OCA - TAOP - Exercise 4 & 5 Overview

Exercise 4 & 5 Overview;

Overall, over the last two exercises, as they were so closely related, my favourite image is the image that was in exercise 5 at 1/25 sec, depicting the blue van. I feel that this image has a balanced blend between the blurred background against the in focus van.

I feel, with experiance and practice, the intensity of the blurred background shot at 1/6 sec would be the most favourable if I could get the whole of the subject in focus. that said, the image taken at 1/6 sec is my second favourite photo out of these two sets. I just with more of the car was in sharp focus, as whilst it gives a sense of speed, I feel that the car is just too out of focus. This gives me a good incentive to practice my panning technique when the opportunity arises.



My Favourite;

Second Favourite;



OCA - TAOP - Exercise 5

Exercise 5, Panning With Different Shutter Speeds;

This exercise follows on from the previous exercise, with a significant difference, I will be panning to capture the movement, the intention is to keep the vehicle in focus, but to blur the background to give a sense of speed.

I have never attempted panning before, so whilst some images did not come out as well as I had hoped, it was a good learning curve that forced me to practice a new technique.

1/250 sec

At this speed there is no significant blurring of the background, though it is slightly out of focus. The cars details are sharp and in focus. Overall, there is no real sense of speed or movement in this shot.

1/160 sec

The background is becoming more blurred, though not to the extent to give a real sense of movement. the car is still sharp and in focus, which contrasts against the slightly out of focus background more than the last shot.

1/125 sec

The car is still sharp and in focus, however the background is becoming really noticeably blurred by using the panning technique. the contrast is beginning to give the image a sense of speed and movement.

OCA - TAOP - Exercise 4

Exercise 4, Shutter Speeds;

In this exercise, my aim was to "freeze" movement isomg a fast shutter speed. I also aimed to capture the effects of using a slower shutter speed with a moving subject.

For my subject, I chose cars on a fairly busy road, as they are readily available to shoot and in a built up city, they should be travelling at a fairly consistant speed of approximately 30mph in a residential area.

1/800 sec

This image was shot at 1/800 sec. This was the lowest speed that caught the whole car in focus inc. the wheels. A fairly fast speed, but it is to be expected with cars.

1/400 sec

This image was shot at 1/400 sec. The car is still easily distinguishable, as well as the driver. The edges are becoming blurred due to the movement, in particular the wheels.

1/200 sec

This image was shot at 1/200 sec. At this speed, the effects of speed are becoming more apparant with significant blurring on the edges of the taxi and the wheels. Details on the driver are becoming more difficult to distinguish and the advertising on the side of the taxi is illegible.

OCA - TAOP - Exercise 3

Exercise 3, Focus at Different Apertures;

This exercise is designed t oshow the effects different apertures have on the final image. As a rule of thumb, a large aperture such as f/1.8 will produce a very shallow depth of field, whereas a small aperture will produce a much deeper depth of field, rendering most, if not all, of a photographs detail sharp and in focus.

I chose a location near to some industrial works, showing a panel fence at an angle to give depth, as well as having another fence in the background to clearly show how a deeper depth of field would gradually render the fence in the background as sharp and in focus. In all images, the focus point was set just above the black sign on the fence.

F/2.8

OCA - TAOP - Exercise 2

Exercise 2, Focus With A Set Aperture;

This exercise is to show the effect of a shallow depth of field focused at different distances. The sharp focus in an otherwise out of focus photo immediately draws attention as it stands out very clearly compared to its surroundings.

I took 3 photographs of a fence at a very shallow angle in order to maximise the depth of the fence in the photo. All images were shot at f/2.8, focusing on a portion of the fence that was nearer to me, a midway point on the fence and a far section of the fence.

OCA - TAOP - Exercise 1

Exercise 1 - Focal Length & Angle of view;

This exercise is designed to show the difference between focal lengths and angle of view. A "standard" focal length is one which produces the same magnification and view you would see if viewing the same scene with the naked eye. In a full frame or 35mm format the "standard" focal length is accepted as being 50mm.

In this exercise, I took 3 photos from the same location at 3 different focal lengths to show the varying angles of view. The photos were printed to A4 size to measure the distance from my eyes to the photo mounted on the wall, when held at a distance that appears to make the objects in the photo the same size that they are in real life.

*Over the course of this exercise I noticed a rough correlation between focal length and viewing distance. E.g. 20cms at 12mm is roughly 1/3 of 60cms at 35mm, which in turn is roughly half of 120cms at 70mm.

Back again & War Photography

So, I'm back after spending the best part of the last two weeks feeling like death. I wholly admit I have fallen behind the schedule I set for myself, so I will need to pick up the pace over the next week and get as much as possible done.

To get the ball rolling again, whilst I was ill and wrapped in a blanket, I typed up a brief overview of one of my favoured subjects in photography, without going into much detail, as a reference so people can see where I get some of my inspiration from.


__________________________________________________________________________________


                                                                War Photography

The subject of war photography is one of my more personal interests, for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is how well action can be captured, right in the thick of it. This action, such as a bomb exploding, would be difficult to recreate in a controlled environment and would lack the intensity as it would appear staged and superficial, lacking the urgency that can only be captured in the heat of the moment.

Secondly, the element of danger captured by war photographers, the same danger that they themselves are experiencing is such a unique testament to their bravery and dedication to covering the conflict in question. Rarely in photographs from war zones where there is action happening, will you find the photographer in a prime location, such as on top of a hill or another advantageous spot which would give a better view of the scenes unfolding in front of them. More often than not they are hunkered down in ditches or behind cover with other soldiers trying to take refuge from the conflict, a constant reminder that they are still human in a very real situation that could kill them.

Thirdly, they depict the dark, horrid truth of war. It is this nitty, gritty truth of young men who have sustained hideous injuries, civilians being uprooted from their homes and fleeing in fear for their lives and lines of corpses of those who have fallen during the conflict. These images are often either censored by the media during the time of the conflict, or overlooked by the general public refusing to acknowledge the true horrors of war. War photographers go and seek out these truths in order to capture it to show those who are willing to see, the reality of war; young men with horrific disfiguring wounds, civilians fleeing for their lives and the lines of corpses of those who have fallen in the conflict.

Lastly, I believe that it is during these times of attrition that true emotions can be captured, not hidden away or disguised as many people do with their emotions to retain a sense of anonymity in modern culture. War brings out the worst, and the best in people. For every image taken that really captures someone completely broken and destroyed by the conflict, there is another image of someone who still retains the sharp spark of hope in their eyes, the refusal to let go and give in and to carry on fighting for what they believe in.

I thought I would include a small section on war photography, after having looked through my copy of "Frontlines" by Sean Smith again.



There have been many war photographers over the years; here I shall merely place a few examples of war photographers and their work using photos that are easily recognizable from the journals of history.



"The Falling Soldier" - Robert Capa

Spring is here

A quick shot of some flowers that have started to bloom in my garden, which are currently the only colourful thing in my garden. However it does mean that spring is here, and I shall be looking forward to all the flowers blooming to give me some opportunities with shots containing lots of vibrant colours. I will especially be looking forward to seeing the gardens at Wollaton Park, Nottingham bloom in their full glory.

Not the most technically perfect of photos (it looks good from a distance!), but have a look further down in the post if you want my own personal breakdown of the photo, its flaws and what  I can do to improve on it next time.

Photo by Alex Earle, all rights reserved

http://www.flickr.com/photos/acephotographic/

Quick Update

Please, if you want anything I post on here, for whatever reason, just contact me and we can come to a mutual arrangement that suits and is fair for all parties involved.

And just because I like trying to include a shot in every post:

    Photo by Alex Earle, all rights reserved

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/acephotographic/

New Flickr Account..

Another sleepless night, so I thought I would at least try to be productive by creating a new flickr account to go hand in hand with this blog.

There are a couple of banners on this blog now, one at the top (hard to miss!) and one at the side underneath the archive.

I will be updating it with non watermarked images as I can control and stop people saving images from it. There is only a handful of shots on there for the mean time until I get an opportunity to get some more uploaded.

Have another banner;



Enjoy!