Answer to Tutors Comments to Assignment 1

After reading my tutors comments I'll be honest it was a bit of a reality check for me. I suddenly realised how far from where I want to be my work and more importantly my mind set are. I realised I am really out of touch with learning and I desperately need to think differently in my image making to progress with the course.
It seems one of my main problems with assignment 1 was my basic understanding of the concept "a group of images that are unified by a particular theme". It hadn't crossed my mind to have one theme for a group of images which shows my naivety and lack of experience of what is needed in the course.
My tutor asks why I used some borders for some images and not for others, colour or black and white and different ratios even in pairs. Well I can answer them all in one simple statement, that I looked at each image individually and never thought once about how it would looked next to another never mind a set.
I am finding it hard to explain why I choose certain post production techniques other than what I feel is right for the image and this is one of the major lessons I need to learn. To think and asses the reasons for my choices, to discuss them and explain them to myself. This has now become my main objective in completing the course, to understand why I make choices and hopefully with this I will start to make conscious decisions when taking and producing an image.

"A key attribute to go hand in hand with the experimentation is to recognise issues, develop solutions and learn from mistakes"

Assignment 1 - Contrasts, My Tutors Comments

Overall Comments
You Illustrate the attributes well. Some have more originality than others but all show good technique in terms of composition and consideration for the various camera settings and camera position.
The main thing to bear in mind is that this is your opportunity to experiment with ideas and techniques and start to develop your own style. A key attribute to go hand in hand with the experimentation is to recognise issues, develop solutions and learn from mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes and plenty of them.
My style of commentary is to pose alternatives, ask questions and suggest where I think improvements could be made; this is to give you the chance to think about alternatives. It is then for you to decide if you agree or not.
I don’t believe there is a right and a wrong way of doing things - there are different opinions and there are bound to be different points of view. I may well say things that you disagree with - that’s fine but it is important to be able to put forward a cogent argument to support your views.
This assignment is concerned with expressing the ESSENCE of each contrast in pictures. It isn't enough, as some student do, just to photograph something big or some thing small, or something straight and something curved. It is the ESSENCE we are after, the feeling of strightness or smallness conveyed in the picture. The assignment is intended to open your eyes to the main characteristic of a subject and explore how best to interpret this visually.

Feedback on assignment
Your work is quite varied in terms of originality and creativity with some images demonstrating good individuality of approach and interpretation of the attribute. Examples of this are your later images - the transparent and opaque pair, the Blunt image and the combined large / small. Where your creativity is a little lacking is in the pair straight and curved. These are perfectly good images but are a little literal /obvious interpretations.
Other images are less successful in terms of being open to other interpretations and not perhaps capturing the essence of the attribute in a way that excludes other connotations. Examples of this includes: Still and Solid.
You have shown good observation and technical thinking behind your images as evidenced in your accompanying notes. The fact that in your continuous image you have been aware of the problems of flare and moved your viewpoint accordingly, your increasing the iso in intermittent to ensure a high shutter speed to freeze the motion of the droplet and ripples.
I wonder what is behind some of your decisions for the images in this assignment: For instance, what’s behind your decisions to convert some images to black and white and leave others in colour. This is even carried through into contrasting pairs such as continuous and intermittent. Why do you use rounded corners in the small image and introduce black borders in curved and diagonal images but no others? Your reasoning is the sort of thing that you should be recording in your log.
You use a variety of image formats/aspect ratios and post production techniques - why? The result is an
overall impression of individual images rather than a group of images that are unified by a particular theme.
Some of your images that have been converted to black and white have deep and blocked shadows is this by design and if so why? It would be good to record your reasoning in your notes.
Suggestions/thoughts on the images are as follows:

Continuous - good image and choice of shutter speed/tripod to blur the water. Very deep blocked shadows - why? Could crop to cut out burnt out highlight in sky, concentrate attention on water and unify images to a square format?
Intermittent - good image and choice of shutter speed; could crop sides to make square format.
Diagonal - Another good image - could crop top and bottom - bottom would eliminate people that could be distracting and top that cuts out glass and arched structure and focuses attention on the diagonals. The toning of the sides of the escalators, is it necessary?
Rounded - Good capture conversion to black and white resulting in a different end product - mostly mid greys and no deep black/shadows. Another different style.
Liquid - good shutter speed to freeze motion perhaps slightly tight crop at the top. Ideally you may have wanted a little more space above the splashing liquid. Good light on the background to the left of the glass.
Solid - Shadows perhaps too deep and could use square crop.

Much - great shot as uses a tried and tested idea of many similar objects but with different and interesting items. Good useful angle of view to avoid reflections, could crop top to make square crop.

Little - Like the notion of “a pinch of salt” as an illustration of the topic. The focus tends to be on the van but as this is recognisably little it also fits the bill. Would try for a squarer crop and not use rounded corners.
Pointed - yes the cone draws attention and illustrates the topic, I’d consider cropping out some of the sky to produce a square format and also consider the camera position to vary the positioning of the building behind the statue.
Blunt - good inventive interpretation.
Still - Good landscape but perhaps a little tenuous interpretation of “still” as dependent on knowledge of local conditions usually being different ie windier and wetter.
Moving - good creative interpretation. Like the colourful, saturated image.
Straight and Curved - As mentioned good images but a little literal and straight forward interpretation of the topics. Could be cropped to make square. The curved image has a very narrow depth of field which in some respects aids the impression of curved.
Transparent /opaque and Large and Small - Good images showing good creativity and technical skills.
Learning Logs or Blogs/Critical essays
Your log gives good information about what you did and how. It would be good to see a little more analysis of the results - what has worked well and not so well; what could be improved and how. Also notes of other photographers’ work that you like and have seen and how it could influence and feed into your work would be good to include.
Suggested reading/viewing
If you have not already had a look at Stephen Shore’s The nature of photographs, it’s worth a look as it looks at the nature of photographs, how they work and are viewed.
Pointers for the next assignment
I would think not only about each individual photograph - how it fits in with the others to make up a cohesive set that illustrates the assignment. Work on producing less obvious images that meet the brief as you have with your transparent/opaque and large/small images. 

Assignment 1 - Contrasts

Assignment 1 - Contrasts

This assignment was to show 8 visual contrasts from a list and also one photograph to show both.

"Express the extremes of different qualities and take pairs of photographs, which bring out the essential differences."

I worked through the list and eventually went with the following photos to represent my 8 visual contrasts and 1 representing both together.

Continuous/Intermittent

Continuous
f22 1/2s 100 ISO 10mm

For continuous I decided to visit a large waterfall not too far from my home, called The Falls of Clyde. They are extremely large although when the gates are shut you can walk on the falls and this is where I managed to photograph the top section. This would be covered with rapids when the gates get opened and it is this force that has helped create the wonderful shapes in the stone all around. The continuous flow cuts through the middle of the stone and I decided to use a tripod to use a slow shutter speed and have the water as a soft and gentle as another contrast to the surrounding rough edges and jagged rocks. I cropped the original image and converted to black and white in Silver Efex Pro 2, increasing the structure/clarity to emphasise the texture of the rocks and stone. The sun was coming from the top left and was a problem for choosing my viewpoint as from of other points I was facing straight into the sun and too much flare was created, so I found from here I was in a small area of shade and able to shoot free of flare. This was my first time photographing the falls but I hope to return perhaps in late evening for a less harsh light and less intrusive as the sun will have fallen behind the surrounding gorge walls.

Intermittent
f2.8 1/1000s 1600 ISO 62mm

I stuck with a water theme for representing intermittent. I setup a continuous light behind a transparent reflector and placed some water in a black baking tray. I used a small syringe to drop small droplets of water into the tray and set the camera up on a tripod, put the shutter release to continuous and pressed as I dropped the droplets hoping to capture a few individual drops as they hit the water. The ISO had to be increased in order to get a fast shutter speed of at least 1/1000s and also I opened the shutter as wide as it would go, although this caused the problem of making sure the focus was spot on, meaning it was a bit of a hit and miss and hence a good few attempts to get the right shot. A little increase of clarity in Lightroom, the white balance cooled a bit and cropped to suit was all the post processing required.

Diagonal/Rounded

Diagonal
f2.8 1/50s ISO 200 24mm

For diagonal I wondered around Glasgow city centre looking for examples, these quite often ended up being stairs though. Although, I found this slight variation in Princess Square just off Buchanan Street where the escalators criss crossed to create the diagonals I was looking for. There was a nice diffused light coming from the large glass roof although not enough to have the detail and low ISO I wanted so I compensated by opening the shutter and focusing on the front escalator. I converted to black and white in SEP2 although wanted to bring back the beautiful browns of the mahogany that decorates each floor and stairway. 

Rounded
f2.8 1/100s ISO 200 24mm

 In the same mall as before for diagonal I found this staircase was a perfect contrast and representing rounded in every way. I took a few shots of these and was pleased when the people using the table at the bottom finished up and moved away leaving the table free for me to shoot. The rounded table, rounded seats and rounded staircase with only the 2 straight poles for a sense of height were a great contrast to diagonal. Again the low light a detail wanted I shot with f2.8 and focused on the table allowing any fall off to come up the poles and stairs towards the eye. Converted in SEP2, I increased the structure to keep the detail in the whole shot and cropped to a square in contrast to the circular shapes in the image. 

Liquid/Solid

Liquid
f7.1 1/1600s ISO 800 42mm

This shot shows liquid frozen in movement as it is poured into a glass.  I set this up similar to the intermittent shot, although I taped the glass to the baking tray and put it at a slight angle. The aperture was shut as much as possible without lowering the shutter speed too far and some colouring added to the water. Again as I poured I would shoot continuously to capture the whole process. I shot most of the shots in portrait but for the final shots I moved to horizontal and glad I did as I much prefer the composition after I cropped, with the space for the light source to shine left of the glass and the whole image to be more pleasing to view. Very light post processing, just a slight boost to clarity in Lightroom.

Solid
f2.8 1/250s ISO 100 24mm

For solid I looked for a strong solid structure and found these pillars on a building in Glasgow city centre. It was very much a snap as I passed and cropped  in Lightroom to eliminate the distracting top and sky that was intruding in the neatness of the formal rigid composition I desired. Converted in SEP2 and lightened the shadows to bring back some lost detail. The solid stone suggests strength and with them supporting the solid roof only emphasises this more, I feel the whole image gives a strong feeling of solidity and strength. 

Much/Little

Much
f4.5 1/8s ISO 200 24mm

I found this sowing machine display in a shop front in Glasgow city centre and did my best to avoid reflections hence the angled view, I would have preferred a straight on view but with it being a bright day I couldn't avoid my reflection being in the shot. I wanted to emphasise the wheels of the machines as this suggested the concept of MUCH, so this is why I chose to convert to black and white in SEP2 and remove any distraction from the close behind them. I cropped in Lightroom to compress the machines into to a tight image.

Little
f5.6 1/500s ISO 800 70mm

 Here I tried to suggest little as a contrast to much by showing a pinch of salt. The small van salt holder was another play on the word little but the main aspect was the pinch of salt showing little as in an amount. I setup a continuous light and put the ISO up to 800 to get a fast shutter speed to freeze some of the movement of the falling salt although I was happy with some blur to help show the pinch as it falls. Again the shutter was on continuous shooting mode to capture the whole process of lifting and dropping the salt. I used the clone stamp in Lightroom to tidy up some excess salt that had fell on the black base and blacks where also darkened to get a solid black backdrop. 

Pointed/Blunt

Pointed
f4.5 1/250s ISO 200 24mm

I had a few choices for pointed but went for this shot of the Duke of Wellington statue in Royal Exchange Square in Glasgow which has almost constantly got a traffic cone on it so felt it had to be used.  The only point is the traffic cone in the image and obviously stands out as it is not in its normal environment. It was a bright sunny day when I took this so was conscious of the suns placement and chose to have it behind me. I cropped the image and decided the centre was ideal to showcase the statue and being in the lower half would allow the clear blue sky to be good background. I used a cross process preset in Lightroom and lowered the highlights slightly to give the feeling of 1960's summers of anarchy.

Blunt
f2.8 1/250 ISO 800 62mm

For blunt I used this shot of my daughter pretending to cut paper with imaginary scissors drawn on her fingers. The blunt element being the fingers but contrasting the usual thought of sharp from scissors and the safety side of a child using them. The lack of tearing in the paper emphasises the blunt concept also. An Old Polar preset in Lightroom helped bring out the colours with a boost in contrast and clarity adding to this and a square crop helps focus the eyes on the hand and the scissors.

Still/Moving

Still
f11 1/30s ISO 100 10mm

I found an image for still when I was at the shores of Loch Lomond when the weather was very still and peaceful which is very unusual for this part of the world. I liked the shape and isolation of the newly budding tree in the middle of the pebbled shore. I took this with a 10mm lens but after viewing I decided to crop it to a square format feeling that the shore in the foreground had little interest and wanted the tree to be in a more prominent position along with the horizon being in lower allow the viewer to work up along the tree into the still sky. The rocks from the left also direct us into the horizon and along the water. Converted on SEP2 with the tree lightened individually to help highlight it from the dark sky.

Moving
f16 1/125s ISO 100 31mm

 With moving I tried to show bouncing balls moving around chaotically and originally this was done buy throwing them against a wall but I tried throwing them into a tank of water and liked the effect of them darting towards the bottom of the tank and leaving bubbles as they fall. Some balls are captured sharp but with some blur from others it highlights the movement. I used a strobe light for this shot and used a black background to emphasise the colours and highlight the bubbles. Cropped, increased contrast and clarity in Lightroom.

Straight/Curved

Straight
f2.8 1/800 ISO 100 24mm

Here I used the double yellow lines on this street to show straight. I felt the surrounding slabs on the road were all going horizontally and thought the contrasting vertical yellow lines helped highlight the almost never ending straight lines cutting through the image. I used a wide angle lens to try and elongate the lines. Again I liked the cross process preset in Lightroom to give a sense of street photography. The shallow depth of field was used and I focused on the foreground to allow the lines to drift off into the distance.

Curved
f2.8 1/640s ISO 100 24mm

I found these stone benches next to the yellow lines for straight a loved their shape. I went for a low angle of view and a shallow depth of field focusing again on the foreground and allowing the curves to drift off into the background. I felt the black and white (converted in SEP2) helped emphasise the curves by allowing the shadows to be part of the image and the detail of the stone was also highlighted. I tightened up the crop to cut off any distraction at the top of the image and increased contrast and structure to help show the detail of the stone.

Transparent/Opaque

Transparent
f11 1/125s ISO 100 24mm

Here I used a fish tank full of water and tried to make a self portrait with my face in the water to show transparent. I had a few images to choose from where there were more bubbles coming from my mouth but ended up going for this one where only a few bubbles appear making the viewer explore the image to get the full story of its making. The tank was also perfect to suggest a frame around my face again making viewers ask questions of its orientation. Converted in SEP2 and some cleaning up of the eyes and face in Photoshop along with a little crop to make sure the tank appeared to be a frame. I used 2 strobe lights lighting my face from either side and had the camera on a tripod under the tank, I controlled the shutter from the remote. 

Opaque
f11 0.8s ISO 400 62mm

I stayed with the idea of a self portrait for opaque but this time took it in a steamed up mirror. I thought I would mark out a smiley face and try and get my face reflecting behind it. I was unsure where to focus, either my face or the mirror face. When I focused on my face it was hard to make out that there was steam and it wasn't possible to see the drawn face. So i felt focussing on the mirror was best but results in giving an overall look of blur, although I feel it works ok. The suggestion of the rest of me behind the steam shows the opaque nature of the shot. It's a slightly scary image but I think it adds to the mystery and searching questions it asks. I had to set the camera on a tripod and not wanting to use a flash I used a slow  shutter speed as I wanted to get as large a depth of field as possible, and controlled the shutter with the remote. I cropped and increased the exposure slightly in Lightroom.

Large And Small (Both)

Large & Small
f4 1/160s ISO 800 45mm

This was the one I chose to show both contrasts in one photograph. I got my eldest daughter, and we put our feet together to show the extremes of large and small. I set the camera on a tripod and focused on my daughters feet before joining her and setting the camera off from the remote. I needed a fairly wide aperture with the light available as the ISO was as high as I wanted to go. A tight crop and cross process preset in Lightroom was the majority of post processing required.

Conclusions

I found this assignment got me taking a great variety of images where I was using many of the elements from the previous exercises. I found myself to be a little flustered at first when I was randomly looking for images from the list of contrasts until I started writing down ideas and beginning to get organised and a feel for which ones I would persue. I did have many more images and it took some self assessing to choose which ones to use. 

I feel I managed to portray the desired contrasts and show each visually. I always try and make each image of interest to the viewer and not just an image of something, and hopefully I've managed this in some way at least.