence I have a passion for the place and even if the images I take are not always what I really hope to achieve I get immense pleasure in just being there and enjoying my photography, I find it therapeutic. The bay seems timeless; when I return nothings changed. But is does change subtly throughout the year and it is this that I hope to show in my last set of images.

I also shot all these images simultaneously in Raw, for my personal work I much prefer to use this mode of shooting hence some will appear on my Website Gallery but obviously with post-processing.

Mounts Bay
Image 1 

F18       2 sec         ISO 100      10-24mm lens @ 10mm     Shade WB

Taken on an initially bright July evening with rapid cloud movement that quickly changed to a stormy evening making the light change whilst taking my shots. I took a better-composed image than this but had left my WB setting on Daylight creating an overall blue cast I felt was unacceptable. Being able to choose the WB post-shoot is a major advantage of RAW as opposed to Jpeg. 

Mounts Bay 
Image 2 

F8    1/80 sec      ISO 100       10-24mm lens @ 12mm       Shade WB

Circular polariser with a filter factor of 3

Taken early evening July this is the only image taken without the 9-stop filter.

Shooting at a slower shutter speed of 1/50 made the overall exposure brighter but lost the deeper blue tones of the sea and sky. 

Mounts Bay
Image 3

F10   4 sec        ISO I00        10-24mm lens @ 10mm             Shade WB

Taken early October the bay has a golden glow across it typical of this time of year if you are lucky. The foreground is too dark but an increased exposure brightened the orange tones across the sky; even so I have lost some of the depth of colour I was expecting. 

Part two

Reduced contrast images.  

Mounts Bay
Image 4 

F18      8 sec    ISO 100          10-24mm lens @ 10 mm Shade WB

Taken when the sky was dull and overcast but the contrast was not as reduced as I expected it to be. 

Mounts Bay 
Image 5

F20       10.00 sec      ISO 100    10-24mm lens @12mm    Shade WB

Taken on a calm quiet summer evening, the light was beautifully soft and non-directional but I was expecting slightly less blue hues. However I am pleased with the outcome and the tranquility of the scene created by the gentle light. 

Mounts Bay
Image 6

F11   1/4sec    ISO 200      10-24mm lens @ 10mm     Shade WB

I love being here out of season, it may not look as beautiful but I like the moody solitary atmosphere. I waited for a dull evening when there was a mist shrouding the top of the Mount to reduce the contrast. 

Bibliography

Roswell Angier “ Train your gaze” Ava publishing SA, 2007

Donald Weber “British Journal of Photography” May 2012

Charlotte Cotton “The Photograph as contemporary art” (new edition) Thames and Hudson, London, 2009

Michael Freeman “Perfect Exposure” The Ilex Press Limited, East Sussex, 2009

Photography 1: Digital photography practice Open College of the Arts

Michel Pastoureau  “Celebrating Colour in Photography Chroma” Thames and Hudson, London, 2010

0 Comments

Irina Popova. Innocent observer ? Guardian weekend 16/6/2012. 

16/6/2012

0 Comments

 
 A very interesting article in this weeks magazine about photographer Irina Popova's Russian assignment  that captures the chaotic lifestyle of a Russian drug addict Lilya, her  boyfriend Pasha, and their 18 month old daughter Anisfa.   Her images raise  ethical questions , although aesthetical pleasing the content is disturbing.  How detached can (or should) a photographer be when as involved with the family as she became?  For Popova this created a paradox , some emotional detachment was necessary in order for her to  record the often disturbing scene in front of the lens, but she comments "I immerse in this atmosphere and it becomes a part of my life, Now they are just nice people. Family. My friends" An  exhibition followed that was generally well accepted with proposals made for  awards.  However Art  galleries  attract a different  audience from online voyeurs so when some of the images were published on the  internet there was a horrified response by bloggers who saw what they felt were  images amounting to child neglect and abuse. Should she have published these  images for the whole world to condemn and vilify the family and where does the photographers responsibility begin and end ? 

 Popova felt the images were misunderstood because of the accompanying text which suggested filth and mistreatment, not the tenderness she saw when living with  the family. It is interesting to consider how words can be used to change the context of how a photograph is read and interpreted but even without this factual information I think the images speak for themselves . Labelled "drug users"  the text accompanying the image below reveals nothing of the truth  as seen by Popova . 


 Photo-reportage , although often showing distressing imagery, is meant to be raw and honest, and I admire Popova's work with this dysfunctional, but not unloving,  family.


http://www.irinapopova.net/http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/jun/15/irina-popova-photographs-lilya-family

Image Copyright © Irina Popova                    
0 Comments

May 2012

27/5/2012

0 Comments

 
27th May 2012 
 I have hit the  biggest creative brick wall in a long time. No matter what I do at the moment  I am not happy with the outcome and have tried to get my head around why . I have been gathering ideas and started to take some photographs for Assignment 2 but have deleted most of them from my hard drive! I have emailed Russell my tutor to tell him rather than  keep going round in circles and procrastinating I am going to start the next   section of the course whilst I continue to get the second assignment completed.  He is quite happy with my plan and I feel less pressured to complete an  assignment I am struggling with. Why am I finding this one so difficult? I have  tried to analyse my feelings and it is not to do with the technical  practicalities required (shoot only in jpeg with no PP) but rather the lack of  connection I have felt with the majority of what I started to shoot. I am  starting to realise , that for me personally, I need to feel connected in some  way to whatever I am shooting. I think this is one of the reasons I enjoy portraiture so much. Assignment 2 offers 8 high range situations of which I need to choose 4 , and I planned to include some landscape work . However although I enjoy taking landscapes on holiday I lack the time and passion  to commit to this genre of photography . I am going to Cornwall soon so may (!!!!) be able to take some decent landscape shots but I really think I may avoid including any in my assignment. 
0 Comments

Digital Pinhole 

12/5/2012

0 Comments

 
Having read about pinhole photography I wanted to have a go myself using my digital camera. My converted body cap was supplied by Pinhole Solutions www.pinholesolutions.co.uk/ and I took my first few images this weekend. I loved the total unpredictability of taking the shots , unable to see through a lens the composition and exposure were very much a case of trial and error even using the supplied exposure calculator The image below is my favourite of the days shoot and I love the way the colours of the light have been caught , something I was not expecting. Yes the image is blurry but I think aesthetically there is something beautiful about it.I have added a Pinhole Project section to my Gallery so have a look there for more images in the coming months.  


 
0.3 Sec ISO 200     F167  (Approx.)  taken in a shaded area of my garden on a (rare) sunny afternoon.
0 Comments

Moody Blue

9/5/2012

0 Comments

 
 
It has not stopped raining for weeks now it seems, the self-portrait below reflects just how I feel --blue !!! 
Taken indoors using day light I changed the WB to a Tungsten setting to create a blue tone to match my mood. I deliberately underexposed as I wanted a dark and moody image . I have been off work this week on annual leave and planned to do such a lot towards my next assignment but  have felt totally unmotivated.  However every cloud has a silver lining and expressing my antipathy photographically has helped me use my negative feelings in a more positive creative way .
0 Comments

British Journal of Photography May 2012.   Donald Weber

5/5/2012

0 Comments

 
http://donaldweber.com/    
This months edition looks at night time photography, quite useful to me at the moment as I am planning my next assignment and how best to approach it. I had already considered using an iPad or something similar to light my subject so was interested to read about the work of Donald Weber. Working in the Artic Circle with the local Inuit people he used any available digital device to illuminate his subjects. Interestingly he used the light from mobile phones which is not something I had even considered but my husband’s mobile has quite a strong light so I had a go myself and am pleased with the results. What I did not do was shoot hand held as Donald Weber did but used a tripod as hubby held his mobile with the light directed sideways towards one side of his face. Initially I felt I should have tried to prevent  the shadow on the wall but the more I looked at it the more I liked how the lighting had created a rather menacing  portrait. In actual fact nothing could be further from the truth as we were both laughing so much as I tried to direct him that I am astonished I caught this threatening facial expression. Light and colour  alter how a photograph is read and I was not happy with my colour version so converted to mono which I think has a more edgy appearance. 


My attempt below. Lit with a mobile phone
0 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>