Assignment 2: Seeing like your camera

The aim of this assignment is to learn to ‘see like my camera’, with particular focus on high dynamic range scenes. I think it is safe to say that I would normally shy away from scenes with high dynamic range for fear of having parts of the final image with areas of over or under exposure. So this assignment has been great for pushing my personal photographic boundaries.

I have been reading Freeman’s Perfect Exposure book prior to and during completing this assignment, which has helped me to be in the mode of thinking more about exposure ranges and ‘types’ of scenes according to their exposure range and distribution.

Part 1:

For the first part of this assignment, four scene types are chosen, with three images taken for each scene type.

Images:

My selected, unprocessed images are detailed below.

Photo 1

IMG_3202

Internal scene lit only by window #1

17-35mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/16, 17mm, 1sec, ISO 100

  IMG_3202  Internal scene lit only by window #1

I have photographed the interior of my house, a large downstairs room which looks out onto the street and garden. On a sunny day, I set up my tripod, wide angle lens and camera in one corner, looking towards the bed and well lit windows. I used the lowest ISO possible and a tripod in order to minimise noise in my images. I used ‘sunny’ white balance. I spot metered off the windows (brightest part of scene) and under the bed (darkest part of scene), and estimate approximately 11 stops of range, which is definitely outside my cameras range. Something had to give, and since the point of the image was the internal part of the house (akin to Real Estate photography for example), the windows had to be left to blow out. I chose a midpoint aperture and shutter speed combination and then adjusted as necessary when viewing the images on my camera.

·         Windows: f/2.8, 1/2000sec

·         Shadows: f/2.8, 1 sec

·         Bed Quilt (dark fabric): f/2.8, 1/20

·         Average reading (wall and surrounds): f/2.8, 1/60sec

·         Image displayed above: +2EV

When viewing the scene myself, I can see the detail throughout the room (including the texture of the carpet under the bed, in deep shadow) and also see the road and plants outside. I expected the camera to have difficulty representing the entire range, and in particular expected the highlights outside to be blown out. The resulting image has highlights clipped at all the windows, but no shadow clipping as I would have expected.

Photo 2

IMG_3283

Internal scene lit only by window #2

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4, 46mm, 1/2000sec, ISO 100

IMG_3283. Internal scene lit only by window #2

I have photographed a small toy truck with driver, lit directly by sunlight through clear leadlight windows. I used the lowest ISO possible (to minimise noise) and chose a large aperture to give a shallow DOF. The light from the sun is very bright, and the shadows quite dark, so I decided to meter off the truck and let the shadows drop away, using them as shapes/patterns on the ground. I chose to underexpose slightly to keep the colours vibrant.

The technical challenge in this scene is the large different in brightness between the white hat and deep shadows. This was overcome by deciding to let the shadows drop out to almost black (a creative decision). I saw detail in the shadow areas (texture of the carpet). There is barely any detail represented in the shadow areas by the camera, as I have expected. In fact, the shadows are even deeper than I would have thought when viewed on the computer monitor. According to Lightroom, interestingly, there is actually no shadow clipping. However, this is the ‘look’ that I wanted to achieve – bright vibrant colours of my subject, with the light and shadows giving some interest to the background. Small specular highlights (the only highlight clipping in the image) have been ignored. This shows me that shadows can seem very deep and dark and yet still retain information.

Photo 3

IMG_3713

Internal scene lit only by window #3

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/5.6, 43mm, 1/125sec, ISO 200

IMG_3713.  Internal scene lit only by window #3

This scene is photographed at the GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art) in Brisbane’s city centre. This piece of artwork by Zilvinas Kempinas is entitled ‘Columns’ and was created in 2006. It is made out of magnetic tape (videotape), painted wood and nails, and is a quite large and imposing piece of work, which feels both solid and translucent at the same time. You can walk around the large columns (there must be at least 15 or so columns which stretch up to the ceiling above) and immerse yourself in the artwork. In this photograph I have attempted to show the context of the artwork within the spectacular location of the gallery on the Brisbane river, with the Kurilpa bridge and Brisbane CBD in the background.

I have used manual metering and chosen a mid-tone to get my starting exposure point and then altered from there slightly. I thought that the bright sky would blow out in this image, and although it is clipped, this does not detract much from the actual image. This has resulted in quite a high dynamic range, with some highlight clipping in the sky and shadow clipping in the blacks of the columns. I could choose not to include so much sky, but I quite like the symmetry between the tall narrow columns and tall city buildings in the distance. The main challenge is the different lighting levels between the inside and outside of the gallery. Visually it was possibly to see the colour and texture in the sky and on the artwork at the same time, but the camera has difficulty with this large dynamic range. In addition, in some of the images I took of this scene, there was some coloured fringing between the bright (overexposed) sky and the vertical lines of the artwork which may not be easily resolved in a jpeg without some complicated post-processing.

Photo 4

IMG_3534

Outdoor scene with strong incident dappled light #1

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4, 30mm, 1/60sec, ISO 100

IMG_3534.  Outdoor scene with strong incident dappled light #1   

At the local City Farm I have photographed the sign indicating the ‘Food Forest’ area, which is in dappled sunlight with some patches of bright sun and some areas of darker shade. I have chosen to use aperture priority mode and to bracket initially to get a feel for the scene and its dynamic range. I have chosen a relatively large aperture as I want to concentrate on the colourful sign and have the foliage fading into the background. I decided that +1/2 EV was the ideal setting and then zoomed in slightly to have a tighter composition and shot the above frame. I chose to shoot using ‘sunny’ WB but also shot one frame with ‘shade’ WB which I did not prefer.

I saw this scene as moderately high dynamic range, with some highlights but few dark shadows. I thought the camera would replicate the scene quite well, but has actually blown out in a few areas, which I recognised whilst shooting, partly influencing me to crop in slightly tighter on the sign and tree and remove the highlights top left which are overblown. According to Lightroom there are some highlights clipped in the background and also on some reflective leaves. This was the main technical challenge in the scene, and was partly overcome by changing the composition slightly. The resultant highlights do not dominate the scene, though it would be preferable to remove them in any post-processing.

Photo 5

IMG_3566

Outdoor scene with strong incident dappled light #2

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4, 34mm, 1/250sec, ISO 100

IMG_3566.  Outdoor scene with strong incident dappled light #2

This scene of the Breakfast Creek Mangroves is located just behind the Northey Street City Farm. I have chosen to use manual exposure for this scene, metering off the shaded trees and sunlight spots and averaged and bracketed exposures. The more I use manual exposures the more comfortable I feel with it and it becomes much more intuitive than using Aperture or Shutter priority modes.

I saw this scene as darker than average, but with a few bright spots to be aware of. I chose to keep the scene relatively dark, and in Lightroom there are some small areas of highlight clipping on the tree trunks, and a bit of shadow clipping in the foreground. I don’t feel that these detract from the image, though in post processing I would choose to bring back some of the highlight clipped areas as they are slightly distracting. I have kept the scene dark to help emphasise the brilliant blue sky reflected in the water, and the green leaves across the river. The mangroves are a dark place so it fits in with the ‘feel’ of the scene.

Photo 6

IMG_3549

Outdoor scene with strong incident dappled light #3

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/2.8, 45mm, 1/250sec, ISO 100

IMG_3549.  Outdoor scene with strong incident dappled light #3

I have chosen to photograph a large palm located in a small forest behind the Northey Street City Farm. I have chosen once again to use manual exposure for this scene, metering off the mid-tone greens of the palm (the bright parts) and changing the exposure up slightly because I want them to be bright-tones, not mid-tones in my image. One test shot before this one assisted in getting the exposure correct for this image (viewing the histogram and highlight clipping display on my camera).

Technically, the challenge was balancing the dark and bright spots of the highly reflective leaves, and choosing the composition carefully to avoid bright spots in the background. I saw the bright highlights in the scene, but the camera rendered these even brighter, which led me to choose a slightly faster shutter speed to decrease the bright highlights. Despite this, Lightroom still sees some clipped highlights on the leaves. There are some small areas of shadow clipping fringing the leaves also.

Photo 7

IMG_3316

Photographing people in the shade while the background is sunny #1

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/2.8, 70mm, 1/125sec, ISO 100

IMG_3316.  Photographing people in the shade while the background is sunny #1 

 My husband poses for me in this first image taken during a playground visit – he is standing under fairly solid shade from a tree whilst the background is sunny and well lit – a challenging exposure problem! I set the WB to ‘shady’ since that was the light conditions my subject was standing in. I spot metered off the face and used that setting, taking a few test shots to get the settings approximately right first. I’m not sure I have chosen the correct WB as the face looks a little redder than ideal.

The scene was clearly going to have high dynamic range, with the main technical issue being the bright sky. I used a large aperture to create a shallow DOF which I thought would give nice bokeh in the trees in the background, so while framing the face I tried to include as much tree in the background as possible. I was constrained by a large highly reflective roof on the left of the scene which I wanted to avoid as it would look very bright and also quite unnatural in the background.

I saw the scene as having quite bright vibrant colours in the background (blue sky and green grass and trees). These are not at all rendered by the camera (I thought they might be a bit brighter), this of course because they are quite blown out and overexposed, which tends to dull colours. There is no shadow clipping, as expected, and the sky is all clipped as it is very bright.

Photo 8

IMG_3610

Photographing people in the shade while the background is sunny #2

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4, 70mm, 1/125sec, ISO 400

IMG_3610. Photographing people in the shade while the background is sunny #2 

In this image I have photographed a stall-holder at the Organic Markets serving some food. She is located in the shade of a tent and the background is in mixed sunny and dappled light. I have used ‘sunny’ WB and upped the ISO to 400 to avoid camera shake in the fairly fast paced environment (no tripod used). I have chosen to photograph her in the shade of the tent, but there is still some incident light on the side of her face which is closer to the camera. Ideally, more of her face would have been lit as it is a little dark for my liking.

I used manual metering mode and metered off a neutral shaded piece of ground nearby and then adjusted. I also looked at what was in the background and tried to include some of the other tents and a tree to give some variety and to prevent too much overexposure. Nonetheless, there are highlights clipped in the background and also some clipping on the reflections on the pot, which I did not expect when I took the photograph. There are also some highly reflective surfaces in the background which are somewhat distracting.

Photo 9

054A0262

Photographing people in the shade while the background is sunny #3

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 5Dm3, f/3.5, 57mm, 1/250sec, ISO 1000

054A0262. Photographing people in the shade while the background is sunny #3

This photo was taken at the annual BOGI (Brisbane Organic Growers Association) fair. I have captured a stall-holder selling some produce to a customer. The stalls were located under a concrete overpass and in total shade (quite dark, which has led to a very high ISO setting) and the sun was very bright in the background. I angled myself such that there was the least amount of sunny background present in the image by changing my position. This also enabled me to capture the interaction between the people better. I like the way the arms link across the image. There is quite a lot of highlight clipping in the bright background. This is not ideal, however, when events such as these only occur annually, there is no choice to come back later. Options for increasing the light in the foreground would be limited to flash as a reflector wouldn’t work in this situation I don’t think. Fortunately the high ISO has not resulted in much noise in this image due to it being taken on my new camera which has considerably better noise reduction.

I saw this scene as having a bright background but it is quite a bit brighter on the screen/camera than is clear when photographing, though I am getting a much better feel for this as I progress through this assignment. By changing my position I have decreased the area of overexposure, and this has improved the image. By keeping the aperture large the background is mostly out of focus which helps to make it less prominent. I used manual exposure as I find it easier to control and more predictable than aperture or shutter priority in situations such as these. 

Photo 10

IMG_3373

Street scene in the middle of a clear, sunny day #1

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/6.7, 24mm, 1/250sec, ISO 100

IMG_3373. Street scene in the middle of a clear, sunny day #1 

Another typical high contrast scene is found amongst tall buildings on a sunny day. This image of the Queensland Conservatorium at Southbank is a good example, with strong midday sun striking the top part of the building and the lower part being in fairly deep shade. I have used manual mode for this image, metering off the bright part of the building and then exposing to keep it brighter than mid-tone. A few test shots resulted in good colour saturation in the red walls and blue sky. Unfortunately due to using a fairly wide angle lens (24mm), there are some problems with slight tilt on the verticals, which would ideally be corrected in post-processing (for example using the crop tool as shown below). Next time I would step back and zoom in to more like 35 to 50mm which would decrease the bend on the verticals.

There is a small amount of shadow clipping in this image. I thought that there might be more; the shadow areas are actually quite well imaged by the camera. There is no highlight clipping in this image – perhaps if the man had been wearing a bright white shirt instead of black then his shirt (reflecting the sunlight) would have been clipped. The exposure is probably slightly darker than ‘ideal’, but this gives good colour saturation, and if I was post-processing then I could lift some of the bright areas to make them a bit lighter.

Street scene in the middle of a clear, sunny day #1 (Verticals corrected using crop tool) 

Photo 11

IMG_3684

Street scene in the middle of a clear, sunny day #2

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/6.7, 40mm, 1/125sec, ISO 100

IMG_3684. Street scene in the middle of a clear, sunny day #2

This image was taken on a bright sunny day and is of the Brisbane Museum with skylight below to the Art Gallery of Queensland. I have used a polarising filter to darken the sky slightly in this image. There are some very white whites on the wall in the sunshine, and deep shadows in the shade, but there is actually no clipping of either the highlights or shadows in this image, though the white wall gets close. I am surprised that there is no clipping in this image – perhaps there is some light reflected off the concrete back into the eating area which makes it a little less dark.

I like the geometry of this image – interesting and varied shapes and lines. The ladder looks like I might be going into a swimming pool, the skylight (akin to the Louvre!) is triangular and strongly geometric, and the MUSEUM sign at the top finishes off the image. I did capture some shots with people walking through the frame but didn’t feel in this case they added to it. This might be an interesting location to return to at different times of the day (or night).

The main challenges photographically were (I thought) imaging the dark shadows of the café area under the roof, and the white areas of the wall not being blown out. As I have mentioned, this has not actually occurred so doesn’t seem to be a big problem – the camera and jpeg have coped fine with the variety in light levels across the image. I actually envisioned that the camera would clip one or both ends of the spectrum but this has not occurred.

I thought this image might be an interesting one to analyse by zones, so I have done a simple B&W conversion simply by removing the colour (using Lightroom).

Desaturated image

There are good blocks of the different zones. According to the histogram (below), there is no zone 0 (black with no details or visible texture). 

Histogram from Desaturated image

Zone I (first change in tone from black by still no real texture) is seen under the roof top right of image. Zone II (first shadow details, dark texture visible) is seen under the stairs (middle lower left). Zone III (dark areas with good texture) is seen in the café area (middle lower right). Zone IV (dark elements such as foliage and stone) is seen in the wall and roof area above the café and on the triangular skylight. Zone V (middle grey) is seen on the blue sky. Zone VI (light shadows and stone) is seen on the wall below the lowermost ladder. Zone VII (very pale skins, average snow scene, bright print tones) is seen on the uppermost part of the building. Zone VIII (lightest tone with texture still visible, white objects in sun) is seen on the concrete foreground. Zone IX (lightest printable tone but no real texture present) is seen on the white wall facing the sun with the ladder on it. Zone X (white with no details or visible texture) is not actually present in this image. (Description of zones taken from DI magazine 01 2010)

This is an interesting way of analysing the image (and much easier without the colour component). 

Photo 12

IMG_3728

Street scene in the middle of a clear, sunny day #3

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/3.5, 64mm, 1/350sec, ISO 100

IMG_3728. Street scene in the middle of a clear, sunny day #3 

Taken in the Brisbane mall on a bright day, I have kept the buildings somewhat dark and let the sun pick out some people as the subject of the image (as in the style of Trent Parke whose work I reviewed recently). This results in a fairly dark image but with the bright light on a couple of people, with minor shadow clipping and highlight clipping on the white shirt.

I used manual mode and metered off a part of the ground that I wanted to be mid-tone-grey. I then adjusted as I felt necessary using the histogram and clipping displays on the camera. I then focussed on the group of people I wanted to concentrate on and waited for people to walk past in what I thought might be attractive compositions. I saw this scene as having quite deep shadows, but actually the camera has captured them quite well. This scene I thought was too dark when I took it (and viewed on the camera) but on reflection at home, it is dark but quite well exposed in my opinion. This shows me that I need to keep an open mind when I’m out shooting with what may ‘work’ and it’s not always what looks right on the camera that makes for a dynamic and interesting image. 

Part 2:

For the second part of this assignment, one of the previously photographed scene types is chosen, with the three images taken for each, this time alternative conditions were chosen to attempt to decrease the dynamic range of the image. I have chosen to rephotograph those images taken inside with natural window light.

Images:

My selected, unprocessed images are detailed below.

Photo 1

IMG_3202

Internal scene lit only by window #1 Sunny Day

17-35mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/16, 17mm, 1sec, ISO 100

IMG_3202. Internal scene lit only by window #1 Sunny Day

Histogram from IMG_3202

The original image (above, IMG_3202), shows highlight clipping through the windows, and the chest of drawers is quite dark, though could possibly be lightened in post-processing. There is not quite enough balance in the lighting in the photograph. So I decided to try shooting on an overcast day.

IMG_3503

Internal scene lit only by window #1 Cloudy Day

17-35mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/5.6, 17mm, 1/8sec, ISO 100

IMG_3503. Internal scene lit only by window #1 Cloudy Day

Histogram from IMG_3503

This image has similar problems to the sunny day image, the light is more diffuse, but still results in highlight clipping through the windows, and the shadow areas and chest of drawers are too dark. So I thought to balance the scene I would add in a graduated neutral density filter to the scene.

IMG_3480

Internal scene lit only by window #1 Cloudy Day, Graduated Neutral Density Filter

17-35mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/5.6, 17mm, 1/8sec, ISO 100

IMG_3480. Internal scene lit only by window #1 Cloudy Day, Graduated Neutral Density Filter 

Histogram from IMG_3480

This image is more balanced than the previous image. There is still some highlight clipping through the windows, but the chest of drawers and floor space in front of it is better lit and has more detail. I thought I could do better though, and decided to light the interior with some fill flash.

IMG_3498

Internal scene lit only by window #1 Cloudy Day, Graduated Neutral Density Filter and Fill Flash

17-35mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/5.6, 17mm, 1/30sec, ISO 100

IMG_3498. Internal scene lit only by window #1 Cloudy Day, Graduated Neutral Density Filter and Fill Flash 

Histogram from IMG_3498

I needed to play a bit with the settings. First I tried using the flash with a -2stop EV, but found the windows still too bright, so I decreased it to -1stop EV and then used exposure compensation on the camera (-2stops) to balance the scene. The flash (580EX) is off the camera held up above and slightly offset from the camera and I am using a small softbox to soften the light slightly. I also changed to Flash WB. Essentially here I have exposed for the windows and then lit the room with flash.

This is a far superior image. There is detail through the windows to the street and garden beyond, and there is good detail and colour in the foreground, including under the bed. There is a small shadow on the ceiling from the fan which is not ideal, and also the softbox can be seen reflected in the window. Practice with placing the flash may help with these problems, or perhaps the use of multiple flash heads.

Other options include HDR, or simply photographing with a couple of different exposures and using layers in Photoshop to emphasise different parts of the image (e.g. using the 'lighten' blend mode). The flash could be used to light different parts of the room and then these overlain over each other and masked in/out to create one image which is more evenly lit. As this assignment is not meant to include any post-processing techniques I have not gone down this route.

Photo 2

IMG_3283

Internal scene lit only by window #2

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4, 46mm, 1/2000sec, ISO 100

IMG_3283. Internal scene lit only by window #2

Histogram from IMG_3283

The original image above has very deep shadows (and they are almost clipped according to the histogram above). I don’t see this as an issue, but the aim of this assignment is to decrease the dynamic range of an image, so I shall attempt to do so. I first tried recreating the image on a slightly overcast day. The results are similar to the image taken on a sunny day.

IMG_3508

Internal scene lit only by window #2, slightly cloudy day

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4, 43mm, 1/350sec, ISO 100

IMG_3508. Internal scene lit only by window #2, slightly cloudy day

Histogram from IMG_3508

The shadow areas are not as dark as the full sun image, and this is also seen in the histogram with the shadow areas not clipped or as close to clipped as they were in the sunny day image. The only highlight clipping is in the areas of specular highlight. I thought I would try placing the subject (truck) in an area not lit directly by the light coming through the windows.

IMG_3511

Internal scene lit only by window #2, slightly cloudy day, object not in direct sunlight

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4, 42mm, 1/45sec, ISO 100

IMG_3511. Internal scene lit only by window #2, slightly cloudy day, object not in direct sunlight 

Histogram from IMG_3511

This image has a considerably lower dynamic range, but is also less interesting. There is no clipping of highlights or shadows, but there is not the same dramatic feel which is caused by the deep shadows on the previous images. However, the image doesn’t have any technical problems caused by high dynamic range. I next tried placing the truck back in the direct light and using a reflector pointing towards the shadow area to make the shadows less dark. Looking visually at the scene the shadows appeared lighter to my eye.

IMG_3517

Internal scene lit only by window #2, slightly cloudy day, reflector on shadow area

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4, 70mm, 1/500sec, ISO 100

IMG_3517. Internal scene lit only by window #2, slightly cloudy day, reflector on shadow area 

Histogram from IMG_3517

This image is not significantly different from not using the reflector, and this is probably because it is difficult to position the reflector so it only adds light to the shadow area and not to the truck too, thus altering the exposure across the whole image. Finally I tried using some fill flash.

IMG_3523

Internal scene lit only by window #2, slightly cloudy day, fill flash

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/13, 70mm, 1/250sec, ISO 100

IMG_3523. Internal scene lit only by window #2, slightly cloudy day, fill flash 

Histogram from IMG_3523

In this image the shadow areas are not anywhere near clipped, and there are almost no specular highlights. The flash has balanced the image nicely, though I feel it is less dynamic and interesting than the previous images as a result.

I’m surprised at the little difference between the histograms shown above. I expected a larger difference, although there is more breadth in the peak in the shadow area which indicates more information spread down the dark end of the spectrum but perhaps with fewer pixels near total black. The specular highlights don’t show up at all on the histogram. The differences in this example are interesting, but I think I still prefer my first image taken in the strong sunlight with deep shadows for interest.

Photo 3

IMG_3713

Internal scene lit only by window #3

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/5.6, 43mm, 1/125sec, ISO 200

IMG_3713. Internal scene lit only by window #3

Histogram from IMG_3713

In this scene there is highlight clipping in the bright sky, and shadow clipping (not much of a problem) in the artwork itself. I visited the GOMA on an overcast day and took the following image.

IMG_3664

Internal scene lit only by window #3, cloudy day

24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Canon 30D, f/4, 43mm, 1/60sec, ISO 640

IMG_3664. Internal scene lit only by window #3, cloudy day 

Histogram from IMG_3664

I have approached this situation on an overcast day but found the sky to be very bright (similar problem to the sunny image). So in this case I have looked for a creative solution which does not include the view out the windows, but instead concentrates more on the artwork. This image shows no highlight clipping (actually there is one very small bright highlight which is clipped in the top right of the image) and some minimal shadow clipping in the blacks of the art work. I feel that this is an equally successful, though different, image to the previous one.

The white balance is different to the sunny-day shot, and the image feels different due to the different perspective. Here the focus is more on the artworks and less on the location. In many ways this is a stronger image. I was careful to keep the verticals as close to vertical as I could (by stepping back and keeping the lens zoomed in and not too wide), though in post-processing this would be checked carefully and adjusted if necessary. I should have used a tripod as this would have allowed me to lower my ISO more and thus decrease noise which is evident when zoomed in, however this could be decreased in post-processing.

Other options include using a technique such as HDR with a similar viewpoint to the first image. Flash is not an option in this location (not allowed in art galleries), and it would be hard to flash the whole area (it is quite large). I think choosing an alternate view has provided a good solution.

Conclusions:

Overall I have found this assignment very inspiring and educating. I am feeling much more comfortable shooting in manual mode (previously my default was aperture priority, and now I feel I better understand manual). I looked back through my archive of images and was surprised to see that I found many situations where the dynamic range was high and it resulted in a strong image – but I had not previously recognised this! I have tended to shy away from such situations from fear of exposing wrongly, but this assignment has really helped me to embrace such situations and see them as great creative opportunities. I am now on the lookout for these opportunities in my shooting, and am setting my camera to manual and searching for the deep shadows and bright highlights. I now need to work on my raw processing skills (the next set of exercises should help with that!) to ensure I get the most out of my images when these situations arise.

I have tried in this assignment to search out the scenes with high dynamic range. A couple of images are not clipped at the end members, but they do show scenes where slightly different lighting conditions would cause them to be clipped. I have tried not to play it safe and choose easy scenes, but instead looked for conditions where my camera will have difficulty with the exposure. This has led me to be more creative and also more accepting of the nature of the medium (with its inherent flaws).

I found that some of the scenes which I thought would be higher dynamic range (and thus clipped) are actually not so. This was a surprise to me, and shows that the camera is quite good at capturing what I see. I am also finding my eye is improved at looking at a scene and judging what will blow out in highlights or be lost in the shadows. I found that by altering my viewpoint or cropping in a little tighter on the scene I could avoid some of the highlights that are otherwise distracting in an image. Or slightly change my exposure to fit the scene better. I anticipate that this assignment and learnings will help me enormously in making ‘good’ captures in the camera, but in addition, to help me to search out interesting lighting scenarios in my future work.

My review of the zones system has helped me with analysing an image once I have captured it. The next step is looking for this while I am out capturing images – while not all images ‘need’ to have all the zones covered, if a certain look is sought, then it can be useful to have at least a knowledge of the zone system. I am also interested in looking for images/scenes which only capture part of the zone system – i.e. low key or high key situations.

The second part of the assignment was to photograph the same scenes a second time. I found this process interesting – trying out the different scenarios of graduated neutral density filters, fill flash, different lighting conditions and changing compositional viewpoints. Seeing how the histogram changed from shot to shot was interesting but I think the ‘clipping highlight’ option on the camera and also in Lightroom is more useful.  

Overall this has been enlightening and a very useful exercise in learning to ‘see like my camera’. I feel like most of the images are on the whole successful, and I continue to improve my ability to visualise and create good images. A couple of the images are not completely successful, and I would make some different decisions with a couple next time, though some changes would be possible in raw processing if that was available (WB for example).

References:

Freeman, M. (2009), Perfect Exposure. East Sussex: Ilex

DI Magazine. (2010), DI Magazine 01 [online], Available from http://www.di-magazine.com/ [Accessed 9 October 2012]

Wallace, S. (2012), Digital Photographic Practice Blog [online], Available from http://digitalphotographyselina.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/artist-trent-parke.html [Accessed 9 October 2012]