Exercise 5: Panning with different shutter speeds

I used my cyclist volunteer for this exercise too.  This is the first time I had given panning a try and I was surprised with the results escpecially when I compared them to those taken with different shutter speeds.

I took my camera off the tripod for this series of shots.  I used my 18-105mm lens.

1/320s f7.1 40mm

The background is still sharp at this shutter speed

1/125s f11 40mm

The background is slightly blurry

1/80s f13 40mm

The background is getting more blurred and the feet are slightly out of focus

1/50s f18 40mm

I like the background in this shot it gives a sense of movement to the subject

1/30s f22 40mm

There's a greater sense of movement in this image and the feet are also very blurred

1/15s f29 40mm

The subject in this image is not so sharp - the legs look like they are moving very fast. The subject looks like he's cycling at great speed when there is no change to his pace.

1/5s f29 40mm

The subject is very out of focus in this shot but it increases the sense of speed he cycling at.

Panning is a good way to show movement by keeping the subject in focus and making the background blurred.  It gives a better sense of movement and speed than slowing the shutter speed and keeping the camera still. 

Having the subject out of focus can add to the image and the movement however I think you have to be careful to get the focus and lack of sharpness just right. 



Exercise 4: Shutter Speeds

I took a series of photgraphs of my volunteer on his bike for this exercise.  I put my camera on the tripod and used my 18-105mm lens.  Getting a plain background was a little problematic as I live in London.  However, I found an area in Gunpowder Park in Enfield which I felt was suitable with just some trees in the background.  

1/800s f6.3 40mm

The image is quite sharp and movement looks static

1/400s f9 40mm

Subject starting to blur

1/200s f13 40mm

Subject is pretty blurred and the background is still sharp

 

1/100s f18 40mm

Subject is very blurred and it looks like a badly taken photograph

1/25s f18 40mm

Here the subject is very blurred but there is a sense of motion in the shot

1/13s f25 40mm

In this shot the subject appears to be cycling at great speed leaving a ghost-like trail

Lessons learned:

• The slowest shutter speed I used where motion was still reasonably sharp was 1/800s.  If you want to freeze the subject you would want to use a much higher shutter speed than this. 1/3000s for example. This may vary though depending on the motion you are capturing eg someone walking would be slower than cycling.
• The longer the shutter was open I ran the risk of over-exposing the shots.  I did shoot on a very bright day and perhaps an ND filter would have helped get longer exposures.
• Images with a little blur don't look as impressive as those that are very blurry.  There is less motion/action in them.
• I prefer the effect of slower shutter speeds on movement.

Exercise 3: Focus at different apertures

I found getting a suitable subject for this exercise difficult.  I tried a row of houses, railings and a fence but changes to the depth of field were not visible.  In the end I lined up a row of jars and food cans to see if I could get a result. 

The pictures below were taken at 35mm using a 18-105mm lens at apertures f4.5,f14 and f29.  The focal point was the can of vegetable curry in the middle of the line up.

Aperture f4.5
The sharpness in this shot is primarily around the can of vegetable curry with the jar and can on either side slightly blurred. 
The front can is out of focus as is the last jar in the series.
Depth of field is shallow.

Aperture f29
The line of cans in this shot are sharper from beginning to end and there is a stronger depth of field










Aperture f14
There is only a slight difference between this and f29.  The front and rear are more focussed than f4.5 and there is a greater depth of field. 

Exercise 2: Focus at a set aperture

For this exercise I decided to use some decorative balls made out of dried plants and natural fibres from my living room.  I like the texture and ruggedness of these.  I lined the balls up with the smallest one in front to create some depth and then positioned myself and an angle so all three could be easily viewed.

Each shot was taken with an aperture of f5.3 at 75mm using my 18-105mm lens.  I prefer the shot where the focus is in the front plane as it draws you into the image giving you a sense of movement and greater depth.  Focus on the rear plane is my least favourite as I find the blurriness in the front distracting and unpleasing to the eye. 

Front focus

Mid focal point

Rear focus

Exercise 1: Focal length and angle of view

The notes for this exercise are confusing.  If you are using a digital camera the viewfinder magnification factor plays a role making it difficult to determine the standard focal length by looking through the lens and comparing it to what your other eye sees.

When I tried this 55mm seemed to result in similar sized objects. 

According to the instruction manual, the viewfinder magnification on my camera is .78 and the standard focal length is 35mm.  On a 35mm format camera the standard focal length is about 50mm. 

I took the following shots to show wide angle, standard focal length for my camera and telephoto. 

Standard focal length 35mm

Wide angle 18mm














Telephoto 70mm

50mm (objects appeared similar size)