Effect of cropping

The first image I took on a very cold winter day.this is at the river side in Burton-on-Trent.The temp.was -10, but it was very sunny and bright and the sky was very blue and I was very temped to go out to take some pictures.Since it was so cold after 15 minutes I could not continue any more as my feet were frozen and the fingers got numb.But i am pleased that I could take some beautiful shots. A few days later I attended a lecture from famous landscape photographer Joe Cornish.He did emphasise that one can get great pictures during rain,snow and frost. When I showed this picture to my tutor Marie Holliday she showed me the effect of cropping and the second image is the result of that.It really makes a lot of difference.Now I have learnt how to make a good frame when taking a picture. of course this cropping can also be done with the help of a computer and the photo shop.

Image manipulations

This is an image taken during one of the coldest winter days.It was an open field and it looked like a white carpet with few dried trees and plants.I took my Nikon D5000 and my tripod to take this picture.I could last only a few minutes because it was so cold that after ten minutes my hands and feet got really cold and had to stop taking any more shots.

This is a picture of Bournemouth beach.it was very sunny and the sky was very blue and a few white clouds.i liked the hotel building in front of the blue sky, taken with my Nikon D5000 with the lens 18-105 .

we were asked to manipulate an image using photo shop.This third image is the result of the manipulation combining the parts of the first two images.First I used the cropping tool to take out the required parts from the second image.Then I used the edit copy and paste tools to place the taken out parts and pasted them on to the first image.I also used the repositioning tool to put the parts at  particular space on the first image.

This is a manipulated first image using the edit copy and paste tool.Ten more tulips have been added to the original four flowers.Looks really beautiful.I am really pleased with this result.

Lenses anfd filters

There are basically three types of lenses. Standard,wide angle and telephoto. Standard lens has 50mm focal length, so any lens which has shorter focal length is wide angle and any lens which has longer focal length is a telephoto lens.
Telephoto lenses are used to take photos of objects of far distance, but then it covers a smaller near field. It can also be used to take portraits of animals, birds which are far and can not be disturbed. The important point using these lenses are blurring of distant objects, because of the camera shake which can be remedied by using a tripod.At present lenses of focal lengths of 300mm are available, but then they become large, heavy and bulky.
Wide angle lenses are used to take landscape photos, indoor family photos.the object being to include many people in one frame.Most commonly used wide angle lenses are of 18 or 28 mm.But then as low as 12 and 14 mm are also available, they are called fish eye lenses and they are very expensive.
Most of the present day digital SLR cameras are suitable to use different lenses.for different occasions different lenses can be used by interchanging them. Now a days to avoid this inconvenience combination of lenses of different focal lengths are in the market. Combination like 18-55, 18-105, 28-200, 28-300 are also available.Tele converters are a cheaper version of telephoto lens which are attached between the camera and the lens
Another type of lens is the macro lens which takes pictures of small objects at very close range. These lenses are usually used in taking pictures of insects, coins or any part of the body.
In the past I had used 28-200 lens, but because of the camera shake now I use 18-105 which gives a better quality pictures.
Filters
These are a kind of lens fitted in front of the lens.They are used for the purpose of increasing the contrast,reducing the glare and reflections and capturing the invisible light such as ultra violet light.
Types of filters are UV filters,skylight,Polaroid,ND (neutral density) and macro filters. These filters have added function protecting the main lens from water,dust etc.

Focal length variations

This picture was taken with a focal length of 18mm, which shows a lot of objects and the view is wide.

This picture was with a focal length of 28mm and the view has diminished and some of the objects have disappeared

Here since the focal length is 80 mm the swan the main object is clear and prominent and all the other objects have disappeared.So if one has to concentrate on a particular object one has to use the largest focal length, this is useful in taking portrait photographs.

Aperture and shutter speed and focal length

These pictures were taken using Nikon D5000.I have not used any tripod or any flash.I had always used the aperture priority in taking most of the photos.I have now realised that I need to use a tripod when I am using a smallest apertuter to avoid any camera shake and thus resulting in picture blurring.

 This picture was taken with a shutter speed 0.400 seconds a fairly fast shutter, but still some of the vehicles are blurred.So to get a clearer picture one should use the fastest speed, like 1/1000.

This picture was taken with a shutter speed of 0.760, still slower than the first picture and most of the vehicles are blurred

This picture was taken with a focal length of 18 mm.The picture contains a lot of nearer and far objects.

This picture was taken with an apertureF 4 and the nearest object the swan is clearer than the distant trees

 This image was taken with an aperture F13 and the distant trees are a bit more clearer

This picture was taken with an aperture F25.the nearer object is clear as well as the distant trees.There is a good depth of field. This shows that smaller the aperture greater the depth of field.This is really useful in taking landscape pictures. Again to get the good depth of field one has to use the smallest aperture which results in camera shake and there will be blurring of the picture.to avoid this blurring one has to use a tripod. if you see this picture very carefully the distant trees are a bit blurred.This will be clearly seen if the picture is enlarged. I need to use a tripod in future to take landscape images.

Joe Cornish visit

On the 8th Dec. the famous landscape photographer had come to Burton College and gave a lecture on landscape photography and showed some of his photographs.They were really brilliant. I got some great tips and ideas on landscape photography. I also learnt that landscape photos can be taken in the vertical format which in the past I was reluctant to do. Joe also explained the ideal conditions and locations for taking landscape photos.He said the ideal situations are dawn and dusk, rainy conditions, snow and frost.But these are also very difficult conditions, but the results can be rewarding. At the end of the lecture I made my way to meet him and told him that he was one of my favorite photographer in my research and he thanked me for choosing him.

Stephen shore

This is Stephen Shore. He is also a famous landscape photographer.He is an American born in 1947. He was interested in photography right from his childhood.Realising this his uncle gave him a dark room kit as a present.He used this kit to develop prints using a 35 mm camera.At the age of 10 he printed his first colour photograph. Here on his career in photography took off, he was only 14 yrs of age.He once met Andy Warhol and was very much impressed with his work. He started taking pictures of his factory and Andy Warhol and his associates working around him. At the age of 24 yrs he was the second youngest photographer to have a solo exhibition. His main interest was on the roads and landscapes in USA and Canada. Stehen initially used a 35 mm camera and then switched to 4><5" view camera , but finally settled onto 8><10 format.His work has made impressions on Andreas Gursky and Thomas Struth and has had effects on their work. He has had many publications, like UNCOMMON PLACES, VELVET YEARS and  ANDY WARHOL' S FACTORY.                                                                                                                                                                    

This is one of his photographs, looks like taken after autumn days.The trees are bare without any leaves, the sky is clear and blue.It is a country side house.

As mentioned earlier  Stephen Shore enjoyed taking pictures of  the road and on the road also.This picture must have been taken while traveling and we can see the roadside sign post of advertisement, which is again a landscape photo, and it can be a frame inside a frame. He has included a clear blue sky with white clouds all make good contrast.

Andreas Gursky

This is Andreas Gursky. a German landscape photographer. He was born in 1955 to a commercial photographer.He was known for  his enormous architecture and colour landscape photographs.He at times produced huge panoramic colour photographic prints as big as 6' high and 10' long without any manipulations. He became interested in man made spaces, high rise facades, office lobbies, stock exchanges, parliaments, where lots of people are present busy in various activities.

This is his picture of a tower where lots of people busy in their own activities.

This is his favorite photograph of Chicago stock exchange.Huge gathering of people in real action of buying and selling shares.

Thomas Struth

This is Thomas Struth another landscape photographer.He was born in Germany in 1954.He became known for his photographs of city scapes, Asian jungles and family portraits. He has won the Spectrum International prize for photography in 1997. He started taking pictures of people in museums.He went to Prado museum in Madrid where he found his inspiration.He worked there for seven days, eight hours a day. He used to carry a large land camera which was heavy and bulky.So he got the idea of fixing wheels to the tripod so that he can move the camera easily.His high point- at Prado museum and his low point-when he had 400 plates of photos and out of those 300 got damaged from the airport scanner.This will not happen these days as the x ray scanners at the airports are film safe.
His dream: taking a family portrait of President Obama and his family

I like this picture, which gives a great depth of field and a three dimensional view.He must have waited for a long time for the street to be empty of people and he had to stand right in the middle of the road so as to include the buildings on both sides of the road

This is the picture he had taken at his favorite Prado museum.He has captured various people in the museum doing various things,like one is a guide explaining the history,some people are listening, some are chatting, some are taking notes and the others are taking pictures. And of course there is the main attraction the big painting

Filters

In this task we were asked to modify a photo using different filters.This is the image I am using to modify

 This is the modified image.I used six different filters.In the first step i chose the square tool to pick a part of the image, then I used different filters in different areas and finally I saved the modified image.In the top left corner I used the plastic wrap,next dry brush,next film grain and on the bottom half of the image the first one was neon, next smudge stick and then sponge filters.Many filter effects in one picture.

 This is the task of adding text to the image in various ways and adding different colours and shapes.Three images have three different texts.To add the text i selected this picture in the editor then on the left hand side tool bar selected the T and then clicked on to the picture where the text to be put on.Then I selected the font type and the size of the font and the tool which would curve in different ways.Then I saved the image.

This is the modified image into sepia effect.First I selected the image and then in the editor i selected adjustments and selected the tool convert into B/W.Next I selected the colour variations tool and adjusted colour and the contrast to get the optimum effect

Joe Cornish

My second photographer is Joe Cornish a landscape photographer.Joe was born in Exeter (UK) in 1958.He studied at Exeter University.Initially he started his photography in studios.But later his attraction changed to outdoor photography.He became very interested in light and its influence on landscapes.Between 1986-1995 he provided lots of photos for travel books.He worked under the famous landscape photographer Ansel Adams working in Yosemite Valley for 8 years. Later he moved to north Yorkshire and began taking pictures of Yorkshire valleys and then coasts and mountains in Scotland.He has contributed heavily to National Trust publications.He has written many books in photography, but his first book was 'First Light, a Landscape photographer's Art. I was fortunate to attend one of his lectures which he delivered at Burton College.He showed his best collection of photos.He stressed the one can take good pictures in rain,snow,and frosty conditions.He also said he does not strictly observe the RULE OF THE THIRDS.I was surprised the several of his landscape photos are in vertical format.I had always thought that all the landscape photos had to be in landscape format, hence the name. But it is not to be.

This is a beautiful landscape and the reflection of the castle in the water.This must have been taken during dusk and the water is still.He must have spent a lot of time waiting for the right time.Very sharp picture indeed.

This is my picture which I took at Stratford upon Avon.Well, I did not use any tripod nor I had enough time as I was only visiting with my family.The reflection is not clear as the water is not still.May be on my next visit I will use a tripod and spend more time to get better image.

This is a beautiful picture of sun set.The sun is small at the horizon and he has covered a lot of land to give a lot of depth of field.Another feature is that the picture has a very little sky and a lot of land. He must have spent a lot of time to compose thispicture.

This is my picture of the sun rise.The difference is that I have included lot of sky and very little of land.I did not spend much time taking this image as I had not much time.Again I should have used a tripod which would have made a lot of difference.I have learnt some ideas from Joe's picture.

This picture was taken by Joe Cornish for the purpose of greeting cards.Very sharp and blurred background, which indicates that he has used a large aperture to highlight the main flower.

This is my picture of a geranium flower.I think ther is a good sharpness in the picture and also the blurring of the back ground.I am quite leased with this picture.

 This is another picture by Joe Cornish for greeting cards.Good sharp flower with some blurring of the leaves.

This is my picture of camalia flower from my garden plant.There is good sharpness in the flower and little blurring of the leaves.Good contrasting features, yellow, white,pink and green

 

Light writing

This is a new technique we learnt at the course.The use of  BULB aperture in which one can control the shutter opening as long as or as short as one wished.This is the first picture and as we got more pictures we got better and better.

This is the second picture, slightly better.

In this picture I tried to write my name over my face, which was not so good.

Here i got a little better, one can read my name though S is missing,.The trick is to write the reverse way.

This is a different technique, using the light source around ones body.

This is again same, a bit of fun as well, like having a crown over the head

Ideas and research

I was very much interested in photography from a long time.When I was a school boy I borrowed a camera from a friend and asked another friend to jump from a tree onto an underlying river.and I tried to take pictures and I may have taken about five shots and when I got the pictures printed I was very much disappointed as all the pictures were very blurred.I had no clue as to why it happened as I did not have any idea of shutter and speed of the shutter.Later on I got used to cameras and I always used the automatic setting.But the pictures came OK and until recently about 5-6 years ago I read about cameras, lenses, apertures and shutter speed. So to improve my techniques I joined the photography course at Burton College and I am learning new things.I am mainly interested in landscape photography, taking pictures of sunset, sunrise,landscapes, flowers and rivers.
when we asked to write about five photographers I chose John Blakemore
John Blakemore was born in Coventry in 1936.He was a landscape photographer.He mainly took black and white photos.He went to Tripoli and started  his work with RAF.Then he returned to Coventry and started taking pictures of buildings those destroyed in the bombings in the war and at the same time buildings under reconstruction. He is now emeritus professor of photography at university of Derby

He enjoyed taking pictures of tulips and studied the flower and came to a conclusion that tulips undergo continuous mutation..He has written many books about black and white photography.He has exhibitions all over the world. The above first photograph is one of John Blakemore and the second one I had taken in colour and changed into black and white.There is a lot of difference between the two pictures.In my picture I had captured the whole plant and the background as well.Studying the picture from John Blakemore Now I know my faults are and I will try to get better in future by focusing mainly in the flower.Again converting from colour to B/W will not be as good as the original B/W.

Assignment 5 Image manipulations

In this assignment we are asked to manipulate a picture using photoshop.I have used this picture for the exercise

This picture has been altered into B/W from colour.The first step is to open up the photo shop program.,select images,in the drop down menu select adjustments, click on black and white, and the picture becomes B/W.Now to save the picture,press command+shift+4. Now using the cursor cover the whole picture and let go.The picture is saved on the desktop

The same picture, this time it has been altered into half B/W and the other half colour. For this again open up the photo shop, images, then click on the square on the left side menu and drag the square until one half of the picture is covered and let go.Now click on the images and select adjustments and click on black and white.The picture is now half colour and half B/W.Press command+sift+4 and save the picture.

This is the same picture.And here the picture has been made B/W and the colour of the two cars has been restored.To do this open up the photo shop program, select images, go to adjustments, select hue and colour.Now go to window and pick the history and click on it.Then select the brush which is tenth in the left hand tool kit.Select the brush and drag it on to the object in the picture.Use the brushing action and cover the whole object and the original colour of the object is restored.Now save the picture as before