Exercise: Measuring Exposure Part 2

For this second part I had to take 5 or 6 different photographs 5 times varying the exposure.  The first is one stop darker, the second half a stop darker, the third average, the fourth half a stop brighter and fifth one stop brighter.  

Here are the results. 

One stop darker - the best as it records the bolts more accurately

1/2 stop darker - still keeps the detail but a little brighter than reality

Average - the meter reading has made the image brighter.  Not acceptable to me as it is too bright.

1/2 stop brighter - again this is too bright and the blackness of the image is lost.

1 stop brighter - the darkness of this image is completely lost and the image looks over-exposed.

1 stop darker - gives mood to the image and brings out the red of the house.

1/2 stop brighter - the sky is beginning to look a little washed out

Average - makes the image look flat and the colour in the sky is lost.

1/2 stop brighter - this image looks over-exposed at the top

1 stop brighter - the image  is greatly over-exposed

1 stop darker - the bricks are deep and colourful and this works well.

1/stop darker - the bricks have lost a little colour but this image is still acceptable.

Average - the average reading has given a washed out effect to the colour in this scene. It is still acceptable though.

1/2 stop brighter - the bricks look much brighter and very different to the first image.  They are still acceptable but no longer look like real bricks.

1 stop brighter  and over-exposed.  Nearly all detail is lost.

1 stop darker - I feel this is too dark and some of the detail is lost in the shadows.

1/2 stop darker - still some detail lost in the shadows but it is better than the first image.

Average - this gives a good and fairly accurate recording of what the scene was actually like.  There's more detail that the darker images.

1/2 stop brighter - this is also good and the greens are vibrant.

1 stop brighter - the greens are a little too bright.  I think average works best for colours like green because it gives a more realistic reading for the colour.

This detail is from my garden fence and looks like 2 horses' faces. 

1 stop brighter and it has a dark mysterious air.  You can see the texture.

1/2 stop brighter - this still holds the texture of the wood.

Average - gives an average that is pretty acceptable.

1/2 stop brighter - takes on a different hue and the whites become brighter.  A very different scene but it still works.

1 stop brighter - this also is bright and works well.  A good example of how the light can change a subject into something very different.



 On the whole the average reading are nothing more than that - average.  They meet what we would call an acceptable exposure.  however, if you want to show and record the scene as it really is and capture the shadows, highlights and colour more realistically varying the amount of light hitting the sensor will allow you to do that. 

Exercise: Measuring Exposure Part 1

For the first part of this exercise I had to take about 4-6 photographs which are deliberately lighter or darker than average and explain why.

This lock on this white garage door is a brighter than average.  An average reading here would have made the white door grey so I over-exposed to make it whiter and more realistic of what i was seeing in fornt of me.

I used spot metering for this shot to make sure that the brightness of the white was not lost and remained white and not grey.  This works well as it doesn't have a noticeable affect on the brickwork.  Therefore I didn't have to compromise the scene.

This section of a black wooden door was under-exposed to ensure it maintained the darkness of the wood.  An average reading would have made it lighter in colour and lost some of the texture.

This shot was over-exposed to show how this scene can be made brighter and give a different effect than under-exposing as in the example below.  Both these shots are more interesting as they give different versions of the same thing but adjusting the amount of light that enter the camera.

Light

Light is the language of photography.  It determines how we take a picture. 

Sensors on cameras are designed to work best in normal daylight.  Lower light levels require the sensor settings to be more sensitive ie a higher ISO setting.  But it's not just as simple as that.  Higher ISO settings introduce more noise into the image and this may be a problem. 

The intensity of light
Brightness varies through the day from dawn till dusk.  The sun is brighter during the day than at sunset or sunrise. Cloudy and foggy days are also darker.  Understanding this is very important as our eyes can adjust for these changes but the cameras sensor can't.

The normal ISO setting for daylight shooting is 100-200.   Increasing this makes the sensor more sensitve to light together with the ability to shoot in lower light.

Measuring brightness
Sensors are less efficient that our eyes at recording the light that is in a scene as they cannot cope with the same dynamic range as our eyes.

Cameras measure brightness using their in-built metering systems. 

There are 3 types:

• Centre weighted
• Matrix
• Spot

Centre-weighted and matrix weight their readings in anticipation of how you would compose and take pictures. Average centre-weighted reading ignores any thin bright strip at the top due to the fact that that is where the sky usually is.

Matrix is far more advanced and takes readings from several points in the image and compares it to a database of similar known types of scene.

Spot is exactly what it says it is - a reading taken of a small area.  This is useful and accurate for certain types of scenes or compositions for exmaple where there is a bright object with a dark background.

The basis for all averaged readings results in a mid tone or 50% brightness or 128 on a scale from 0-255.  However, depending on your scene you which may be brighter or darker than 50% you may need to adjust exposure accordingly.  This can be done by using M mode or the Exposure Compensation control. 

Exercise 4: Colour into tones in black and white

For this exercise I had to compose a still life image which included the colours red, yellow, green and blue. 

I then had to convert it to black and white in photoshop elements and adjust the colour filters to see what affect they had on the tones in black and white. 

Here are the results.

Neutral - as suggested by Photoshop

Red

Green

Blue

This exercise shows that adjusting the colour lightens the tone of that colour in the image and darkens the tone of the others.  This can be seen clearly in the above images.  It is also worth noting that the darkening effect is strongest on the complementary colour as can be seen in green above.  

I have to admit I never thought much about the effect colour had in black and white images.  I was therefore unaware how you could control the tone and bring out certain objects in the image by adjusting the colour levels. 



Exercise 3: Colour Relationships

Colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel have a naturally harmonious relationship and are referred to as complementary.

Due to the fact that the hues vary from light to dark in these relationships we need to look at relative brightness.  For example, orange is twice as bright as blue and yellow three times as bright as violet. 

As a result the following are the ideal proportions for how much colour should occupy the frame.

• Red: Green - 1:1
• Orange: Blue 1:2
• Yellow: Violet 1:3

The first part of this exercise is to produce images based on these ratios.

Red: Green 1:1

Orange: Blue 1:2

Yellow: Violet 1:3

For the second part of the exercise I had to produce 3-4 images using any colour combinations.

Orange: Green 1:2

Orange is close to red and so works well with green and is balanced in these proporations

Blue: Green 1: 3

The blue is the darker colour here and therefore reverses the ideals and upsets the balance.

Violet: Orange 1:2

Although a darker versions of both hues, the combination works surprisingly well.



Exercise 2: Primary and secondary colours

This exercise is based on the colour wheel of primary colours - red, yellow, blue - and secondary colours - green, violet, orange.

Producing images that match these 6 colours closely is easier than it sounds.  Of course some colours are easier to get than others, but when you try and get those colours from natural sources and not man-made decorative surfaces. 

Here are my results:

Orange - Average
The most like orange on the wheel



Orange - 1/2 stop brighter




Orange - 1/2 stop darker




Green - Darker
Most like the green on the wheel




Green - Average



Green - 1/2 stop brighter



Yellow - 1/2 stop darker




Yellow - Average
Most like yellow on the wheel



Yellow - 1/2 stop brighter



Red - Average




Red - 1/2 stop brighter




Red - 1/2 stop darker
Most like red on the wheel



Blue - Average

Blue - 1/3 stop brighter

Blue - 1/3 stop darker

Closest to blue on the wheel

Violet - Average

Violet - 1/2 stop brighter

Violet - 1/2 stop darker

Closest to violet on the wheel

From this exercise I have learnt how exposure affects colour in my pictures.  Over-exposing images makes the colour brighter.  Under-exposing makes colours darker and more saturated. 

Yellow is an example from this because when it is darker is becomes a different colour - ochre.  

Thomas Struth: Photographs 1978-2010

The OCA organised study visit to Thomas Struth at the Whitechapel Gallery led to the discovery of a hidden gem – Struth himself.

My first introduction to Struth was of his place in the deadpan aesthetic where art photography is moved outside of the sentimental and subjective and the viewer is faced with the emotional detachment and sometimes clinical command of the photographer.

His work invites us to take pleasure in examining his photographs by not allowing us to immerse ourselves psychologically in his work. 

The museum series is what I had seen in books and the advertisement for this exhibition is probably what most people would associate with him.  I had also been informed about the size of his pictures – some up to 4 metres long.  How can such a vast space be filled and provide satisfaction while remaining devoid of emotional attachment.  How does he invite you in and when you are in, what is it that you see and holds your attention? And is this where his work ends with a series of images of people looking at the magnificent works of art in museums and galleries across the world?

Struth is interested in the whole, the global, in line with the beliefs of Gestalt psychology – the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. His work in this exhibition is divided into five areas: Audiences, Streets, Paradise, Families and Buildings.

Audiences – his photographs of visitors to museums tells us a lot about collective cultural behaviour.  The Pergamon Museum in Berlin (although staged using extras) gives us an insight into the very individual experiences of the visitors to the historical relics of the past and their visit to the modern gallery experience thus exploring the conflation of time.

The development of city streets is charted in his black and white images of street scenes from New York, Dusseldorf and Paris.  These streets are deserted which allows their strong central perspective to become an important feature in his documentation of illustrating locations where a city is at its most ‘condensed.’ 

Progress through the ages can be seen from the modern perspective in his images of the laboratories and the cutting edge of technology like the Space Centre on Cape Canaveral. Here he uses central perspective to condense the scene to make the space centre feel even smaller considering the huge development it is.  I couldn’t help feel lost in these technical images.  What is that?  I felt a little frustrated by the lack of something to see. In this modern age, the major developments that are shaping our world can’t be seen, unlike those of the period of industrialisation 150 years ago.

The images of wires and the spectrometer further increased my feeling of isolation as the point was proved that this is something I couldn’t understand.  However, this is an effective way to present technology that can’t be explained.

Families, although a series of family portraits, was very different to any of his other work but also left you trying to make sense of what you see.  The only instructions given by Struth to his subjects was to look into the camera.  They could organise themselves any way they chose.  This made the viewer question more about the people in the frames, who they were and why they chose to present themselves in the way they did.

Paradise consists of a series of pictures taken in jungles across the world – a collection of ‘unconscious places’.  These places do not need to be read or interpreted – they emphasise the viewer’s presence and their sense of self. 

The Paradise series is one where the sheer size of the prints is important.  Having viewed the images online before the visit I found it hard to see what they were about.  However. If you are to take a moment to look deep into oneself you need to have the jungle big enough to do so. 

There is no vanishing point in some of these images so there is no focus – just the viewer and the jungle in a unique viewing experience.

Struth’s work varies across his career from the black and white images of city streets to the colour rich jungles in Paradise, however there is central themes that are consistently explored and questioned.  His images carry the cultural, historical and psychological structures at work in the modern world. Time, perspective and detachment are important as well as size, colour and our ability to see when sometimes seeing requires a different sort of vision.