Project 1: dynamic range

Camera manufacturers don't like to divulge the dynamic range of their cameras therefore I must endevour to discover it for myself. Dynamic range of the sensor is the difference between the darkest shadows and the brightest highlights that it can capture in one scene without losing detail. If detail is lost this is known as clipping. Within RGB solid black measures 0,0,0 and solid white 255,255,255.

Handy table to remember the f-stop increments...am going to print this out and take it with me!

Shutter speed	1/8	1/15	1/30	1/60	1/125	1/250	1/500
Aperture	F2.8	F4	F5.6	f.8	F11	F16	F22

Sometimes I think the written instructions are actually more confusing than the task itself...as an LSA and having to write or make information very basic I do double take and think why didn't it just say X? Calculating the DR in DPP was the task I put off for ages, now realising it wasn't that hard to do I wasn't so fussed about this one.

To start- I had a plain white piece of card in daylight. ISO set at its lowest,image size smallest.Used Custom WB and Manual exposure.Filled the frame with the card, adjusted shutter speed for average exposure.Noted the setting. Next I calculated a setting that was 6 f-stops darker by altering the aperture, however due to the lens I was using I found I couldn't change enough stops so increased/decreased exposure by using shutter speed instead. I also had a minor problem with the lighting, being a cloudy day I had to wait for the sun to come back out from behind the clouds to continue enabling me to have consistent lighting conditions. Then it was windy and my card kept falling over!

Apart from that this was fairly straight forward to complete; the mid point metered to F8 @ 250 however, even adjusting my shutter speed I couldn't change down more than 4 stops;  progression was f8 @ 1/500, 1/1000/ 1/2000 and finally 1/4000. In the opposite direction I had no difficulty in the shutter speed f8 @ 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15,1/8,1/4.

The images were then opened in Photoshop and out of curiosity I took RGB values before converting to greyscale. The black point read (8.8.8) the mid range (110,114,125) which suggests the metering wasn't spot on as mid grey should be as near to (128,128,128) as possible, and the white point did hit (255,255,255)

The ascending scale was the created and here is the resulting chart.

Dynamic Range Canon 400D

Histogram showing tonal peaks




The image was cropped to stop at the black and white points. Once converted the (8,8,8) read as (3,3,3) which I though was quite strange? The mid point (115,115,115) which seems to have averaged out the original readings, and the white point remained the same (255,255,255)

Counting the steps including the cut off points (9,9,9) and (255,255.255) - I didn't count the (3,3,3) due to the fact anything below (5,5,5) would be black with no viewable detail, it would appear that my camera has an 8 stop range which is quite normal. The histogram also appears to reflect this. When testing the dynamic range of my camera for DPP the scene results gave a dynamic range of 7. This test is a little more complex and gives a range of 8. However due to the fact that the lowest point shifted when converted, it may possibly fall between 8/9 and the following website found that the 400D produced a consistent dynamic range of 8.4 with ISO 100-800 and 7.8 at ISO1600.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos400d/page19.asp

This reassures me that I carried out this task correctly (even if my metering was a bit off) and my camera is acting in the way it should. It was also good to note that my mid-point is midway on the chart so should avoid burnt-out highlights and blocked-up shadows. Armed with this information I should be able to judge how much information I can caputure in a given scene, especially one with high contrast.

1: Full colour control

This first section has 8 projects and Assignment 1. The projects are:

Project 1: dynamic range
Project 2: understanding the histogram
Project 3: a variety of lighting conditions
Project 4: your camera's colour performance
Project 5: a personal range of colours
Project 6: measuring colour
Project 7: altering colour with levels
Project 8: altering colour with hue/saturation.

Assignment 1: seasonal colour changes.

It is interesting to note that digital photography gives more control over the colour in a photograph than film. In this first section I am being asked to take into consideration brightness and contrast, using both the camera settings and the full range of editing tools when enhancing and altering.

Dynamic range was covered in DPP but this first project looks at it in more depth, it helps to know the relationship between brightness and f-stops, the normal sequence on cameras is as follows f2, f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16, f22. Using the camera's inbuilt light meter you can measure the brightness of different areas of a scene. I know that doubling or halving makes a difference of 1 stop but it still confuses me when I have to put it into practice, it is something I have to think about rather than it coming naturally! Hopefully with more practical work this will sink in!  A suggestion is to try and work out if you can judge by eye the mid tone in a scene....

experiment to be done...

Progressing With Digital Photography Overview

Progressing With Digital Photography consists of five areas of study, five assignments and 30 projects. The five topic areas are; Full colour control, Image combination, Photo-realistic retouching, Degrees of alteration and New world images. For some of the projects a CD of images are provided to help me complete the tasks set. Looking at the project and tutorial plan it will be interesting to note if on average they take the amount of recommended time. With the last course I probably spent the required amount of time to complete the course but some of the tasks took longer than anticipated with others taking less. I dare say that will also be the case with PwDP.

Time management has never really been an issue for me, the problems only occur when the weather interferes with images I want to shoot outside or people pull out of planned sessions due to unforeseen circumstances. I normally build in some kind of contingency plan for this. Keeping a logbook was also not a problem, instead of writing my entries up after the exercises I found it practical and easier to do both at the same time, I'd write up what I had to do, complete the exercise upload my results to my log along with any random thoughts I had along the way. Sticking things into my physical log was also done asap so I didn't lose all the bits of paper. Jotting the notes sometimes were done afterwards. What I have noticed along the way is that I don't always remember to add labels to my posts and that was a pain going back over them making sure they had the labels I wanted! *Note to self* REMEMBER LABELS! and possibly with level 2 requiring a higher level of critical thinking referencing my notes will be a must.

I am looking forward to thinking about the "check box" of criteria when commencing each assignment and am hoping that by thinking about creativity I don't actually "kill" the creative process. Am having quite an interesting conversation with a fellow flickr user with regards to art/creativity/study and he mentioned Jiddu Krishnamurti so I had a look at the website he quoted from. Several of the quotes I felt I could relate to straight away; Krishnamurti stated:

• Creativeness comes into being when there is constant awareness of the ways of the mind, and of the hindrances it has built for itself.
• It is only when the mind does not seek stimuli in any form, whether outward or inward, that it can be completely quiet, free, and only in that freedom is there creation.
• When there is creativeness, when we have that creative feeling, there is no struggle, there is absence of struggle, which means that the self, the 'me', with all its prejudices, its conditioning, is not there. In that state when the self is not, there is creativeness; and that creative feeling, that creative state, we try to express in action - through music, painting, or what you will. Then the struggle begins - the desire for recognition, and so on.

Interesting ideas....

When Joe makes contact I need to establish how he likes student work to be submitted and make sure I have everything I need to proceed with the course i.e. ink, paper, folders, DVD's etc and set up some new pages/labels for PwDP. One question I think I'll be asking straight away is about the portfolio...would this online blog be sufficient as the final portfolio of work or does physical one have to kept? Am guessing it could be a mixture of the two? All images produced for assignments to be printed but project work can be uploaded? Some of the materials folders don't seem to reflect the change in the move towards accepting electronic submission? Will find out in due course.

Progressing With Digital Photography Aims

DPP completed now waiting for the submission date to open. Spent the last few days making sure everything is as I want, and hopefully what the assessors want to see!

I confirmed my intent to continue studying and my desire to continue with PwDP, materials finally arrived after a delay due to all the bank holidays, have introduced myself to my new tutor "waves to Joe" and had a quick skim read of the exercises and assignments. As with DPP there have been a mix of emotions, ranging from "oh sheesh that looks fiddly" to "ok shouldn't be a problem" and finally "that looks FUN!"

Decision has been made to continue using this blog rather than starting a new one. Mainly as I think it will help show my progression by keeping everything in one place and also if I want to use prior research I'll know exactly where it is. Not too much of a problem at the moment but if I had several blogs/courses completed or on the go that could be an issue of remembering exactly where things were electronically filed.

Having gone through the folder and relevant paperwork one of the first things I had to do was think about what I wanted to gain from this course so here is my initial list :o)

There are several things I would like to gain from this course :-

• Build upon knowledge/skills gained in the previous course.
• Understand the limits/image capabilities of my camera a little more
• Push my own creative thinking/experimentation.
• Expand my theoretical knowledge.
• Be more open minded with my attitude towards some artists, exploring more than one area of their work.
• Improve my study skills i.e. applying the Harvard method to research and essay writing.

Although these are my aims I anticipate learning much more along the way :o)

Let the learning begin.......

Results :o)

I passed phew! My tutor had indicated that there shouldn't be a problem but you always hold your breath! Second Class Upper Division which I think is fair and am pleased with :o) Having be given APEL for the two other level one modules I had to learn quite quickly what was the standard for the OCA submissions and how to show progression, learning and research as well as produce work of a suitable standard.

Assessor feedback concluded that my submission was well presented, and showed progress. The work demonstrated that I am articulate and self aware, my blog showed I appreciate the value of research. Have competent technical skill, can transmit ideas and emotions. My shoe series was described as evocative :o) Good use of colour and light. The main areas I could have gained more points on were invention and communication with my learning log described as not the easiest to navigate but was realistic, useful and of value to me. So areas to look at on the next level.

Bibliography

I decided to practice compiling a bibliography and there are some questions I think I will need to ask with regards to when the details in the book state it is a revised edition but not which edition? Do you say "Revised Ed." and leave it or do you not state it's a revised edition? Also when a book is a compliation with a writer for the text and a credit for the compiler. Do you just state their names or what their contribution was? Here is my attempt...but this has highlighted the need for checking out this kind of thing for when a requirement of essays written at level 2. I also gleaned information from many websites and they were accessed on the date of the blog entry. Links directly to the pages viewed have been included on the actual posts so for the purpose of this compilation, on the whole, the main webpage has been noted.

Books

Alsheimer, L and O’Neil Hughes B (2009)  Black and white in Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop Lightroom London: Elsevier/Focal Press

Andrews, P and Butler, Y, J  and Farace J RAW workflow from capture to archives London: Elsevier/Focal Press

Andrews, P and Langford M (2007)  Langford's starting photography Revised 5^th ed. London: Elsevier/Focal Press

Barnes M author (2010) Shadow catchers camera-less photography  London: Merrell Publishers Ltd

Barthes R (2000) Camera lucida London: Vintage

Beardsworth  J (2007) Advanced digital black and white photography London: The Ilex Press Ltd

Berman N (2008) Homeland Great Britain: Trolley Ltd

Busselle, M and Freeman J (1989)  Photographer's handbook Revised ed. London : Octopus Books

Canfield J (2005) RAW 101 better images with Photoshop and Photoshop Elements London: SYBEX

Davis H (2010) Creative black and white digital photography tips and techniques London: Wiley Publishing Inc

Evening M (2004) Adobe Photoshop CS  for photographers London: Focal Press

Fraser B (2005) Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS London: Peachpit Press

Freeman M (2007) The photographers eye London:  Elsevier/ Focal Press

Gartside T (2006) Digital night and low-light photography London: The Ilex Press Limited

Hurn, D and Jay B  (1999) On looking at photographs London:  LensWork Publishing

Hurn, D and Jay B (2001) On being a photographer Revised 3rd Ed. London:  LensWork Publishing

Lowrie C K (2007) Digital Rebel XTi/400D digital field guide Indianapolis : C Wiley

Peterson B (2003) Learning to see creatively London: Amphoto Books 2003

Slinkachu (2008) Little people in the city- the street art of Slinkachu London: Boxtree/ Pan- Macmillan

Roberts S (2009) We English London: Boot C

Seaborne  M (2011)  London street photography 1860-2010 (Museum of London) London: Dewi Lewis Publishing

Sieveking  A (1994) How to photograph babies & children  London: Harper Collins

Sontag S (1979) On photography London: Penguin Books Ltd

Wells L (2002) The photography reader London:  Routledge

Westerbeck C (2005)  Joel Meyerowitz Revised Ed. London: Phaidon Press Limited 

Websites

http://www1.clikpic.com/dc101/gallery_33828.html
http://www.5min.com/
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/home.html
http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/index.php
http://acurator.com/#/2/79/0
http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/pdfs/linear_gamma.pdf
http://www.adobe.com/support/photoshop/
http://www.afterimagegallery.com/index.htm
http://alltelleringet.com/
http://www.alscotts.com/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/

http://www.americansuburbx.com/

http://www.andymumford.com/
http://www.anseladams.com/

http://www.answers.com/

http://www.barrycawston.com/index.html
http://www.batsys.com/index.html
http://www.battlefront.co.uk/
http://www.bjp-online.com/
http://blogcritics.org/
http://blog.tonyeckersley.com/
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/
http://www.canon.co.uk/
http://www.carlkleiner.com/
http://www.carlosesguerra.com/
http://www.charliewaite.com/
http://www.chesterhiggins.com/
http://www.coinet.org.uk/

http://www.compugoddess.com/index.htm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html
http://designboom.com/eng/
http://digitaljournalist.org/index.html
http://www.digitalpicturezone.com/
http://www.dove.co.uk/
http://www.dphotojournal.com/
http://dpreview.com/
http://www.ehow.com/ehow-home/
http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/perloff/boltanski.html
http://faculty.unlv.edu/mcrae/monument_lists/art_261_monument_list_04.pdf
http://www.famouspictures.org/mag/index.php?title=Main_Page
http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/
http://greenwedge.org/
http://www.grygarness.com/index.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
http://harrington.com/index.shtml
http://www.illustratedphotography.com/
http://www.imaging-resource.com/index.html
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/
http://www.jeannegreco.com/Recent_Work/Home.html
http://www.jeanmiele.com/ 

http://www.joancharmant.com/

http://www.joelmeyerowitz.com/
http://www.joelsternfeld.com/
http://www.joncompson.com/
http://journal.phottix.com/
http://www.joygregory.co.uk/
http://katieell.com/
http://www.kenrockwell.com/index.htm
http://www.life.com/
http://lightchasersphotography.com/blog/

http://www.london-futures.com/postcards-from-the-future/

http://www.londonstereo.com/introduction.html
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/index.shtml
http://www.magforum.com/index.htm
http://www.mapplethorpe.org/foundation/
http://www.mattstuart.com/
http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/
http://www.michaelfreemanphoto.com/
http://www.michaelkenna.net/
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/gabourey-sidibe-in-elle-light-bright-and-almost-white_b11634
http://www.mocp.org/
http://www.mountainlight.com/
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/
http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/london-wall/
http://www.poynton.com/index.html
http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles1203/mh1203-1.html
http://www.nilsjorgensen.com/
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/index.html
http://www.nppa.org/
http://omniclimate.wordpress.com/
http://oreilly.com/
http://www.oswaldgallery.com/
http://www.paulroark.com/thumbnails.html
http://pcin.net/update/
http://www.petapixel.com/
http://www.phaidon.co.uk/agenda/
http://www.philippedollo.com/
http://www.postcardsfromthefuture.co.uk/
http://photo.net/
http://photography.si.edu/
http://www.photoquotes.com/
http://www.photoxels.com/
http://www.picturecorrect.com/
http://pollybraden.com/
http://www.poserdesign.net/blog/
http://www.poynton.com/index.html
http://www.praxis.org.uk/
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/
http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/
http://www.russellbrown.com/
http://samabell-thephotographiclife.com/
http://simoncroberts.com/simonroberts.html
http://www.studioninja.co.uk/
http://www.tallslimerect.com/alex/index.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
http://theonlinephotographer.blogspot.com/2006/06/great-photographers-on-internet.html
 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/
http://www.thesun.co.uk/
http://www.tomhunter.org/html/news.php
http://www.trustedreviews.com/
http://www.utata.org/
http://www.5min.com/
http://vimeo.com/
http://we-english.co.uk/

http://www.webresizer.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.wolfsuschitzkyphotos.com/
http://www.worldpressphoto.org/
http://x-equals.com/blog/
http://www.youtube.com/

Rounding Up and Reflecting

Course completed this is the chance to sit back and reflect on what I have achieved and learnt since October last year. A few days ago I scanned through my learning log from the very beginning to check that all websites and books were noted down in my bibliography. When finished I looked at the long list and thought "Did I really look at all those websites?" Yes I had...though I must admit to not remembering all the details from some but at least I now have a compilation of the research and a great point of reference when I want to refresh my memory or think "now who was that photographer, what was that great website that had tutorials and hints?"

I think that I have learnt some invaluable lessons, not all related to the technical side of photography. Some of it is philosophical, some is related to my own personal interaction with photographs, not only my own but also when viewing others and in learning how to critique my own work a little more objectively, being able to take on board advice and recommendations for improvement.

Having completed other photography courses I had already been introduced to many of the aspects of the course requirements but enjoyed the increase in the level of knowledge and experimentation needed to completed the exercises throughout DPP. I had never really thought about the dynamic range of my camera or how that knowledge could be applied to improve the exposure of my images, likewise I knew how to read a histogram at a very basic level but when taking images to produce either high or low contrast was surprised to find that some scenes didn't give the results I had expected.

On a personal level knowing I tend to put off doing exercises that I think I will struggle with or don't fancy the idea of doing made me figuratively kick myself to carry on and have discovered that they never are as bad or as difficult as I assume. This gave me a little more confidence in what I was trying to achieve.

Before starting DPP I had always been told and read that the more in touch you are with the subject the easier it is to photograph it and the better the results. I used to scoff slightly at this premise but decided to try it out and made several of my projects revolve around me, objects with great sentimental value or important moments to me. Due to this choice of themes I wanted to do the subjects justice not produce images just "because" and in doing so not only found it easier to photograph the familiar but also discovered that my audience empathised with the images. Even if they did not read into them my own emotional attachment they put their own experiences onto them, thus proving the theory correct. Also the other idea that once you release your image into the wild (so to speak) you no longer have the control over the intentions or meanings that will be derived by the viewers.

I have also learnt to be a magpie with research and ideas. Read everything, look at everything and take on board as much as you can. Use what is relevant and put aside what will come in useful at a later date. The weekender bulletins for me are brilliant. They showcase other students work and it is very useful to see how others approach projects and study, and not only the photography students. The articles and debates are interesting as well as educational and relevant to some of the coursework we undertake. I recognised that for quite an out-going person, when it came to showing my work or having an opinion I tended to hide but after receiving positive feedback from my tutor and meeting some fellow students at the recent study day have felt more confident about raising my hand and saying "Hello. Am here." Therefore an area to work on for personal progression is get involved in the debates; rather than sitting there shouting at the author or silently agreeing I shall dare to dip my toe into the arena.

Feedback is a fantastic opportunity to take stock of where I have been and where I could go with my photography. The majority of the time I can see that the alterations do improve the final images and make me think more about composition, for example using the rule of three/rule of odds. Occasionally I don't quite agree, however I try the amendments, wanting to remain open to new ideas and interpretations, again can see the benefit of changing the photographs. Hopefully, on the rare occasion where the original shot remains I have adequately justified why I did so.

An avid reader I have been dipping into some theory books; On Photography, Susan Sontag, Camera Lucida Roland Barthes and Liz Well The Photography Reader....dipping being the operative word because some of it is hard going with new academic and philosophical vocabulary. Some parts I have to re-read to make sure I fully comprehend it, gradually I have been grasping the points being made but think I need to investigate further before deciding to agree/disagree with some of the ideas being put forward. Another path to continue down.

Taking in many exhibitions and looking at various photography books/photographers has influenced how I plan and compose my images, hopefully changing them from "nice snapshots" to photographs that stimulate interest and provoke an emotional response even if not the anticipated one.

In particular I enjoyed learning and applying different techniques for black and white conversion and thinking about the ethics of manipulation. The main hurdles I have come across are my own demons about reading the meanings of iconic images, trying to grasp the punctum (to borrow from Barthes) or making sense of the blurb written about them. Worrying about how my own would be perceived, was I working along the right lines.This tied me in knots for a while but am gradually coming around to the fact that I won't always necessarily see their point; attending the Deusche Borse exhibition brought home that you can break rules and still produce a valid and interesting, even if controversial (to my eyes) body of work. Hopefully this is an ethic I can carry forward as I progress through the other courses and will free me to experiment even more.

To sum up I ask have I learnt things that I can now apply to my own work? Have my images improved? Have I a better understanding of how to produce the final image from the initial idea? In conclusion looking at my journey from the first set of images to the last, the answer has to be yes, however I can see that I still have a path to travel and am looking forward to continuing the journey.