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