Parallel Universes Part 2

The saga continues.

It would appear that my tutor believes that the Course notes that he had for the previous version of Digital Photography Level 1 are relevant to Digital Photographic Practice hence the difference between the assignment that appears in my Course material and the Tutor's version. We have referred the matter to the OCA to seek clarification. The answer should be interesting. Either way, as things stand at the moment, it does not do a lot to bolster one's confidence in the OCA. I am only glad that this was not my first Course else I might have felt like throwing in the towel. You can cope with the odd typo or missing reference to earlier material because of the prompt help you can get from the staff at the OCA but there is a basic need for all parties involved to be 'singing from the same hymn sheet'.

Parallel Universes!?

I've just had my tutor's comments on my first assignment for "Digital Photographic Practice" that is entitled 'Workflow'. I am criticised for failing to have read the requirements of the assignment correctly and advised to read and re-read the information provided. My efforts are seen to be so wide of the mark that I have been asked to re-submit the assignment. As you can imagine this was something of a shock and demoralising.

It was made worse by the fact that in his comments the tutor refers to matters that are not mentioned in the assignment and even provides it with a different title -  'Contrasts'. Now, it so happens that I undertook the Course "The Art of Photography" where the first Assignment was entitled  'Contrasts' and contained reference to those matters that my tutor had mentioned in his response. Could it be that for reasons best known to himself (did he fail to read something) he has assumed that I was pursuing the 'Art of Photography' rather than the Course for which he was appointed my Tutor?

I have sent an e-mail seeking clarification (I also sent a copy to the OCA seeking their help) and look forward to his response. I have told him that I am not prepared to re-submit the assignment until there is agreement on what it is I am supposed to be doing.

My major concern is, assuming that I am right, is a total loss of confidence in the Tutor. Whilst I am prepared to wait for the response my feelings at the moment are to seek a change of Tutor.

Having achieved my first degree through the Open University (BA Hons) I am very used to distance learning but this is the first time that I have failed because someone decided I was doing a different Course.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

Reading about light

Spent most of today enjoying the quiet after the Christmas festivities. Had the chance to finish reading "Captured by the Light" by David A Ziser (published by New Riders). Although it is a book about wedding photography the subject matter - the use of light whether ambient or photographic lighting - has a much wider application. Whilst I have no ambition to be a wedding photographer (I could not stand the stress) I found the author's approach to lighting very informative and offered a great deal of food for thought. To state the obvious photography is about light and how we use it in the image and to have the benefit of an experienced photographer's thoughts can only add to my store of knowledge.

I have found that even though the subject of a book may not be directly relevant to the work that interests me  it is always worth at least glancing through the pages to pick up hints and tips that are relevant to other fields. In the case of this book I found a reference to 'highlight tone priority' that is part of the menu on the camera that I use but had no real idea what is was there for - now I know.

Photographing Flowers 2

The client was happy with the photographs but then asked if it was possible to have black & white copies of two of them. Fortunately I still had the original DNG files so it wasn't a major problem. I did try the very simple approach of changing the made to 'grayscale' but I have found that this usually gives the image  a very flat look as it did in this case.

I did use the gradient tool method on the psd file and this was satisfactory but the original background was black that in the colour versions enhanced the appearance of the colours but was not so successful in black and white. (I know that the correct term is a grayscale image but the term 'black and white' is more commonly used.)

I decided to change the background to white. I selected the flowers using the quick selection tool in photoshop and fine tuned it using quick mask. I then saved the selection on a separate layer adding another layer filled with white to provide the background. The advantage of this was that I could move the selection to the best position whilst the white background showed up any minor faults in the selection. I removed these by painting them away with white using a very soft brush. I realised afterwards that this would have been better performed on a separate transparent layer above the 'flower' layer but that was being wise after the event.

For test purposes I printed off a copy of the colour version and to me this proved to be a better option than the original one that had a black background. Of course this is a matter of taste and personal preference and the final choice lies with the client but I did send her a copy of this version.

To create the black & white image I made a duplicate copy of the background layer and then applied a gradient to make the change to black and white. The result was not bad but there was a'softness' about the image and a lack of tonal range. I then desaturated the background layer that provided some improvement but still left me feeling dissatisfied. I realised that the problem lay in the lack of contrast between the off white petals of the flower and the white background. Although there was an edge to the petals I felt it needed to be more defined. I therefore created another layer using find edges that resulted in a very stark image and then experimented with the blending modes to get the 'best' result. I found that 'hard light' gave the best result and I fine tuned this by reducing the opacity of the layer.

This exercise has provided me with the opportunity to try out and test a number of ways to achieve the black and white image I believe to meet the requirements of the client. It also proved the value of retaining the original files so that 'changes on top of changes' could be avoided.

Photographing Flowers

I spent a fair part of yesterday photographing an orchid indoors. Nothing directly to do with the Course but I had been asked to do it so I though Why not!

I had plenty of warning so I thought about what was the most important thing to achieve. I came to the conclusion that it was the colour of the flowers. This was doubly important because the person receiving the photograph would have the actual orchid to compare with the produced image. I therefore needed some means of ensuring that the image taken properly reflected the colours of the plant. I decided to use an early Christmas present - a ColorChecker. Using this card the software that accompanies it produces a camera profile accurate to the light source at that time. The profile is available in the Camera profile menu of Camera RAW in Photoshop.

I  wanted an even light and did consider using diffused flash. However on the day I was fortunate in so far as the light in the room was just about perfect. It was an overcast day but the snow covering outside reflected a really good light indoors so I went with the available light. Using a tripod I used an aperture (f4 and f2.8) that gave me the desired depth of field. I also used a remote control to minimise any camera shake.

The flowers of the orchid were predominantly 'white' with a wide range of tonal differences with some hints of a very soft violet/purple. Only the centre of each flower had colour being variable but subtle tones of yellow.

I took two shots with the colorchecker in the frame and then approximately 20 of the plant itself. I used one of the shots including the colorchecker to establish the profile and then applied that profile to all the images within Camera RAW. Checking the images I found that there was a definite, albeit subtle, change in the colour rendition of each image and that the accuracy of the colours was very high. I carried out the usual enhancements whilst in Camera RAW before creating .psd files of the best six.

On this occasion I did not have to make the final choice as the person requesting the photograph was available and so the choice was made by her. I then printed off the requested images using the finest photograph printing on my printer (2880dpi and 'fine detail'). The client was delighted with the result.

Lessons learned:-

•  I found myself using the workflow approach, although I did not write it down, starting by setting the objective and then working through each step to achieve that objective. On this occasion there were time constraints because the shoot and printing had to be completed within one day.
• The use of the colorchecker was a boon because I could be certain that the white balance was right and that the colours were accurate speeding up the process considerably.
• I was also very conscious of the power of the software that allowed me to transfer the image in the camera and create the final product. I wanted to create something that was both artistic and 'real' and the ability to crop the image to have the 'best' part of the plant and to add text (the name of the plant) along with the usual enhancements helped me to achieve this aim.

DPP Assignment 1

Sorted through the images I had taken a couple of days ago winnowing them down to a manageable number. When creating the workflow I had set myself the task of a comparison between the building styles of the town's forefathers with the very recent additions that have caused controversy. I went out on the shoot with this in my mind but had not bothered to write down possible locations.

Whilst doing the sift I found myself moving towards the idea of using buildings that had a specific use (housing, civic and trade) and using examples from each to compare. It was at this point that I realised that I had missed a particular building that I had planned to shoot. I now need to return and get that shot. Whilst the opportunity will allow me to re-shoot one or two images that could be improved by taking them when there is less 'clutter' and the shoot is almost on my doorstep it is something of a pain.

Lesson learnt  -  think more carefully about the project and what I want to achieve and have a written list to ensure all the shots are taken. I do not see these as binding conditions in the sense that I could not change my mind during the shoot or take other shots that are not on the written list but at least I would minimise the chances of not achieving what I wanted the first time.

Exercis4 - Editing Digital Photographic Practice.

In my previous blog I stated that I had decided to combine exercises 2 and 4 using the workflow practice to produce a sufficient number of images for this exercise. This blog will cover that part of the workflow that begins with the downloading of the images and ends with the selection of just two images.

During the shoot of Busy St Edmunds Christmas Fayre I took a total of 122 shots - 38 during the daytime and 84 during the evening shoot. I downloaded them all directly from the camera to Adobe Bridge which is the software I use for reviewing images.

Initial sift - I discarded a total of 43 images in the initial shift:

• Overexposed   10
• Underexposed   9 
• Slow Shutter speed  7
• Poor composition  11
• Repetition  6

Overexposure occurred mainly in the evening shots particularly whilst taking a test shot. Inevitably there was a very wide range and there was a need to find a setting that captured most of the range.

Underexposure was a product of aiming for a shutter speed that made hand held shooting a reasonable hope of success whilst retaining an acceptable depth of field.

Slow shutter speed was primarily the result of test shots but also where the best shutter speed was less than needed to freeze movement.

Poor composition was where I had failed to notice unwanted elements in a picture - particularly safety barriers that seemed to be everywhere often in stacks or on looking at an image on the computer I had to ask myself what I was thinking of at the time.

Repetition is where I took more than one shot of  the same thing to get the best result.

I cannot say whether discarding 35% of the images at first shift is usual for me as I have never carried out this sort of analysis. The reasons are the usual although problems with exposure is unusually high because of the conditions under which the images were taken.

I used the star rating system available in Bridge to sort by my initial reaction to the remaining images:

• *           4
• **       31
• ***     43
• ****     1

I then went through these images to see if they warranted further work or could be discarded taking particular note of the composition of the image, its initial impact as an image and whether the focus was acceptable throughout the image. Using this process I discarded a further 26. With the remaining 53 images I opened them using Camera RAW applying the steps outlined in my blog on Exercise 1 to all of them. I then looked at those that were of similar parts of the fayre retaining those that in my opinion were the best examples. I also eliminated those that I felt were of a lower standard than the others that remained.

Throughout this process I bore in mind that ultimately I would have to select two images. In addition I could retain a larger number for showing to colleagues. For this latter exercise I retained 17 images including a small number that highlighted problems that I had encountered so that they could be a subject of discussion.

I then proceeded to select my final two images. I had decided that these would be the two that, in my opinion, represented the Fayre. 

There s a tradition at the Fayre for stallholders to dress in Victorian Costumes. I felt that these two ladies had gone that little bit further  to exemplify the spirit of the Fayre.

I chose this image because it not only provides a clue as to the time of year (the Santa's on the market stall) but also the atmosphere of the market element. 

The reduction of 122 images to just two was a considerable challenge and there was a need to concentrate on the underlying reason for the shoot. Of the final 17 shots that I processed fully possibly 10 of them would have been suitable for the final two. At the end of the day I went with my own reactions because on this occasion I was the final arbiter.

The two exercises combined I found to be challenging with Exercise 4 being the most challenging. I had to think carefully about the amount of work that I could create for myself if I decided to process all the images before the final selection. Probably on reflection I could have been more ruthless in selecting those that I fully processed as 27 demanded a significant period of time. Always underlying my later decisions was the thought that I might be missing an image that was 'lost' in the larger image.

Exercises 2 and 4 Digital Photographic Practice

I combined these two exercises using the workflow practice to plan the shoot and the editing exercise to select the shots that I had taken. I will use this blog to set out the workflow up to the point where I download the images to the computer. The following blog will recount the work from that point to the final selection of the final two.

Workflow


Objective: Photograph the Christmas Fayre in Bury St Edmunds both during daylight and evening. Images should catch the essential elements of the fayre.

Output: Selection of an unspecified number of images to be shown to fellow members of  the Phototalk Club (we had planned a club outing for the evening/nighttime shots) and compare with there images. Select final two for inclusion in Blog for Exercise 4.

Location: Bury St Edmunds town centre.

Equipment:  
          
        Lighting:  Available light. I considered both using flash attached to the camera and off camera flash. The latter was unwise as currently I use a wire connection between the camera and the flash unit and I envisioned strangling some poor innocent passer by. I discarded the first option because I felt that it would destroy the different types of light (tungsten, fluorescent and halogen) that would be in use during the evening shots. I therefore chose to use very high ISO settings on the camera being aware of the presence of noise in the images.
        
       Camera: Canon 5D Mk II. I took both lens (24 - 70mm & 70 - 300mm).

       Colour Checker: I decided against this as experience suggests that street scenes present short-lived opportunities to get a good image and there would be many changes of available lighting. The chance to take a test shot and then the desired image would be highly unlikely.

       Checks: I carried out all the checks as listed in the blog on Exercise 1. Found that a battery needed re-charging. I also ensured that I had appropriate clothing as the forecast was for very cold but dry weather.

Shoot

       Location: I found that the fayre was set up in several different locations around the town centre. Fortunately Bury St Edmunds is a very compact town and all parts are easy to get to in a relatively short period of time. However I felt that my decision to only use available lighting was justified because three of the locations were indoors, one in the cloisters of the cathedral and the remainder outdoors.

I took one or more test shots in each of the locations to establish a reasonable trade off between a good shutter speed for hand held shots and noise in the final image. The daytime shots presented few problems as the light was consistent but the shots taken during the evening produced every combination of artificial light. I had considered using a tripod or monopod so that I could use a low ISO and whatever shutter speed was required but as the vast majority of the shots would include moving people, fairground rides in motion and flashing lights the use of a low shutter speed (say below 1/125) was unlikely to work. I therefore decided not to use a tripod.

It is impossible to check the noise level using the picture on the LCD of the camera and the histogram only shows the tonal range of the image. The latter does allow a judgement as to whether the shot is under or over exposed which is useful and allows a second bite of the cherry.

The remainder of the workflow will be discussed in the following blog which will deal with the process from downloading the images to the final selection.

The workflow up to the time of shooting was useful and acted as a reminder of the things that needed to be done initially. At least I was not presented with problems during the actual shoot that could have been prevented by proper preparation. For the shoot itself I was obviously limited by the decisions I had taken earlier. I did not feel that these limitations were a nuisance although during the evening shoot two of my colleagues used monopods so it will be interesting to compare results. The decision to take photographs during the daytime allowed me to review what had been decided and whether to change anything for the evening shoot. In the end I felt that they were worth pursuing.

Whilst acknowledging the value of a workflow process during the initial planning stages I remain less convinced of its value during the actual shoot. The whole process of getting an images requires at the basic level a series of unavoidable steps that have to be followed in sequence. For serious photographers,
particularly professionals, they become second nature because they provide the foundation that allows the creative element to be successful. Following the shoot again the basics require fairly close adherence to a set sequence and only at the margins (when to add metadata for example) is there room for individual differences.

Exercise 3 - Histograms Digital Photographic Practice.

Photograph taken in average contrast conditions with a low winter sun coming from the right of the photograph.

Histogram shows a spike to the left indicating blocked shadows. Examination of the image using the Camera Raw conversion (CRc) programme shows that the affected areas are the top left and top right corners of the image. Neither are in critical areas of the image and would probably be cropped out in any finished image.

Same contrast conditions as the preceding image but exposure 1 stop higher.

Histogram shows a good distribution of pixels across the graph and there are no blocked shadows. Although not immediately evident on the histogram examination of the image using CRc reveals some blown highlights on the statue. 

Contrast conditions the same as previous two photographs but exposure 1 stop lower.

Histogram shows pixels predominantly to the left indicating that the image is underexposed. Spike on left suggests blocked shadows as would be expected given the exposure time. Again the CRc reveals that that in addition to those revealed in the first image there are some in the grassed area in front of the statue and in the flower bed near to the head. The shadow between the statue's legs is also blocked. 

The first three images were taken using automatic exposure bracketing so the lighting conditions are the same for each.

The next three images were taken in low contrast conditions (overcast day) using automatic exposure bracketing.

The first image was taken at 1/125th of a second. The histogram shows a good spread of pixels across the graph indicating a good tonal range. There are no problems with blocked shadows or blown highlights.

Exposure increased by 1 stop.

Marked shift to the right less tonal range as can be seen by comparing the two images. There is a limited amount of blown highlights.

Exposure decreased by 1 stop.

Histogram shows significant shift to the left indicating under exposure and limited tonal range. The are no highlights that extend to the right hand side of the graph. Some blocked out shadows. Examination of the image in CRc shows that these are in the water immediately under the statue.

The next three photographs were taken using off camera flash. The flash unit was fitted with a snoot to provide a concentrated area of light and was placed to the left of the statue at an angle of about 30 degrees. The images were taken separately rather than using AEB but the lighting remained constant because of the use of flash. 

The first image was taken at 1/125th of a second. The histogram is almost flat but there are both blocked shadows and blown highlights. The blocked shadows are very limited and relate to the very dark shadow  immediately under the statue. There are considerable blown highlights. All the sky at the top of the image is blown out and from head to knee on the left side of the statue.

This image was taken with the exposure increased by one stop. As can be seen there has been a shift to the right and further examination reveals that there are large areas of blown highlights particularly the statue and the sky. Would need a lot of work to improve. Would reject in camera normally.

Histogram suggests good tonal range. There are blocked shadows as can be seen from the spike on the left of the histogram but further examination shows them to be in insignificant areas. There are also some  blown highlights but could be easily rectified.

General conclusions  - Using the camera histogram offers the opportunity to make judgements of the quality of the photograph almost immediately after the shot is taken by referring to the display on the camera's LCD.  It also provides an opportunity to check the camera settings chosen to see if they need some re-setting.

However it does have limitations and care needs to be taken that images are not discarded solely because there is something 'odd' about the histogram. Personally I wait until I have transferred them to the computer and opened them in Camera RAW because the amount of information is so much greater. Furthermore you are able to try out various adjustments that may produce an acceptable or on occasions a very good image. 

The ability to combine images in Photoshop e.g. HDR software also should be taken into account before discarding images that have been taken under the same conditions of lighting.

Exercise 1 DPP Workflow - Completion

Objective
Portrait Shoot in one session.

Location
I chose to take the portrait shots of my wife in our own home. Although I considered outdoors the uncertain weather with predominantly cloudy skies meant that I could not be certain of reasonable light on the day.


Lighting
I decided to use off camera flash. In part this was because I had more control of the light but also I saw it as an opportunity to practice this method in an actual shoot.

Camera
I used a Canon 5D MkII. I started out using the 24-70mm lens which is wide angle but found that this provided too much extraneous background.  I switched to the 70-300mm lens at or around the 70mm mark and found that this gave me much more control over the initial composition. As I was using flash I set the shutter speed to 1/125 and kept an aperture value of 5.0.

Colour Checker
I used this in two images to cover the change in lighting and then totally messed it up by failing to read the instructions properly.

Checking 
I carried out the checks listed in my generic workflow (see previous blog). There are advantages in shooting at home because I could be confident that I had all necessary spares.

Shoot


Location - Home

Camera see above.
I thought I would use this shoot to try 'tethered' shooting i.e. with the camera attached directly to a laptop computer. This offers the opportunity of seeing each shot as a much larger image than is available on the LCD on camera. It worked well although there was a need to ensure that the laptop screen was at the correct angle for viewing otherwise the image appeared to be either too bright or too dark. It did however give me a great deal of information about the position of the lighting and the shadows cast on the subject.
Unfortunately I also had the camera tied to the flash unit so there was a tangle of wires that nearly ended in tragedy. If I was to pursue this type of photography in the future I would get a remote control for the flash unit.
In all I took 38 images over a period of about 1 hour.

"Back Home"


Download
There was two stages to the downloading. Images taken with the camera tethered to a computer are only stored on the computer. It was necessary therefore to download onto a memory stick and then upload onto the main computer. (I don't have Photoshop on my laptop.) For those taken with the camera untethered the download was direct to the main computer.
There is an automatic back up system on the Mac that saves to an external hard drive. For my purposes this is sufficient back up at this stage and I can see no reason for another back up system although I can appreciate why professional photographers feel this need.

As I mentioned in the paragraph about the colour checker I had failed to read the full instructions. You have to save the images containing the shot of the colour checker in DNG format. (There are other alternatives but the version I bought was for Photoshop rather than LightRoom). Annoyingly I used to follow the practice of saving all my images as DNG files but stopped shortly before I began this Course. Lesson learnt - always read the instructions and think carefully before abandoning a system that has worked successfully.

Check
Using Adobe Bridge I made an initial trawl through the resulting images deleting those with obvious problems such as over or under exposure or where the placement of the lighting was not of the best. I then went through a second time with my wife (who was the subject) and made a shortlist of 7 images that I intended to do further work on. I did not delete those that had not made the shortlist as some of them were good images but were perhaps of the same pose but different expression.

Identity
I renamed the chosen 7 and copied them to a separate folder.

Process
I did use the colour checker to set the White Balance in all the images. There were two sets - one with off camera flash and one using candles. I selected, separately, the two sets transferred them to Camera Raw and then used the colour checker chart to establish the White Balance. I then used 'synchronise' to apply this setting to all others taken with the same lighting. I then followed the steps outlined in my previous blog to achieve the desired result.
There was very little work necessary in Photoshop itself although I did apply a Gaussian Blur to soften all but the eyes and lips of the subject.

Selection
We finally decided on three images to show the results of this work:-

I did not find the workflow restrictive nor did I find that I had to change it in the light of experience. The reality is that in photography like many other actions certain things have to happen before something else happens. For example  you cannot process an image unless you have taken it first. Workflows become restrictive when they are over detailed and the photographer feels a compulsion to follow them to the letter. They should be guides that remind us of things we need to do but they should never get in the way of the creative process. I would guess that the best photographers follow the same broad path to achieve the results they want but are alive to the unforeseen opportunity that is the spark that ignites our interest.

For Exercise 2 I will be taking street shots of the local Christmas Fayre.  The equipment I take I will have to carry and the use of a tripod virtually impossible if not dangerous. Clearly I will have to make a number of decisions before I go and hope that I will be able to get the shot that will make the whole evening worthwhile. We'll see.

Digital Photographic Practice - Exercise 1

I have to admit I am something of a cynic where workflows are concerned. I have seen them used on multi-million pound building projects where the paperwork constitutes a filing cabinet full of material that seems to have little relationship to what is happening on the ground. Time lines and critical path analysis look and sound wonderful but do you really have to be told that the walls have to be built before you can put the roof on.

In the simplest terms the photographic process can be defined as:

• Decide what you want to do
• Go and do it
• Process the results
• Publish

Having got that off my chest I have created the following  workflow.

Objective

Portrait shoot. One session

Output - to Blog

Location

Choose location - Outdoors - Indoors

Equipment

Lighting

Available Light

Off Camera Flash

Studio Lighting

Camera

Canon 5D Mk II

Lens 24 - 70mm and/or 70 - 300mm

Colour Checker

X-Rite ColorChecker Passport

Computer

Mac OSX Snow Leopard with automatic back-up on external hard drive (1tb space)

Check

If other than available light check flash and/or studio lighting are working correctly and batteries do not need replacing.

Camera battery fully charged. Fully charged spare battery available.

Memory Card has sufficient space for planned shoot. Additional memory cards available.

Lens clean. Lens hoods available. Auto/Manual focus working correctly.

Computer. Ample space on hard drive and memory back up. Calibration within time schedule

Software for transfer and processing of images functional.

Shoot

Location

Having chosen location check lighting levels and finalise decision on available light or use of photographic lighting.

Decide on initial position of subject and test camera angles and lighting on subject.

Camera

Set and/or check all camera settings based on information from test.

Shoot test shots and check results using display and histogram

Carry out shoot checking results.

Back Home

Download

Download Images from Camera to Computer

Check

Using Bridge check images discarding all those with obvious technical faults or other unaccepptable results

Trawl second time awarding rating using star system

Check and discard images that are rated low

Identify

Name, number or otherwise identify all ‘keeps’ and place in separate folder(s)

Process

Using Camera RAW process individual images:

Apply Camera Profile as established by Colour Checker

If necessary check White Balance. Use temperature slider to get desired result

Use ‘Exposure’ in Camera RAW to set desired result

Add Contrast if necessary

Add Clarity and Variance

Use Adjustment Brush for local adjustments

Apply any finishing effects deemed to be necessary

Transfer image to Photoshop and finalise processing.

Save images in separate folder

Selection

Re-visit all remaining images and make final selection either several for clients approval or, if you are the sole arbiter the number you require.

Saving 

Include necessary metadata into file 

Publish

Transfer in desired forrmat to destination

The next step is to take the portrait images and see whether it works.

Final Assignment - The Art of Photography - Submission

I trawled through my own library of images seeking inspiration for this assignment. I came across a large number of images that I had taken on holiday whilst in France this September. Earlier in the year I had read a fictional book that used the pilgrims' journey from Le Puy en Velay in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain as its factual basis.  Intrigued by this I decided to follow this path (albeit by car) in two stages - the first part in France in late 2010 and the Spanish part in early 2011. I had a vague idea of using the resulting set of images as a 'Travel' submission for my Associateship submission to the Royal Photographic Society. I had put this idea on the back burner when I decided to work for a Degree and improve my knowledge of photography. I had therefore filed the images as something I might return to in the future or as a simple reminder of a very enjoyable holiday.

On more careful reflection I realised that I had the makings of a submission for the final assignment. The journey met all the criteria of the assignment although there was a great deal of work to be done to select the images that best illustrated the story I wanted to tell. I had several attempts trying to create an interesting 'narrative'. My first one was very religious building orientated (architecture is a genre that I enjoy) and lacked variety. It was also difficult to conceptualise the images on a magazine page. I overcame this problem by creating a slide presentation using 'Keynote' on a Mac with each slide representing a page. I found this most useful.

Thought had to be given to how much narrative to include. There was a clear need to give some background information so that the images were seen in context but I felt that the important part was the reasoning behind my choice and why I had chosen the images that appeared in the final narrative.

My final choice was  a set of images that were varied, told different elements of the story but acted as a cohesive whole.

This assignment lay way outside anything that I had done before and therefore a considerable challenge. Although I had created a panel of images that had acted as a coherent whole the individual images had no direct connection one to the other. I await my tutors comments to see if I understood the purpose of the assignment. I have given myself plenty of time before assessment to submit a further effort.

New Course - Digital Photographic Practice

Received the Course materials today. After a quick glance through I am looking forward to starting it as soon as possible.

Sent my profile (updated) to my new tutor so await his response.

Final Assignment - The Art of Photography

Completed the first draft of this assignment.

Although I had a good series of linked images that met the criteria was uncertain as to how best present them. Current thinking is that I will produce a PDF document which will allow me to show how the photographs would be set out in a magazine article. However this creates smaller images the quality of which is hard to determine. Perhaps the answer is to send my tutor the usual batch of images via e-mail and support these with the PDF document.

Have to think about this so will allow the draft to 'simmer' for a while.

Rain

I took a number of 'rain' shots but chose this one because of graphic element. There was also the added attraction of the reflected autumn leaves. The image is deliberately over-sharpened to highlight the raindrops.

The difficulty in this exercise was to find an 'attractive' shot. Rain by itself is not really attractive and most scenes are only enhanced by rain if there are reflections in the pools or wet it creates on other surfaces or it creates a different type of image such as people coping with the rain or cars splashing through large puddles on the road.

Juxtaposition

The image is of the statue of Notre-Dame de France in Le Puy en Velay in South West France.

The statue and pedestal on which it stands is 22.7 metres high and the shot was taken from ground level. The statue in the bottom right corner is of a kneeling man praying. The position of the camera allows the viewer to follow the implied eye line of the supplicant to the face of the Virgin Mary who in turn is looking at the Christ child. The child is pointing to something in the distance that has significance because the town in which the statue stands is one of the starting points for the pilgrimage to Camino de Santiago.

Symbols

Growth - Something from nature; skyscraper next to a much smaller building; a simple graph.

Nature is an obvious choice offering an almost infinite number of images that would demonstrate growth the danger being that it may well have been used before. The skyscraper next to a smaller office block (perhaps the original headquarters of the company) would be an effective symbol for growth. The graph is perhaps the most used of all growth symbols so there would need to be something about it that was eye-catching, possibly created by using symbols rather than a straight line. One possibility that comes to mind is a graph demonstrating the rise in FTSE 100 executive pay by replacing a simple straight line graph by company logos.

Excess - a morbidly obese person; salt content of some foods; a drunk outside an establishment selling alcohol.

For the morbidly obese person a simple unclothed shot would have the greatest impact although there may be mileage in a close up say of the upper thigh or the 'love handles' just on one side inviting the viewer to guess at what they are looking. Salt content could be demonstrated by  piles of salt in front of the packaging of the relevant product or of someone emptying a salt cellar on to a plate of food. For the drunk shot decisions would have to be taken about the purpose of the written article - if it is about the degradation of the person addicted to alcohol then dirty ragged clothes with the person lying in the gutter may be the strongest image whilst to illustrate alcoholism amongst rich bored housewives a Harvey Nichols outfit with a Gucci handbag nearby may make the greatest impact.

Crime -  CCTV Cameras; Handcuffs; Prison Gate

Care would have to be taken with all of these shots to ensure that you don't fall foul of the authorities. Of the three handcuffs are the easiest and could be used in a still life either placed on a person or as a 'reflected'  image in a shop window displaying very desirable goods.  Another alternative is a pair of fur-lined handcuffs to illustrate the 'softness' of our punishment systems. The CCTV camera shot could be used to illustrate an article on the impact of crime on our right to privacy either as a simple straight forward image or a number of them 'ghosted' above a normal high street scene. The prison gate (preferably easily recognised by the general public e.g Wormwood Scrubs) is likely to have more impact if it is either fully open or the wicket gate open. Such an image could be used to demonstrate either someone being released into society or being incarcerated depending upon the article it is supporting. In Photoshop it would be possible to create a revolving door (there are no actual revolving main doors in the prison estate) image to illustrate an article on the re-offending and return to prison of many offenders.

Silence - interior shot of the reading room of a library;  ear protectors; a busy motorway.

The first shot for many implies silence but in many 'modern' libraries the idea of silence is a foreign concept. The same shot could be used to illustrate either concept. Similarly for the ear protectors that  offer silence for the wearer but also imply excessive noise. A busy motorway could be used to illustrate the underlying noise that pervades all our environments that there really is no place where absolute silence can be experienced.


Poverty - a simple wooden bowl; a shanty town; an outstretched hand.

Most would relate the bowl to the begging bowl that is an almost universal symbol of poverty as are the other two suggestions. Poverty is a relative concept because it depends upon how it is defined; what may be seen as a level of poverty in one part of the world could be seen as almost luxurious in another part. This aspect highlights the need to know what the article being illustrated is setting out to communicate.

Symbols in Advertising

In the second part of the project we are asked to write down five examples of concepts that are regularly depicted in advertising and publicity that cannot be shown directly.

Success - Advertisements selling goods that would be considered luxury items by many people are often depicted with other elements that suggest that the depicted person leads a successful life. The subliminal message is that by owning the product the purchaser will demonstrate to the wider world that he or she is a success.

Care - Recent commercials by the health provision company BUPA emphasise the high level of care that the prospective member can expect by joining BUPA. The hidden message is the implied comparison with the National Health Service and relies heavily on a belief that the NHS is impersonal, has long waiting lists and limited access to the really good consultants.

Increased competence - Here the message is that by buying a particular object the purchaser can achieve greater levels of competence. One has only to look at the advertisements placed by camera companies. Almost invariably the shot of the camera is given a background of a superb photograph that can only be aspired to by the average amateur photographer.

Anxiety Relief  - A fairly recent phenomenon is adverts by debt settling companies. It is suggested, indeed emphasised, that by putting your financial affairs in the hands of the company your worries will go away. They almost all start with an anxious person trying to sort out his affairs accompanied by an understanding other whose faces are suddenly wreathed in smiles when they realise that all their troubles have gone away.

Image - In a sense this concept underlies all forms of advertising whether it deals with the executive style of life or debt relief. Here the advertiser suggests that purchasing a particular product or service will in some way enhance your image in whatever way you think. Whether it be the latest luxury car, sea cruise or even many everyday things the advert tries to get you to believe that both in your own eyes and that of others you are will be a better person.

It is said that there only two concepts in advertising - fear and greed and all other concepts are subsets of these two. Fear is best exemplified by the adverts for cleaning materials that claim to kill most of the germs our children come into contact in their everyday lives. Greed is best shown by the Lottery that offers a fantastic lifestyle for the lucky winner.

Evidence of Action

Here the viewer of the photograph can see something has happened by the presence of the blood on the knife, the severed thumb and the dripping blood that links the other two elements. The assumption can be made that some unknown person cut off his or her thumb whilst attempting to create a halloween pumpkin.

Although fairly obvious in this picture I believe it is important to provide a link between the various parts of the image to allow the viewer to create the story. Disparate objects that have no apparent link can lead to a confused viewer or an assumption wide of the mark.

However the photographer has to assume a certain level of knowledge on the part of the viewer to get his message across. Here we require knowledge that the object bottom left is a thumb (or at least part of a digit), that blood only flows downhill like water unless pumped in some way and that sharp knives can, used improperly, sever a digit.

For those of a squeamish disposition the blood and the thumb are stage props. I still have all my digits!

An Evening with Colin Prior

I visited St Ives Photographic Club yesterday to hear a lecture by Colin Prior a well known landscape photographer. I had heard good reviews of his work but to put it mildly I found it disappointing. Although there were some very good images, there was a lot of repetition and some that were not so good. I left at the interval.

I wondered why the evening had worked out as it had given the reputation of the presenter. I came to the conclusion that it was the venue. The hall is a large room with very high ceilings and the roof trusses visible. Acoustics therefore were poor which made listening to the commentary very difficult. In addition the screen used was not of the best quality so that the images were not shown to their best.

Perhaps more importantly of all the placing of the screen meant that it was tiny in relation to its surroundings and most of the images were panoramas that filled less than a third of the screen. The effect was akin to trying to judge the image from a 6x7 en print that really does not work for the grandeur of landscapes. Interestingly the images that had the greatest impact were those that were almost full screen in size allowing the viewer to 'enter' the picture.

Lesson learnt - we need to be aware of the environment in which the photographs are going to be displayed to ensure the best chance of them having the impact desired.

A Narrative Picture Essay - Arroz Con Pollo

I decided to keep things relatively simple and more under my control so that the learning experience was greater. Anything lying outside your own control such as the Lord Mayor's Show or local equivalent means that you are at risk of poor weather, unruly (always getting in front of the camera) crowds and officials that view all photographers as potential terrorists.

We all eat and many of us cook our own food and I felt that there was a picture essay in this everyday task.

The first thing we have to do is decide what we want to eat, whether to go for the tried and trusted or venture into something new. For the latter we probably need some guidance from a cookbook. A browse through its pages may well find us looking at a recipe that looks promising.

Here we have come across the recipe for Arroz Con Pollo. (Note - I have deliberately blurred the pages to avoid any copyright issues) - primarily a chicken, sausage and rice dish.

Usually we have to shop for the ingredients so off to the local supermarket to return laden with all that we need.

Having unpacked the bag(s) we can then proceed to prepare the ingredients ready for the pan:

There is usually the need to weigh some of the ingredients and also cut some of them.

Happily some of them come in handy sized units so that eventually we have our ingredients ready:

The next step is to place them in the pan as required by the instructions in the recipe:

Tomatoes

Rice

Pimento

Everything else except

Peas

for the observant you will have noticed that these went in approx 1 hours later

Having got all the ingredients in the pan it is time to give them a good stir to ensure that everything is mixed together well:

Having ensured that all is cooked the only thing left to do is to serve:

General comments - This was a very interesting exercise and something that I had never done. I had cooked this meal before so knew the process and the order in which things happened. This knowledge helped enormously when I came to prepare the photo shoot script. Also in setting up the camera and lights so that they were not in the way yet offered the best chance of a good image.

Lighting was a problem particularly as the day drew on and the amount of natural light fell. I decided, after experimenting, to use flash without a diffuser. I found that it offered the best image particularly on bright surfaces and I also liked the deep shadows that gave a sense of form and depth to the various utensils and other elements in the image.

We are asked to print the pictures and to lay them out to enhance the story being told. I have to admit that I have not done this but did use the power of Photoshop to create a virtual layout. I tried a whole series of different placements of the photographs but found in the end that the most successful was the linear one that is followed in this blog. The other alternative was a setting similar to an algorithm with elements to the side dealing with preparation and cooking. However it only seemed to work if lines were included so that the process could be easily followed.