The Photograph - Graham Clarke

Just started 'The Photograph' by Graham Clarke that was sent with the starting pack from OCA.
So far very eye opening, and enjoying the in-depth look at images and how to read them instead of look over them.
Roland Barthes identifies two distinct factors in our relationships to the image;
'Studium' - is 'a kind of general, enthusiastic commitment'
'Punctum' - is a 'sting, speck, cut, little hole.'
I'm confident in saying I have fallen into the 'Studium' bracket more often than not but the whole reason of me doing this course/degree is to become comfortable at finding the 'punctum' of the images I view and look to use it in my own work.
I'll add to this section of my blog as I continue to read through this and other books.

Paolo Roversi

A beautifully put quote from Paolo Roversi in the March issue of BJP.

Paolo describes his personal intimacy when shooting his models:

"The most important moment is when you open the shutter, it's like opening your heart; the moment where you take something, and you give something........
It's like if you write a letter, you put something of yourself into it. If not, it's just a postcard, 'Kisses from Paris' and nothing else."

I will keep this with myself forever, a beautiful way of thinking every time you open the shutter.

Introduction: Exercise 5 - Panning with Different Shutter Speeds

Exercise 5 - Panning with Different Shutter Speeds

Here I used the same setting as in exercise 4 but removed the camera from the tripod to follow the motion of the tyre.

Again a reasonably high ISO of 1600 was required for the faster shutter speeds.

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

Image 5

Image 6

Image 7

Image 8

Image 9

Image 10

Image 11

 I wasn't surprised that from 1/1250s to 1/320s (1-3) the tyre was practically frozen giving nothing away of it's movement across the decking. Although I was surprise that at 1/125s (4) motion blur was beginning to show, just a slight overall blur but enough for the sharpness of the previous images to notice. At 1/60s (5) and 1/30s (6) we really start to get some signs of movement but still managing to keep some sharpness in the tyre, giving an all round feel of the tyre travelling across the decking. For me the next 3 images (7-9) 1/15s to 1/4s are my favourites, there is just enough blurring of the background without too much distortion to give a real feeling of motion and in these images there is also a soft blur on the tyre surface that gives the viewer the notion of it turning as it rolls. This also seems to give a clue to the direction of movement (left to right) which again feeds more information to the viewer. Images 10 and 11 at 1/2s and 1s have far too much blurring for this particular scene but still has its place where perhaps confusion was the desired effect in the image.

So overall, between this and the previous exercise I would have to say I prefer the panning style and in particular image 8 as the one that works best at giving the desired feeling of movement from the tyre. It is perhaps that I caught it slightly early and hence a slightly different angle that it makes me feel as though the tyre is hurtling along with no intention of stopping. But with the smooth blurring of the tyre itself and the very faint detail in the background it works well as an image wanting to show motion.

Image 8

Introduction: Exercise 4 - Shutter Speeds

Introduction: Exercise 4 - Shutter Speeds

For this exercise I set my camera up on a tripod and got someone to roll a tyre along some decking in my garden. With poor light quality some high ISO was needed for the faster shutter speeds.

At 1/2000s the tyre looks motionless, with no suggestion of movement. 1/500s is similar, again looking static in its surroundings. At 1/125s we start to see the slightest amount of blurring around the edge of the tyre although still not giving a sense of movement. Not much change at 1/100s and a little more blur at 1/60s, it's not until we get to 1/30s do we start to see some blur and distortion to the shape of the tyre as motion really begins to be suggested. 1/15s is the last image to show a definite circular shape whereas at 1/8s we could not be certain of what the object was if we were to only have seen this image. At 1/4s we have lost sight of any sides of the tyre and only blurring at the top and bottom of the tyre tells us something is there. 1/2s only has a ghostly tracer along the top of the tyre running half the length of the image and finally at 1s the tyre is now practically gone with only the slightest trace of the top of the tyre faintly crossing the whole distance of the shot.

All these images could have different results if the tyre was going faster or slower but we tried to maintain a constant average speed for every shot,

The faster shutter speeds have little use if movement was the desired effect but are excellent if motion is freezing the action was required. I'd say for these shots, 1/30s was the best outcome for suggesting movement without totally losing the shape of the tyre. The very slow shutter speeds are probably best used for suggesting lots of movement over time for example a city scene at night using car lights as tracers but showing the static buildings sharp.

Introduction: Exercise 3 - Focus At Different Apertures

Introduction: Exercise 3 - Focus At Different Apertures


For this exercise, the aim is to show the the limits of sharpness when using different apertures and the contrasting depths of fields.
With a similar setting to Exercise 2, I used my garden fence but this time a view along the top of the wooden slats. My focus was set on the first post and the apertures starting from widest to narrowest.

Image 1 - f2.8 1/640s ISO 800

Image 2 - f8 1/100s ISO 800

Image 3 - f22 1/50 ISO 3200

The high ISO needed due to the typically overcast setting means some noise is visible especially in image 3, but I think it is still possible to clearly see the variety of depth of field.

Each aperture setting has it's place in photography, for instance general landscapes call for overall sharpness and hence the need for small apertures when shooting them. For me f2.8 is a great setting, throwing the background out of focus and pulling the eye into the image on the desired focal point.
As well as their image effect there is also the practical side, where the surrounding light will dictate the settings available. For instance, concert shooting can be very dark and without the use of flash it is essential to have a wide aperture available to allow shooting hand held.

Concluding, I understand the importance and functions of different apertures and think it is essential to think and use of them as I set up a shot and consider how I want the image to look and how it will be viewed.

Introduction - Exercise 2: Focus with set Aperture

Introduction - Exercise 2: Focus with set Aperture

Here I took 3 shots of a fence and using the same aperture of f2.8 focused on 3 different fence slats from the front to the back.

 Image 1

 Image 2

Image 3

Image 1 was taken focusing on the 3rd slat, image 2 was focused on the 6th and image 3 was focused on the 3rd from the end.

It is very evident that your attention is always drawn to the point of focus with you eye drifting out towards the blurred area. Although I find that in image 3 where the focal point is at the end of the fence the eye tries to wander away out of the image unlike in image 1 where from the point of focus (the front) the eye moves out through the image. Image 2 seems to fixate me, where my eye doesn't want to leave the point of focus almost tunnel vision like.

If I was to make a preference I think it would have to be image 1 where I am wanting to explore the rest of the image. Image 3 being my least desirable with my eye wandering away from the image and ignoring the rest of it.

Introduction - Exercise 1: Focal Length and Angle of View

Introduction - Exercise 1: Focal Length and Angle of View

This exercise was all new to me, immediately showing me that there is lots I have to learn. Perhaps before thought of as trivial, but now knowing the ratio of focal length from lens to sensor/film along with from eye to printed image seems to help me piece things together.
I think of myself as having a good background knowledge of the camera and its workings along with the results to expect from it. But these little things just help to complete small grey areas I pushed out of mind.

So I just took the desired photographs using a simple view of my garden fence,

Image 1: Standard 45mm

Image 2: Wide 24mm

Image 3: Zoom 70mm

With the focus point being the thermometer face for all the images, each was taken from the same place. Printing these to 8x10 paper and placing them in front of the same scene from the same point I was intrigued to discover the viewing distance from eye to image was a x10 ratio.

So for the standard 45mm shot (Image 1) the distance was 45cm (450mm)

For the wide 24mm shot (Image 2) the distance was 24cm (240mm)

And for the zoom 70mm shot (Image 3) the distance was 70cm (700mm)

The standard focal length shot was a very comfortable viewing distance with the wide being slightly too close and the zoom shot being far from comfortable good arms length away.

Underway

I have now managed to set up what I think is everything to start the course properly.

Online learning blog set up, essential reading ordered, read through the course work, registered on oca-student.com, sent a short profile to my tutor Simon Barber and arranged an area to work in at home.

So,

This learning blog aims to contain:

My thoughts on my work
My observations and ideas through out the course
Reflections on my reading and research
My tutors reports and my reactions to them

Managing my time between work and family will I think be a major challenge, along side the course work itself. Although the reason I am doing this in the first place is for my love for photography and a real desire to learn and progress, it's is simply a blessing that I have the opportunity to study something that I love.

Please enjoy looking through my learning blog and all feedback is welcome, especially as I am new to blogging and it has been almost 20 years since I last studied officially.

I also have a website of some work over the last few years although it has not been updated for over a year so plenty more that could be added if and when I get the time. Feel free to have a look  http://www.dylannardini.com/

Dylan

Linking to my mobile

New to all this blogging, I am just trying out my mobile blogger before the serious stuff begins.