7. Focal Lengths

Exercise 7 P.35: Carried out 17/12/12

I’m going to look at different focal lengths by using a zoom lens to capture various angles of view.  With my camera mounted on a tripod I started with the shortest focal length available on the lens at 28mm  This is the first photo in the series showing a wide-angle view:

Like with any seascape there’s going to be sea but at this short focal length there is more of the shore in the frame which also includes a nearby building.

For the next shot I adjusted the lens to a longer focal length about 100mm:

At this focal length I also adjusted the composition to include land in the background and walkers in the foreground to make it more interesting.  I used the same composition for the next three shots which were all at different focal lengths between 100 – 300mm:

At this angle of view all the other details are outside of the frame and with a fairly long focal length I can now see that the boat is being cleaned although I still can’t make out the name on the side.

This is the final photo and long focal length of 300mm available to me:

This is a very different angle of view to the first photo which was wide angled and encompassed various subjects but not so much detail.  With this long focal length only the boat is in the frame but more fine detail is visible and I now know the boat’s name is Marlin.

6. A sequence of composition

Exercise 6 P.32: Carried out December 2011

In this exercise I produced approximately 20 photographs of an event in Ironbridge, Shropshire.  Having read this exercise ahead I actually took the photos at the end of September 2011 in readiness for writing the blog.  My brief was to capture the images I see that I think are worthy of a photograph and go through the sequence from the first shoot of the subject to the final satisfactory image.

This is the opening shot in the sequence.  My intention was to start with a photo that would give an indication as to where the event took place.  The sign gives directions to Coalbrookdale one way and The Iron Bridge the other and therefore suggesting the photo was taken between the two locations.  Looking at the first photo I was happy it showed the signs as intended and also gave me the idea of photographing the crowds of people arriving and leaving the event.  I wanted to document the way people were dressed, what dogs they were walking, what pushchairs they were pushing etc.  The next two photos show the style of the moment with as many people as I could fit on the photograph in a landscape format.  It was quite early in the event so not masses of people around.  The other thought I had was how amazing it was to stand on the road and take photos.  The event was to celebrate the Ironbridge Gorge Trusts 25th Anniversary and the first time the road had been closed in as many years.  I thought a record of that fact was also a good thing to show:

I decided to take this third photograph as two police officers walked up the Wharfage to show the uniform of the time too.

As I approached the start of the event my attention was turned to a one man band who came out of nowhere.  My first thought was get his photo quick:

I was so disappointed when reviewing the shot to find a passerby had walked into the scene.  Everything else was perfect, the action of singing, playing guitar, stepping forward, looking at the camera.  I tried again:

Better, no strays in the frame.  The post is distracting but can be cropped out.  Still a bit disappointed as the one man band was no longer looking at the camera.  After review he was swamped by other snappers so I resided myself to the fact I had already got the best shot I could.  I also thought I may see him again later.  The post edited final photo is below:

So moving on further along the Wharfage my next object of interest came to my ears first then as the sound came into view I saw a four piece band of young men on a stage playing al fresco:

I felt there were too many distracting elements within the frame of this photo so I maneuvered to the centre of the stage and talked my way through to the front:

I had been using a wide-angle lens up to now so switched for a zoom lens as I felt there were still too many distractions within the frame although the composition was right.  This was the final result:

I’m quite happy with this final image except for the guitar in the drummers head but I didn’t notice this until I uploaded the photos to my computer and saw a bigger view.

At the top of the Wharfage next to The Iron Bridge were some very tall police men watching the crowds for mischievous people.  They suddenly came into view and my first photo of them was a quick reaction to what I was seeing:

Not ideal at all.  They were in a rush to reprimand a family so I had to move back as far as I could and try to get a better shot:

To my surprise one of the tall policemen noticed I was taking a photo and was happy to pose for me.  I used the opportunity to take as many as I could:

With the tall policeman on the move I felt sure I had at least one good photo.  There were a lot of other people in the shot which in other circumstances would have been a problem but this was an event and unavoidable so I accepted that.  I then turned my attention to getting a photo of the two tall policemen together which resulted in the following series:

 

 

The last photo is the sequence was the shot I wanted.  It showed one of the tall policemen giving a young member of a family a ‘talking to’ and the other members looking on and laughing at her embarrassment.  I thought it was the defining photo which epitomised the purpose of the event which was to bring families into Ironbridge to celebrate its being and have fun in the process.

Overall it was an enjoyable day and I even met the founder of the local camera club who I found out lives in the next little village to me and he knew my house well (It had a reputation for all night parties in the 70’s!). 

 

5. Object in different positions in the frame

Exercise 5 P.31: Carried out 2/11/11

In this exercise I was asked to find an object that was set within a large even background.  The aim is to take several photos with the object in different positions within the frame and decide which fits best.

After much deliberation I had to chosen to photograph a lonely tree in the field opposite my house.  Just as I was ready to go out with my camera bag on my back the sky’s went dark, a hail storm came down and basically put a stop to my antics.

So, instead I’m photographing a heart made from jelly beans on a white background.  The first photo is the original image and centres the main subject in the frame.

I tried various ways to frame the subject and the following sequence of photos numbers my choices in order of preference:

1. Portrait and centre top alignment:

2. Portrait. Bottom centre:

3. Landscape. top left alignment:

4. landscape. Off centre left alignment:

I think the subject and background chosen makes me think of what the image could be used for and therefore my preferences are based on that.  Photo 1 and 2 are better aligned for use in greeting cards while photos 3 and 4 are better aligned for cards for flowers.  My favorite frame (photo 1) has space below where the heart is pointing down and opens up the entire space.  The relationship between the subject and background marry together well in this alignment within the frame.  Had a different subject been used the overall look and feel would be different and therefore the way it’s best framed would be different too.

4. Fitting the frame to the subject

Exercise 4 P.29-30: Carried out 24/10/11)

The brief is to take 4 photographs of the same subject.

1. Photograph the entire scene without considering composition as its to be used as a base:

Photograph 2: This photograph needs to be framed to fit closely around the subject:

Photograph 3: Get in close to the subject so its edges are out of the frame:

 Photograph 4: Move away from the subject so in occupies only a quarter of the frame to include its surroundings:

Having carried out the exercises in fitting the frame to the subject more effectively I can now look at other photos and make crops of them to frame them better.  Below is the original image I’m going to use:

 And are three crops I created:

This crop gives the closest frame and gives and abundance of colour and vibrance.  The only problem is with such a small crop area a lot of resolution has been lost.

Crop 2:

This crop has framed the main centre of the flower nicely.  Still giving lots of colour with more of the finer detials in view.  This crop would be ideal for canvas printing.  (In fact I have had a canvas printed of this image as a gift to my mother and she loves it).

Crop 3:

 

This crop is the most creative and is one I would use in web design.

In conclusion there are obvious ways to frame an object and those that require more thought and creativity.  Its always best to consider what the end result will be used for.  With the use of photo editing software its easy to create a crop and move it around the photo to see where the frame best fits.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post.  Please leave feedback if you have a minute spare, it’s invaluable feedback so thank you in advance 🙂

3. Focus at different apertures

Exercise 3 P.22: carried out on 21/10/11

This study of different apertures is one I’ve wanted to do for a while.  I really struggled to understand f numbers or f stops, see there’s the first confusion!  Then there’s the whole ‘the bigger the f number the smaller the hole’ business……..not to mention ‘the wider the aperture the narrower depth of field’ headache.

So in my own interpretation here’s the photo explanations:

Using a fstop of f5 (large aperture) will give you a smaller area of focus which is called a narrow depth of field.

Using an f stop of f16 which is the middle sized aperture in the range available to me will give you a wider depth of field but still shows some blurring around the edges.

Using an f stop of f29 which is the smallest aperture available to me will give focus over the entire image.  As the aperture is small it lets in less light and therefore the shutter speed will need to be slowed down slightly to allow more light to reach the sensor and therefore lighten the overall image.

I realised in the past I need to keep coming back to this until it sticks in my mind to the extent I can explain to other people with the aid of books or diagrams.  After this exercise I feel confident that I can achieve that.  I think it’s what I’d call getting my head round it!

Time for a little break……………..

2. Focus with a set aperture

Exercise 2 P.21: carried out on 21/10/11

This exercise was to look at focussing when using a set aperture.  The aperture used was the widest available for the lens I was using which was f5.  I setup a row of objects and took three photos each focussing on a different object in the row.

Photo one was focussed nearest to the camera:

Photo two was focussed centrally:

And photo three was focussed furthest:

When looking at these three photos, your view focusses on the sharpest point.  My personal preference out of the three photos is the one where the focus is closest to the camera.  This is partly because it’s also the largest object with it being closest to the lens and therefore a bigger proportion is in focus.  Also I like the blurred effect of the objects as they get further away from the lens with the end object being quite dramatic.  The centre focussed photo 2 doesn’t seem as sharp as the photo one.  Photo 3 has a nice effect as it draws your eye straight to the end of the line but also turns your attention completely away from the rest of the photo.

1. Focal Length and Angle of view

Exercise One P.20: Carried out 18/10/11.

Three photos were taken using three different lenses of the same scene from the same standpoint.  My camera was mounted on a tripod to fix the position of the camera.  The purpose of the exercise was to find the standard focal length of my camera as it can vary depending on the type used.  ‘Standard’ being the angle of view similar to the way we see with our eyes.

This first photograph was taken with a standard lens:

Looking at the LCD screen with one eye closed I adjusted the lens to make the scene about the same size on the screen as I could see with one eye.  The focal length of the lens was 45mm making this the ‘standard’ focal length of my camera  which fits into the range of a full frame camera.  This photo was printed onto paper and held in front of my eye, standing in the same spot as the camera.  When the photo became the same angle of view as the actual scene it was measured and in this case was 35cms.

I repeated this excercise with a wide angle lens:

The point at which the print became the same as my peripheral view was 14cms away from my eye.

And again with the telephoto lens:

The point where the print became the similar to my peripheral vision 56cms.

In conclusion the camera lens is synonymous with our own vision.  The distance the lens is away from the cameras sensor is relative to the distance of the print away from the eye.

Where I’m at!

Before I begin blogging let me explain.  I started studying The Art of Photography in October 2011 where I opted to keep a hand written journal of what I’m learning\learnt with supporting photographs.  Big mistake!  Lesson learnt.  Toddler in the house.  Hand written journal no longer legible.  So blog it is.

I have three months worth of learning and excercises to write about before I can then play catchup as my first assignment is due in this month (January) and I’d still like to acheive that deadline.

🙂

TAoP Blog: In the beginning……..

Welcome to my blog (samjbennett.wordpress.com).  I’m currently studying The Art of Photography (TAoP for short) with the Open College of the Arts (OCA for short) and this is my learning blog. 

Last year I successfully completed an Open University course in Digital photography which was the most enjoyable course I have ever done.  That may not seem like a big deal to most but I spent the previous 15 years continually studying IT so Photography is a breath of fresh air.

My love for photography began during a school cruise around the mediterainean at the age of 12.  I couldn’t stop looking at the photos I’d taken and one in particular stood out for me more than any other.  (When I dig it out I’ll scan and post it).  I didn’t know at the time why this one photograph was a defining moment in the start of my passion for photography but I’m beginning to understand a bit more now and hopefully by the end of this course I’ll know exactly why.

Please subscribe to my blog as all feedback is valuable and welcomed.

Thank you for reading 🙂