Assignment 5 complete!

I just sent off my final assignment to my tutor by e-mail. I hope it goes through alright. Here are the photos and the details of each photo. Overall I am very happy with this assignment. I took a lot of photos and experimented with lighting and effects for it. I have gained a greater understanding of how the camera "sees" and its dynamic range. I can see the effect of adding light for all sorts of reasons. For 3-D effect, to show shape, texture and colour. Also by adding light to balance the highlights and shadows. Adding light to improve sharpness, allowing a smaller f stop to be chosen for instance. I look forward to receiving my tutor feedback, its always informative and insightful.

Photo 1. The cover shot I think. Shot at f20 (1/80 sec iso 200) to get the starburst effect on the sun. This shot was taken about a month ago when we had a period of hot weather with the most glorious of skies in the evenings. I used a canon 580 EX, with a Stofen flash diffuser and a radio trigger to balance the highlights and shadows. Two lights, one the sun, the other flash. Until recently I never understood fully how different the dynamic range is between the camera and the human eye. I used the strobe to help the camera see better I guess.

In terms of captions what I had in mind developed as I took the series of photos. I came to realise that the secret ingredients of success in a garden are as follows;

Sunshine:

Caption: Sunrise

This was a photograph I had been thinking of trying for a while. I had watched the sun come over the top of this mountain opposite our house for a few weeks, the difference it made to the garden in the morning was really something. I found these flowers were in the right line of sight. I used a canon 580 ex again, this time mounted on a light stand and shot through a shoot through umbrella. Triggered using a radio trigger. These are to the camera left of the shot. I took a lot of photos that morning, getting the set up right. This is the best shot of the series. It was taken at ISO 400 and f22 1/250 second.

Caption: Shade.

One of the features of this area of the French alps is the great numbers of Walnut trees. They grow everywhere and are beautifully shaped. I tried different shots of this one and decided that they were too clichéd. I like this point of view from under the canopy. I also wanted to include the sun in the shot, nice diffused sunlight peeping through the canopy. Off camera flash through a light stand and triggered using a radio trigger. F6.3 @ 1/160 of a second to allow the ambient light bleed into the photo.

Water:

Sub Caption: Water has become a strategically important resource that is more important than even oil.

Off camera flash on a light stand. Bare un-diffused light. Radio trigger again. F 6.3 1/250 sec using a macro lens. ISO 400.

ISO 100. F7.1 1/250th second. Flash as a fill combined with natural light.

ISO 100. f 4.0 1/250 second. Again flash and natural light.

Soil:

ISO 50. F4.0 1/160 second. Flash and natural light. I added blur and a vignette in photoshop.

soil 1 |soil|nounthe upper layer of earth in which plants grow, a black or dark brown material typically consisting of a mixture of organic remains, clay,and rock particles.

ISO 400. f14 1/160 second.

Cross lit with flash and natural light. If you look closely at the arms you can see edge lighting from the flash. I set it up and tried different angles, this photo best captured what I was trying to convey.

Above all :Hard work

A preconceived idea I had from reading Charlotte Cottons book; the photograph as contemporary art. Combination of natural and artificial light with the natural light providing the modeling effect. I used a polarising filter to saturate the colours. F 4 1/250 second at ISO 500.

Caption:Pruning or dead heading petunias

Natural light. ISO 400. F4.0 1/2500 second.

Caption: Picking French beans.

F13 at 1/50 second iso 400. Natural evening sunlight.

Caption: Tools for the job.

Shot with diffused sunlight through a large white diffuser on a stand. Supplemented with a bare flash on camera left to give a modeling effect, with a second flash using a stofen flash diffuser on camera right to fill the shadows cast by the hat. Both on manual and triggered with radio triggers. The camera white balance was set to cloudy to give it a nice warm effect. F 16 @ 1/250 second ISO 200.

And finally

The rewards for all that hard work!

F 6.3 @ 1/250th of a second. ISO 400. I used a flash on a light stand triggered by a radio trigger. It was shot on manual mode and through a shoot through umbrella. Positioned above and to camera right.