Exercise 6 - seeing red

The exercise required: a scene which has a wide range of brightness - so I chose a cold and frosty morning with a bright winter sun hiding behind the trees.

Path around the lake

This image was taken facing into the sun and clearly suffers from burn out in and around the trees on the left hand side. But rather than being limited to just the 'disk' of the sun, the burnt out area extends a good way cross the sky. In this image it is possible to determine the area between nearly-white and total white - whether one could draw a line along the exact edge is doubtful.

When looking at a close up section of the image, even with the clipped version along side, it would be difficult to define the edge.

Whole image with clipping warning

The red above is the highlight clipping warning showing approximately half of the sky is burnt out. What cannot be clearly seen in this web-photograph is that there are also numerous little red dots in the grass where information has been lost. 


The sun

Conversely, the image above is a close up of the sun from the under exposed version of the photograph and this red spot is the limit of the burn out. However, to reduce it this far the rest of the image is very dark - to make this scene work as a photograph and number of different exposures would need to be blended together.

Information loss - close up of the trees at the end of the warehouse



Information retained

The two photographs above show the same trees - the first is from the over exposed image (+2), the second form the under exposed image (-2). Not only is branch detail retained, but also the crossing vapour trails.


Purple fringing

This purple fringing, also known as chromatic aberration and is caused because each colour of light has its own refractive index meaning it bends at a different angle. This results in some wavelengths hitting the camera sensor in exactly right and others being slightly off - either in front of, or behind. This fringing is most noticeable across the light/dark transition.

With regards colour saturation - the over exposed images look pale and washed out, whereas the under exposed images are dark (rather than saturated). Ironically, I often find that photographs taken in harsh light can look as though they very taken in hazy conditions.



Final image







Exercise 5 - the root of all noise?

Take any picture and convert it to 16 bits per channel.

Starting Cow

Add an adjustment layer and apply a curve to compensate for the camera's sensor linear processing algorithm.


Linear adjustment curve

Save the new darker image and compare it with the original.


Dark Cow

Application of the adjustment curve has resulted in the histogram being skewed significantly to the left hand side.
Now apply a second adjustment curve to return the image to its original state.


Gamma correction curve

This curve removes the skew applied to the histogram and the image looks normal again.

Final Cow

The histogram of the final image is not exactly the same as the original one, this is because the two curves I applied to the image were not exact opposites. 

Looking at the histograms of the images above: -

Ø         Dark cow - in the original image 'seen' by the sensor, the shadow information takes up approximately one fifth of the histogram area

Ø         Final cow - the same shadow information has been 'stretched and moved' and covers approximately two thirds of the histogram area.

Thus, it is hardly surprising that when this linear processing takes place, any noise in the shadow area is 'magnified' as the algorithm guesses to fill in the blanks and make up the new area under the curve.

Currently in the Pdog19 library - November

I'm still reading about Francis Bacon. There is no doubt that he was a very talented individual, but he was also incredibly manipulative and very disturbed (in my opinion). If I had only one word to describe this book it would be - fascinating.

Our local library has had a face lift - there is no longer a reception desk or an information desk; you check your own books in and out at express tills and print your own receipts for each transaction. Now, loaning a book is just the same as going to a hole in the wall for cash - revolutionary. I mention this because my library is a brilliant source of information and if they don't have the book I'm looking for they get it for me. And, if the library network does not own the particular book, I pay 50p and they purchase the book!

Foundation for art & design

by Mark Galer, (2nd edition, 2002, Focal Press)

"This book is an introduction to photography for students studying Art & Design courses. The emphasis has been placed upon a creative rather than technical approach to the subject."

The similarities between this books approach to photography and the format of TAOP course are striking. The book discusses numerous subjects, e.g. framing, filling the frame; balance etc and with each subject different photographers are introduced to the student. Each subject is concluded with a activity (project) and each set of projects concluded with an assignment.

I think this book could be a very helpful study aid for TAOP because it focuses on photography as art.

The Complete Photographer

by Tom Ang (2010, Dorling Kindersley Ltd)

"This book aims to help you to raise your photographic game and develop a rounded, personally satisfying vision."

I have picked up books by Ang in the past and always put them down quite quickly. This book, I couldn't put down.

The book introduces 10 photography genres and two professional photographers (with very different styles) working in each genre. The difference here is we get to follow each of the photographers on a shoot and the 'day-in-a-life' is narrated by the photographer. Unlike other photography books, this felt very real like you were with the photographer, rather than being selectively fed bits of information after the event. 

One of the "fine art" photographers followed is Akira Kai - his work is fabulous. Below is is the photograph that was narrated in the book, you can see more examples of his work here.



by Akira Kai



Planning assignment 1

My first assignment has been submitted.

Since the assignment brief was very loose, it should have been easy to select a field and a theme. Nonetheless, I had to think long and hard about which field of photography I wanted to use. Looking back on the last year and my photographs the ones I most enjoyed taking were the urban landscapes with a bit of street photography thrown in.

I like to be able to plan my assignment and have an idea of the photographs I intend to take and at the same time as being opportunistic and taking photographs that present themselves. I think this must be the way the majority of photographers work - if all they took were planned photographs their work would become boring and stale. The next fantastic unexpected shot is what keeps me going.

The timing of this assignment coincided with my holiday to La Rochelle, France. I researched a number of suitable locations and looked at hundreds of images on the web. Unfortunately, the weather was dreadful and it rained every day but one, thus my planning went out the window. In hind sight this might have been a good thing, but at the time it created a degree of panic.

This 'opportunity' allowed me to develop a new skill - wet photography. Actually, once you've learned how to keep the rain off your lens and protect your camera with your arm, the rain opens up a completely different view of your environment. I found that you have to be much more nimble on your feet because wet people invariably don't look where they're going - they just launch themselves at the next dry refuge.



Just walking in the rain

Standing on the corner of the street, using the buildings to protect me from the worst of the rain was a great vantage point for photography. Another bonus was that people slowed down to cross the road giving me a fraction longer to frame them.

Sun and rain

 I realise this photograph breaks a lot of the rules: ensure eye contact; don't shoot into the sun; avoid lens flair or at least clone it out. Regardless of these I like it - it has character.

After the rain

I passed this puddle en route to the car, there were numerous puddles but this one grabbed my attention because of the way the sunlight bounced off the tarmac and added to the cloud effect.

Exercise 4 - on the Tyne

Step-by-step image editing process

Screen capture from PS Bridge



Step 1 - technical edit

Initially I quickly review all of the images full-size on the pc screen, sifting out any that are not up to scratch. Once the process is completed I check these 'rejected' images just in case I've binned a good one by mistake. After I'm sure they are all bad - I delete all of the RAW files; however, if I like one of these images and wish to try it again I save it as a JPEG. This allows me to print is as a thumbnail for my pocket book next time I visit the location. 



Contact sheet made up of rejects

Step 2 - the selects

For the remaining sifts I use the star rating to 'judge' the images making it easy to change my mind and either upgrade or downgrade the photograph. For this second sift I allocate all images with a rating - this is arbitrary on the first run through, but second time around having inspected everything the rating is better balanced and more accurate. At this stage the 1 and 2 star images are filtered out, checked and then 'rejected' (rather than deleted). Normally, at the end of the editing process these images will be deleted - RAW and JPEG.

 

Top section - drop down menu for star ratings
Bottom section - information panel showing rating statistics



Step 3 - the first selects

The remaining photographs are then reviewed again and given their final rating, anything with 5 stars will be moved to a final image folder for further processing. During this review some of the photographs are opened in RAW and 'auto' adjusted to confirm, or otherwise, their potential in terms of the final image.

Images with a rating of 3 and 4 stars remain in RAW format and are renamed and tagged before being filed.

Step 4 - group and review

Rather than grouping and reviewing, for me, this step is more about creating order and flow within the set of selected images. Ensuring that there is harmony and that the viewer will be able to move from one image to next without flipping backwards because something is missing.

Step 5 - final selection

Finally, I return to the brief and re-read it. This is to ensure the final selection of images delivers the brief, any that are not 100% relevant are removed. Now I choose the best photographs.



Tyne Bridge

I selected this photograph because of the: -

Ø         Off-centre framing of the bridge

Ø         Semi-silhouette of the bridge shot into the sun

Ø         Lens flare

Ø         White foam from the wake of the boat

Ø         Sky and the clouds



Priory Reflection

I shot this photograph of the Priory in the window of the downstairs cabin on the boat and selected it because: -

Ø         The Priory works well as a reflection

Ø         I like the people sitting on the RHS and the shapes of the people standing in the doorway on the LHS

Ø         The position of the fluorescent lighting in the sky is surreal



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With regards to the question I raised in an earlier post - what should I do with the JPEG's?

I have decided that until all of my image processing work is completed for a particular project I will keep the JPEG files - a kind of security blanket.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Exercise 3 - Histogram

I was introduced to the histogram, by the assistant in Jessops, during the whistle-stop tour of my first digital camera - a D40. He said it was very important, but too difficult to explain properly in 5 minutes. His instruction was to "look at it for every picture and it would become obvious" - I did and it did.

To become familiar with the histogram I simply went around pointing my camera at different things taking snap-shots and reviewing the graph. Initially I assumed that a good graph should be a normal distribution, but very quickly realised this was unachievable. Understanding the dynamic range of my digital camera highlighted the real differences between film and digital; at the same time as introducing the brand new world of image manipulation and the amalgamation of multiple photographs.

The best description I've read is: the histogram is simply representative of the style of image or subject matter; as such there is no such thing as a perfect histogram - Archna Gupta.

I find the histogram an invaluable tool and refer to it all the time. In bright sunlight or during the night, it is much easier to read a graph than it is to 'see' a photograph on the screen. 

General guide for dynamic range:

Low contrast situation - where shadows are limited or none-existent

Ø         Overcast sky with sky excluded ~ 3 EV

Ø         Overcast sky and shade ~ 5-7 EV

Medium contrast situation - if your subject is side lit with a reflector bouncing light back into the scene

Ø         Sun overhead at midday, with some shade ~ 7-9 EV

Ø         Sunny day, side lit subject with some shade ~ 7-9 EV

High contrast situation - point your camera directly at a light source

Ø         100 watt bulb in small interior ~ 11-12 EV

Ø         Night scene with street lights ~ 12-13 EV

Ø         Interior with bright window light ~ 14-15 EV

Ø         Bright sun back lit subjects ~ 15-17 EV

From an article by Roger Passman - http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/dynamic-range-and-contrast-in-photography

Grass - low contrast

Bridge across Bermuda infeed - average contrast



Histograms for the Bridge at -1ev, 0ev, +1ev



Park bench - high contrast

The only clipping that occurred (in camera, without moving the exposure) was the sky in the image above - approximately one third of the sky is burnt out. This is hardly surprising since I was shooting directly into the sun - even though it was hidden behind the tree.

POLARIZERS

On a different but related subject - as I was doing this exercise I decided to investigate what affect a polarizer had on the histogram.

Without polarizer



With polarizer



Exercise 2 - the water's edge

When reading this exercise, nothing immediately sprang to mind regarding how I should alter my existing workflow, so I left it as it was. My ongoing project required a number of visits to the lake to get an appropriate range of photographs - different times of day and different weather conditions.

After my first outing I transferred my photographs and carried out the first sift. Removing these photographs got me thinking about "planning verses execution" and TAOP project about planning a shoot. Whilst I didn't specifically write a plan for this exercise I did think carefully about the specific photographs I wanted to take. Then naturally, other photographic opportunities presented themselves on the day.

Since some of the planned and the ad-hoc photographs were relegated, I started to analyse much more carefully the photographs that I wanted to repeat on the following visit. This in turn generated ideas for new photographs that I wanted to try.

I then generated thumbnail prints of these photographs, stuck them in my pocket book, and scribbled notes beside them as an aide-mémoire. As a result, my workflow has been amended to include these review and planning steps.

Extract from my pocket book



One of the contact sheets for Exercise 2



These are the two photographs I selected at the end of this exercise.



Reflections



Bermuda island





Exercise 1 - Budge

Initially I set my workflow out on a piece of paper - a list of tasks rather than an actual flowchart. I'm not sure that I 'departed' from my workflow, rather more created one that was so flexible there was no need to depart from it. This is a bog-standard workflow, with standard action check-lists for each stage. Until now I have done very little in RAW and the principal learning was what should be done in RAW verses what should be done in Photoshop. This division of labour works for me, but it may evolve over time.





Digital Photo Workflow

  One of the items, not included in the flowchart, that I find quite useful is contact sheets. On the flowchart I'd insert it between the last two process boxes.




Contact sheet for Exercise 1

 Finally having reviewed the photographs taken for this exercise I settled on these two: -


Budge in profile



Touch your nose


Moving on to this type of workflow poses some interesting questions regarding the photographs removed during the filtering process - should they be stored or deleted? My camera is set up to take RAW and fine - what should I do with the JPEG files, do I actually need them? Should they go in the bin once I've transferred everything to the PC? Or should they be backup copies?

Another key learning - don't delete your new XMP files! The XMP files contain the modifications you make to NEF files allowing the NEF files themselves to remain unchanged. Plus the XMP files only weigh about 8kb, so take up no space at all.

The Adobe Museum of Digital Media

The AMDM launched today - 6th October 2010.

An introduction about the museum (from the website)

"The mission of the Adobe Museum of Digital Media is o showcase and preserve groundbreaking digital work and expert commentary to illustrate how digital media shapes and impacts today's society.

Open 365 days an year, 24 hours a day, and accessible everywhere, AMDM is a place to reflect on the importance and impact of digital media in our lives. The museum is an ever-changing repository of eclectic exhibits. Shows will be curated by leaders in art, technology and business to inspire fresh conversation about our constantly evolving digital landscape."

This is one of the museum tour guides:

The first exhibit is by American artist Tony Oursler - this is a quote from his website regarding his work:
"His art deals with topics from Multiple Personality Disorder to corporate power and media brainwashing.
His works appeal to common viewers not just those who, in the words of British pop band Pulp, studied sculpture at St Martins College and few viewers walk out of an Oursler show without a few fresh brain synapses snapping into place."
http://www.tonyoursler.com/


                       The home page of the exhibit is full of green scribbles like this:

To look around just click on one of the scribbles, once inside click on anything and everything. A word of warnig, don't be too rough with the magnifying glass - if it slams into the wall, it breaks and you can't see what your looking at!

The concept and the reality are fantastic - go take a look...
http://www.adobemuseum.com/

Currently in the Pdog19 library - October

In Camera, Francis Bacon, Photography, Film and the Practice of Painting

by Martin Harrison (2005, Thames and Hudson)

"Francis Bacon famously found inspiration in photographs, film-stills and mass-media imagery, In Camera ... reveals how these new media informed some of Bacon's most important paintings and triggered decisive turning points in his stylistic development." From the preface.

This book makes interesting reading and includes an extensive collection of Bacon's paintings as well as his 'working documents' - collages made from photographs, newspapers, etc. The book tries to analyse how these documents, together with other artists, influenced his work activities and his output.

20th Century Photography, Museum Ludwig Cologne

(2007, Taschen)

This "...present volume is a testimony to the richness of the photographic image, to the creativity of the artist who - with camera in hand - are constantly taking us along on new voyages of discovery. Their artistic experiences are an enrichment of our lives." From the preface by Marc Scheps.

This book is a collection of over 750 photographs taken, by hundreds of photographers, during the 20th century. Each photograph, or set of photographs, has a brief write up about the artist and the 'meaning' behind the art.

A Brief History of Art

by Camilla de la Bedoyere et al (2006, Flame Tree Publishing)

This book provides a snapshot from the world of painting over a 700 year period - from circa 1315 through to 1999. It naturally includes the most famous painters of the time and their most iconic works. More interestingly, it also includes names little heard of before and establishes them in terms of their influence and relationship to the 'greats'.

Image management

One of the key steps missing from my previous workflow was the browser step. This week was my first foray into 'Bridge' - I'm very impressed. Initially I just let Elements grab and load my photographs, this was a big mistake because it eventually ground to a halt. My solution, and I'm not sure if it was sensible, was to generate a new backup and then delete everything within Elements. I don't think there have been any issues doing this.

Before I copy my files from my card I create appropriately named folders and then drag the images to their new home. Steve Paxton (link on last post) recommends a piece of software called DIM that can simplify this task and since its basically free, I'm going to give it a go.

Looking through thumb nails in Explorer is fine, but not ideal. It is just possible, this is one of the reasons that I've never actually got down to managing my backlog of photographs. In order to review and select sequences of images I just created a junk folder and moved images back and forth; a bit tedious but workable.

I've only scratched the surface of what Bridge can do and it makes the idea of developing a workflow exciting. I now understand how large volumes of images can be processed so fast. I only wish I'd had to develop a workflow earlier.



Screen capure of some of the images for Exercise 1

 Some of the great things I've found: -

Ø         Seeing your images close together on the screen

Ø         Being able to rearrange the sequences and compare small differences

Ø         The ease of removing seconds from your main file

Ø         Being able to update your metadata

I'm sure the list goes on....

Understanding workflow

The reality of the situation is (was) that I never really thought of creating a workflow for processing/managing my photographs. Bear in mind that as a film photographer I shot reels of film that I never sent for development. The principle reason for moving to digital was so that I could easily and immediately see the photographs on the screen.

For the first couple of years of having my digital camera I only used the software that came with the camera. It wasn't until I enrolled on a digital imaging course (C&G Level 1), at my local college, that I progressed to Elements and that came 'free' with the course. Whilst this was a gigantic step forward, with the exception of a little bit of cloning and creating some very basic collages (part of the course), I did very little processing. My workflow: take photograph; copy from card to pc; open in Elements; flick through photographs; select any I liked; auto smart fix; save, print. Long live "Auto Smart Fix".

Last year when working on the projects in TAOP I applied a degree of focus, but it couldn't honestly be called a workflow. But for the first time I actually started to delete photographs that were bad.

For exercise 1, because I did not have a workflow my first recourse was to the web. Unsurprisingly this turned up millions of workflow solutions, some of which were insightful. Listed below are a few helpful sites (in my opinion!), they range from basic to very detailed: -

            The Photoshop CS Digital Photo Workflow by Jeff Schewe

                        can be found here



Photoshop CS example worklow - presented by Jeff Schewe



            Develop an efficient photo workflow by Steve Paxton

                        can be found here

            Digital Photo Workflow: Post Processing

                        can be found here

            Fine Art Photography Workflow by Michael Ezra

                        can by found here

The basic elements of all workflows are the same, as per the description in the DPP file. The variation lies in the way individual photographers carry out first and second cut digital processing. Debates: -

Ø         How much or little to do in RAW?

Ø         Which file format to save/store images?

Ø         Levels or curves? Both, in which order?

Ø         How and when to name/caption photographs?

Ø         Contact sheets or not?

Ø         Final method for archival storage?

Aims during this module

In no particular order: -

1. Use the OCA website better.

During my first module I found the forums invaluable in terms of information and ideas. One of the most comforting things was that my queries and concerns were already being discussed in great detail, and whilst there were not always concrete answers there were always loads of ideas to be going on with. I say comforting because my doubts and insecurities seemed to be shared by a good proportion of the student population.

Historically, I have been a forum/blog lurker. This year, with module one under my belt and some hopefully interesting experiences to share, I intend to contribute.

New year, new module, new me!

2. Upload my assignment photographs from TAOP, plus the feedback from my tutor.

When I was doing the first module I found other peoples assignment photographs:

Ø         Creative and inspirational - always

Ø         Different to mine - frequently

Ø         Constructively challenging to my view point - regularly

Ø         Intimidating by the quality - often

Ø         Puddled - once

I thought adding the feedback from my tutor would also be helpful to anybody that viewed my photographs, it was certainly helpful to me. Reading the feedback enabled me to better understand what my photographs communicated to 'the outside world'.

3. Set up a blog

Log books, learning logs, etc - this was undoubtedly the most difficult part of the course for me. I desperately just wanted somebody to tell me how and what do. For TAOP I tried 4 different styles of learning log; having reached the end of the course I submitted two - a scrap book and a pocket book.

The concept behind my scrap book: -

a.       Originally I included all of my project work, but the forums said that was not necessary - plus even I found it boring. So I included some photographs taken for some of the projects.

b.      I included 'corrections' of some of my assignment photographs - as per my tutors feedback.

c.       I included photographs of professional photographers that I like

d.      I included some of my photographs that I like, but they do not specifically relate to projects or assignments - they're just my photographs

The concept behind my pocket book: -

a.       To show how I approach things/exercises

b.      Some of my thought processes

c.       Places/websites I visited, books/magazines I read

With regards my logs, I think the pocket book is probably the most useful because it's the most immediate. It travels almost everywhere with me - work, walks, galleries, holiday. The scrap book evolved because I wanted to communicate some of my thoughts in a more presentable way.

Reflecting on this evolution, I don't think any of the logs were wrong/incorrect - I made the changes because I was trying to understand what the college wanted. It was never about the college, it was about me understanding me.

Having decided to write a blog this year, I have already started making notes in my little OCA black n' red (pocket book), plus I have also purchased a new scrap book for my photographs. This is my first blog and I have no idea how it will evolve during this module.

4. Put more structure into my study

On the last module I tended to work in fits and starts, this resulted in a couple of my assignments being done on holiday and making things unnecessarily stressful. Also at one point, about half way through the course, I really lost my motivation and didn't pick up my camera for about a month.

Interestingly enough I think the first projects in DPP regarding workflow will help in providing some of the structure I need.