Exercise - Focus with a set aperture

After a few failed attempts to find a subject that would suit the exercise, I settled on a full shelf in a bookcase.  I used my D90 with a 50mm f1.8 lens as this would give a very shallow depth of field and exaggerate the area of the photograph that is in focus.  Three photos were taken with differing points of focus.  The areas on the image in focus are bounded by the green lines on the images below.  Each photograph was taken at 1/25 of a second, aperture 1.8, ISO 400, White Balance set to Incandescent and the camera mounted on a tripod.

Photograph 1 Near focused Click here for full size

This photograph immediately draws you to what can be perceived as the 'front' of the image.  The rest of the image tails off quickly and fades to obscurity.  This images feels quite 'in your face' and demands immediate attention of the foreground at the expense of the remainder of the image.  Even when looking at the far end of the image (on the left), one is constantly drawn back to the area in focus.

Photograph 2 Mid focused Click here for full size

Photograph 2 was focused around the mid point of the scene, however due to the angle of the subject, this is slightly to the left of middle in the picture itself - something to remember when using this technique in the future.  Although both the near and far edges of the picture do not show anything clearly, we know enough about the subject from this one image to mentally fill these in, even if we do not know the precise detail.

Photograph 3 Far focused Click here for full size

The final image is focused on the furthest point visible.  This draws the viewer into the photograph, almost as if a story is being told.  It feels like you are being taken to the end of a journey and you have reached a conclusion.  The blurred foreground builds tension as clarity appears.

Of the three images, I prefer the last.  This is probably a reflection of my logical side that always wants to know how something works.  This image gives the answer, whereas photograph 1 feels as if it's trying to distract from the main event.  Photograph 2 simply says to me, 'here I am. take me as you find me'.

These techniques would work well, although possibly with less extreme blurring, when drawing the viewer to a point of interest that is deliberately not the expected point of interest.  For example a bird on a post in front of a famous monument, where the monument is blurred, but just about recognisable and the bird is in sharp focus.  Using a large aperture and precise point of focus allows the photographer to command the viewers attention to a specific point in the image.

This has been an interesting exercise, and one that proved more challenging than initially appeared

The Ruins of Detroit

An article in the January 2011 issue of the British Journal of Photography really caught my eye today about a book by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre - 'The Ruins of Detroit'.  Images from the book can be seen here

The pair set out to photograph the once majestic buildings, built of the wave of prosperity that the motor industry brought, but have since been abandoned and fallen into decay. They have managed to capture the sudden decline from affluence in choosing some startling subjects.

'18th floor dentist cabinet, David Broderick Tower' shows an apparently complete dental surgery that if it were not for the decay, could be still in use today.  Photographing from an 'entering the room' angle makes the decay seem all the more striking.  One could almost have strolled in for an appointment.  

'William Livingstone House' is quite starling in so much that this once ornate upmarket dwelling has been simply left to decay and begin collapsing in on itself.  The photograph works in it's simplicity.  It's a straight on shot of the house with nothing in particular around it other than a chain link fence.  The overcast sky and absence of adjacent buildings adds to the sense of abandonment.

'Classroom, St Margaret Mary School' depicts a classroom that appears to have simply never been returned to after the end of a school day.  Exercise books and paper can be seen laying on the floor and there is even what appear to be teachers notes on the chalk board.

'St Christopher House, ex-Public Library' sees the sad sight of a library that was abandoned so quickly, that they didn't even finish removing the books.  Taking the photograph from the librarian's station gives the impression of a sad librarian taking a final look at their once proud empire.

'Room 1504, Lee Plaza Hotel' continues the theme of abandonment.  The room seems complete, yet in a terrible state of decay and one imagines a catastrophic event that simply removed the people from the scene in an instant.

The photographs have a high level of contrast and look to me as if they may have been processed using High Dynamic Range techniques.  This gives the images a very detailed and almost painted appearance, which I like.  Marchand & Meffre have used viewpoints that give the viewer thefeeling they have just entered the room or that they have some sort of connection with the scene, as in 'St Christopher House, ex-Public Library' .  This empowers to viewer to feel the decay and imagine what these once proud buildings were like in their prime.  Viewing these photographs tell a story by capturing extraordinary scenes in an almost 'matter of fact' way.  The processing techniques also add to the drama of the imagery, creating a slightly surreal  ambiance.

Failure is always an option

Keen to start of the next exercise, I set out with the plan to use a graffiti wall I'd seen in town and my 50mm lens that can go down to f1.8.  I my mind it would work quite well.

I was wrong.

This was mainly due to lens choice which will focus from 45cm to 3m and then infinity in barely 1 degree further round.  If I'd thought about this a bit more in advance, I'd have realised that this clearly would work for a wall that's at least 30m long!  I could get a decent shot with a near focus point, but beyond that just wasn't working.

This was the only shot that was close to working, but at least it's taught me a few things.  I always learn more when things don't work.  Now I need to think about other subjects for this exercise!

Exercise - Focal length & angle of view

I selected a nearby location that had plenty of reference points for the second part of the exercise.  I took my D90 with a 18-200mm zoom lens as this would give me the flexibility I needed for the 3 photographs.

Photograph 1 was the standard shot, where the objects in the viewfinder appear to be the same size as viewed by eye.  Whilst arranging the camera and lens it was interesting to see the point at which the images in both eyes came together as the sizes matched.  The shutter speed (1/80), aperture (f7.1) and ISO (200) were the same for all 3 photos

Photograph 1 - Focal Length 48mm Click here for full size

Photograph 2 was the wide-angle shot, which shows approximately 40% more of the scene compared to the standard photograph.  This dramatically changes the framing of the image and starts to introduce some distortion of the image towards the edges.

Photograph 2 - Focal Length 18mm Click here for full size

The third photograph was the telephoto one, which only shows a small part of the scene compared to the standard photograph and distances appear shortened

Photograph 3 - Focal Length 200mm Click here for full size

The next stage of the exercise was to print each image out on A4 paper and return to the spot where the photographs were taken.  Then I held them up in front of myself and moved them until the objects on the paper appeared the same size as the real scene.

The standard print was by far the easiest to view, as the sizes matched at just under arms length at about 60 centimeters from my eyes.  Viewing felt quite natural with this image.

I couldn't match the sizes with the telephoto print as my arms weren't long enough and even at full stretch it was far too close.

The wide-angle print ended up about 6 centimeters from my eyes when the size of the objects matched, which didn't make for easy viewing.

I learnt from this exercise the relation between focal length compaired to what we see naturally.  This gives real world meaning to focal lengths and will undoubtedly help with lens choice, composition and imaging how a photograph of any scene could appear.

Getting to Know Your Camera

Time to read the manual again. Most of this was familiar to me, but I realised that I had previously skipped / ignored a few bits, mainly the section about White Balance. As I read and realised that there is a great deal of flexability on the D90, I remembered all those photos I had taken where I just couldn't get the colour right. It's so simple to do too. It really was worth reading the manual if only for this.

I was also reminded of a few other features such as bracketing, that I'd experimented with before, but had faded from the memory.

Metering was another section that was worth re-reading. My camera seems to have been set to spot metering for ages. Again, more experimenting needed.

Reading the manual also started a shopping list - a battery for the remote shutter release. At least it wasn't anything expensive!

Tomorrow morning will see the first exercise - Focal Length and Angle of View

It's arrived

Course materials arrived today. Time to start reading

It's started

Well, today I finally decided to I would embark on the Open College of Arts Art of Photography course.  The order has been placed and I await a delivery!