Rozy's Photography Notebook

In Motion

2007-03-29T00:10:00.002-07:00

The assignment is to create 2 images with the subject in motion. I adapted the assignment and made 1 picture with 3 images in it to show the motion of Maddie jumping.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Lens: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Editted with: Photoshop CS2

Printing Composition.

These are the 3 images that I used for the final picture; the start, mid-air, and landing. The mid-air picture was the image I used as a background for the other 2 pictures. I cut out her landing and her start off positions and lined them up with where they would be on the mid-air picture. Then I adjusted the constrast and brightness to get the final image.

Dearest Diary.
I had first been assignment to take pictures of a basketball game that had been going on during our class period, but the lighting in the gym was really weak thus the pictures didn't turn out that well. So I reshot with Maddie on a sunny day outside.

I took about 200 pictures of Maddie jumping off a cement pillar, so the decision in which what images to use was tricky. I wanted to have a beginning, middle and end so it tells a very logical story. The only thing different is the order in which it's presented. Normally people read from left to right, but in this case, the beginning starts on he right and ends on the left.

As practice, I used some of the pictures Maddie took of me, and compiled them into one.
Last summer I was at the lake near my house. There was this really adorable boy playing around in the water and I took a lot of pictures of him. About 3 or 4 months after I took the pictures, I had the idea to put some of them into 1 picture. This goes with this project because you see his motion in running.

Theory Notes.
Describe and annotate the considerations that must be taken into account when producing images that reflect motion

Blurred Background

For a specific effect in photography, you may want to keep the subject in focus but blur out the background. This effect can give your pictures an added sense of movement. To add motion to your stop-action photos you set your shutter speed to below 1/250-second (e.g., 1/60 or 1/30). Then follow your subject and take the picture. Review the pictures and then adjust the shutter to an even slower speed. The slower shutter speed is what allows the background to blur as you are moving the camera. Your goal is to find the balance between clarity of your subject and the blur of the background. As with any special effect photograph this is entirely up to the photographer. Continuous mode is a feature available on many cameras and often used to improve their odds at getting that perfect shot. With continuous mode you're allowed to take a rapid series of photographs simply by holding the shutter button down.

Here are some pictures that use various blurring techniques.

Blur using zoom Blur by Panning

Blur with Water

In my case, the background is isn't blurry but isn't really focused on. The 3 images starting from the right are very in focus and get more and more blurry as you go through the series.

Image Bank.

Eadweard Muybridge himself did not seriously take up the art until sometime between 1861 and 1866, when he was back in England recovering from a near-fatal horse accident. The accident changed him dramatically, in person and in profession. Muybridge devoted himself to photography, concentrating on outdoor views. He returned to San Francisco in 1867 as an "artist photographer," and quickly became one of the foremost landscape and general view photographers on the West Coast. Man Riding a Jumping Horse

In early June of 1878, Muybridge made his first successful serial photographs of fast motion at Stanford's California stock farm. The photographs were of a horse running and another horse trotting; they were developed on the spot so as not to be accused of doctoring the images.

Man Jumping Over Man (Leap Frog)

Muybridge used the wet-collodion photographic process introduced by the Englishman Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. Besides being more light-sensitive than other processes (allowing shorter exposure time), this process made fine detail possible. The prints looked almost like daguerreotypes on paper.

In the late 1870s, Thomas Eakins was introduced to motion photography and he studied Eadweard Muybridge. He became interested in using the camera to study sequential movement. He performed his own motion studies, usually involving nude models, and even developed his own technique for capturing movement on film. Where Muybridge's system relied on a series of cameras triggered to produce a sequence of individual photographs, Eakins preferred to use a single camera to produce a series of exposures on one negative. (1883), are known to have been derived at least in part from his photographs. In all, about eight hundred photographs are now attributed to Eakins and his circle, most of which are figure studies, both clothed and nude, and portraits. No other American artist of his time matched Eakins' interest in photography, nor produced a comparable body of photographic works.

"Study in the Human Motion"

Classic Painting as Contemporary Photo

2007-02-07T23:42:00.000-08:00

The assignment is to create 1 contemporary picture recreating a classic painting (pre 1900s). When you choose the painting you have to keep in my the human and animal subjects along with any props needed (ex.furniture). The photo has to be obviously contemporary but also consistent with your own style.

This project can be either digital or print, and I obviously chose digital.Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Printing Composition.
I photoshopped these 2 photo's together to create the final. With the first picture, I took the reflected image and pasted it in the second image. Then I just increase the contrast and colour balance to make it more like the painting.

Dearest Diary.
This project was easier because it was digital, and the outcome was a lot better because of using photoshop to manipulate the images. The process of chosing which painting to modernize was a tricky and long one. When it came down to it, I was happy with my choice of "Young Women Talking" by Renoir. I find it kind of interesting that the title is about talking, yet both the girls show no sign of speach.

The diary section is usually about the darkroom experiences, so for this digital project I thought I'd talk about my photoshop experiences. One of the snags I came across was the background of the reflected image of the first photo versus the background in the reflected inage of the second photo. In the first photo, the background is more in focus that the second one, so I had to decide to go with the second photo's reflected background as the background and remove the other background. It sems trivial, but it really took a while. Also, the shoulder of the model in the reflected image of the first picture is cut off by her real self, so I had to draw that in for the final image. After that, there was no real difficulties in making the 2 pictures look appropriate together. At a glance, it just looks like 2 people, but when closely studied, its obvious that its the same girl.

Theory Notes.
For this projec the main things that link the painting to the print is lighting, composition, and general theme. The angle at which the light hits the subject is obviously inmportant. I used my external flash set up on a tripod along with an additional lamp to get the correct light. Composition was easy because all I had to do is position the subject in realtively the same place as the painting. Also, I could have cropped with photoshop to get it in the right place but ended up not needing to. The theme/mood was the trickiest part because it is very subjective. I think the models expression plays a large role in this area.

Another important aspect to this project is accurately and effectively modernizing the print. The painting I chose to recreate ("Young Women Talking") had about 5 key things that I tried to mimmic. The first being the obvious position of the subjects. I placed my sister in front of a big mirror and angled myself around her to get the shot. The second thing is her hand. In the painting, the girl facing outwards has her hand up near her face, and I thought it was pure genious that inspired me to but my sisters hand in the relatively same place but with a phone in it! Thirdly, I tried to get the expression on her face more or less the same as the painting. Then I got her to change her clothes and do her hair differently to represent the 2 characters. And lastly, I tried to mimic the lighting by angling my flash upwards.

Another one of the paintings I thought of modernizing is Whistler's Mother by James Abbot Mcneil. His Mother, Anne Whistler, posed for the painting while living in London. A bunch of stories are circulating about the making of the painting itself; one is that Anna Whistler acted as a replacement for another model who couldn't make the appointment. Another is that Whistler originally envisioned painting the model standing up, but that his mother was too uncomfortable to pose standing for an extended period. Back in the 1870'sIt was odd, in 1871, to call a portrait of his mother Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1. To reduce one's dear mom to an "arrangement," however devotedly the arrangement was painted, implied an aversion to the banalities about motherhood that filled the Victorian air. It contradicted the ostentatious cult of what Americans today call "family values," which Whistler viewed as mere cultural baggage. It proposed that the esthetic life of shapes mattered at least as much as social piety. I was going to modernize this painting inspired by America's Next Top Model when they did a modern painting photo shoot. I was going to make it more of a Desperate Housewives kind of mother - the opposite of conservative. The reason why I couldn't produce a good picture is because a) I wanted a model with dark hair and, through procrastinating and lack of preparation, I couldn't get one. b) It was really hard to find such an open space like that in my house.

A modern take of this painting is of a boy in a Darth Vader mask. It's funny because the shape of the boy is very similar to the shape of the mother.

Image Bank.
"English LaceMaker"

This is a photo of a woman and Roy Barely painted a picture from it by simply observing the lighting and the shapes.

He did a basic copy of the photo into a painting, making it look very realistic and accurate to detail. He simplified the background to make it less chaotic but that doesn't take away from the idea.

Another artist who creates work from photo's is Julian Opie. He takes photo's and makes vector images and animations. The following picture is one of his animations. Click to see. "Sara Dancing"
Julian Opie

This painting (Black on Grey) by Mark Rothko is said to have influenced Hiroshi Sugimoto's photography series of seascapes. Sugimoto took the minimalistic style of Rothko's paintings, separating the page with 2 colours, one light and one dark. To some, it may just be a boring photo of water, but it seems to say that no matter where you go, there still is the same horizon that separates the sea from the sky. This forms a sort of unity among the world.

"At the Stills gallery, Hiroshi Sugimoto's seascapes subject an aspect of the external world to his hermetic vision. Each picture is cut in half by a horizon between sky and sea, and the views of different seas, from Japan to the Bass Strait, are selected so that no shore or ships can be seen, just sea and sky, photographed with a slow exposure so that the water seems weirdly solid and structural; you feel its mass and depth. They are photographic equivalents of Rothko paintings, calming and disengaging from reality, leading toward a void." (link)

The album cover of Iggy Pop's "The Idiot", which is a photograph of Iggy, is said to be inspired by Erich Heckel’s painting Roquairol. Heckel aimedto make a "bridge between tradtional neo-romantic Gernman painting and modern expressionist painting. In 1937, the German Nazi Party said his work was "degenerate" and they forbade him from showing it in public. His 700 pieces that were in museums were confiscated and by 1944 all his work had been destroyed, except the stuff he kept secret. Iggy Pop probably was inspired by this story because, as an artist as well, he faces similiar opression and critisism.

Glossy

2007-01-17T01:50:00.000-08:00

This project is to create one print that exudes glossy-ness. It is important to have the print mysterious so that it makes the viewer have to look hard to figure out what it is. Composition plays an important role in this project.

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: 3.5
Aperature: 4
Time: 80 seconds

In this shot, the reflection of the clouds in the surface demonstrates how glossy the surface really is.The lines running down the print and curving to the right lead eyes to the smooth surface, and then down to the cloud. The areas in focus aren't in the center of the print which is good for composition.

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: 3.5
Aperature: 4
Time: 80 seconds

I enjoy looking at this picture because the focus is right up front and the glossy-ness of the rain drops are very clear. The clouds aren't reflected nearly as much as in the other print, so the glossy-ness of that surface is made more matte. Therefore, for my final print, it is the first print.

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: 5
Aperature: 4
Time: 120 seconds

I printed this photo because I really liked the focus in it. The out of focus foreground along with the out of focus background makes the subject (the ouddle) pop out. I didn't use it because it wasn't the best representation of glossy.

Printing Compositions.

With this test strip, I was testing what more time would do to the level of black in the print. Sadly, it took away from the lighter shades of grey and i was forced to stick to 80 seconds.

Dearest Diary.
This project went very quickly, as it was only to get 1 print. I had to shoot twice because the first time I had forgotten my camera, and I don't really trust camera's I'm not familiar with. So the next day I reshot with my camera and all was well.

I thought it would have been interesting to experiment with my new external flash and this project, but do to the fact that it was outside and the lighting was already pretty good, it wasn't necessary.

The new paper we have now is warm-tone, matte, and fiber based. These means for most prints its important to have an aperature no less than a 5.6, going as high as 2.8. Filters are also interesting on this kind of paper because its difficult to get passed the soft brown colours and more into the black and white. I tried experimenting with the cyan filter, to bring out the clouds in my print, but it ended up doing more bad than good.

Overal, the darkroom and shooting experiences were quick and painless.

Theory Notes
(information from here and here)
All photo's used in this section are taken by myself
Composition is the arrangement of subjects in a picture to give a certain tone or mood. The composition of a print easily seperates the good pictures and the bad, making it look for proffesional and athstetically pleasing.

The rule of thirds is a guideline commonly followed to increase the visual value of photographs or any visual art. The objective is to keep the subjects and areas of interest out of the center of the image, by placing them near one of the lines that would divide the image into three equal columns and rows, ideally near the intersection of those lines. In this image, the area in focus in in the middle right section and also in the intersecting lines which gives it technically good composition.
The composition of this image is a little more central, yet still is good because the child closest to the camera is on the bottom left intersecting lines.

Prints with too many subjects all jumbled together can be a distraction from the main focal points and make it difficult to identify the subject. By removing the unwanted distraction, the primary subjects will be more obviously focal. Clutter can also be reduced through the use of lighting, as the brighter areas of the image tend to draw the eye, as do lines and squares.Strong lighting and lines are used in this print to pull away from confusion. The subject (the black statue) Is in focus, contrasts with the bright white light making it the first thing to look at. Also, the lines of the shelf go in the subjects general direction, directing the eye towards it. The rest of the objects are out of focus, making the focal point easier to maintain. In addition, the subject lies in the top right corner, not in the center, creating a well composed picture.

One way to simplify a print is to use a wide aperture when shooting to limit the depth of field. When used properly this technique can place everything that is not the subject of the photograph to be out of focus. The entire background of this print is blurred and out of fcocus, which makes the hand and the strawberry perfectly framed and visable. The composition of the hand may be central, but the realy subject -- the strawberry -- is on the interesection left center lines.

Image Bank.

Harry Callahan
"Eleanor"

This print uses lightening as a way to simplify the composition and distraction of the print to make the focus of the print more evident. Harry Callahan has a large selection of photographs of his wife Eleanor, all entitled Eleanor. He is and American photographer who is considered one of the great innovators of modern American photography. He was born in Detroit, Michigan and started photographing in 1938 as an autodidact. He photographed his wife, Eleanor, and daughter, Barbara, and the streets, scenes and buildings of cities where he lived, showing a strong sense of line and form, and light and darkness.

Josef Koudelka
"Portugal"

Josef Koudelka is using "rule of thirds" in this print in that the major subjects are in the bottom right. The use of lighting and lines are intriguing and play well with the composition. They both poit down towards the height of a child, and the child is the subject. Koudelka is a Czechoslovakian photographer born in 1938. In 1968 he witnessed and recorded Soviet armies as they invaded Prague and crushed the Czech resistance, before he was forced to flee the country.

Lighting Pt.3

2006-11-13T00:08:00.000-08:00

This section of the lighting project consists of photographing hair to illuminate the texture and style. Each print should be a different compositional head to shoulder shot and should be of a different hairstyle. Pose is very important.

Hair.

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter:
Aperature: 5.6
Time: 20 seconds

I think this shot captures what the mood was at the time. We had known that the horses were walking around, but we didn't notice this one horse until right then, creeping up on us. He did eventually become part of the photo shoot, but we were quite spooked by this curious horse. The sun was coming the the top left and it was out of the clouds for a brief moment while this photo was being shot. The light really reflects off the models highlights and the horses mane wich look a lot alike in black and white, but in colour (scroll down for the Digital section), the difference is very obvious.

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: none
Aperature: 5.6
Time: 45 seconds

This one is more of a moving spontaneous image that I only chose because I feel like you get a sense of the personality of both the model and the horse. The model looks more wild and animal like than the actual horse, who looks coolly unconcerned about whats going on. Like the last photo, the sun was out, brightening the photo up.

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: none
Aperature: 5.6
Time: 24 seconds

This photo I like because it's very strange. Her hair looks really peculiar the way its covering her face. If you look hard enough, you can faintly see the shadow of her mouth. It's like a game of Where's Waldo, searching for different things in the picture. Her shoulders are highlighted due to the sun being behind her.

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: none
Aperature: 5.6
Time: 22 seconds

I really enjoy looking at this picture despite the scratches and the chemical discolourations. The 2 noses juxtaposed next to eachother and the colour similaries between her hair and the horses hair just tie the picture together. I've always been fond of horses noses so thats probably why this picture really appeals to me. There isn't any drastic lighting so theres no shadows creating a wholesome feeling.

Dearest Diary.

Printing Compositions.

The final of this image is at 45 seconds with the same aperature. It was a challenge to have both her pale skin and the darkness of the horse in the same print.

I had to double the time with the same aperature to get her hair super black.

Digital Prints.

I also took some pictures digitally with my Nikon D70S and then editted them with Photoshop

"Beauty and the Beast"

Camera: Nikon D70s
Focal Length: 34mm
F-Number: F/3.5
Exposure Time: 1/640 sec

"Distant Dark Places"

Camera: Nikon D70s
Focal Length: 34mm
F-Number: F/3.5
Exposure Time: 1/640 sec

"pout"

Camera: Nikon D70s
Focal Length: 34mm
F-Number: F/3.5
Exposure Time: 1/640 sec

Image Bank.

"Eleanor"
Harry Callahan
"Edith and Ruth"
Emmet Gowin

Lighting Pt.2

2006-11-07T10:11:00.000-08:00

Part 2 of 3 of this Lighting sequence is based around the advertisement of fashion. Requring 9 prints in total, there are 3 different categories; Clothing, shoes, and accesories. It is stressed to use lenses other than a 50mm so the prints show a lot of detail.

Clothing.
Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: none
Aperature: 4
Time: 6 seconds

Right before I took this shot I was more thinking of it being focused on the boots she was wearing. She was looking down at her shoes to see if the position was right, and just that curiously interesting curve of her torso made me zoom out and take it as a full shot.

The sun was behind the clouds in this shot which makes her skin seem more velvety instead of the shiny look a bright light would have created.Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: none
Aperature: 4
Time: 8 seconds

I rotated this image 180 degrees because when I took this picture, the emphasis was not on the model standing on the bridge, but her reflection in the dark water running under it. It almost evokes a feeling of some supernatural force, if you will, rising from all of us. Like our 'dark side' is looking down at us.

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: none
Aperature: 4
Time: 10 seconds

This is a very posed shot, with a very obviously emphasis on her dress. The connection between her eyes and the camera make the picture worth looking at because she holds you in with her stare. She looks half lost yet half devious. Makes you wonder why she is out in the wilderness with that dress on and what is she up to.

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: none
Aperature: 4
Time: 6 seconds

This is one of my favourite prints because it gives off a sense of pure belonging. She belongs in this place just as much as the trees do and the horses do. She exists harmoniously with nature, undisturbing anything.

Shoes.
Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: none
Aperature: 5.6
Time: 12 seconds

This shot isn't particularily great because its very posed, and slightly confusing in that a boot on a tophat doesn't really make a lot of sense. The sun was peaking out of the clouds from left to right in this shot, creating faint highlights on the boots and the dress.

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 70-300 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: none
Aperature: 5.6
Time: 9 seconds

This picture is a lot more athsetically pleasing because of the clarity on the intricate laced backs of the boots. There's a contrast between the dominatrix boots and the pretty girly dress. It says to me, "every good girl has a little dirty secret to share."

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: none
Aperature: 5.6
Time: 10 seconds

This picture reminds me of a girl standing on the side of a dirty road waiting for a bus that'll never come. She's just kind of standing there, playing with her dress, shifting her weight. Just sort of floating in existance. Then she sees something moving in the forest. Her posture becomes a little more rigid. Her foot lifts up and she raises her skirt a little, ready to run, curiousity coursing through her.

Accessories.
Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: none
Aperature: 4
Time: 3 seconds

I really like the lighting in this shot because it looks like the calm before the storm. The dark is creeping up, foreshadowing something to come. The tophat just makes it all that much more peculiar and strange.

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 70-300 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: none
Aperature: 3
Time: 3 seconds

In this shot, the sun is behind her back and to the right, but also fairly cloudy which gives it more of a gray tone. I was going to use this pisture for the next project (Hair) because her hair is a ot like the horses and that contrast between the 2 would have been interesting, but the guitar was a distraction from the hair. Plus the composition was more suitable for accessories.

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: none
Aperature: 4
Time: 6 seconds

The accessory in this shot is the laces on her dress, and a little less obvious, the guitar that she's playing. The photo's that have her in the dress playing the guitar really feel like album art for some female singer or something. Just the 3 random things - formal dress, guitar, pastoral setting - give off this weird vibe of slightly eerie out of placed synchronicity.

Dearest Diary.

The darkroom experience this time around was quite interesting because for a week, the photography teacher Dele was away which left us up to our own judgement. We had to change the developer ourselves for the first time, which went smoothly until we ran out of the chemicals and had to adjust the ratio.

When Dele got back, it turns out that my prints were too gray, so I had to redo all 5 prints I had finished by then. Although frustrating, it definitly was for the best and I'm more happy with my prints now that I was before.

Then the developer changed. Prints that used to take 7 minutes to develope now took under 30 seconds. Havoc was among us all! People were screaming, babies were crying in the streets... Order was shortly restored when we realized that this worked to our advantage. That class I ended up producing 4 prints. Pretty happy, I was.

This project was also a very demanding one, in that we needed to produce 9 prints by the end of 2 weeks and we all struggled at that. Then on top of that the 3rd part of this 3 part project was due a week after. Even after the extension, it was very stressed to get all the prints done. By the end I had 3 extra prints due to the extra speedy developer.

Theory Notes.

I only had one shooting session and it was in partially cloudy lighting. This means, in some shots the sun is out completely, some the sun in partially covered and sometimes the sun is completely hidden. I did try to posision my model with her facing the sun so that my light meter would pick up on the light reflected off of her, not the actual sun itself. I chose to take the shots with a cloudy sky because a bright blue sky in black and white gives too much of a gray background, while clouds give a little variety in colour.

Printing Compositions.

This is a test strip of one of my shoe prints. I had to eventually close the aperature to 5.6 so that the white of her leg wasn't lessened by the time needed to make the black boots as black as they should be. I also increased the time to 9 seconds to make up for the lowering in light concentration.

This is a test strip for an accessory print. The accessory is the laced strings on the back of the dress. I was trying to get enough contrast with the hair and the dress by using a filter and a low aperature. To get my final print I had to lose the filter, open the aperature to 4 and keep the time at 6 seconds.

This test strip is a lot like the previous one in that I tried to achieve a higher contrast by using a filter instead of just a higher aperature. I ended up opening the aperature from 11 to 4 and reducing the time dramatically.

This print is partically tricky because the water under the dbridge was quite dark while the bridge was quite bright, and the model was kind of in the middle. It was difficult to find settings that worked for all parts of the print.

Digital Prints.

During the shoot, I also took some pictures digitally with my Nikon D70S and then editted them with Photoshop. I did this because I wanted to see what poses worked best, what the best camera settings were and what backgrounds looked the best. The only trouble was that I had to keep switching my lenses from camera to camera.

Clothing.

"Is it Love?"

Camera: Nikon D70s
Focal Length: 34mm
F-Number: F/3.5
Exposure Time: 1/640 sec

"Are Your a Frog or a Prince?"

Camera: Nikon D70s
Focal Length: 210mm
F-Number: F/5
Exposure Time: 1/80 sec

Shoes.

"These Boots"

Camera: Nikon D70s
Focal Length:70mm
F-Number: F/5
Exposure Time: 1/160 sec

"Come Here Often?"

Camera: Nikon D70s
Focal Length: 180mm
F-Number: F/5
Exposure Time: 1/160 sec

Accessories.

"Playing For Anyone"

Camera: Nikon D70s
Focal Length: 78mm
F-Number: F/4.2
Exposure Time: 1/320 sec

"Playing For Nature"

Camera: Nikon D70s
Focal Length: 48mm
F-Number: F/4.2
Exposure Time: 1/400 sec

Image Bank.

"Ballet Theater"
Irving Penn
1947

Irving Penn, known for his fashion photography, was born in New Jersey, America in 1917. Nearly 90 years old, he is still publishing work in art exhibits in American. "Ballet Theater" is a very posed photo, but it gives off the tone of what ballet is. All the faces are brightly lit probably due to a bright face-on lighting system. The most interesting thing about this photo is the symmetry oh the 4 people and on ground on the left and the same on the right. On the top theres 2 men sitting basically in the same position on both the left and right side. Then there's 2 men standing in the middle, one on the ground and the other up top. It would have been expected that they would stand right in the middle of the shot creating a line of symmetry. But the fact that one of them is standing behind an object and the other has his back towards the camera actually creates the drama and the theater the image is supposed to represent.

"Tennessee Williams"
Irving Penn
1951

Another Penn print, taking of famous author Tennesse Williams. This photograph has strong emphasis on Williams accessories: his ciggarette and his bow tie. His hand and his tie are basically in the center of the picture, drawing emphasis to that point. Then you realize that theres a face attached to that arm thats holding a ciggarette and you see the rest of the picture.

"Garry Winogrand"
Lee Friedlander
1957

American born photographer and artist, Lee Friedlander, still living, is well known for self-exploration. This photo seems somewhat spontaneous. I could imagine Friedlander just sitting in a chair with a ciggarette in hand, fiddling with his camera, talking to his friends and he just turns over and says "hey! Garry!" and snaps a shot as soon as he looks. This kind of impromptu photography is interesting because it evokes a different kind of facial expression rather than the typical posed ones.

"Fortune Teller"
Robert Doisneau
1951

French photographer Robert Doisneau was born in 1912 and died just recently in 1994. He photographed for many fashion industries but also did a lot of his own independent work. In this photograph the lighting is fantastic in that there is just a lamp casting off dim light ohto the cards and the fortune teller. It depicts what the mood would be in such a situation, and theres an eerie feeling being given off by the tellers vacant look. Like she is a mere instrument for the cards to transmit their meaning through.

Lighting Pt.1

2006-09-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

The first set of projects for Advanced Photography is based around different types of lighting. Hard light, soft light, natural light, 3-point lighting and the such..

Part 1 of 3 is focusing on portrait, landscape, and still life. Each area requires 2 prints, both featuring different lighting effects, taken with a manual analogue SLR camera of choice. (I have the Nikon F55 for my analogue needs, and I use the Nikon D70 for my digital work.) It is also advised to use a zoom lense to fill up the frame.

Portrait.

Soft Light

Camera:Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: 2
Aperature: 5.6
Time: 35 seconds

This shot features soft lighting in the form of 2 lights at each side of the subject, both equipped with lighting umbrella's; 1 in front of the bulb softening the light, the other reflecting the light by being angled in front of the bulb.

3-Point Lighting
Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: 4
Aperature: 8
Time: 60 seconds

This print was taken in a hallway that was basically light free except for the 3 lamps we had. In this shot, 2 strong lamps were aimed at her left side while a soft light was pointed at her right. One strong light had a umbrella, and the soft light had an umbrella. Our shutter speeds were

Landscape.
really low(from 8-60) so we used tripods.
Shady Afternoon

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 70-300 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: None
Aperature: 8
Time: 10 seconds

This shot was taken at a lake that was free of people, but covered in birds. it was taken around 3 in the afternoon, but the way the sun was, and the amount of clouds, it doesn't look all that bright.

Bright Afternoon

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 28-80 mm
Film: Kodak 100TMX

Darkroom
Filter: 1.5
Aperature: 8
Time: 20 seconds

This shot was taken right next to the lake, on an old railway. My camera was pointing the same way the strong sun was pointing, therefore everything looks very bright. The only thing I don't like about black and white prints of blue skies is the "Wizard of Oz" effect, where everything is gray. I just had to add a small filter to correct it.

Still Life.

For my still life prints, it was around 10 pm, I had 1 main lamp basically directly on top of the subject. This was in my bathroom, so the bathroom light was on, but it's not that bright. I had my camera on a tripod for stability because I had really long exposure times.
Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 70-300 mm
Film: Kodak PX 5062

Darkroom
Filter: 1.5
Aperature: 8
Time: 30 seconds

This print is focused on the character , holding a dead rose with his broken arm and his other arm. With the strong light, it almost looks like his head is fading away or it gives the impression that his head is on fire.

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 70-300 mm
Film: Kodak PX 5062

Darkroom
Filter: 1.5
Aperature: 8
Time: 30 seconds

This print is focused on the key, almost as if he is giving it away. There is better contrast in this print because it had a shorter exposure time than the first print. I really like this print because it raises the questions "Why is his arm broken?", "What is the key for?", "Why is he giving it away?"

Camera: Nikon F55
Lense: Nikkor 70-300 mm
Film: Kodak PX 5062

Darkroom
Filter: 1.5
Aperature: 8
Time: 30 seconds

This print just screams cabaret to me. It tells me the story of a girl coming back from a old fashioned cabaret and she tossed her tophat as she walked in, out of pure carelessness. There was pretty good contrast in this print because the negative and positive spaces are opposite colours.

Printing Compositions.
(Click image for enlargement)

To get from this test strip to the final print, I have to close my aperture to 8 to get more detail, add a 4 filter to make the shadow stronger and so the print will be grainier, Naturally, I also had to increase the time to 60 seconds.

This test strip is all one time because it rocks, and from this strip I chose my water/landscape.

To get from this test strip to the final print,I just had to add a 2 filter to get a higher contrast, increase the time to 35 seconds, and leave it in the developer for about 5 minutes.

This is evidence of of my craziness because I (accidently) made a full contact sheet except in test strip style. Yea, I don't know hy... seemed like a good idea at the time. 30 seconds and 1.5 filter worked for all my Still Life prints because it was basically the same conditions for all of them.

Dearest Diary.
Even that this is our first project, it felt like we were back in the darkroom like old times, making prints like nobodies business! It's a pretty full class, so when there's 15 hands swinging around with wet prints, it's pretty hectic. And when the door isn't working properly, it mades the process go a little less smooth. But all in all, there is no complaints!

With my photos this project, they weren't too much of a hassle to print. It took me a few lessons to figure out that I need to leave them in the developer for around 5-7 minutes to get something to turn out. I've never used this hybrid FB/RC High Contrast paper before, but it seemed to make for some good prints. The high contrast paper plus the 100-125 film was a good combo for the light project because it really showed the contrast. It also gave me a chance to experiment with slow exposure film and slow exposure times.

Theory Notes.
(Click image for enlargement)

This setup was used for the first portrait print to create soft lighting.

This setup was used for the second portrait printin order to create a hard 3-point lighting system.

This setup was used in the same shoot as the 3-point light, but I didn't use that print.

Image Bank.

"Devil's Slide"
Minor White
1947

Minor White, born 1908 in Minneapolis, lived for botany until he moved to Oregon and began his career as a photographer. He took photographs of believed mundane objects or situations, but he made them special in the way they were lighted.

This picture interested me because it gave the impression of where the water meets the sky in a foggy but bright area. There's a great contrast between the nearly opague clouds and where the light shines through onto the water.

"Road and Poplar Trees"

Minor White
1955

I chose another White print because I think he excudes what good lighting can really do for the effect of the print. This print is all about parallel lines and how the lighting intesifies this. The contrast between the road and the grass next to it brings out the same contrast in the tree trunks and the tree tops which nearly blend in with the clouds. Then there is the parallel sequence of shadows from the trees that merge with the white on the other side of the road. With the intersecting lines from the shadows and the lines of the road, it makes a sort of ladder going up into the mountains and the clouds, almost implying a stairway to heaven.

"Mexican sombrero with hammer and sickle"

Tina Modotti
1927

This photo was taken by Tina Modotti who was born in Italy in 1896 and died in 1942 in Mexico City under "suspicious circumstances" at the age of 38. She was politically active at the time of her death, so it is suggested that she "knew too much" and was murdered. "Mexican sombero with hammer and sickle" demonstrates how to use lighting with still life. There is a soft light right above the sombero, casting a shadow only on one part of the hat.