Exercise 3.2: Trace

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/woodman-space-providence-rhode-island-1975-1978-ar00350 [accessed 2nd March 2019]

I take inspiration from this series and aimed to use slow shutter speed to introduce motion within the frame. My intention in this exercise is to go further by aiming to give the impression of movement, kinetic energy in a more pure form by removing a connection to any particular object.

I started this exercise with a desire to reprise the previous exercise with slow shutter speed. In the previous exercise Freeze, I captured a swan in mid self wash, with fast shutter and so captured in sharp resolution frozen motion, my intention being to convey the idea of motion in a static sharp image.

I set out to find the same swan in the hope she was again washing herself, my hope being i could capture a swirling frenzy of feathery white in a ball of motion. This image i can picture in my mind and imagine this to be almost if not completely unidentifiable as a swan. There would be too much movement for the subject to be clear. I have not been lucky enough to find the swan in mid wash over a number of attempts during the last couple of weeks.

However I have to captured a similar set of images that are even stronger in representing the vision I have in my mind. My method was to try a few different shutter speeds from around 1/10s to 1s in an attempt to capture the flight of a seagull, where it is not apparent that the subject is a seagull or actually identifiable as anything at all. With the subject being ambiguous at best, what the observer is left with is purely movement of an abstract form. This i think is very interesting and worthy of much experimentation and investigation.

This example is one from the experimentation process as I approached the best shutter speed and subject. It is a shot of a swimming duck taken at 0.6s and is almost what i am looking for. It is however still possible to discern that this is a duck all be it transformed into a blur of movement. The fact that the observer can see this is a duck influences their impression of the image. I am looking to remove anything that detracts from the impression of pure movement, kinetic energy. That said I still find this image very attractive and interesting.

ƒ/29.0 44.0 mm 0.6s ISO 100

With a shutter speed of 0.4s I found an exposure time which transforms the flight of a seagull into what for me looks like the transposition of matter into pure energy. We see the world with a limited window across the spectrum of time, just as we see only a tiny slice of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this exercise i wonder how the world would look if we could see across a wider or different spectrum of time eg if we saw the world compressed into 0.4s slices these images are how a seagull in flight would appear to us. Very like how we perceive a humming bird in flight as a static object with a blur of wing flap. Other birds of a different size and wing, flight & speed would require a different shutter speed to achieve the effect seen here in these images.

Again i find this idea of movement in abstract form creating interesting and engaging images very attractive and worthy of further study.
ƒ/22.0 70.0 mm 0.6s ISO 100

Cropped and converted to monochrome in Lightroom

ƒ/18.0 70.0 mm 0.4s ISO 100
Cropped and converted to monochrome in Lightroom

ƒ/22.0 70.0 mm 0.4s ISO 100

Cropped and converted to monochrome in Lightroom

This exercise has reminded me of a few photographs i have taken over the past years which follow a similar theme to varying degrees

This is a shot of a rock on a beach as the tide is starting to wash over and cover it. The effect for me is interesting and part of that is the ambiguity of the image itself. The abstract nature allows the observer to concentrate more on the aesthetic of the image itself, free from the connection to narrative.

ƒ/20.0 62.0 mm 8s ISO 50
x10,000 neutral density filter

This shot was taken hand held with long shutter speed introducing movement in both the subject and the camera itself, the result although less ambiguous is still similar in impression.

ƒ/16.0 50.0 mm 10s ISO 100

Exercise 3.1 Freeze

Taking inspiration directly from :

Muybridge’s experiments were followed in 1906 by AM Worthington’s (1852–1916) series of drops and splashes. The shot i aimed for was to capture water at the moment of entry of some object, say a stone.

Technical details:

I set my camera to shutter priority 1/1000s to capture sharply any motion in the water. I first set focus on the water, then set to manual focus to keep this setting. I set ISO to auto, my thinking being to let the camera choose a good balance between aperture and ISO. Given the fast shutter speed and cloudy conditions, aperture selected by the camera was wide open in any case. Finally I set the camera to multi-shot mode.

Secondly I wanted to capture, in sharp focus and with no blur, the impression of kinetic energy, motion.

Technical details:

Camera set to shutter priority 1/1000s, Aperture f5.6, auto ISO, continuous focus mode.

I selected continuous focus mode to maintain sharp focus whilst the subject could be moving unpredictably through the frame.

I was very fortunate to come across a local swan in full blown cleaning mode, i took a number of shots and selected the picture which for me gave the most clear impression of motion, whilst sharp and still

With some cropping and darkening of the surrounding area, this effect can be emphasised.

In both cases for the pictures above I consider the question :

Does the camera capture time in these images, or does it fragment it, as Szarkowski believed, isolating thin slices to reveal something new?

In both cases something new is revealed in my opinion.

In the case of the stone entering the water we know intuitively that a splash will occur but we are less able to conceive of the state of the water at the instant when the stone disrupts. This is made clear in shot 3 of the stone sequence above.

The swan is in mid clean and there is much disruption around her, again we understand this, we see the blur of activity on occassion if we are lucky enough to live close by, but we do not see the full clarity of this until we capture it in fragments.

This exercise reminded my of a shot i took a few years ago whilst on a weekend trip to Amsterdam. I went to the Ajax v PSV Eindhoven game and was fortunate enough to capture this image.

This is relevant to mention at this juncture as, until this exercise, my thoughts on application for shutter priority mode and very fast capture were limited to this sort of shot. It fits i think with the theme of the assignment for part 3 – the decisive moment.

Woodpecker

The Brief:

Find a subject in front of a background with depth. Take a very close viewpoint and zoom in; you’ll need to be aware of the minimum focusing distance of your lens. Focus on the subject and take a single shot. Then, without changing the focal length or framing, set your focus to infinity and take a second shot.

As you review the two shots, how does the point of focus structure the composition? With a shallow depth of field the point of focus naturally draws the eye, which goes first of all to the part of the image that’s sharp.

Achieving deep depth of field might appear easy compared to the difficulties of managing shallow depth of field. We’re surrounded by images made with devices rather than cameras, whose short focal lengths and small sensors make it hard to achieve anything other
than deep depth of field. The trick is to include close foreground elements in focus for an effective deep depth of field image. Foreground detail also helps to balance the frame, which can easily appear empty in wide shots, especially in the lower half. When successful, a close viewpoint together with the dynamic perspective of a wide-angle lens gives the viewer the feeling that they’re almost inside the scene.

Again without moving the camera, select a very small aperture (perhaps one stop above the minimum to avoid diffraction) and find a point of focus that will give you acceptable sharpness throughout the entire field, from foreground to infinity. Take a third shot and add it to the first two to make a set.

The exercise is also a way of thinking about attentional focus. According to some of the most recent thinking in neuroscience, the left hemisphere of the brain attends more to detail while the right hemisphere attends more globally. It’s rather like a woodpecker pecking an insect out of the tree while at the same time keeping an eye out for predators. In photography, you could say that having a good grasp of detail allows you to master the technical aspects while seeing the connections between things makes meaning. You’ll return to this point in Exercise 3.3.

The shots:

f5.6, 52mm, SS 1/15s, ISO 100

f5.6, 52mm, SS 1/13s, ISO 100

f25, 52mm, SS 1.3s, ISO 100

Notes:

Deviated from the brief by using auto focus and moving the focus points between the metal bollard in shot 1 and centre image for shot 2 and 3, however I think the purpose of the exercise is still met.

Focus

The brief:

Find a location with good light for a portrait shot. Place your subject some distance in front of a simple background and select a wide aperture together with a moderately long focal length such as 100mm on a 35mm full-frame camera (about 65mm on a cropped-frame camera). Take a viewpoint about one and a half metres from your subject, allowing you to compose a headshot comfortably within the frame. Focus on the eyes and take the shot.

Wide apertures create shallow depth of field, especially when combined with a long focal length and a close viewpoint. In human vision the eye registers out-of-focus areas as vague or indistinct – we can’t look directly at the blur. But in a photograph, areas of soft focus can form a large part of the image surface so they need to be handled with just as much care as the main subject.

The Shot:

f1.4, 50mm, SS 1/60, ISO 320

I chose this shot as in my opinion it works best at a wide open aperture really blurring the background and helps to emphasise focus on the subject. At this aperture there is even noticeable loss of focus on the extremities of the woollen hat and coat. I confess by accident but i also really like the similarity between the motif on the hat and the blurred shape on the picture in the background, the similarity in colour, size and rough shape work well here.

Experimentation:

I experimented over different apertures using a small statue and with a photograph in the background to provide some interest. My aim being to see if i could subjectively discern between different levels of ‘out of focus’ in the background and it’s effect on the overall picture. Highly subjective I believe, in the images below the one that works best for me is at f8.0, unlike on the shot for this exercise where i think fully open aperture of f1.4 works best.

I noticed during this exercise a clear relationship between the f-stops and shutter speed. With shutter speed doubling on each f-stop reduction in aperture. I have been aware of this however this exercise helped bed in the relationship. I started this experiment in aperture priority mode which meant i paid little attention to shutter speed. This is my standard way of operating so far with my photography so could explain why i don’t really have a good feel for the relationships between f-stop and shutter speed. I had a lot of difficulty using aperture priority mode and achieving good exposure during this experiment however and switched to manual mode for the shots below.

I also noticed evidence of some dust on the camera sensor which becomes more evident as aperture is reduced, some cleaning to do.

f1.4, 50mm, SS 1/125s, ISO 100

f2.0, 50mm, SS 1/60s, ISO 100

f2.8, 50mm, SS 1/30s, ISO 100

f4.0, 50mm, SS 1/15s, ISO 100

f5.6, 50mm, SS 1/6s, ISO 100

f8.0, 50mm, SS 0.3s, ISO 100

f11, 50mm, SS 0.6s, ISO 100

f16, 50mm, SS 1.3s, ISO 100

Viewpoint

The Brief:

Select your longest focal length and compose a portrait shot fairly tightly within the frame in front of a background with depth. Take one photograph. Then walk towards your subject while zooming out to your shortest focal length. Take care to frame the subject in precisely the same way in the viewfinder and take a second shot. Compare the two images and make notes in your learning log.

The shots:

Shot1: f5.6, 140mm, SS 1/13s, ISO 320

Shot2: f3.5, 18mm, SS 1/40s, ISO 320

Notes:

In Shot1 the depth of field around the subject is much reduced in comparison to shot2, most notable in the bushes to the left of the subject. In shot1 the bushes appear immediately behind the subject whereas in shot2 they appear many yards in the distance.

With long focal length the background is flattened and with short focal length it is extended.

There is a change in aperture between shot1 (f5.6) and shot2 (f3.5) this is characteristics of the lens itself. In both cases aperture priority was set and aperture set to maximum. Even although aperture is smaller for shot1, the effect of long focal length and relatively open aperture results in the background being out of focus on shot 1. At this resolution the close position and wide angle of shot 2 results in fairly good focus through the image.

Zoom

The brief:

Find a scene that has depth. From a fixed position, take a sequence of five or six shots at different focal lengths without changing your viewpoint.

Taking inspiration from the examples above or from your own research, create a final image for your sequence. In EYV the important thing is to present your work in context, so make it clear in your notes what you’ve been looking at and reading. The focus here is on imagination and research skills rather than the technical aspects of zoom.

The series:

A series of 8 shots taken of a treelined pathway which I believe shows a sufficient amount of depth. All shots were taken from a single position using a tripod and with the same aperture (f8.0) and ISO100. Camera was set to aperture priority mode so some changes in shutter speed were noted as the camera selected SS for exposure.

f8.0, SS 1/10s, 18mm, ISO100

f8.0, SS 1/8s, 24mm, ISO100

f8.0, SS 1/6s, 38mm, ISO100

f8.0, SS 1/6s, 52mm, ISO100

f8.0, SS 1/5s, 75mm, ISO100

f8.0, SS 1/8s, 95mm, ISO100

f8.0, SS 1/8s, 116mm, ISO100

f8.0, SS 1/8s, 140mm, ISO100

The series shows the intent behind the technical aspect of this exercise with the feeling of “walking through the scene”. In an attempt to emphasise this aspect further I created an MP4 with all 8 images in the series. This does help to visualise the effects of increasing focal length over the same subject.

Points noted:

At focal lengths below 35mm there is a notable wide angle effect where the centre of the image appears to be pulled further into the distance than is seen with the naked eye and the aspects on periphery of the scene appear pulled into the image.

The camera was set to multi-metering mode which in retrospect may not have been the best for this series. This mode attempts to meter for all areas within the scene, as the series progresses the increasing focal length removes some light from the top of the scene, this makes the images darker as the series progresses. Until the final image where the small amount of light in the centre becomes relatively larger in the scene.

Additional thoughts:

I was interested to see the effect on resolution in the scene at different focal lengths. This can be seen on the two cropped images below. Both are cropped down to a small section in the very centre of the image series around the puddle which emerges into view at around 50mm focal length. The first is a crop from the 75mm shot and the second from the 140mm shot. The cropped area is very small so both show pixelation however this is clearly more pronounced on the cropped 75mm shot reminiscent of a Thomas Ruff JPEG from earlier project work.

f8.0, SS 1/5s, 75mm, ISO100 – cropped

f8.0, SS 1/8s, 140mm, ISO100 – cropped

Final image

Typical for the genre a wide angle often provides powerful and interesting images which distort the image stretching the centre ground away into the distance and pul the edges in to the picture. The final image is taken from a few feet back from the series introducing the 3 bollards which help to emphasise the distorting effect of 18mm focal length.

Inspiration:

In considering this series I investigated use of zoom in landscape photography using Bridgeman Education online gallery resource and created a slideshow here of images using wide angle.

https://www-bridgemaneducation-com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/en/slideshow/3760

An example provided here.

Fig. 1 Kenny Muhammad – (June 2004) [Photograph] At: https://www-bridgemaneducation-com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/en/asset/3890769/summary?context=%7B%22route%22%3A%22slideshow_view%22%2C%22routeParameters%22%3A%7B%22_format%22%3A%22html%22%2C%22_locale%22%3A%22en%22%2C%22slideshowId%22%3A%223760%22%7D%7D

3890769

Project 2 – “Visual Skills” – Exercise 1.4 – Frame

The brief

Exercise 1.4 Frame

The final exercise of this project makes use of the viewfinder grid display of a digital camera. This function projects a grid onto the viewfinder screen to help align vertical and horizontal lines, such as the horizon or the edge of a building, with the edge of the frame. Please check your camera manual (or Google search) for how to display the grid in your viewfinder. If your camera doesn’t have a grid display, just imagine a simple division of the viewfinder into four sections.

Take a good number of shots, composing each shot within a single section of the viewfinder grid. Don’t bother about the rest of the frame! Use any combination of grid section, subject and viewpoint you choose.

When you review the shots evaluate the whole frame not just the part you’ve composed. Looking at a frame calmly and without hurry may eventually reveal a visual coalescence, a ‘gestalt’.

Gestalt: an organised whole perceived as more than a sum of its parts. (Google Search using the define: operator)

Investigations

I am intrigued by this exercise, mostly as i have recently been reacquainted with the term “Gestalt”. I have been spending some time lately listening to a number of audio books covering various topics; science, history, philosophy. Gestalt has come up in both science and philosophy as an explanation of sorts for some form of activity within our mind helping to create our perception of reality. Coffee! what does that make me think of; a bean, a steaming cup, starbucks, one of those cofficianados. It is of course all of these things.

I toyed with the idea of creating the sequence around simply the idea of coffee. However I decided there was more scope and interest for this exercise in the area around where I work. The sequence was created from shots taken on a waterside walk i enjoy often at lunchtime around the area of Leith in Edinburgh.

Technical details

Sony II with 28..70mm lens

I set the grid view which splits the frame into 9 segments on the viewfinder and used the spot focus function to set the focus area in each of the 9 segments as I strolled around the area taking shots of anything i found of interest, paying all attention on the segment in focus and ignoring completely the rest of the frame. To emphasise this set aperture wide open ( 4.5 or 5 ) to take focus away from the rest of the frame. I used aperture priority so the camera was doing the rest of the work to set exposure. In post processing i used auto balance and vivid presets only and employed only very little crop and alignment. I then imported the chosen shots into photoshop and created the combination. I used the position of focus in each shot to dictate that shots position in a 3 X 3 grid eg shot with focus on top right is placed top right in the grid.

Assessment

After taking a number of shots all were loaded into Lightroom and i selected the 9 I thought were of most interest and complimented one another. I rejected a number of shots which themselves are perhaps more interesting and pleasing on the eye because they worked against the whole, for instance in my first selected 9 I found once i had organised them that too many shots had leading lines created by path and river. This introduced a confusion in the purpose of the series – was it about a walk along a river or about lines created by nature? In a second attempt at the series there appeared too many man made signs so again I re-thought and selected others. My plan was to deliver a Gestalt of ‘A lunchtime walk along a river’ so wanted to include the many different elements you might find along the way; fauna, river, buildings, walkways, signs and the like. In this way I hoped to create an holistic image for the observer. I am pleased with the outcome. Not one of these shots would I consider individually to be of much merit however collectively I really like the clarity of purpose and images they evoke which I interpret as a Gestalt. The “term greater than the sum of the parts” springs to mind here.

A lunchtime walk for lucky people.

Project 2 – “Visual Skills” – Exercise 1.3 – Line

The brief

Take a number of shots using lines to create a sense of depth. Shooting with a wide- angle lens (zooming out) strengthens a diagonal line by giving it more length within the frame. The effect is dramatically accentuated if you choose a viewpoint close to the line.

Now take a number of shots using lines to flatten the pictorial space. To avoid the effects of perspective, the sensor/film plane should be parallel to the subject and you may like to try a high viewpoint (i.e. looking down). Modern architecture offers strong lines and dynamic diagonals, and zooming in can help to create simpler, more abstract compositions.

Review your shots from both parts of Exercise 1.3. How do the different lines relate to the frame? There’s an important difference from the point exercises: a line can leave the frame. For perpendicular lines this doesn’t seem to disrupt the composition too much, but for perspective lines the eye travels quickly along the diagonal and straight out of the picture. It feels uncomfortable because the eye seems to have no way back into the picture except the point that it started from. So another ‘rule’ of photography is that ‘leading lines’ should lead somewhere within the frame.

Investigation

The rule, as stated in this exercise, ‘leading lines should lead to somewhere in the frame’ is clear from the first 2 shots here. The first shot has the lines ending more or less on the intersection of top left third, on the horizon. The second is feels clipped with the leading lines leaving the frame on the left.

Why should this rule be the way it is? My theory on this …

The leading lines below accentuate the 3 dimensionality of the scene and take the observer on a journey into the frame. For us, our journeys need to have a destination so without some end point for the line the observer can’t see the journeys end, has no closure and is left frustrated. We live our lives with horizons and all lines tend towards those horizons, we typically either see the horizon or it is blocked from our view by some structure ( building, hill, trees etc ). Our lines then typically end at the horizon or at the blocking structure. To have the line end by exiting the frame therefore feels unnatural and constrained.

Wide angle 18mm focal length extending the leading lines, ending on the horizon. A strong image which leads the observer on the journey to the end of the road.

Leading lines leave the frame directly and the observer is left to wonder what this image is trying to portray. Is the fence itself the point?

The next two shots provide another example of the same concept of journey into the frame following the lines ( this time curved ). Observers eye is drawn into the frame, resting where the line disappears into the woods. There is a strong sense again of 3 dimensions in the frame and of a journey to be taken by the observer.

Here in contrast with the path clipped, most of the sense of 3 dimensions and journey is lost and the observer must search for the subject, which now becomes the plant pot in the top centre third.

To contrast this the next shots have strong lines but are intentionally flat with no sense of 3 dimensions at all in the frame. I used the high view point looking directly down (as referred to in the brief from László Moholy-Nagy ) to a carpet here .The lines serve no purpose other than to exist as an image for their own sake. There is no journey so no frustration with the lines not ending in the frame. This for me delivers a strong sense of purpose but without a narrative, the purpose is pure and aesthetic. To experiment with this theme the next 3 shots show lines in the frame in different directions, each has the same effect and impact.

Testing the theory of journey and horizon, the next two shots repeat the theme of leading lines which end in the frame and exit the frame. However this time there is no horizon per se as the lines lead straight into the sky. Again though the sense of completeness and closure where the lines end within the frame, present a far stronger intent to the observer. In the second image where the lines exit the frame, the observer is more likely to consider the centre of the frame and the tendency is to see these lines as pure and aesthetic and not a narrative or a journey to be had.

Although the image has infinite 3rd dimension into the frame, the angle flattens all lines and the image is pure and aesthetic. In this case the image here is reminiscent of https://www.theartstory.org/artist-moholy-nagy-laszlo-artworks.htm#pnt_6 László Moholy-Nagy first abstract painting in shape at least.

Summarising above

Leading lines take the observer into the frame and deliver a strong sense of 3 dimensions, of journey and narrative. This can help create a clear intent and purpose for the image. If however the lines have this intent but exit the frame, the narrative and purpose can quickly be lost and the observer is left to work out the purpose for themselves. Conversely where the image has a strong linear content where there is no 3rd dimension or journey accentuated, then those lines can become strong and pure with an aesthetic value in their own right, outside of any narrative.

References

https://www.theartstory.org – László Moholy-Nagy

Project 2 – “Visual Skills” – Exercise 1.2 – Point

After a very useful chat with my tutor I am now better prepared for addressing this exercise. I at first, was confounded in how to approach this.

In considering a spot and it’s place in the frame I look at the picture in the course notes for the exercise; the cup under chair. This leads me to think that there is a narrative at play here which adds a dimension to the composition. Someone has sat on that chair and drunk from that cup, lazily leaving it lying there, it makes sense, so the position of the cup in the frame makes sense and it works regardless of any rule of third’s etc. My idea was to take a football in a field placed at various points in the frame around a set of goals. I can see the narrative in just about every position, which has nothing to do with where the ball is in the frame but more where the ball is in relation to the goals. As an example, every watcher of football knows what a ball slightly right of centre and 20 yards out from goal means – A good chance of imminent excitement. Having talked this through with my tutor I have decided to try to try at least at first to avoid a narrative dimension by creating pictures that are more abstract.

My spot is a Christmas decoration.

Here my eye is drawn to the bauble and immediately to the back of the frame and round to the left observing the empty space.

Centre of frame. Subject is obvious and the image is balanced but lacks any intent or imperative for the eye to go anywhere other than the subject which then appears small and insignificant.

There is some intent here, suggesting a journey to or from the top right by the bauble. My eye tends to bounce between the bauble bottom left and top right.

Open space at the bottom of the frame seems wasteful, my eye is drawn over only once and I then discount the space.

Again in this image there is a sense of journey had or to be taken by the bauble, my eye is drawn between the bauble and top right where the draft excluder creates some haven or end / beginning.

Bauble as subject is less obvious but a sense of movement to be is evident. In this case though the movement follows the line straight up the centre of the frame.

Journeys end. This image, although there is much empty space, still has an internal balance to me and the large amount of empty space does not seem pointless. My eye follows an imagined journey from bottom left in an anti-clockwise arc towards it’s destination top right.

Here both the bauble as subject and sense of journey are less clear and the empty space in the centre of the frame remains empty and wasteful.

Bringing in some sense of narrative with a decorated Christmas tree using up the top 3rd of the frame. My eye is immediately drawn to the bauble and then round clockwise through the frame, helped by the shape of the tree and light on right hand side.

Bauble as subject is all but lost here. Eventually my eye rests on the bauble after observing the frame for a while. Once there though there is an interesting subtlety that allows me to rest here and contemplate the baubles journey.

In this case centre bottom 3rd intersection, the sense of journey feels clipped, limited to a direct fall from the tree, however I like the centrality and sense of symmetry this provides. It makes for a strong message that this is about “a bauble that has fallen off this tree” and thats it clear and concise.

Project 1 : The Instrument

For this project i have taken 18 shots, 9 outdoors and hand held and 9 indoors and using tripod. For each series of 9 I have taken a sub series of 3 shots with the same settings and varied aperture and ISO across the 3 series in the 9.

The objective of this project is really to notice the histogram and how this changes in perhaps subtle ways even when the image is the same ( or so the photographer may think ).

I can seen across series of pictures that the histogram is different in all cases.

Of course there is a clear difference between the two series of 9 shots given the different composition and lighting.

My approach to this was to see for myself if different apertures or ISO levels had any noticeable effect on differences in histogram across the shots. On this series it is inconclusive, which probably means no. However i think there is a difference between series 10 .. 12 and 13 .. 15 which may be attributed to the change in aperture from f4.5 to f8.0, all else remains unchanged.