Initial Ideas

I have found it difficult to come up with interesting ideas because they must all relate to a single theme.  This in itself is not difficult to find inspiration for, its that my ideas are often unrealistic and I'd consider the images I have in my head to be almost unobtainable considering my current ability.

I have a desire to not only pass the course but to do something interesting and push myself as far as I can to get the best possible results.  I'm torn between simplicity and doing something I will be really proud of if it comes off.  I am undecided at this point but my initial ideas for themes are:

• Generations

My idea was to shoot members of my family of varying generations going about their daily lives.  I consider this to be a fairly safe idea, it doesn't really get me too excited but i feel as though I can achieve this with my current skill set.

• Horror

I thought I could shoot mostly at night and use shadows to create spooky images.  Most of my inspiration comes from films and I would love to create images that give the same sort of feeling you get when viewing a scary movie.  The negative thing about this is that given my current skills I would find it hard to get the images exactly how I want them using minimal light.

• Crime

Drawing most of my inspiration from the film "The Bone Collector."  The images they saw in a book would correspond to different crimes and I would love to re create images like this in my own way.  The crimes would be fictional of course.

• Gangs

Initially I thought it would be great to venture into near by cities at night and capture real life gangs.  However I'm not Ross Kemp and I think not only would I struggle to get great images but it could be a little bit dangerous.  So I was thinking of using some of my friends and staging gang related scenes and portraits of mock gang members.  This idea is doable but has become slightly less appealing because I ideally would really like to capture true life images.

• Politics

The idea is to create images that have a political message relating to the current time.  The main inspiration is the current governments cuts to spending in certain areas that could create hardship within fa

families from poorer backgrounds.  The problem is that I would need at least six images with a hard hitting message behind them and this could really strain the ideas pot as I only have a couple in my head.

Photoshop Task

The task was to use photoshop to convert an image totally to black and white.  Then we had to make the image half in colour.

You can convert images into black and white using 4 main controls,

1. Black and White
2. Hue/Saturation
3. Desaturate
4. Channel Mixer

Each of the options give you a varying amount of control over the settings.  For example, Hue/Saturation gives you control over the Hue, Saturation and the Lightness where as Desaturate just turns the image into black and white with no control over the levels.




















I used the desaturate tool to turn the original image into black and white.

Now using the selector tool I turned half of the image into black and white and kept the other half in colour.

Using the History Brush tool I was able to turn the shirt red while keeping the rest of the image black and white.  This tool can be used to make certain parts of a picture stand out.

Composition

The task is to take photographs which demonstrate good compostion.  Compostion is the way the photograph is structured to make it interesting to the viewer and more pleasing to the eye.

f/22    1/15sec    iso 400

This photograph was taken using a sty as a frame.  It also makes good use of the rule of thirds, the gate, the hillside and the sky, the tree is also about a third into the frame making the picture more pleasing than if it was in the center.

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This picture shows great texture on the cows face,  I also decided to crop the picture quite a lot to make it more dramatic.  I think that using a low apature has made the picture more pleasing by focusing on the detail on the cows head.  I am really pleased with how this picture turned out because I had to get pretty close to get it.  I also think the cow grazing in the background is a nice touch.

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I took this picture from a low view point and the idea was to make it look like the start of a journey.  Man and dog staring into the wilderness at the path ahead.  I wanted to just capture the legs and feet but this proved very difficult on a Yorkshire Terrier.  I think taking it from low down made the picture more dramatic than if it was taken from a mid height.

f/4    1/20sec    iso 400

This image uses leading lines to draw the viewer into the picture.  The gate on the left and the light area on the right are showing use of the rule of thirds.  The pillars either side are framing the picture.  I really like the way the picture goes from dark to light as you go down the path and i think this adds to the effect.

Apature Control Task

The task is to take photographs which demonstrate slow shutter speeds, fast shutter speeds, narrow depth of field and wide depth of field.  I managed to get quite a few decent shots on a family walk the other day and hopefully they demonstrate each of the elements of the task well.

Wide Depth Of Field



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I am happy with this picture, it seems to be lit well and not over exposed in the sunlight.  A high apature has left the whole image in focus and the low iso makes for better detail.

Narrow Depth Of Field



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The low apature has made the background blurred and only left the subject in focus.  A quicker shutter speed was used to limit the amount of light that hit the sensor and componsate for the wide apature.

Fast Shutter Speed



f/5.6    1/250sec    iso 200



I was reasonably happy with this picture,  my dog Abbie was running backwards and forwards at full pace so I tried to capture her mid run.  The reason I am a little displeased with the shot is because I feel I should have used a faster shutter to make the image sharper.  The reason why I kind of got away with it is because she is running almost head on so the variation in movment is less great than if I was standing to the side.

Slow Shutter





f/10    30sec    iso 400

No marks for originality here but after seeing a photograph of Parliament at night with the traffics' lights whizzing past I decided to do my own less good version.  It was the best way I could come up with to demonstrate a slow shutter.  I used the slowest shutter option available without going into bulb mode so the lights would stream continuously.  The mid range apature let in enough light to the sensor without compromising on the focus.  I am not too pleased with the picture because I made a school boy error, I used a tripod but forgot about the time delay function on my camera so I got a bit of shake.

First Day Out With The Camera

I went out yesterday over some local public footpaths in the countryside.  I just wanted to get a better understanding of the settings and try out a few of the techniques taught in class.

I was shooting in fully manual and needless to say, found it quite difficult.  The main areas I struggled with were exposure and the images could do with being a lot sharper.  Although I didn't really get any shots I was totally happy with, it was a good chance to learn more and have some practice.

Like a bit of a dumb dumb I uploaded the images without noting down the settings used, I wont make that mistake again :)

Here are my favourites...

I'm quite pleased with this shot as it came out almost how i'd planned.  A narrower depth of field has kept the subject in focus and blurred the background.  I would have liked the image to have been brighter, it was a sunny day and its came out quite dull in colour.





I used the wooden beams on the bridge and quite a low vantage point to draw the viewer into the picture.  Again with this shot something is not right with the colour.  You don't get the feel of the nice sunny day that I was going for.

Anyways, it's all a learning curve.  Hopefully they'll turn out better next time.

City and Guilds Photography Level 1

Hello there,

I have decided to go back to college to do an evening class in photography.  I've always been keen on taking pictures and getting the best possible shots when out and about with my compact, I just thought why not have a go at the proper stuff.

To complete my level 1 course I will be doing a certificate in specialist photography of people.  I will produce at least six thematic images demonstrating camera skills in my chosen theme.

I must plan and research my chosen theme and evidence all of this on this blog.  I will also research professional photographers whose work inspires me.

That's all for now,

Ian