Photography Visual Diary

TASK INTRODUCTION This Photographic Visual Diary, is to show all my ongoing school tasks where all relevant research, contact sheets, before/afters and general teacher directed activities are. It is also to demonstrate an understanding of basic photo studio practice and workflow.

Sarah Ramirez Due Date: 23rd of September, 2015

VISUAL DIARY Continuing Digital Photography - Assessment 1 Mark Will – Line 2

Table of Contents Week 1 – Introduction to the Course What is the Exposure Triangle? .......................................................................................................... 2 Practical One – Using the Triangle .................................................................................................. 3 Contact Sheet 1 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4 Week 2 – Editing and more Exposure Triangle Practical Two – Editing the Best .......................................................................................................... 5 Practicing with a Canon Camera ..................................................................................................... 6 Contact Sheet 2 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..... 9 Practical Three – Editing the Best ……………………………………………………………………………….. 10 Week 3 – Free Shooting Cheat Card to the Exposure Triangle ………….………………………………………………………………………………. 11 Contact Sheet 3 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 13 Practical Four – Editing the Best ……………………………………………………………………………………... 14 Week 4 – Free Shooting Part 2 Contact Sheet 4 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 15 Practical Five – Editing the Best ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 16 Week 5 to 9 – Six of the Best Assignment Freeze the Moment …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 18 Show the Motion ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 22 Controlled Over Exposure .............................................................................................…... 26 Controlled Under Exposure ……………………………………………………………………………………… 30 Close Up …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 34 Wide Angle ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 38 Week 9 to 10 – Excursion Times!

Evaluation of Megalo ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 43 DRUM Analysis on Excursion Photographs ……………….………………………………………………………... 44

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Work from Week 1 to Week 4

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What is the Exposure Triangle?

The Exposure Triangle contains three aspects which determine how much light enter and interacts with the camera. The three elements are: 1. ISO – the measure of a digital camera sensor’s sensitivity to light 2. Aperture – the size of the opening in the lens when a picture is taken 3. Shutter Speed – the amount of time that the shutter is open It is the interaction of these three elements that an image’s exposure is worked out. A change in one of the elements will impact the others. This means that you can never really isolate just one of the elements alone, but always need to have the others in the back of your mind. A better way to understand the triangle is by using metaphors.

The Window Imagine your camera is like a window with shutters that open and close. Aperture is the size of the window. If it’s bigger, more light gets through and the room is brighter. Shutter Speed is the amount of time that the shutters of the window are open. The longer you leave them open, the more that comes in. Now image that you’re inside the room and are wearing sunglasses. Your eyes become desensitized to the light that comes in, representing the ISO. There are a number of ways of increasing the amount of light in the room. You could increase the time that the shutters are open (decrease shutter speed), you could also increase the size of the window (increase the aperture) or you could take off the sunglasses (making the ISO larger).

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Practical One – Using the Triangle The task was to go out and take a series of images including, Movement, Wide Angle and Freezing the Motion which all related to the Exposure Triangle.

Shutter Speed: 1/200 Aperture: f 2.6 ISO: 50

Shutter Speed: 1/320 Aperture: f 2.6 ISO: 50

Shutter Speed: 1/125 Aperture: f 2.6 ISO: 50

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Contact Sheet 1

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Practical Two – Editing the Best

Before – Top Left After – Bottom Right

Shutter Speed: 1/125th sec Aperture: ƒ / 2.6 ISO: 50

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Practicing with a Canon Camera 1. Shoot an image with a Shallow Depth of Field (Aperture)

2. Shoot an image with a Wide Depth of Field (Aperture)

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3. Shoot an image with Fast Shutter Speed (Shutter)

4. Shoot an image with a Slow Shutter Speed (Shutter)

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5. Shoot an Over Exposed Image (ISO)

6. Shoot an Under Exposed Image (ISO)

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Contact Sheet 2

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Practical Three – Editing the Best

Shutter Speed: 1/1000th sec Aperture: f 2.6 ISO: 50

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Cheat Card to the Exposure Triangle

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Contact Sheet 3

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Practical Four – Editing the Best

Shutter Speed: 1/125th Aperture: f 16.0 ISO: 1600

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Contact Sheet 4

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Practical Five – Editing the Best

Shutter Speed: 1/100th sec Aperture: f 2.6 ISO: 80

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Work from Week 5 to Week 9

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Freeze the Moment Fast Shutter Speed The faster the shutter speed, the shorter the time the image sensor is exposed to light therefore, freezing moments in time. This is the technique that is being explored in the images below, allowing us to observe things that the naked eye could not see.

Image 1 - Popping a Bubble

Tags: contains movement, natural light, fast shutter speed, blur, colour, frozen moment, close up, very sharp, shallow depth of field, focal point, outdoors, portrait

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Image 2 - Dropping an Olive

Tags: contains movement, dark, no foreground/background, frozen moment, shallow depth of field, dark, fast, close up, focal point, rule of thirds, sharp, portrait

Image 3 - Jumping Through Snow

Tags: natural light, shallow depth of field, frozen moment, close up, detailed, landscape, outdoors, leading line, contains movement, fast

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Image 1: Freeze the Moment Image Title: Crystal Water

METADATA Shutter Speed: 1/2500th second Aperture: 4, 0 ISO: 2000

Description: This image was taken in the kitchen of my home. It consists of water being poured from high above, into a clear glass. The glass has been placed on the right hand side on a table, facing a white wall. The image was heavily cropped in order to accentuate the detail of the water flow, and to remove the second cup of water with a few fingers in the top right hand side of the image.

Recognise: This image was shot lying on the kitchen table to try and view every moment possible that was able to be captured in this shot. From the water flowing from high above, to it hitting the glass and existing water in the glass already. The image was toned, sharpened and adjusted in Photoshop to emphasize the detail of the water flow.

Understand: This shot was taken indoors in, using the rule of thirds to try and achieve an eye capturing image. The ISO was placed at 2000 to try and compensate for the fast shutter speed of 1/2500th seconds. The image was sharpened to provide even greater detail in for the water flow to create the illusion of the image being somewhat moody.

Motivation: The overall intention of this shot was to produce a fast shutter speed image which froze the moment. The images’ intention is for the viewer to focus on the water hitting the glass, and water being poured from high above.

Evaluation: The positive of this image was the rule of thirds that was used, as well as the focal point being quite visible. This negatives of this image was that it would have looked a lot better close up to really see the motion being frozen. To improve the overall image, I could have focused more on the water been a lot closer up to the action, and bumped up the ISO to not have so much noise in the image.

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Show the Motion Slow Shutter Speed The slower the shutter speed, the longer the time the image sensor is exposed to light, therefore creating motion blur. This is the technique used in the images below.

Image 1 - Waterfalls

Tags: very bright, wide depth of field, colour, outdoors, landscape, natural light, strong line, rule of thirds, focal point, motion blur, slow shutter speed

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Image 2 - Breaking Pool Balls

Tags: indoors, motion blur, wide depth of field, leading lines, colour, slow shutter speed, focal point, sharp, portrait, rule of thirds

Image 3 - Walking the Busy Streets

Tags: leading line, motion blur, outdoors, slow shutter speed, natural light, wide depth of field, landscape, colour

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Image 2: Show the Motion Image Title: Windy Time

METADATA Shutter Speed: 1/30 Aperture: 3, 5 ISO: 400

Description: This shot was taken indoors in a bedroom with white walls. I’ve cropped the image to remove unwanted distractions such as the corner of the wall and to zoom in a bit onto the fan’s actual movement.

Recognise: The image has been shot from a sitting position, but looking up towards the fan, in order to capture the movement. The image was adjusted in Levels in Photoshop in attempts to make the image stand out more and give a bit of detail on the colour of the image to show the fans outline more.

Understand: The image was captured indoors in low light, so the camera's ISO was increased to 400, and the Shutter Speed as well as Aperture adjusted to accommodate for the image.

Motivation: The overall intention of this image was to produce something with motion blur to exploit a slow shutter speed image. The viewer's eyes would go straight to the fan and observe movement as it is in the centre slightly so the right.

Evaluation: The positives of this image is that it contains a lot of motion blur from the fan, and a bit of shadow detail. The negatives of this shot are almost everything. From the position of the shot, to the little to no detail in the image, and the colour. To improve the shot, I would need to have taken a different angle, possibly added a light to the image and really try to focus in on the fan, possibly added some coloured paper to really be able to see the fans movement.

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Controlled Over Exposure High Key Image The use of unnatural bright lighting to remove most if not all shadows in an image to create a high contrast ration image. This technique is called Controlled Over Exposure or High Key and are demonstrated in the images below.

Image 1 - Baby Don’t Know

Tags: landscape, overexposed, no shadows, sharp, no foreground, focal point, indoors, controlled, wide depth of field, balance, black and white Image 2 - Colours of the Rainbow

Tags: colours, rule of thirds, leading line, no foreground, balance, overexposed, controlled lighting, focal point, indoors, balance, disappearance, landscape

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Image 3 - Chess Pieces

Tags: no foreground, white, rule of thirds, leading line, balance, portrait, very sharp focal point, shallow depth of field, indoors, overexposed, controlled light

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Image 3: High Key Image Image Title: Brighter than Time

METADATA Shutter Speed: 1/60th seconds Aperture: 5, 0 ISO: 100

Description: This image was taken inside of a white studio at Lake Tuggeranong College.

The image contains a watch made from Pulsar in the original box, with the box being placed to the right hand side.

Recognise: The image was shot from a crouched position to ensure that the back box was also included in the details of the image. The image was adjusted in levels to fully exploit the High Key intention.

Understand: The shot was taken in a brightly lit room so the aperture needed to be bumped to 5,0 to allow a lot of light into the image, which meant the ISO needed to be reduced to be able to properly produce the image without any noise. The levels were adjusted to create a lighter, brighter image to achieve High Key. The image was then made to feel a lot happier, a silly sort of feeling.

Motivation: The intention of this shoot was to produce a High Key image that is filled with a positive mood with the bright colours. The main focus of this image was the watch on the pillow that was inside of the box or any surroundings in that area.

Evaluation: The positives of the image was that there was a lot of detail produced in this image, with not much blur. The rule of thirds, also was great to attract the viewers eyes straight to the watch, another is that the small amount of shadows in the image go greatly with the light. Some negatives of the image is that it may have been a little bit too far away, maybe closer would have been good, but was I too low? What would the image have looked like from higher up? Without the use of the tripod, there are slight hints of camera shake in the image. To improve this image, I should have cropped it a little more, to have not seen the slight paint mark near the watches box, and to have possibly adjusted the Curves in Photoshop to give a little bit more shadows.

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Controlled Under Exposure Low Key Image The use of shadows to create dramatic and mysterious photographs which are usually transformed into black and white images, this technique is called Controlled Under Exposure or Low Key images, and are demonstrated in the images below.

Image 1 - Sad Doggie

Tags: no foreground, focal point, shallow depth of field, underexposed, controlled, shadows, portrait, indoors, little colour, deep

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Image 2 - In Deep Thought

Tags: black and white, no foreground, shallow depth of field, sharp, underexposed, controlled, shadows, portrait, deep, inside, dark, focal point

Image 3 - Shoes

Tags: shadows, underexposed, leading line, focal point, shallow depth of field, sharp, indoors, controlled light, colour, dark, still

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Image 4: Low Key Image Image Title: Dead Flame

METADATA Shutter Speed: 1/4000th Aperture: 4, 0 ISO: 400

Description: This image was taken during the night in a dark room inside of my house.

The image consists of a match being lit, with a small flame surrounded by light trails of smoke. In the bottom right hand corner, the match is being held, and with the other hand a box is held.

Recognise: The image was shot from a close up, levelled position in attempts to really capture the match being lit. The image was then edited in Photoshop, with the Levels being adjusted to adjust contrast and being turned into a black and white photograph to create a Low Key image.

Understand: The shot was taken indoors, with no light so the camera's ISO was bumped up to 400 so that the camera could create an image that would also fit together with the shutter speed and aperture but also creating a little bit of noise in the image. The levels were adjusted to achieve the Low Key image, also creating a dark and moody feel towards the image was well.

Motivation: The original intention for this image was a fast shutter speed image, to try and capture the spark as the match was lit, it was proven quite difficult and a low key image ended up being a better suit for it which was good as it turned out to be quite a good image. The techniques that have be used was the rule of thirds, to get the viewer's eye going straight towards the bright flame.

Evaluation: The positives of this image are definitely the detail of the flame with the surrounding smoke, and the fact that it just stands out so well. The image also works quite well in black and white giving it a good contrast to make the image quite moody and suspicious. The negatives of this image are the small camera shake this is visible with the hand that is holding the match, as well as the slight hint of noise in the image.

To improve the image, I would have continued to try and get that split moment of the match being lit rather than a few milliseconds after and definitely would have tried to make the finger under the box less visible, so possibly take the shot at a different angle.

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Close Up Shallow Depth of Field This particular technique refers to how ‘in focus’ images are. In images using Shallow Depth of Field, one specific area is sharp and detailed, while the rest is blurred. The smaller the f stop, the larger the aperture, the better the close up!

Image 1 - Leaf in Nature

Tags: leading line, landscape, colour, larger aperture, shallow depth of field, natural light, outdoors, rule of thirds, focal point, blurred background

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Image 2 - Lockers

Tags: inside, dark, large aperture, flash used, lights above, blurred background, leading line, rule of thirds, tense, still, empty, portrait

Image 3 - Rain Drops

Tags: natural light, portrait, larger aperture, bright colours, close up, blurry background, shallow depth of field, focal point, leading line

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Image 5: Close Up (Shallow Depth of Field) Image Title: Blooming

METADATA Shutter Speed: 1/60th Aperture: 5, 0 ISO: 400

Description: This image consists of wilting flowers, a few tree branches and bushes in a natural environment. There are four flowers dying, and one in the middle of the three grouped together that appears to be blooming, but isn’t quite there yet. It was taken in a natural outdoors light.

Recognise: The image was shot at a close up, crouched position to really capture the close up, and add blur to the background. The image was then edited in Photoshop by adjusting the Levels and adding Contrast to the image to try and bring out the colour in the image.

Understand: The image has a shallow depth of field, with some branches and bushes being blurred out in the background. The image has been darkened, and saturated to bring out the colour of the flowers, blemishes on some of the flowers were also removed to give it a moody, but light image. The average ISO of 400 gives the image some noise, but isn’t too sensitive. The slow shutter speed of 1/60th made the original image dark, not allowing a lot of light into the photograph. The aperture of 5, 0 allowed the background to be blurry as it didn’t allow much light to enter or for much of the photograph to be visible.

Motivation: The intention of this image was to capture a Close Up, but as well it turned out to be a Shallow Depth of Field as well. The technique that was used was the Rule of Thirds which helped out the image to really bring out the detail of the flowers with the eye going straight to the colour.

Evaluation: The positives of this image is the detail of the flowers, having the rule of thirds leading our eye to the bright flowers giving us a focal point. The negatives is the amount of visible noise in the images background. What I would improve for this photograph would have been to take the shot a little more zoomed in to get more of the flowers, or drop the ISO level down a bit to reduce some of the noise in the background.

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Wide Angle Deep Depth of Field

When the aperture is small, the image will have a Deep Depth of Field, which means that the focus range covers a large area, back to front. This technique is generally associated with Wide Angle shots.

Image 1 - Rocky Sunset

Tags: natural light, landscape, colour, sharp, wide angle, deep depth of field, outdoors, foreground, leading line, small aperture Image 2 - Road to Paradise

Tags: landscape, outdoors, natural light, leading line, colour, small aperture, wide angle, deep depth of field, sharp

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Image 3 - Country Side

Tags: foreground, small aperture, colour, landscape, wide angle, deep depth of field, sharp, rule of thirds

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Image 6: Wide Angle (Deep Depth of Field) Image Title: Leading from the Rail

METADATA Shutter Speed: 1/125th Aperture: 16, 0 ISO: 1600

Description: This image was taken outdoors beside a railway station in Melbourne. It consists of a railway, trains, the city buildings and lots of side bushes. The image has been heavily cropped to remove unwanted little distractions.

Recognise: The image has been shot from a bridge above the railway station, standing up with the camera resting on the edge to prevent camera shake. The railway lines, and footpaths are a repeated leading line element. The image was then adjusted in Levels in Photoshop to enhance the image and bring out the detail of the night art.

Understand: The shot was taken outdoors and in low light, so the camera's ISO was increased to ensure that the shutter speed and aperture were a good combination for a clear image. The image has been darkened a lot to make the image feel cinematic, and somewhat exhilarating for a night-time city shot.

Motivation: The overall intention was to capture the beauty of the City of Melbourne.

The image has many leading lines, drawing the viewer's eye straight to the railway, and from the railway to the city buildings behind it.

Evaluation: The positives of this image are the foreground, middle ground and background of the image, there is a clear space between them all and all play a great part in bringing the image life, and excitement. The image works well darkened as it really sets the night-time of a Melbourne night. The negatives of the image are a few distracting lines, such as the one across the two trains, and a few trees in the background blocking a great deal of the buildings. Perhaps the image would have looked better from a higher point of view, or possibly a different angle? To improve the image, I would try to reduce the ISO and play around with the Shutter Speed and Aperture to reduce the amount of noise in the image, as well to try and get more detail on the buildings in the background.

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Work from Week 9 to Week 10

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Evaluation of Megalo PLUS Jemima, our Tour Guide at Megalo was fantastic. Before the excursion, I had never heard of Screen Printing or the actual process of it. I am now more knowledgeable in the ways of printing on paper or even fabric. One thing that was really great about Megalo was that it was open to the general public, anyone could come in, pay some money and go about learning to screen print or do some Lithography. That’s another thing that was so great, was being able to watch the process of Screen Printing and watching the process of Lithography, which was essentially drawing on a stone and a long process of it being printed on paper. It was true art which was just so fascinating.

MINUS Some negative things that I found during my visit to Megalo was that inside of the foyer there weren’t very many exhibits to look at as an end result for either Screen Printing of Lithography. It was a bit disappointing seeming as though there was such an excitement for the actual process for both. I suppose maybe that’s what specific shows are for, but that was a bit of a letdown.

INTERESTING Some things that I found interesting, was definitely the process of the Lithography. Art was painting onto a layer of stone with grease. Once the drawing is complete, place water onto the art to prevent the ink from disappearing off of the stone for the short while that it needs to be there for. That whole process could take up to two weeks just to do, but then the quick part would be after the waiting to place it through the machine several times to finally end up with such a work of art. I found the whole process quite interesting, and I think that Lithography should be promoted more as it is such a complex but fascinating way of showing artwork.

FINAL In answer to the question if I would see myself working or studying at Megalo, possibly studying at the studio for a month or so would be the better option for me just to get a bit of experience from it.

As to if I could see myself working there, probably not. Yes it is such a great place with a wide variety of things to actually do but I am honestly not a type of person to do things by hand like with stone. I do prefer technology, the lazier way. But then if I’m not happy with something that I’ve done with technology there’s always the easy way to fix and change my mistakes, whether as with the Lithography for example, it would need to be started again from scratch which could potentially take months.

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DRUM Analysis of Excursion Photographs

Image 1: The Market Office

Describe: This image consists of a two cars close up, a brick wall, lots of clear sky, a sign and various buildings and other distractions in the background. It was taken in the natural outdoor light.

Recognise: This image was shot at a standing up position, but pressed against the wall to really capture that leading line.

Understand: The shot was taken outdoors which meant that the aperture needed to be bumped up to accommodate for allowing a lot of light into the image to bring out all of the colours. The focal point of the image is definitely the Market Office sign, with the footbath and brick wall all leading our eyes to that sign. The rule of thirds has been used in the image, one third being the brick and the rest the foreground, middle and background.

Motivation: The overall intention of this shot was to capture something with a leading line, and to have a nice street photography shot.

Evaluation: The image could have been improved with the positioning of the camera, possible to move it a little more to the left to try and remove some of the distractions of the right hand side of the image, and a little downward again to remove minor distractions.

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Image 2: Framing the Car

Describe: The image consists of a moving red car, a truck in front of it, trees and leaves, grass, some roads and background buildings behind more trees. The image was taken in the natural outdoor light.

Recognise: This image was shot at a standing position on tippy toes in attempts to be just tall enough to capture the image through the tree.

Understand: The shot was taken outdoors, in a little bit of a shaded area. The focal point of the image is definitely the bright red car in the centre of the image. The rule of thirds has been applied, with one third being the leaves, the other third a car, and the other third foreground, middle and background.

Motivation: The intention of this image was to capture the moving vehicle in all of its glory.

Evaluation: The leaves framing the car was not intended at all, but it does fit nicely with the image.

The leaves around the image definitely brings our eyes straight to the bright red car in the middle which is great. A little to improve on the image would to possibly just bring the camera down a slightly bit lower to remove the distractions of half leaves at the top of the image.

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Image 3: Curvy Roads

Describe: The image consists of two walls with paintings on either side of the footpath leading into an unknown place. Lights are also hanging above the roof providing a reflection on the glass floor.

Recognise: This image was shot, just at a standing position in attempts to try and capture all of the hanging images at once.

Understand: The shot was taken indoors with a lot of fluorescent lighting. There is no real focal point in the image, but the walkway going around the bed, creates a leading line, drawing our eyes to one third of the image where the walkway just stops.

Motivation: The intention of the image was to try to capture all of the hanging images on the wall and the reflection of the paintings from the floor.

Evaluation: To improve the image, the position of the camera would have been better a little to the right to remove the distracting side of the wall. As well, there is noticeable camera shake in the image, standing a few more steps forward would have increased the quality of the image as there wouldn’t be three words in the top corner that are blurry.

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