TAD: Mermaids and Water Creatures

I have no mermaids to show, but I do have some photographs I took last year of water critters in our unexpected frog pond.

Hooking up with Rain's Thursday Art Date!

AYWMC: Part 3 Lesson 2: Quality of Light

This post is part of a series entitled A Year With My Camera.  

 

Lesson 3.2 in my own words

• Quality of light refers to how hard or soft it is
• Hard light is direct and casts distinct, contrasting shadows
• Soft light is indirect or filtered, and casts indistinct, often unnoticeable shadows
• Light quality is a spectrum
• Preference for quality of light is subjective
• To determine, examine the shadows
• Is the eye drawn to the subject or the shadow?
• To change hard light to soft light for a single subject (eg. a flower), add an overall shadow (such as a hand) to soften harsh shadows

This week's project

Make a study of shadows without using the flash.

• Range of hard to soft
• Natural and artificial light
• Naturally occurring and create your own
• Experiment with different diffusers (something placed between light and subject to diffuse the light) 

Bright sunny day, late morning

Early afternoon on a bright sunny day

Late afternoon on a sunny day.

Late afternoon on a sunny day

Natural daylight from a window

Natural window light + overhead electric light

Light from the window + nearby electric table lamp

Daylight through the windows + overhead kitchen light

Combination of hard and soft shadows

In the barn before sunrise

Overcast morning

Overcast morning

What I learned

I've always been aware of how light affects a potential photograph. I've never liked bright harsh daylight and prefer outdoor photographing on overcast days. Even with drawing, I focus on where the light hits the subject and adjust the shadowing to feature the light. This assignment asked me to concentrate on shadows. Shadows became the subject matter and it caused me to look at light a bit differently.

Other things I observed that affect shadows:

• The time of day. 
• The type of indoor lighting (natural or artificial). One thing I notice about this is the color of the light. Artificial lights are warmer in tone.
• Number of sources of light. For example, the double shadows from the wineglass stem. One light source was the window, the other was the ceiling light.

Now that my attention has been drawn to shadows, I realize what interesting things they are.

AYWMC: Part 3 Lesson 1: Light Direction

This post is part of a series entitled A Year With My Camera.  

 

Lesson 3.1 in my own words

• The word "photography" comes from the Greek words "photos" (light) and "graphe" (drawing). So photography can be thought of as drawing with light.
• Four things the photographer needs to know about light:
• the direction the light is coming from
• the quality of light
• the color of the light
• the dynamic range of the light and fill lights
• There are two ways a photographer controls light:
• By controlling the amount of light hitting the camera's sensor 
• aperture
• shutter speed
• ISO
• By treating light as an individual element of the image:
• Direction of the light - move yourself in relation to the subject
• Quality of the light - move your subject in relation to the light
• Putting modifiers between the light and your subject
• Use a setting on your camera to control how the color of light is rendered on your final image
• Learning to see the light.
• Look around and pay attention to the light
• Where is it coming from?
• How bright is it? Is it brighter in one area than another?
• How many sources of light can you see?
• Which source is the strongest?
• The brain will try to even everything out. Learn to see the light as it really is, not as your brain wants you to see it.

This week's project

Using available light (indoors or out but no flash) photograph a plain, smooth object in at least 6 different lighting situations. 

• lit from above
• lit from below
• lit from the front
• lit from the back
• lit from the left
• lit from the right
• anything else you want to try

Above

Below

Front

Back

Left

Right

What I learned

This is an exercise I've done in all my drawing classes, but it was still interesting doing it with a camera. It's easier than drawing it because I didn't have to pay close attention to it to replicate it, but the affect is the same.

AYWMC: Part 2 Lesson 4: Advanced Composition Techniques

 This post is part of a series entitled A Year With My Camera. 

 

Lesson 2.4 in my own words

• Think about what you're trying to say with your photographs. How do you want them to speak to the viewer?
• Composition is the language of photography. It's the backbone of a photograph.
• Think about:
• Where do you put everything in the frame?
• What do you leave out?
• How do the elements relate to one another?
• How can you use these principles to translate the scene you see into the finished image you see in your head?
• With practice, composition will come naturally.

This week's project

• Answer this question - "Why do you take photographs?"
• Try some of these advanced composition techniques:
• Visual weight 
• What elements draw the viewer's attention? 
• Do they compete with or distract from your chosen focal point?
• What's leaving the frame? Don't let cut-off objects on edges distract from the subject.
• What's overlapping? Give each element it's own space.

Why do I take photographs? I've been thinking about this and have pinpointed two reasons: documentation and communication. I don't see myself as an artist, so my photography isn't driven by a desire to create. Neither an I trying to elicit an emotional response from the viewer. Rather, my motive is to record the when, how, and why of our lifestyle, including its sorrows and joys. Even so, I want my photos to be interesting to look at and aesthetically pleasing. And I do enjoy the creative challenge to make them that way. So, I suppose I can add "personal satisfaction" to the reasons why I take photographs.

Practicing the composition techniques.

Visual weight: the eye is repeatedly drawn to the subject. I like that
there is good contrast with the background, and that the branches 
create diagonal leading lines, all leaning toward the subject.

What's leaving the frame? I understand this concept, but my usual method of
photography is simply to take a bunch of pictures and then crop them in Gimp.

Now, I'm trying to be more deliberate in analyzing the composition
of my shots beforehand. For this one, I changed my point-of-view.

Overlapping. Taking photos of animals is tough because they don't pose and they don't stay put.

Even though their bodies are overlapping, I think this photo
works because each of their heads has a defined space.

And that concludes part two of A Year With My Camera. 

AYWMC: Part 2 Lesson 3: Thinking About the Whole Frame

This post is part of a series entitled A Year With My Camera.  

 

Lesson 2.3 in my own words

• The last several lessons focused on thinking about the subject. This lessons focuses on the whole frame, i.e. putting the subject into context.
• 4 composition principles:
• 3s and 5s - slight asymmetry is aesthetically pleasing to humans.
• Fill the frame - no foreground and background. Makes a more abstract presentation.
• Symmetry - can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal.
• Diagonals - add tension and interest to a photograph.

This week's project

Using viewpoint (good foreground/subject/background balance) and a single focal point, think about how an image works in the frame. Choose at least one of the four composition techniques and create a thoughtful, aesthetically pleasing photograph.

3s and 5s

Fill the frame

Symmetry

Diagonals

What I learned

For drawing and painting, compositions can be pieced together. For a still life, I can add another apple, or move the pottery pitcher to the left or right as I compose the composition. With nature photography, I had to be more thoughtful about it. I had to find more "ready made" compositions that fit one of the four composition principles. So even though the concepts are easy to understand, finding them as pleasing compositions in nature was challenging. For example, finding symmetry. I had to really think about it and look around. 

In looking back over my photos, there seems to be some overlap in the principles we were supposed to focus on. I think, in part, this was because I had trouble mentally focusing on the frame rather than the subject. This exercise helped me realize that even though I can understand concepts in one way, doesn't mean there aren't more ways to explore and understand.

AYWMC: Part 2 Lesson 2: Single Focal Point

 This post is part of a series entitled A Year With My Camera.

 

Lesson 2.2 in my own words

• Where do you put your subject?
• Consider viewpoint first.
• Next, decide precisely where in the frame to put the subject.
• Why just one subject?
• The viewer will instinctively search the photo for something to rest their eyes on.
• Without a distinct focal point, the image conveys chaos, unsettledness, randomness, restlessness
• One distinct focal point gives the viewer something to find and look at.
• The photographer's goal is to compose the photo in a manner that leads their eye to that focal point.

This week's project

• Using just one subject, choose at least one of the following composition techniques with which to experiment.
• Rule of thirds - Imagine the frame divided into thirds (vertical and/or horizontal). Place the subject on one of the imaginary lines that divides the frame into thirds.
• Leading Lines - Visual prompts that lead the eye to the subject. For example: footpaths, walls, shadows, etc.
• Background separation - Use distinct contrast between the subject and the background. For example: color, light and dark, texture, depth of field, etc.

Rule of thirds

And in case you couldn't visualize what I meant by rule of thirds in my description, here's the same photo with the grid lines Gimped on.

Rule of thirds grid

Leading lines

Background separation

What I learned

This lesson was a refresher for me. I didn't learn anything new, but I had an opportunity to practice it with the camera.

TAD: Romance

Rain's Thursday Art Date is being guest hosted this week by Christine. (Thank you Christine!) My contribution is goat romance!

AYWMC: Part 2 Lesson 1: Composition Elements

 This post is part of a series entitled A Year With My Camera.

 

We're out of the technical lessons and on to the fun stuff! 

 

Lesson 2.1 in my own words

• Good composition is a balance of 3 key elements:
• Foreground - traditionally a small element that leads the viewer into the image
• Background - offers context and contrast but doesn't distract
• Subject - best to stick with just one subject
• Whole frame
• Choose the composition in the frame then step back and take in the entire image
• Check for balance
• What path with the viewer's eye take into the photograph?
• Use viewpoint to change the balance of the elements
• Move the camera or yourself to change your point of view.
• Visualize what you want and think how to get it

This Week's Project

Use the same subject and take 5 different photographs by changing only viewpoint. 

1. Mostly subject 
2. No foreground at all 
3. Mostly foreground 
4. Mostly background 
5. A pleasing balance between all three

Mostly subject

No foreground

Mostly foreground

Mostly background

A pleasing balance of all three. (I hope).

What I learned

I've had a lot of art classes, so the information about composition was pretty familiar. For photographs, I'm always aware of background clutter (the cutest baby pictures aren't so cute when there's a mess everywhere else!), but for composition, I've always relied on my crop tool in Gimp. I didn't do that this time but worked with point of view to compose with just the camera. 

AYWMC: Aperture Study

My "A Year With My Camera" lessons arrive in my inbox on Wednesday evenings. I really look forward to them because I am enjoying this course and learning a lot. This week's email said we got a break this week for completing the first module of the course. I confess to being disappointed! But I did get a badge to display, so here it is.

So, this was a good week to review and practice the lessons about the technical aspects of photography. I've dabbled some in it for my everyday photography, but admit that none of it is intuitive yet. I still have to dip into my brain and recall the details and steps of the settings I want to work with. 

For this week's personal study, I thought I'd dig deeper into aperture, as one of the three things that controls exposure. I use the aperture priority mode on my camera comfortably. However, even though I have manual control of aperture in this mode, the camera still adjusts shutter speed and ISO to "correct" exposure. So, I haven't actually seen the results of my aperture choices in terms of exposure. I did two experiments to further explore aperture and my camera.

Experiment #1 was to take a series of photos on aperture priority mode, changing aperture with each photo. Then I checked to see what changes the camera made for each photo.

Aperture f/8.0, shutter speed 1/98 sec., ISO 100

Aperture f/11.0, shutter speed 1/82 sec., ISO 160

Aperture f/16.0, shutter speed 1/80 sec., ISO 320

Aperture f/22.0, shutter speed 1/82 sec., ISO 640

Aperture f/32.0, shutter speed 1/82 sec., ISO 1250

My observations:

• The exposure stayed the same; only depth of field changed.
• I changed the aperture.
• The camera kept shutter speed about the same.
• The camera increased ISO one full stop for each stop I changed the aperture.
• This follows the rules of the exposure triangle.

Experiment #2 was to switch to manual mode and choose a mid-range shutter speed (1/64th second) and ISO (400). Then I took another series of photos, increasing aperture (which decreases the lens opening, which decreases light) with each photo.

Aperture f/4.0

Aperture f/5.6

Aperture f/8.0

Aperture f/11.0

Aperture f/16

Aperture f/22

Nothing profound or surprising in this exercise, but it was good to see with my own eyes what I've been reading about. I'm also pleased that I was about to find my way around manual mode a little easier. Practice really helps.