DIGITAL DARKROOM - Warm balanced version of a photo

This is a WARM BALANCED version of my photograph, which has been created by using the white balance temperature slider bar in Lightroom to its maximum level of 100% to the right. This removes all cool (blue) tones and enhances all the warm reds, oranges, yellows of the colour scale, creating a warm glow to your images.

DIGITAL DARKROOM - Grey Balanced version of a photo

This is a GREY BALANCED version of my photograph.

To create this effect simply, you can use the box at the top in the White Balance section where there is either colour or greyscale. Choose GREYSCALE. This will instantly convert the image. However, you can still change the tonal values by sliding the temperature bar which will lighten or darken the image.

DIGITAL DARKROOM - Cool Balanced Version of a Photo

Using the Lightroom Catalogue, it is possible to take an existing photograph and produce various colour balanced versions of the same piece of work. Here I have made a COOL version by importing the picture from my computer into lightroom, then using the Develop feature, I have used the temperature slider bar in the White Balance settings, and moved it across to the far left, which is the coolest setting, towards the Blue end of the colour scale. This gives an overall cool cast, removing any warm tones such as reds, oranges etc.

STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY - Umbrella

Here I have used a Brolly, or Umbrella Modifier, or Diffuser. You can get these in shoot through versions, which means the light goes through the brolly, which acts like a soft box with round edges directing the light away because of its shape, or as this one, which bounces the light back to your subject giving quite a high key effect, as all the light gets directed to the bottle. This gives a soft light which can be very flattering for portraits and cuts down glare and reflections.

STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY - Beauty Dish

This is an example of the use of a Beauty Dish on a reflective subject such as a bottle. The Beauty Dish casts light evenly from a dish when the light is bounced into it from a metal plate in front of the bulb. This can create great moody or atmospheric work even when using only one light source, giving low key effects.

STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY - Soft Box

The Sift Box Diffuser or modifier casts an even light around and on your subject. To avoid light flare when using flash (as here), raise the soft box up higher than the bottle. This gives an even, natural light which is good for photographing objects without and mood, or atmosphere, so it is fairly neutral.

STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY - Honeycomb modifier

This photograph of a coloured bottle was taken using a Honeycomb modifier, or sometimes known as a diffuser, since it diffuses the light falling from your light source onto your subject. Here I used a Bowens Studio light at 45 degrees to my subject on quarter power, no flash, and a Nikon Speed light 900, with a honeycomb attachment. The honeycomb casts a gentle, rippling light which is soft and flattering. To avoid flash or ricochet on a reflective surface, you can raise your light source above your subject, a reflector may be used to fill in shadows if required.

LOCATION PHOTOGRAPHY - Sodium Light

This is an example of the way that sodium light looks when falling on an object. It gives a very orange to yellow cast, which even affects the white areas of your subject. This is caused by the temperature of the light source, which is very warm. This was taken after dark using my Nikon D80 SLR, on f.11 at 1/25th of a second, using a tripod to avoid camera shake, and ISO 100.

LOCATION PHOTOGRAPHY - Halogen/Tungsten Light

Halogen/Tungsten light is typically seen as Site or Work Lamps. They measure around 3200 to 3400 degrees Kelvin on the scale of the same name, named after the scientist Lord Kelvin.

LOCATION PHOTOGRAPHY - Incandescent Light

Here, we see the use of Incandescent light, which is the same as a typical household bulb, and registers around 2600 to 2800 degrees Kelvin, so it has a warm, orange'ish glow.

DIGITAL DARKROOM - WRITE A CAPTION FOR AT LEAST 1 PHOTOGRAPH IN LIGHTROOM CATALOGUE

This screen grab from Lightroom demonstrates that you can write a caption for your images within your lightroom catalogue. Using the Library function on the right of the screen, you scroll down to the captions section, where you can label your image, and add a caption. You can also give it a star rating, which may be useful for referencing your work later on.

CAMERA/LENS TECHNIQUE - PANNING

This technique is known as PANNING. Taken at 1/200th of a second, you literally follow your subject and click the shutter at your decisive moment.
Henri Cartier - Bresson said of this term "the decisive moment" which he coined., "Photography is, for me, a spontaneous impulse coming from an ever attentive eye which captures the moment and its eternity". - Henri Cartier-Bresson.
You have to swing the camera with the subject, so I used a tripod with a video head which moves easily from left to right or vice versa.

CAMERA/LENS TECHNIQUE - SLOW SHUTTER SPEED FOR MOTION BLUR EFFECTS

By using a slow shutter speed, you capture movement and create a motion blur. Here I used 1/13th of a second, f.22. The camera records the ongoing movement as series of overlapping images. Brightly lit subjects, such as big wheels at fairgrounds make excellent final images as the lights appear over and over again creating dynamic images and forms.

CAMERA/LENS TECHNIQUE - HIGH SHUTTER SPEED TO FREEZE ACTION

Taken in daylight using a Nikon D80 SLR on a tripod, this was taken using a FAST SHUTTER SPEED of a 200th of a second, using f5, and ISO 400. A fast shutter speed freezes action, as we see here, the subject is caught in mid air. A fast shutter speed means that the exposure, or time that the lens is open is much shorter than the human eye, so the moment is frozen, like a snapshot of time.

CAMERA/LENS TECHNIQUE - WIDE ANGLE

Changing to a shorter focal length lens, or in this case zooming to a wider angle, 18mm in this case, "opens" up the picture, filling the frame with foreground and background objects. Completely the opposite effect to a telephoto, which brings the subject closer. This was taken using f.22 and 125th of a second, which keeps everything focused front to back of the image.

CAMERA / LENS TECHNIQUE - TELEPHOTO

This photograph was taken using a short telephoto lens at 55mm. I used f.22 at 125th of a a second. Using this angle of view allows all of the subject to fill the frame and appear "closer".

CAMERA/LENS TECHNIQUE / DROP FOCUS TECHNIQUE

In this photograph I have used focal stacking, or the DROP FOCUS technique. This is when you employ a shallow depth of field, (f.5.6 in this case), but change your focal point to an area of the image, which may be in the center or other, which you want in sharp focus. The focal length extends to both sides of the point of focus, so here we see blurring in the foreground and to the rear of the focal point.

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CAMERA / LENS TECHNIQUE / SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD

This photograph employs a SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD, which, in this case, emphasises the edge of the spoon, drawing the viewers' eye to the point of focus. The remaining blurred image adds to the composition by suggesting a story upon which the viewers' mind may decide.
This was taken in the studio, using a Nikon D80 SLR, an 18 - 55mm lens, set on Manual focus. Manual focus can work better for this type of shot, since you are able to put the focal point exactly where you want it, rather than let the camera decide on automatic. I used a shallow depth of field, f. 5.6, at 125th of a second, at ISO 100. The lighting was one Bowens studio flash light with a soft box diffuser. The lens was set to a focal length of 52mm. According to Langford, shallow depth of field; " using a wide aperture limits detail, concentrates interest on an element at one chosen distance" - Langford, Fox, Sawdon Smith. Langford's Basic Photography, Focal Press, 2007, 8th Edition.
Langford also refers to , "circles of confusion" to explain how aperture affects depth of field. Dependant on how far away the subject is from the lens, means that parts of the subject are closer or further away from the focal point, and form overlapping discs, or circles of light. Large overlapping circles give blurred images (large apertures, where the subject is away from the focal point), and small circles where the image is sharply focused.

DIGITAL DARKROOM - IMPORTING, ORGANISING ETC IN LIGHTROOM

This is an example of how you can use programmes such as Adobe Lightroom to manage your digital photo files. Here you can import your images to a folder and then you can view them all at the same time, which allows you to pick which ones you want to use or work on. You can make changes to your work such as altering the tone, exposure, clarity, colour etc, providing that you have taken the picture using RAW - which means that you have all the data present as when the photograph was taken. When you take pictures in Jpeg the camera compresses the image thus removing some of the data, so you can't make changes at a later date.
Once you have made the changes you then export your work back into a file on your computer, and then you can open your images in photoshop. When saving work for publishing in your web page, they need to be in 72 dpi, so that they are not too big for viewing on screen. But this also renders them fairly unusable should any one want to illegally copy them!

INDIVIDUAL TASK 11TH NOV 09 - MACRO LENS/WINDOW LIGHT

This was taken using my Nikon D80 SLR, using a Macro Lens 60mm f2.8, ISO 400, 1/40th second and f3.5. I had my camera on a tripod and used the available daylight as my light source. Combining a very shallow depth of field with a macro lens creates an interesting result.