Wales: Theme 1

Visit to Wales:

Plan to take portrait image for Theme 1 with the influence of Mario Testino style.  Look for jagged edges and texture.

Equipment required for shoot

Camera Canon EOS 500d

Light reflector

Tripod

Lens - 70-300 telephoto zoom

Lens - 18-55 zoom

There was no particularly dangerous equipment involved in taking the images, however I needed to be aware of the times that the tides came in and out because of the rocks only being available for use when the tide is out.  Also there may be area of quick sand.

Mario Testino

The images below are from the work of Mario Testino.  Mario style of photography has been described as 'luxury realism' but he resists from analysing it too much.  The images below show a softer side of stinkingly rich famous people and he has been able to capture them appearing more relaxed.  They almost appear to be everyday folk. 

The above image instantly makes you think if a young couple in love rather than the royal family.  It also brings the modernness back  to the Royal family as it hasnt been shot in a traditional royal environment instead a studio with good lighting to give an element of freshness to the image.  The image really captures the happiness and fun of the couple in the eyes.  The perspective has been shot from face on with good use of the rule of thirds.  The  composition of the couple is simple with both leaning in to each to emphasise the closeness that they share. I like the way that there heads have been cut out of the image, again this makes it more interesting and edgy rather than your normal royal shot.

A very simple shot which evokes alot of meaning.  The image above of Brad and Angelina gives you a feeling of intensity and may also have a sexual meaning.  The rule of thirds applies to this shot and runs through both of their eyes.  Again the main focal point of the image is the eyes and then your eyes drop down to their lips.  The perspective could have been shot from above as the couple may have been lying down, or it may also have been shot face on.  It is difficult to say as the couples faces take up most of the image space.  Lighting equipment has been used in the images to produce the clean freshness when the image has been taken in black and white.

The image aboves perspective has been taken from below the subject looking up.  The main focal point is her eyes and then your eye line follows her hair flow further down the picture to her hair. This portrait gives you a feeling of being deep in thought or about perhaps loosing a love.  Her hair which is slightly out of focus  adds texture to the image.  With the eyes being very sharpe and striking.  I like the images where the frame is taken up by the portrait with no other elements for distraction. By doing this whilst composing the image more emphases can be given to the face of the portrait to give deeper meaning and feeling.

The image of a young Naomi Campbell is taken from a front facing perceptive.  It has an element of fun and mischievousness.  Again Testino has made the subject relaxed and captured a naturalness in the image. The image has a high depth of field with the sofa she is sitting on being in focus.  The lighting lighting and tonal rage used makes Naomi sign look radiant and glowing.  The rule of thirds applies to this image.

Katy Perry ~ Vanity Fair USA June 2011

Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens

Friedrich Seidenstucker 1882-1966

 

Friedrich Seidenstucker originally an engineer became interested in photographing the comical in everyday situations what interested him was the unspectacular, the charm of the second glance.  Fredrich became a professional photographer in 1930 at the age of 48 when he signed a contract with Ulstein publishing.
The image above has brought out the young ladies personality in the shoot young free fun and carefree - live is for living, you can almost feel her happyness and excitement.  The simple composition of the image makes it almost symmetrical.  The image has a shallow depth of field as the subject is in focus and the background not clear.  The girl is the focal point of the image.

Lieper Bay 1956 - One of Friedrich acqaintences leans against the vw car during a day out.  The main focal point of the image is the girl leaning against the car which in turn leads your eye further into the photo. It makes you wonder if he was showing off his new car.   The composition is nicely balanced with the stationary car in the second two thirds of the image.  The image is interesting as Frederich has captured the peacefullnes of a travel break next to a lake being broken by a fast moving car.  This would be acheived by using a slow shutter speed.  The tonal range is good having varying shades of black and grey giving the image depth and texture without the use of colour.  By using a large depth of field the image is able to deliver the statement about  how someone leisue time would have been spent during that era as the whole image is in focuse.  

Again this image capturing a moment.  Perhaps an unusual moment of two infants enjoying a feed that you would not normally be captured together.  The image is about pattern and texture with the stripes making the leopards coat stand out and could feel soft to touch.  The viewpoint has been shot at almost directly above the subjects making the perpective looking down onto the image.  Had this image been shot in colour I imagine it would be vibrant and bright giving you the feeling of a hot summers day.

This reportage portrait style shot of three friends with their glad rags on enjoying some girly time.  Again this shot could be seen as almost symetrical the lighter haired lady is in the middle whilst the two brunettes are either side of the. The composition is balanced whilst the cobbled floor gives the image texture.  The good use of tonal range lets you see the testures of the ladies clothing.  The ladies are the main point of focus in this image and take up the majority of the frame.

Heinz Held 1918 -1990

Heinz Held was a German photographer who was influenced by the subjective work of Otto Steinert.  He originally was a journalist.  His work is about everyday life, he captured the everyday situations by keeping a discrete distance and precise observations.  Generally his images are about people. 

The image above of the girl holding a ballon was shot around 1960.   The image shows pattern shapes and lines.,  The focal point is the girl which in turn leads your eye across to the ballon and then further into the picture toward the lights.  The angle that the image has been taken makes the picture look like it has depth due to the lights and pillars in the background.  The tonal ranges of black and grey and shadowing help create the feeling of depth in the hbackground.  A low f stop number would need to be used as the image has a shallower depth of field with the back ground being slightly out of focus.

This image is about a social comment and shows how life back then couldnt be more different to today.  A couple enjoying a drink in the street whilst a policeman minds his own business.  There is texture and light which is creating shadows that doesnt affect the image.  There is some activity in each third of the image.  The couple are the main focal point of the image.



Rule of thirds

Aperture and shutter speeds combined

Manual Techniques - Aperture and shutter speeds combined

If you are not wanting to alter all of the settings yourself you can choose either to have aperture priority (depth of field) or shutter priority.  If it is the depth of field that you need to control but the shutter speed is less of an issue for example if the camera is tripod mounted for a macro shot then use the aperture prioirty and choose your f stop.  The camera will then automatically choose the best shutter speed for your image.  

If it is shutter speed that will make your image work for example you need a fast shutter speed to freeze an action shot then select shutter priority.  The camera will now select the best aperture for your image (depth of field).

The diagram above shows the affects of adjusting the shutter speed on the aperture and vice versa.

Collins Digital SLR Handbook - John Freeman

ISO

Manual Techniques - ISO 

ISO - International Standards Organisation

• ISO enables to take images without using the flash and takes advantage of the natural light available in glommy conditions.
• As the light gets dimmer the ISO needs to be adjusted.
• ISO is set by M mode and selecting the set button which gives you the choice of ISO settings as shown below.
• The higher the ISO the greater the risk of 'noise' which makes images look 'granier'.

ISO 100 - Bright daylight, sunny conditions, hand held shooting, where clean images (no noise are priority)

ISO 200 - As for ISO 100, but where a faster shutter speed or a slightly longer focal length is required and   where you may also need flexibility with apertures and shutter speeds.

ISO 400 - Indoor or slightly overcast conditions, where you want to avoid using flash or you need fast shutter speeds and full aperture control to shoo hand held.

ISO 800 - Overcast or dark indoor shooting, sports or action photography, where you need to freeze the motion and noise issues are not a problem.

ISO 1250 - Low light or indoors, long lens shooting (hand held) at this level noise could become an issue.

ISO 1600 - Night time, low light, very long lens shooting.  Noise will be evident in shots.

ISO 3200 - As for previous ISO but where high shutter speeds are required.  Noise will be evident in shots.

Examples of different settings of ISO

ISO Setting: 200

ISO Setting: 1600

Shutter Speeds

Manual Techniques - Shutter Speeds

To adjust the shutter speed of the my Cannon  500D  the mode dial is adjusted to TV. However when the camera is set in TV mode it automatically adjust the aperture, this also applies when you use the AV setting as the camera will automatically set the shutter speed and allow you to alter the aperture.

To set both the aperture and shutter speed yourself it is best to use M. 

The aperture determines how much light passses through the lense and onto the sensor and the shutter speed governs the amount of time that the light is allowed to do so.

By choosing a quick shutter speed eg 1/60 sec moving water would appear motionless.  To make the water look like it is flowing you would use a longer shutter speed eg. 8 secs.  Although whilst using a longer shutter speed a tripod is necessary.

Subject	Shutter Speed
Landscape	60
Portrait	125
Children	250
Animals	500
Sports	1000
Race Cars	4000

F - Stops , aperture and Depth of field

Manual Techniques - F - Stops  = Depth of field

Aperture

Aperture is the size of the opening of the lens when a picture is taken.  Whe you hit the shutter release button on the camera a hole opens up that allows the image sensor to catch a glimpse of the scene you are wanting to capture.  The aperture that you set affects the size of the hole. 

The smaller the hole the less light gets in (shallow depth of field making the image in the foreground in focus and the background fuzzy).

The larger the hole more light gets in (large depth of field means most of your image is in focus wether its close to the camera or far away) .

Aperture is measured in F Stops - f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6,f/8,f/2



Aperture has a big impact upon depth of field. Large aperture (remember it’s a smaller f stop number) will decrease depth of field while small aperture (larger numbers f stop number) will give you larger depth of field.  Small numbers mean small DOF and large numbers mean large DOF.

Different styles of photography require different DOF.  For my chosen area Portrait it is better to use a large aperture (small f stop) to make the subject in complete focus and the background blurry.  Landscape photography tends to be smaller apertures (high Fstop) to allow the whole of the image from the foreground to the horizon to be in focus.

Diagram of decreasing apertures, that is, increasing f-numbers, each aperture has half the light gathering area of the previous one.

Depth of field/aperture example shots

 Large Depth of field = higher f stop number = small aperture

 Shallow depth of field = F Stop 5 = large aperture

Venture Photography - Contempory Research