Narrative

Narrative is the way in which we tell a story using a set of pictures.  We could refer to this as a picture essay.

A narrative treatment suits subjects that are made up of several parts or events that have a sequence of how they occur.  This could be a wedding, a football match, a school play or the preparation of a meal.

Plotting the story is very important.
Take an event for example - when and where is it happening, what is the order of events, who is participating and what exactly are they doing and when.  If this is an event that occurs regularly you can do some research on the internet to see what images have been taken in the past.  Do a recce of the event and where it will take place.  Locate prime viewpoints for shooting. Check with the organisers about any restrictions. Is there a rehearsal? Can you go to it? List of potential shots.

Get variety in your shots.

• Vertical and horizontal shots
• Images taken at different scales from distant to close up
• Use lenses of different focal length
• Variety of colour, like including pictures that are mainly in a single colour
• Variety of lighting

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Narrative and Illustration

This part of the course focuses on the subject in our imagery.  Up until now on this course a lot of my focus has been on creating attractive and pleasing pictures.  I suppose this is not just down to the exercises I had to complete but also down to the fact that I was learning a lot more about using my camera and the best way to get the effects I wanted.  


I have dabbled a little with focusing on the subject when I experimented with street photography but felt that I didn't torn between making the picture pleasing but also interesting from a contextual point of view.  


This section of the course will enable to direct my attention to the subject.


In the introduction to this section I have been asked to find two photographs from magazines/newspapers to find the most contrasting examples of subject and treatment. In one of the images the subject should be of little importance but the image making skills paramount.  The other images should have the opposite qualities where the subject is important and the image handling unremarkable.  These images will mark the ends of the tug of war scale between the subject and its treatment or between content and form.  

This image of sardines on a bbq was taken from a website and it what I would call graphically pleasing.  The lighting is enhanced by the flames from the bbq and the horizontal and vertical lines make for a good composition.  However, there is no story to be found only form.  

On the contrary, this image is from a news website for a story about the Olympic Games.  Mo Farah is a big contender for a gold medal in the long distance running.  The image is all about his previous success, he is smiling, with the British flag held behind his back.  This picture is not particularly well balanced one of his arms has been cropped out of the shot. The crowd in the background is barely visible.  He is smiling but this is for the cameras in front of him.  It is posed and looks like a snapshot. 

This part of the course is going to challenge me to take pictures of my subject whilst showing what is important about it, and why it is interesting instead of on the grounds of it being simply graphically attractive. 

Light - moving forward

This part of the course introduced me to working with photography at night or low light photography and working with artificial lighting. I think this introduction was a very brief one.  There is a lot more out there for me to learn.  


Whilst I'm not sure that working in a studio is for me I can say that I find the idea of it more interesting and appealing than before.  I still have a lot more to learn about light and I personally don't think I'd be fulfilled as a photographer if there was a big gap in my skill set.  This gap being the use of photographic lighting.  I think photographers encounter enough restrictions in their line of work without adding a self-imposed one to that list. 


The next model I will be signing up to on this degree course is People and Place and I feel being able to work better with all forms of light will be beneficial for me.  


I have been thinking about steps forward and these are some I could take:

• Focus more on shooting with flash and look for ways in can enhance my photography
• Enrol on a studio lighting course
• Read more literature on the practical side of working with light
• Take some time between this module and the next to dedicate some time solely to working with artificial light
• Do more indoor shoots as opposed to relying on the great outdoors

What I've learnt about flash photography

Flash is a supplementary light, like your very own personal miniature sun, which fills in the detail your camera can't see.  As we know the dynamic range of the camera is much lower than our own eyes' dynamic range.

Where does flash fit in the photographic triangle?
Aperture - a correct flash exposure relies 100% on aperture.  If we dial in the aperture we want the flash will give us the correct flash-to-subject distance scale.  This is the distance the light has to be from the subject in order to get a correct exposure using the aperture you have selected.

Shutter speed - determines how much ambient light appears in the picture usually -2 stops to let enough light through.

ISO - can be increased to make the camera more sensitive to light which will enable you to extend the range of your flash.

You can get weaker light by powering down the flash.  This is helpful when the flash-to-subject distance is not practicable as in macro photography and also when you want a softer light on your subject.

High speed sync
Allows you to select faster shutter speeds.  But there is a trade off as it reduces the power of your flash.

Fill light
You can use your flash as fill light on a bright day as your camera will have problems exposing all the highlights and shadows.  This is particularly useful when shooting outdoor portraits.

Bounce flash
For softer light you can bounce your flash so the light hits the ceiling or a wall and then falls on your subject.  This produces softer light.  If you use a catchlight panel this produces a catch light in the subjects eyes and adds that little sparkle which makes a portrait.

Off camera flash
Taking your flash off the camera allows you to shape the light and get contrasting and interesting shots especially in portrait work.

Rear-Curtain Sync
Cameras focal plane shutters contain 2 curtains. The first opens when you press the shutter release button and the second curtain closes the shutter once the exposure has been recorded.
The flash usually fires when the first curtain is opened at the beginning of the exposure.  Rear-curtain sync is when you set your camera so the flash fires when the second curtain is beginning to close.  This enables you to  capture a longer exposure where motion is involved.


Manual V TTL
TTL works on the premise of sending out a 'pre-flash' an infrared beam that strikes your intended subject and then travels back to your camera telling your camera's computer how much power is needed to create a correct exposure.  This calculation is based on the camera's meter reading and as I found out when re-visiting exposure this reading doesn't always give you the results you want especially when working with blacks and whites.

In saying that TTL is brilliant when you don't have the time to set apertures and workout flash-to-subject distances for example in situations like photographing events and street photography.

I think for the moment I prefer working with manual opting for TTL when the flash is off camera.  However, I am sure that will change once I start using my flash more.

Exercise: Concentrating Light

You can may light fall on just part of a scene and have the surrounds in shadow.  This can be done by using a snoot.  This adds drama to your shot and directs the viewers interest.  


For this exercise I used a home-made snoot which I created using a black piece of card which I then attached to the flash head.  


It took a little time at first to work out where the light was falling and which angles worked best.  Here is my best  picture:

Exercise: The Lighting Angle

This exercise is all about seeing the effects of the light from different positions in relation to the object. 

For this exercise I took a similar object and shot the following sequence:

Light to the side.  The object is lit on one side with the other in shadow.

Light towards the back and to the side.  The light falls on the edge of the object giving it shape.

Backlit - the shape of the object is clear from the silhouette.

Light directly on top.  You can see the shadow underneath the object which is the same shape as the object.

Lighting on top and to the rear.  The top of the object is lit with the bottom in shade.  The shadow is a little harsh but it does give form to the object.

Lighting on top and to the front.  Small shadow with all theobject lit.  Less distracting shadow pattern.

I then had to take these shots with the light at a 45 degree angle from the object.

Side - casts more of a shadow and illuminates more of the object.

Front - shadow stretches further back.

Side and to the back

Backlit - you can see more of this than with the camera horizontal to the object.

The position that gives the best 3-dimensional effect is with the light on top or from the side.  Shooting into the light or with the object front lit makes for a pretty flat image especially is the shadows are light.

I like the side lit shots with one side in shade and the other lit.  It creates an interesting mood into an image. 

Exercise: Softening the light

For this exercise I had to arrange a still life with an object or a group of objects.  The lighting direction I chose was slightly to the side. 

As I don't have any photographic lighting, I had to improvise for this exercise and I used a builders light.  I used tracing paper as a diffuser. 

The first shot was taken with the naked light. 

Using naked light you can see the darkness of the shadows.  They are bigger in size than the actual objects. They have a sharp edge.

The shadows in comparison in this shot are much softer although still quite big they don't dominate the shot and take away from the objects.  The edges are not as sharp.

Diffusing the light softens the shadows in your photographs.  The size of the shadows in these shots is down to the angle of the light, but it does give a good example of how naked light at this angle can produce very distracting shadows. 

I should also have adjusted the exposure to over-expose for the whitish background.