Photography – Page 35 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Persimmons, i

I love the color of persimmons – bright orange fruits silhouetted against the sharp blue of the autumn sky. These are the hachiya variety, and when you buy them in the store, they are hard. As they ripen, they become blacker and squishy.

Honestly, I bought these with photographs as my primary thought, but in the back of my mind, ah! persimmon bread! And now, having photographed them, my current thought – before turning them into bread – is to paint them. And so I shall, later on. Right now, though, on to photographing them.

The photo shoot took place on the south side of the house, with the sun rising from the east. No clouds, just a bit of wind. Above is the set up – you can see the directional cast of the shadow. Light was quite contrasty. The camera shoot involved about 100 or so images (ah, the glories of digital photography!), at all f/ stops and exposures, with a polarizing filter and without. Add to that, some with flash and some without; some with filtered flash, some without.

The final images here were done with a filtered flash, using f/32 and 1/60 second for exposure. Post processing was done to clean up spots in the background in the paper, as well as to clean up a few flaws on the fruit. Color was adjusted to some degree, with the final photo given a slightly warm setting to give an impression of reflected light from the fruits, or from a bit of a glowing evening light.

I pulled on compositional elements in painting – three items, three directions. I also cropped the photo at one point to create a different image, using the two persimmons on the right. However, the last picture, supposed to suggest an evening glow bombs now that I think about it! The reason is because the tint of the background is too consistent – certainly not something one would paint! So, in the final analysis, the ones with the white background are more pleasing to me, and so is the black and white one below.

Final Image in Black & White with Contrast Enhancements

I expect I will do something in sumi-e with these persimmons in the next few days, with and without color. I need to pick up that paint brush!

Lighting Assignment

In last Monday’s class, we learned about lighting; for this week, we must produce some images with any one of the techniques we learned. Of course, the first thing I did was to head to YouTube! There are some really excellent photographers out there, but my favorite I came across was Jim Talkington, of Prophotolife.com. He has about 33 videos online, both on the ‘tube and on his website. I intend to study all his videos – I really learned a lot, even if my own photos do not show too much talent.

Below, are two of my favorites of the lighting study – a wine glass, and a paperweight. On Flickr you can see the entire studies.

Composition: Some Thoughts

Composition is, by definition, the act or process of “arrangement into specific proportion or relation and especially into artistic form.” This can apply to written and visual arts, and other areas as well. Composition can be practical, it can be adventurous. Whatever it is, it is the individual’s sense of design.

One of the most challenging areas of composition is deciding how much is enough? That will be dependent on a number of things – what are you trying to express? In the old days, when photography did not exist, detail in Western art was much appreciated. Being able to capture realistically an object or person was highly prized. Detail was also valued in Asian art, but differently; scrolls made for a visual adventure, section by section, as can be seen in part of Long Scroll of Sesshu below, unlike the more limited flat surfaces of books.

Besides hand scrolls, multiple scrolls, such as this one presented in the Weng Collection’s catalog, hung side-by-side, created a larger work with individual panels, such as the triptych of Western art.

With photography, realistic and intimate recording of details became possible, and simplification and interpretative exploration began in the visual arts. Zen in the east influenced ink painting because of its simplicity and focus of the moment in which the painting or calligraphy was produced.

Simplicity may have multiple levels. A single line or movement may be repeated. Details can also be within those elements. For instance, in a garden, a curved walk may be the most dominant visual detail, but within that curve may be found many details, such as rocks or leaves or plants.

Simplicity by itself may fail. Placement of elements in that simple composition need to be considered. The most common compositional element discussed in photography is the Rule of Thirds. If you are unfamiliar with the rule, draw a tic-tac-toe grid: this is the Rule of Thirds. Where the lines intersect is where you should consider placing the subject of interest. Placement of subject in each of those four intersections gives a different energy to each picture. Using this same precept prevents placement of horizontal or vertical focal subject in the dead center of the picture.

A picture or painting based solely on horizontal and / or vertical elements is tedious. In this mix something needs to break this up. Diagonal lines, shapes such as circles or triangles, or curves are compositional elements which add visual interest. Balancing all of these can create a visually dynamic composition, but too much or wrongly placed, these same elements may destroy an otherwise compelling composition. At the same time, it is also necessary to consider colors, contrast, and scale. These, too, impact the final image.

How the eye is led to the focal point of the image is key to good composition. This can be called framing. In photography, placement of objects in the foreground is common. Shadows and bright areas are other ways to accomplish the directional sense in a composition. Combine these with diagonals or curves, and the eye is led along a visual path to the area of interest. In photography, this can be a bit of a challenge, but with cropping and airbrushing, distractions can be minimalized or removed. In painting, these elements are far more easily avoided.

In photography, the natural world continually gets in the way. We have all taken portraits of people with things protruding from their heads. Painting a portrait, this is much less likely to happen. Avoiding these distractions can be a challenge, simply because the photographer can be very focused on the subject. However, as one progresses in understanding composition, these become more than obvious, and easier to avoid. What is more subtle is an awareness of color. For example, a person in a blue jacket against a background similar in shade (degree of blackening) or color may be more difficult to assess. Similarity in color is called a merger. This is where an understanding of contrast is important.

Contrast may be high or low. High contrast images display few shades of grey; low contrast studies contain many. If you are not sure about this, take a color photo or paint a picture, and then change it to black and white in your photo editing software. It becomes much more apparent when you do this. Short scale / high contrast subjects can be very dynamic, and often this is more easily seen than the subtleties of long scale / low contrast subjects. Long scale subject matter can be very beautiful, but if there is a lack of adequate contrast compositionally and in adjacent areas, a weak picture may result.

* * *

In the four weeks since I started my photography class, my sense of framing a photograph has changed, as has my sense of color and composition. More than anything, though, I have become more aware of light and shadow. I’ve always liked the shimmering of light through leaves – as much as I love the rustling sounds – but now I find myself looking at shadows in general. Our next assignment is to use light – flash, strobe, whatever – in different ways, such as diffusing it or bouncing it or reflecting it. Of course, YouTube comes to the rescue on that note!

This short course has shifted my perceptions, and I am looking forward to seeing how it plays out in sumi-e. Today, my studio will lose its tenant, and I am looking forward to some quiet and privacy and being able to use my space again. My brushes and ink await.

Two Down, Two to Go

Through the local adult school, I am taking a short four-week long intermediate digital photography course. Whew, is it a lot of work! I’ve learned a lot I never knew about, as well as put it into practice. I have learned about rear curtain flash, how to pan (at which I failed dismally with the 70-300 mm lens my friend the Nikon Hit Man loaned me), as well as some very basic elements of portraiture. We also are being introduced to Photoshop Elements 8, even though 9 is now available. The instructor is Tom Ferguson, who has been in the photography industry for ages. His experience shows in how he is able to answer questions; as a teacher, he is to-the-point and a lot of fun.

This past week’s work has been time-consuming, and thought-provoking. We have to do portraits, and we need to be able to explain our choices of background. Working with the color wheel, using analogous colors (colors near each other on the color wheel), complementary colors (colors opposite each other on the color wheel, such as red-green, orange-blue, yellow-purple), and split complementary colors (yellow-blue violet-red violet), we need to choose one or many, take some photos, and print out some pictures. Finally, depth of field, making decisions, and explaining our choices. All of this forces pre-visualization and some thought before just pushing that button. Good lessons.

New Lens

The 70-300 mm lens is simply way too big to lug around while learning how to use a new camera, as well as trying to meet assignments. I decided to invest in a short, prime lens, and bought a Nikon 35 mm AF DX f/1.8 lens. It was definitely worth it. For one thing, I can actually hold the camera! (Maybe I’ll try some panning shots today.) The autofocus is very nice, but even better, I can fine tune the focus manually, even with the autofocus on. Incredibly easy to use.

Portraiture

For the portraiture, I took some pictures of friends and family, and did some manipulating of the colors and focal planes in different software – Elements, Corel, and Photoscape. I also picked out some photos from other times, and manipulated those as well. So, one new photo went into the printout for class, and 3 older ones. What was interesting – to me – was that I got all colors of skin, from rosy to black, and was really pleased with the overall post-processing results.

In my opinion, most cameras make people too red – too warm – and in the end, everything else becomes too red as well. I decolored, to some degree, most of my pictures to begin with, and then did a few other things. I really try not to do too much manipulation, but with portraits, by and large, there is too much stuff going on, and simplifying everything is very important to keep the picture interesting and focused on the individual.

This picture of Josh initially had no depth of field. As a result, the bright red flowers of the dragon tree demanded your attention, drawing the eye away from the focal point of the picture. Using Photoscape I decolored the picture (Josh was as red as the flowers), and then selected the filter to create a region out of focus. The result toned down the flowers, Josh’s skin, and sharpened the face. Much better than the original, though maybe not the best portrait shot I took.

Color Wheel

For my color wheel studies, I was at a total loss, and spent days thinking about it since last Monday’s class. Then it hit me – my socks! I have a drawer full of socks, hand knitted, store bought. I’m always struggling to find the boring socks to wear to work – there just aren’t too many. But – there are a lot of colors – and so I pulled them out. What a pile! Socks everywhere, sorted by color and intensity.

For this exercise, I thought that the analogous color would be really interesting because most of my socks are multi-colored. Doing this could be something of a challenge, but in the end, it was not especially hard. I also did one sock shot with split complementary colors, but for the complementary color study, I found some fallen leaves on the bottom of my blue bucket which I thought made for an interesting, yet simple, study.

This photo was set up in Elements 9 as a collage. These are the analogous color groupings of my socks. I sort of messed up and put the same picture in twice (the red and green socks). You can see these socks in greater detail on my Flickr page.

This photo is all about complementary colors – orange leaves in the puddle on the bottom of my blue gardening bucket. Quite serendipitous!

Depth of Field

Having an f/1.8 lens really allows me to open up my camera and have a very shallow depth of field. This can be too shallow, and the interest points of a photograph can rapidly disappear. Finding that sweet spot was really fun. By the same token, having a very wide depth of field, such as in landscape photography, may work for or against you it seems.

I like this photo for its shallow depth of field, along with the complementary colors of the deep blue sky in contrast to the orange-red of the rock.

These two photos are good to compare depth of field for losing the subject (the one on the left) and finding it (the one on the right). I like them both for different reasons, but think that the one on the right needs something to be done with its color. Neither have been post-processed.

Here is the same landscape – two views, each with different depths of field. I don’t think having the cacti out of focus does much for the scenery; having it in focus is more successful.

The curves of the road in this photo work nicely with the different patches of vegetation in the valley and up the hillside.

Conclusions

With my little Lumix ZS5, I got the taste for depth of field and control of the image. There are still issues with color, but I am inclined to think that it is me. On the Lumix, even with manual exposures, I find that unless I push the EV to a -1/3, the colors can wash out if there are bright whites or spots of sunshine in the image. Better to make the picture a bit dark to get the lighter areas with some detail. This can be modified with post-processing. However, using the Nikon D70 and the 35 mm lens, I find that I most likely don’t need to do this. Too many of my images taken with the Nikon seem too intensely colored, usually toward the red spectrum. This is actually a bit more difficult to correct.

I also have found that I do not like the automatic color balance in Elements 9. If I don’t accurately pinpoint a white / grey / black area, the entire picture can get wonky – but quite often bizarrely colored, and interesting as a result! In Photoscape, the best way to deal with this is to decolor at about a -3 for a starting point. I also like the different blurs available in this software. Corel is confusing, but with practice and exploration, I am getting it. Altogether, each of these three programs will provide good results, with varying learning curves for success. I really don’t like sitting at a computer to learn stuff, but if I have the ability to focus, it is well worth the time spent.

Taking a gander at older photos of some friends, as well as the recent ones I have done, I am getting a different perspective on framing a person in a photograph. I think it is possible to have a busy background, but it is best to blur it out, unless the person is another element in the overall composition of the photograph. Depth of field is important here, as well as knowing just which f/stop will give the best result. I love the blur of the f/1.8, but have learned that it is important for the main subject to be focussed upon enough to keep the picture from losing its point – unless the entire point is blur and bokeh. With landscapes, I think it can vary as far as the overall DOF, but certainly for a grand vista, you need to have a smaller f/stop.

Finally, using color, and my exciting sock collection, my entire sense of color was given a good kickstart! As I have been painting only in sumi for quite some time, I have found my sense of color, and its visual impacts, has been somewhat forgotten. Contrast is important in images – that I think I get – but now my mind is whirling away about color!

Next Class

ISO. Flash – as in bounced, off-camera, for portraiture, slave flash, reflector cards. Other things too! Stay posted!

Hit Man for the Nikon Mafia

Ok, there really is no hit man. More of a pitch man. “This is why you need a Nikon. Look at what you can do with a Nikon. You really should get a Nikon. Nikon is always ahead of everyone with their technology.”

I am giving myself several months to choose a DSLR with interchangeable lenses. Right now there are so many new offerings just out, or out soon (just in time for the winter holidays), that it doesn’t make sense to buy one now. Later, the reviews will be in, and the prices should drop. Of course, there will be newer things as well later on.

My thoughts on cameras run in all directions. Buy good glass, and not be too nutso over the body. Buy small cameras which are easy to hold, and have good lenses. Buy something that feels good in the hand with both large and small lenses. In other words, try the camera on for size.

Nikons are what my friend who lent me his keeps telling me to get. I think he has been using them for forty years! Or, as a second choice, he says, get a Canon.

All well and good, but part of me just doesn’t want what everyone else has. I’m rather ornery that way. I was drawn to the micro 4/3 system when it first came out, but to date it does not seem as if any of them are really having superb lenses to go with them. Nikon does have excellent lenses, as does Canon; not too sure about Sony or Olympus or Panasonic in their smaller cameras, though I do believe Leica lenses can work on the Panasonic. There is argument, though, for and against the Japanese-made Leica glass versus the German-made Leica glass. Eek!

One which has caught my eye very seriously is the Pentax K-5. I like its really, really solid construction. I drop things and spill things all over the place, so it sure does have appeal that way. Another especially attractive element is the fact that the K-5 is backward compatible with all K-mount lenses.

An attractive smaller camera is the Panasonic Lumix GH2. I really love my little ZS5 – it takes some really great pictures, and it is what has gotten me really interested in the DSLR world more seriously, especially using manual exposure factors. For a point-and-shoot camera that fits in your pocket, it is phenomenal as far as I am concerned.

Sony is also interesting. The Alpha 55 looks like it has a lot going for it, especially in size. Good reviews are coming out about it, although opinions of its lenses vary.

Price is also a factor. A good, used Nikon may be had, but there is always part of me which likes to buy something new. However, that seems sort of silly at times – people are always selling off perfectly good techie toys because another model is out. And, seriously, this may be the route I take, but I think I need to make a choice of camera itself (brand) before I buy lenses. And that is where Sigma is interesting – it makes third-party lenses for most major camera manufacturers!

I’m willing to spend on good equipment – things made to last, that work well, that don’t become unfashionable in a few weeks time – all appeal to me. I’m doing my research! In the meantime, I am very lucky to have a Nikon D70 to play with.