Portfolio

Viewpoint
Portfolio of Viewpoint images

I've personally been having a few problems with viewpoint. I can't seem to effectively plan a shot for this focus like I can with the other 3. Instead, I have been going out, looking for shots for my other 3 focusses and have spotted something than can attribute to my Viewpoint portfolio. Because of this, plenty of subjects from the other 3 sections have bled through into Viewpoint for me to experiment with interesting angles and viewpoints such as from above, from the side, looking under, over, through etc.

Over



Side




Under



Through



Whilst I feel I put a fair bit of thought into all the photographs above, I don't think that any of them really stand out and be worthy enough to be presented as a final 8 photograph. I really need to develop on some of my previous ideas and create a much more dynamic image.

I know that under this headline of viewpoint I have the possibility of turning something rather boring and mundane into an exciting and unique image, I just need to keep my eyes open.

Portfolio

Light
Portfolio of Light images

Light has been one of the trickier of the 4 subjects to photograph. When a camera takes a photo all it is doing is recording the light that it receives, so technically any and all photographs I take can be eligible for this section, but I have been looking for something special. I've been looking for shadows, reflections/bends in light, skies and silhouettes.

Here are some of my earlier photographs of skies




Whilst the skies in these images are moody and dramatic, exactly what I'm looking for, there is generally little interest in the foreground and the photo can lose a lot of it's detail.

Trying to expose for both the Sky and a Foreground object can be rather frustrating without the use of ND Grad filters or digital processing means. So photos can end up turning pretty bland such as this one where I attempted to expose for both.



I decided that maybe Silhouettes could provide some decent building blocks for developing a photograph for my final 8 so I decided to wake up early and head over to Markeaton park at dawn to catch the sunrise. It was a pretty successful outing and I hope I will be able to pick something out that catches interest. Here are a few of the pictures that I took that morning.





















There are a fair few which catch my interest, such as the ones with reflections in the lake or the simplistic moon shots with high contrast. There are also some very striking photos in this selection where the suns rays are burning through the trees causing an almost ethereal feeling, this could be even further exaggerated with the presence of mist. But I'm afraid that I am not aware of any fog/mist warnings in the near future so I will have to make do with this set of images, I have no doubt that I will be able to choose one from this selection but it's proving quite difficult to single one out at the moment. It could be due to the fact that all the images are rather simplistic and the only things separating them from each other is their composition.

Portfolio

Focus
Portfolio of Focus images

After deciding that I am going to use one of the two images outlined in my last post for my final 8 I feel that I needed a contrasting image that still portrays the use of focus well.

Since the last photos were still life's using natural light, I thought I would get a contrasting photograph by using controlled circumstances at home or in the studio.

note: all these images were taken using an aperture range of f/1.8 - f/5.6 to create a shallow depth of field and exaggerate the use of focus.


At first I thought this photo was rather good, but as I took more and more photos in the session I feel that it is only average, the composition is lacking, the background is too distracting, shadows are visible and they also distract the viewer. On top of all, the focus doesn't seem to be exaggerated enough, there is no clear focal point. But at least it was a start.



I feel this photo works much better than the last, but I still don't think I'm quite there yet. The focus is way over the top, with only the closest part of the lily plant in focus.

The Good

• Composition
• Exaggeration of Focus

The Bad

• Exaggeration of Focus(yes I know, it's good and bad on different levels.)
• Poorly lit

I think this photo is a good demonstration of focus, but it still has it's downfalls, whilst the background is nice and soft due to the focus I feel that it is still distracting due to the colours and shapes it holds. The overall colour of the image does not compliment the Lily in the way that I would like it to.


Now we're getting there. I love the effect the focus gives in this image. the front half of the first Lily is in focus, from there it gradually fades off, there is also another Lily bud out of focus which helps pull attention to the main focal point of the photo. The only downfall I feel there is to this image is the composition.

All the above images were taken in my flat, this is the cause of the slightly poor lighting. The next set of photos were taken in the studio, this gave me much more flexibility and I am almost sure I will be able to pick a final 8 image from this selection.


I am rather intrigued by the viewpoint of this image, could be an idea to throw it into the viewpoint portfolio despite the fact I was photographing with focus in mind. I decided to keep the closest part of the petals of the Gerbera in focus for this photograph as I thought the viewer would follow the stem upwards to the end of the petals, but as I am looking at it now my eyes start at the end of the petals and then I'm pulled in towards the stem, which is no good since I can't really allow a focal point of the image to be out of focus which I think I have done here. Despite that I think I did a good job of the composition and lighting.


As you already know, I am quite a fan of exaggerated focus, this picture strongly reflects on my opinions due to the fact that only half of the flower is in focus, the composition is slightly off and I think the background is slightly too distracting with it's undecided colours. If I can perfect this photograph I think I may be onto the second choice for focus.


This is the photograph that I have arrived at, I took the basic ideas of the last photo but in this one I feel that I have improved on the focus, composition and it would be hard to disagree that the background in this photo is less distracting than the last.

Portfolio

Focus
Portfolio of Focus images

So far Focus has been one of the most interesting topics for me this semester, I have found that close up macro shots have been the best for exaggerating the factor of focus. And because of this I have been taking many still life images as I feel they work best with this type of shot.

A few days ago I decided to wake up early in order to catch a sunrise where I could take some pictures for the Light topic, after I was done with the sunrise I found an ample opportunity to take some still life photographs since the available natural light was beautiful. I found a bunch of logs and a few leaves in the park which I decided to photograph until I finished off my final Compact Flash card, there wasn't a lot of space left on the card so I apologize for the amount of images, despite that fact I still feel I managed to take some of the best photographs I have ever taken and I am pretty sure I took a potential final 8 photo on this outing.

note: All three of these images were taken using an aperture of f/1.8



Whilst the composition of this image isn't perfect, and well the colours are slightly bland, but I feel this photograph has strongly shown the capabilities of focus in the camera. The image is graduated between focus and out of focus as compared to most of my focus images which do not show the transition. I do like the circles of confusion which the dew drops make in the grass.

This way of focussing works very well with this photo. The soft blur leads your eyes into the middle, the focal point, the singular leaf.



Now whilst this image does not show the transition of focus like the last one does I still feel that this is a strong contender for my final 8. Everything about it makes it a rather attractive photograph, I tried to stick to the rule of thirds in order to bring out a powerful composition. The focal point is fairly obvious, being the two leaves on the log, but this time they do not hold your attention, the background is fairly interesting and holds some detail despite the fact it is strongly out of focus. The fresh and clean low lighting provided by the morning sun greatly compliments the image by illuminating the grass in the foreground to create strong contrast within the image.



I'm now stuck on trying to decide between this photograph and the previous one for my final 8 selection. This one has a much stronger focal point of the two images, but slightly less interest and colour as a trade off. Once again I complied to the rule of thirds to create a powerful composition which entices the viewer. the reason that this photo holds it's focal point on the leaves stronger than the previous image is due to the fact that they are pretty much the only object in perceivable focus and they are much closer in perspective than the last photo.

I am tempted to pick both of the last two photos for the focus section of my final 8, I just don't want to though due to the fact that they are of the same subject under the same conditions. I will have to find a contrasting image to go with one of the two above photos for the final selection.

Portfolio

In future blog posts I will be showing selected images from my portfolios of Light, Focus, Time and Viewpoint annotating them with why I like them, what worked, what didn't, how I can improve on my skills and develop the images to hopefully create a solid 8 Final images that are required for this module.

Time
Portfolio of Time images

For now I'm going to start on some of the older images from my Time portfolio since they are the ones with most potential and I would like to improve on them before I pick my Final 8.

The following images are taken at night in a moving car looking out of the windows at lights. I feel this way of photography strongly exaggerates the effect of time which is perfect for my portfolio this semester.







These images were taken during the period where I was still learning how to properly use the DSLR camera, the above images were all taken using shutter speed priority at 10seconds (ISO100), the exposure and aperture were then calculated by the camera. For the majority of the above images the light stands out against a black background which is what I wanted, but on some, the background bleeds through, I feel if I knew how to use the camera on full manual at this point the images would have come out better.






So I went out again with the same idea in mind, but with greater knowledge of how to use the camera, the above images are taken with a range of shutter speeds and apertures depending on how much light I saw in the area.

The first image was taken with the longest shutter speed of the set (30seconds) and as you can see, it recorded a lot of light and colour, but some of the detail burnt out due to the long shutter speed, whilst that does not take away from the image completely it still could be improved.

I find the second image very appealing due to the soft ribbony effect that the light gives, the only beef I have with this image is the lack of colour and the fact that the main lights are not crisp enough, there are other lights bleeding through the side ruining the sort of contrast I would be looking for in this sort of image.

The third image is my inspiration for improvement on this set of images, you can clearly see the road in this picture, and I feel that it does not fit with the messy, almost sickening structure of the lights. What I plan to try next time is to set up a tripod in the passenger seat of the car and take a much more sturdy image with less contrast and more detail in the picture, I am imagining that a shorter shutter speed such as around 3-5 seconds would probably be ideal to produce an image that could be worthy of taking a spot in my final 8.