Monday, February 13, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Assignment 5: The Ant and the Elephant
This week's assignment is to photograph subjects from the perspectives of an ant and an elephant using the camera in full manual mode and converting the images to black and white.
As always, my first attempt at the assignment was with something convenient--here, a potted parsley plant on my windowsill. I decided to photograph a budding branch from the base of the pot (the ant) and hovering above (the elephant). Since all of the branches were the same color with daylight striking them in a similar way, changing the image to black and white greatly diminished the impact of the selective focus. To regain impact, I cropped each image pretty significantly.
As always, my first attempt at the assignment was with something convenient--here, a potted parsley plant on my windowsill. I decided to photograph a budding branch from the base of the pot (the ant) and hovering above (the elephant). Since all of the branches were the same color with daylight striking them in a similar way, changing the image to black and white greatly diminished the impact of the selective focus. To regain impact, I cropped each image pretty significantly.
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| Ant's Perspective |
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| Original Color Image |
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| Elephant's Perspective |
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| Original Color Image |
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Monuments: More Aperture/Shutter Speed
It was unseasonably warm today, so I decided to enjoy the afternoon sun and take a walk around the monuments with my camera.
My favorite of the DC monuments, Maya Lin's Vietnam Memorial, always makes an impact. Each particular impact (names, axial alignment with the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, reflections) can be emphasized and exaggerated using aperture to control depth of field.
The Lincoln Memorial. In the first shot, I like the slight blur of the people walking up to Lincoln against the group listening to the Park Ranger in the background. In the second shot, no one was moving, so the whole image is focused.
Korean War Memorial.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, along the Tidal Basin. I happened to see the ducks swimming by while trying to shoot the Jefferson Memorial across the water. Whatever settings I was using at the time produced this quick 'reflex' shot, a happy accident of sparkling water and headless portraits.
My favorite of the DC monuments, Maya Lin's Vietnam Memorial, always makes an impact. Each particular impact (names, axial alignment with the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, reflections) can be emphasized and exaggerated using aperture to control depth of field.
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| F-stop: f/29, Shutter Speed: 1/60 second |
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| F-stop: f/4.5, Shutter Speed: 1/640 second |
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| F-stop: f/4.5, Shutter Speed: 1/500 second |
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| F-stop: f/8, Shutter Speed: 1/160 second |
The Lincoln Memorial. In the first shot, I like the slight blur of the people walking up to Lincoln against the group listening to the Park Ranger in the background. In the second shot, no one was moving, so the whole image is focused.
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| F-stop: f/4.5, Shutter Speed: 1/8 second |
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| F-stop: f/4.5, Shutter Speed: 1/8 second |
Korean War Memorial.
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| F-stop: f/32; Shutter Speed: 1/6 second |
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| F-stop: f/5, Shutter Speed: 1/320 second |
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, along the Tidal Basin. I happened to see the ducks swimming by while trying to shoot the Jefferson Memorial across the water. Whatever settings I was using at the time produced this quick 'reflex' shot, a happy accident of sparkling water and headless portraits.
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| F-stop: f/36, Shutter Speed: 1/50 second |
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| (shot on manual, using meter; was over-exposed because trying to achieve glassy water effect with slower shutter speed, so exposure and colors were corrected in Photoshop) F-stop: f/32, Shutter Speed: 1/25 second |
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| (shot on manual, using meter) F-stop: f/5, Shutter Speed: 1/1600 second |
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| F-stop: f/22, Shutter Speed: 1/60 second |
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| F-stop: f/3.5, Shutter Speed: 1/2500 second |
Monday, February 6, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
More with Aperture/Shutter Speed
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| F-stop: f/4.5 |
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| F-stop: f/29 |
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| Shutter Speed: 1/2 second |
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| Shutter Speed: 1/400 second |
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| Shutter Speed 1/10 second F-Stop: f/29 |
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| Shutter Speed: 1/10 second F-Stop: f/29 |
Painting with Light
Taking advantage of the unseasonably "warm" night, we spent yesterday's class experimenting with light, darkness, and shutter speed.
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