This assignment has
caused me a great deal of trouble and angst. In fact, it has proved such a
sticking point that I feared for a time it would prevent my progress with the
course. The brief requires 12 photographs to be taken under very specific
lighting conditions - 8 from which 4 must be chosen, 3 images from each. The
pictures should all be taken in JPEG format and no post processing is allowed -
the challenge is to pre-visualise how the camera will represent the scene and
choose settings accordingly.
The first thing that
terrified me about the brief is the thought of not being able to use software
to alter the image. I have shot all of my photographs in RAW format for years
and see the captured image as only a starting point. I have no problems or hesitations
in using software to alter an image and see this as nothing new, just a
transformation of the way a traditional wet darkroom would be used to achieve a
desired result. Rationally however, I could quickly see how stopping myself
from doing this could be an interesting exercise and push me out of my comfort
zone.
My main stumbling
block came with the very specific set of shooting requirements for the image. I
am always keen for my assignments to be linked in some way through either
subject matter or concept. I really struggled with finding a way I could do
this without simply ticking the boxes, usually I find some way into a project
and through experimentation find my direction - on this occasion I was stumped.
To complicate
matters, a fellow student (
Stéphanie d'Hubert) posted a brilliant and original interpretation of the
brief.
I love the energy
and playfulness of the way Stéphanie has interpreted the brief. To top it all,
the assignment is also presented in an original way as a slideshow to music.
Instead of feeling invigorated however, I felt completely void of inspiration
and ended up putting not only this assignment but the entire course and even
photography in general to the back of my mind - I felt blocked and other
aspects of life took precedence. Rightly or wrongly when I am not in the right
frame of mind I find it extremely difficult to take photographs - it is an
issue I have known about for some time and yet do not seem to be able to
conquer. In the past a strategy has been to simply force myself to take
photographs - of everything and anything. Eventually the simple act of pressing
the shutter, usually without any preconceived notion of what I am doing,
succeeds in bringing me out of the other side. On this occasion however, the
assignment brief weighed heavily on me and I continued to struggle to find my
direction.
A turning point came
when I had a moment of clarity and realised I was simply overthinking the
project. I realised the barrier to me completing the assignment was not the
brief but was me myself - it was easier to say it was too constrictive than to
try and come up with a creative solution like Stéphanie had. At this point I
made the conscious decision to progress no matter what, not to worry about the
quality of the outcome but to use the exercise as the learning tool it is
designed to be. For a subject I decided to choose something that would be
readily accessible to me to make things as easy as possible. With this in mind
I came up with the idea of photographing different areas of my house - I am
fascinated by the different lighting conditions can transform the everyday and
mundane and how the framing of a photograph can change the way items are
represented, sometimes becoming abstract and beautiful.
Approach:
As I mentioned
earlier, I always shoot in RAW mode. I rarely worry about exposure as I know my
camera does a pretty good job of this. Through experience I understand which
lighting conditions can cause problems and read the histogram to make
adjustments if necessary. This method is more intuitive and natural rather than
being conscious. I always tweak exposure and white balance in Lightroom or
photoshop, my choice of settings is often governed by pragmatism - I select the
ISO setting and aperture that enable me to handhold the camera and achieve the
shot. Thinking about the way I usually shoot in an analytical way shocked me a
little - I realised how little I thought about anything other than composition
when I take photographs and how much I rely in software to get the images I
want. It was not always this way, I used to agonise quite a bit about which
settings to choose - maybe my experience means I now make choices without
realising it? Maybe this is true, but even if it is not I certainly do not consider
things like white balance at the moment I press the shutter. After the event I
will decide if I want the neutral, 'correct' colour balance my camera normally
delivers or if I want to change this for creative reasons.
Another of the
considerations and barriers I had to this assignment was the notion of how much
to alter the settings at the time of capture. The possible variables I could
make were quite daunting so I decided to limit myself - I would shoot mainly as
I do normally as I have described above with the main variable being exposure
compensation settings. I also wanted to use the assignment as an opportunity to
experiment with a new camera (a Fuji X-E1) which I was less familiar with than
my normal camera (a Nikon D700.) It was only as I approached the end of the
shooting part of the assignment that I switched to my familiar Nikon D700, the
main reason for this was to see how the images from each camera differed.
Shooting
the images:
I shot the images I
have selected here over 4 days during
the same week in November 2013, all on my Fuji X-E1. I shot on days where I
knew I would be able to pick up the camera as the light changed. I initially
intended to only use these images for the assignment, however, as I began to
examine the images in January 2014 it struck me that it would be interesting to
apply the same approach to shooting but using my more familiar Nikon D700,
these were shot over two days in January 2014. It was not until I had completed
these shoots that I allowed myself to view all of the images - I did not want
the pictures I took to be influenced by the selection process. This was a risk
however as I did not know whether any of the images I had taken would be of any
use for the assignment.
The notion of 'the
decisive moment' is one I interested in, there has long been an idea that the
thing that the differentiates the 'master' photographer from the rest of us is
their ability to press the shutter at the exact moment all the elements of a photograph
come into alignment. At the same time they can see how the image will be
rendered and are able to select their settings accordingly. They do not need to
bracket or take more than one image of a subject. Broadly I think most people
know this idea is a fiction, indeed I learned in assignment 1 about workflow
that the ability to edit image selection is a skill in itself, possibly even
more important than pressing the shutter. My initial thoughts for this
assignment was to allow myself only one shot of each subject, in practice I was
not confident enough to achieve this however and I bracketed my shots
extensively.
I gave little
thought to the conditions set out by the assignment brief - I hoped that by
simply focusing on situations that featured extreme contrast I would take
enough images to fit the different criteria. I found that my confidence
shooting increased as the assignment progressed: when I began I took an
exposure the camera suggested and then bracketed around this. The more images I
took I began to think more about how I wanted the image to look and begin with
the setting I felt would most closely get the desired result.
Indoor space in which the only available light is
strong natural window light
Fuji
X-E1, ISO 400, 1/1600 sec @ f9, 18-55mm @ 24mm, - 1EV
For this image I
wanted the shadow to be exposed as close to black as possible which also had
the effect of defining the edges. I found -1 EV of exposure compensation was
enough to achieve this, any more and the highlight area became too dark and
lacked sufficient contrast, I also like the way the colour from the wall shows
through the shadow. Increased exposure meant too little contrast. A further
effect of lowered exposure was increased colour saturation.
Fuji
X-E1, ISO 800, 1/3000 sec @ f5.6, 18-55mm @ 48mm, -2 EV
For this image I was
attracted to the shape of the window light falling onto the wall and the way
the physical straight edge of the door frame is echoed by the shadow and the
interest created by the triangular shape of the shadow. -2 stops of exposure compensation
have made the shadows extremely dark, almost black. The wood of the door frame
is deeply saturated partly due to the exposure setting and provides a focal
point as well as a point of contrast in an otherwise mainly monochrome image.
The contrast also brings out the texture of the paint and grain of the wood.
Nikon
D700, ISO 3200, 1/125 sec @ f6.7, 24-70mm @ 70mm, -3 EV
For this image I
wanted to concentrate attention on the subtle tones created by the window
light. The exposure compensation of -3 stops means the window area is exposed
well while leaving just enough detail in the wall area for the viewer to be
able to make out subtle detail, a high ISO setting of 3200 was necessary to
handhold the camera for this image. Usually I am adverse to noise in an image,
however, on this occasion the noise adds a slight amount of texture to the
scene that I like.
Any backlit scene whether in direct or indirect light
Fuji
X-E1, ISO 400, 1/60 sec @ f5.6, 18-55mm @ 55mm, +2 EV
This picture
demonstrates how light can transform what we see, the strong sunlight and angle
of view highlight the fingerprints on the window here. I chose two stops of
increased exposure to emphasise the strength of the sunlight and also cause a
desaturating effect.
Fuji
X-E1, ISO 400, 1/1700 sec, 18-55mm @ 29mm, -2 EV
The pattern of the
condensation on the window attracted me to this scene, I like the way the
reduced exposure puts the window frame into darkness and makes the colour saturation rich.
Nikon
D700, ISO 3200, 1/180 sec @ f3.3, -2 EV
This is one of the
few images that I took that I had a strong idea of how I wanted it to look.
Without exposure compensation the camera would expose the majority of this
scene too brightly. I wanted to achieve the feeling you have lying in bed
before opening the blinds on a bright day and get a sense of the power of the
daylight versus the darkness of the room.
Scenes which include objects of a very different
reflectivity, even in flat light such as an overcast day
Fuji
X-E1, ISO 800, 1/3500 sec @ f9, 18-55mm @ 61mm, -2 EV
I like the way the
highlights created by the reflections off the mirror ball become the subject of
this photograph, any less than the -2 stops of exposure compensation here meant
the contrast of the little spots of light were lost in the image.
Fuji
X-E1, ISO 800, 1/2000 sec @ f7.1, 18-55mm @ 49mm, -1 EV
Like the
fingerprints on the window, the scratches of the kitchen work surface are
emphasised by the strong window light and the cameras point of view. Again this
shows a familiar surface from a different perspective as under normal viewing
conditions this would appear smooth, without the contrast between light and
shadow the texture would be lost in the image.
Fuji
X-E1, ISO 400, 1/160 sec @ f4, 18-55mm @ 20mm, +1 EV
The remnants of
breakfast cereal in the sink made an interesting pattern to my eye. I wanted to
emphasise the bright reflectivity of the metal sink so increased exposure by
one stop which also reduced contrast. I found the alternatives I shot with
reduced exposure were had too much contrast.
Indoor scenes illuminated by a single source of
artificial light of high luminance e.g. a desk lamp
Nikon
D700, ISO 1600, 1/1000 sec @ f5.6, 24-70mm @ 66mm, -1.5 EV
I wanted to
emphasise the shape of the light fitting in this image, the -1.5 stops of
exposure compensation allow enough of the highlight tones to be exposed well
while leaving a subtle amount of exposure in the background.
Nikon
D700, ISO 6400, 1/15sec @ f2.8, 24-70mm @ 48mm, -2.5 EV
The pattern of the
shadows from a tree with the only light source being a sodium street light.
This exposure setting meant the window frame was in silhouette while there was
enough brightness to show the pattern of the leaves and texture of the blinds.
Nikon
D700, ISO 1600, 1.5 sec @ f4.8, 24-70mm @ 66mm, -1 EV
For this picture I
wanted to emphasise the orange of the light source so chose the shade white
balance setting. I placed the camera on the floor for this unusual viewpoint
which is evocative of the stillness you can experience in a house at night
time.
Conclusion
Despite all of the
misgivings about this assignment I do feel I have learned a great deal from it,
if nothing else I enjoyed taking photographs within the set of conditions I
imposed upon myself and will continue to pursue this project in the future. The
exercise has forced me to reflect a great deal on how I shoot photographs and
to realise that I rely heavily on software in my workflow and that I do not
give enough consideration to my exposure settings as I press the shutter. What
I thought of as being confident in my technique is more like being too
comfortable - it is interesting to reflect back and realise how much more
consideration I was giving to my camera settings as the project progressed.
Something I have not mentioned until now is cropping, which is something I use
a great deal. I now realise I need to be much more careful with my composition
and not rely too heavily on this - as I review the images here I am desperate
to crop some of them to tidy up the composition. In the end it is safe to say I
have not enjoyed this assignment, however, with hindsight I can see how
completing it will inform my photography going forward. I wish I had been able
to put the obstacles that prevented me from completing this project to one side
and progress quicker, hopefully the fact that I eventually managed to produce
something will help me going forward.
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