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.