Charlotte's Blog

What a Summer

charlottet1 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:21:05 +0000

Well I have had a bit of a nightmare summer. As a result, I have hardly picked up my camera (apart from a week in the South of France). I have had to ask to defer my course and am waiting to hear back but intend to start getting back into the swing of things now. Any encouragement and support welcome as I need to get motivated again! Hope to post some photos on Flickr soon!

Projects 6 – Fitting the Frame to the Subject

charlottet1 — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:45:54 +0000

Have decided to leave project 5 for the time being until I can think of a more interesting subject than cars going past the house. Shot the images for Project 6 while on holiday. I only took 3 images but think that this is sufficient. I may well shoot the exercise again, taking 4 shots and using an alternative subject. If it is worth it I will publish them here.

Showing subject in its environment

Subject filling frame

Showing detail of subject

For me, the least succesful image is the one where the subject is completely filling the frame. It is crowded and claustrophobic and I much prefer the other two images.

Holidays

charlottet1 — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:30:50 +0000

Have just got back after a week in Marrakech. Had a bit of a hard time getting good shots. If anyone even saw me raise my camera they were over like a shop asking for money. Still, I got quite some good practice at candid shots and some nice abstracts. It was 40 degrees though so actually spent more time than I had planned lazing on a sun lounger. I will post a couple of the shots that worked out on Flickr. I now only have a few weeks to get my first assignment ready to go. I will see how I get on in the next week or so but we are house hunting so I am going to have to steal some of my photography time to try and find somewhere new to live!

Fraustrating results lead to learning opportunity

charlottet1 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:28:36 +0000

Went to Hampton Court on Sunday and wandered around the gardens for a couple of hours taking photos. I have to say that I must have been having a bit of an off day… results were not great and of about 100 or so shots only 4 or 5 looked any good when I got them home.

Once again, I struggled to cope with the lighting… Sunday was about 27 degrees and very sunny. A lot of my shots have completely washed out skies. On the plus side this is going to give me a good opportunity to try and increase my skills on Photoshop. I plan to spend some time this week trying to make some of these failed shots much better. I will also have to try and experiment with the new Polarizing filter that was sent to me with my new lens.

On Photography – Susan Sontag

charlottet1 — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:19:30 +0000

Have just popped out in my lunchbreak and bought this book as I have nearly finished both the text book and “Ways of Seeing”. My first thought (given that I know nothing about it) is that I am surprised not to see any photos in it!

I will write up some thoughts on ”Ways of Seeing” separately

Hyde Park & Speakers’ Corner

charlottet1 — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:08:37 +0000

Took some other photos whilst out in Hyde Park on Sunday… you can find them on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/38473852@N02/sets/72157619357622771/

Had a couple of good comments about this image… so nice to get positive comments from others on the course. Especially when studying remotely.

Project 4 – Shutter Speeds

charlottet1 — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:26:40 +0000

For this project I went up to Hyde Park and decided to use a fountain not far from Speakers’ Corner. The light was really very difficult for me to handle and I had to adjust the ISO at the higher shutter speeds as I was using a zoom lens and did not have a tripod with me. This has resulted in a loss of quality but the images I took on lower ISOs are just too dark. Another reason (as if I need one) to invest in a tripod! Here are the images I took:

Photo 1 - f/4, 1/4000, ISO 1600

Photo 2 - f/4.5, 1/2000, ISO 1600

Photo 3 - f/7.1, 1/800, ISO 1600

Photo 4 - f/9, 1/500, ISO 1600

Photo 5 - f/18, 1/15, ISO 200

I am only using 5 images for this project although I did take more. Although I struggled with the lighting I am quite pleased at how this series of photos has turned out. I think I prefer image 1 here – for some reason the effect of frozen droplets seems to work well with the slightly demonic looking statue and his hand gestures almost look like he is the one freezing the water. I think the creamier effect of the water in the last image would have worked well with a statue of the female form.

Project 3 – focus with different appertures

charlottet1 — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:00:02 +0000

I decided to stick with the subject that I had used for Project 2. Here are the images:

Photo 1 taken at f/5.6

Photo 2 - f/8

Photo 3 - f/13

Photo 4 - f/20

All four photos were taken focusing on the yellow pepper and clearly show how the depth of field alters so that all three peppers come into focus.

nb I was using the AV setting on my camera which automatically adjusts the shutter speed to take into account the different aperture size.

Project 2 – Focus with a set aperture

charlottet1 — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:39:12 +0000

For some reason I have really struggled to find a subject for this that works when I have been out and about so I decided to stage something at home instead. Here are the 3 photos:

Photo 1 - focusing on yellow pepper

Photo 2 - focusing on the red pepper

Photo 3 - focusing on the green pepper

The first photo (with the focus on the yellow pepper) is my favourite. The first image works well as you are in no doubt which object is the subject of the photo, however, you are still aware of the other two peppers so see the subject pepper in context.

Although it took me a while to find a subject where the results really stood out I enjoyed this project and have decided to stick with the same subject for project 3.

Project 1 – focal length and angle of view

charlottet1 — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 10:25:20 +0000

Have had trouble getting out and about with my camera as work has been busy. I did get time to have a go at projects 1 & 2, however, I was not happy with the reults of project 2 and will reshoot it.

For Project 1 I decided to just take out my standard lens (18-55mm). With this lens I was just about able to balance looking through the viewfinder and looking with the naked eye. My chosen subject was a small boat house on the other side of the river and this may have been too far away with the lens I was using . I planned to have another go at this project today but typically it is raining. I may return to this project in the future but for now, I have learnt that shooting at 55mm is the closest to matching the view as seen with the naked eye.

Photo 1 - closest I could get to matching what I could see with the naked eye - 55mm

Photo 2 taken with zoom at widest view ie 18mm

Photo 3 taken with lens set to 35mm

This project actually surprised me. I was not really expecting to have to set the lens to 55mm for it to most closely match the naked eye view.