Ok, Assignment 4 begins and I can nearly see the light at the end of the tunnel for this course. Ironic as the next chapter is all about light!
To start to understand how light works with my camera and affects my photography this first lesson is how to measure the exposure and how it changes the look of the image. I started by taking some photos and using the different metering modes on my camera and changing the exposure time to determine what the average exposure would be for that photo, i.e; the one that looked the most true to life. Then I chose a few that were deliberately darker or lighter than average:
This one is lighter, or over exposed to amplify the posts by the sea as I wanted them to be the most prominent feature, and I wanted the rest of the photo to appear washed out to give a feel for how the day was on that cold day at the beach.
This image was purposefully under exposed so that the whites in the roses would come forward, as they would be much brighter than the shadowy background. This was actually taken in the evening as the sun was going down so it was actually very light outside! It makes the picture feel a little more moody with darker lighting throughout.
Over exposed again but this time to express how light the morning was that this was taken, and also to intensify the light that was falling on my dogs fur, I liked how it was giving him a sort of halo and he looked so peaceful.
This last one comes from my cousins wedding. There was actually quite bright fluorescent lights in the barn this was held in, so I under exposed it to give it the evening feel and to soften the image which just looked far too bright and harsh the way it looked in reality.
So after choosing images that were specifically over and under exposed, I looked at a range of photos that went from over exposed to average and then under exposed so I could see how it would change the impact of that photo, and if the average settings actually turned out to be the best image at all.
Exposure: 1/60 sec
F Stop: f14
Exposure: 1/80 sec
F Stop: f14
Exposure: 1/200 sec
F Stop: f14
Average
Exposure: 1/320 sec
F Stop: f14
Exposure: 1/500 sec
F Stop: f14
As you can see the middle image is the one I chose as the average exposure as it captured the correct colours in the greens of the trees and the lightness in the clouds. the two images above this are very over exposed making the sky appear almost entirely white as too much light was let into the camera through the longer exposure time. I don’t think either of these images work particularly well because the sky is lost and the trees seem out of place in the vast whiteness. The two images below are under exposed and I feel that either could work in some capacity as they cast more shadows in the clouds and the trees to make the image feel darker and gives the highlights in the clouds more contrast.
Exposure: 1/40 sec
F Stop: f5.6
Exposure: 1/160 sec
F Stop: f5.6
Exposure: 1/250 sec
F Stop: f5.6
Average
Exposure: 1/400 sec
F Stop: f5.6
Exposure: 1/640 sec
F Stop: f5.6
This second series of photos really shows how you can make the image become much darker by changing the exposure so that it is under exposed. shadows become deeper and lighter areas or colours really being to stand out. All of these images work in one way or another depending on the effect you want to get across. personally I quite like the over exposed first image, it might be a little too over exposed in places but with a few teaks it could make in interesting image showing off the vivid colours of the child’s toy without so many burnt out white highlights. I also think the under exposed images work well as it makes the scene appear dark as though it was a very dark cloudy day outside, which in fact it wasn’t.
Exposure: 1/200 sec
F Stop: f8
Exposure: 1/320 sec
F Stop: f8
Exposure: 1/500 sec
F Stop: f8
Average
Exposure: 1/800 sec
F Stop: f8
Exposure: 1/1250 sec
F Stop: f8
Not one of these images could be counted as being wrongly exposed as each one retains the quality of the image through the highlights and shadows, although to go even more under or over exposed with this image I feel would ruin the overall feel for the shot, being too brightly lit and loosing important details in the rose which is the focal point. if it was to become too dark it would spoil the relationship of the hues of blue and red and how they contrast together to project the rose forwards. I actually personally prefer the tones of blue in the 4th image as it seems to match more closely the warmth in the rose and the leaves and it much more pleasing on the eye than the harsh contrast of the tones in the under exposed shots.
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