DPP ASSIGMENT 1- WORK FLOW SUBMISSON

Objective

Devise a themed assignment on a topic of your choice.

Construct a sensible work flow from concept to final
image display such as prints or a web gallery.

List all the steps in your work flow

As you move through the work flow
comment on each stage.

Explain what is unique about your work flow

Discuss what adaptations you made
throughout the process of image taking
and processing.


WORKFLOW

STAGE 1

Image planning

I have chosen to shoot a still study of
a single orchid plant. I have chosen this
subject for two reason. The first reason is 
that I can control the image light and
composition so that I can shoot in one
location and can return to the subject
if I feel after reviewing the images I need
to re shoot some of the images.
The second reason was that I feel confident
in this type of photography so can produce
an image of good quality, and composition.


I used some previous images I had produced
before as a benchmark of images I would like to
produce from this shoot.

this image of calla Lillie's is the benchmark I used
for tone of the green stems and white flower.
I plan to set colour balance to flash and re tone
in photoshop.

this image of a green orchid is benchmark I am using for both
light and sharpness. I wanted to control the light so that the hues are
not burnt out and I can achieve good saturation in the colours
of the orchid. I also wanted to captured some sharpness and detail
on the orchid. I also want to use the water droplets again for
composition purposes.

I also wished to improve the saturation levels of the back
drop and darken the tones so there is no red or blue hues
in the backdrop but more pure black.

I wanted to produce 6 final images for
web gallery publication.

IMAGE PLANNED

• macro close up of orchid stamen
• close up of flower head and buds
• long linear view of head detail
• full length shot included roots
• close up detail water droplets
• detail of petal contrast and texture

STAGE 2


Equipment planning.

Location

home studio

1 500watt studio flash light
1 white diffusion umbrella
1 silver round reflector
 black out paper for background
1 nikon d70s
1 nikon 18-28mm lens
1 nikon 70-200 mm lens
1 set extension rings
1 macro o ring flash
1 sb700 external flash unit.
1 tripod
1 cable release
1 light meter
lens cleaner and blower
for cleaning lens and camera

NOTES FROM THE SHOOT


I had planned out my 6 shots so started to set
up the images. Firstly I used black out paper
to make a black back drop. I then planned
out the positions of the lights and set up the
studio flash with the light diffusing umbrella.


I then set up the tripod and camera set up 
and placed it in front of the subject and 
with the studio light to the left of the subject.


This allowed me room to place the silver reflector
to the right of the subject to bounce back the light 
on the shadow side of the subject. The first image I 
wanted to take  a full length shot of the orchid. I 
wanted to not place the subject too close to the backdrop
as I wanted the backdrop to be sharp and placing the
subject close to the backdrop meant that the light source
would be close to the subject and fall back onto the dark
paper. Unfortunately the backdrop was too small to allow
me to move the subject closer to the camera lens. I then
had to find a compromise between capturing the full image
and moving the light closer to the backdrop. I decided to
leave a smaller space between the two and also use 
Photoshop to add in some additional backdrop when
processing the image. I then set up the image composition
as planned. After I was happy with the set up, I used my
studio light meter to set out the preferred exposure setting
The camera sync speed is 60sec and I wanted to capture
the finer detail in this image. I then wanted to shoot the 
image with a smaller aperture level. I then took a series of
test shots. I used the histogram on the camera to see what 
detail of light and dark I had captured on the image.
I then chose to bracket around that exposure
( as discussed below I preferred the images one stop
under as it allowed for a darker backdrop and I 
could add light to the foreground when processing)


Once I felt happy with the set up I moved around
the subject and began to shot different compositions
of the subject. I used the extension rings to get some
close up detail of the orchid and that of the water
droplets. I had to experiment with the lighting set up
when i moved the lens closer as I need for the light
to be over or in front of the subject. I also moved
the silver reflector closer to the subject and focused
the reflection into the center of the subject. I did have
to move the reflector around the subject as on occasion
I was getting over exposure of the outside of the Orchid
when projecting light into the dark center. I then moved
the lights again to compensate for this.


STAGE 3


TRANSFER AND IMAGE STORAGE


Using a lead attachment I transfered the
raw image data files into my pc.

I have saved the images into windows pictures
folders where all my images are stored.

I saved the files under folder
 DPP ASSIGNEMENT 1 study of an orchid.

I used discriptive file names so it is easy to distinquish
each folder.

All raw images were also backed up onto a sepeate
external hard drive, to ensure they were always kept.



STAGE 4
editing process


THE SELECTS

I used Bridge browser in Photoshop to review the raw files.


I went through the files and marked the files as follows


red- no further action
green- liked and selected images just require processing
blue- images liked but requiring some digtal
alteration for compostion
yellow- alternative exposures to the selcted image,
usually one stop under/over


These files were then saved into a subfolder.


THE FIRST SELECTS

I now re reviwed the selected files and took into consideration
not only the lighting but the compositon content of the image.


I rewied each jpeg on browers as at a higher resolution so that
i could review the sharpness of the image especially the ones that
were taken with a close up lens. As I wanted to capture the detail
it was important that that this detail was sharp.


I felt that I needed some more detail shorts to add the the final
selection so I went back over the orginal edit set and re reviewed
some of the close up shots I had previously rejected. I then
saved these into the second selection file.


THE FINAL GROUP

the final selection contained a wide choice of images which
covered the original brief that I had set in the planning of
this assignment. It was important that I had a couple of exposure
levels of each image avail so when I processed these I could
work a couple of alternatives to the original planned image.




PROCESSING OF EACH IMAGE 


IMAGE 1


orginal raw file

f14 1/60 sec
flash white balance
I silver refector
1 studio flash unit
iso 200




final edited image

I wanted to darken the background and 

create a more dramatic image.

I first editied out the stick that was supporting

the orchid head. I then using the lasso tool

highlighted the area around the pot, leaves

and flower stem and head. Using the levels

tool I darkend the background and added

more black to the image. I then adjuested

the levels after deselcting the filter. I again

went for a slighly  darker finish to the  final

print. Using the clone stamp I removed any

dust spots and cleaned up the image. I then

finally added some light to the image and using

the burn tool added some light to the stem and 

pot and the flower heads. Finally I colour 

balanced the whole image using the colour

balance tool. I added more green and blue to

balance the red tones that were added added

to the raw file as I shot with the colour balacne

setting as flash. This blue flash light is warmed

by the camera so the image is quite red 

IMAGE 2

original raw file

f16 1/60 sec

2 stops under

1 silver reflector
flash white balance

final edited image

I choose the image which was one stop under and I felt

that the over exposures had a few areas on highlights

that were too strong. I could have removed this in the

conversion form raw but felt that they were still too 

bright. I then re looked at the exposure which was under

and felt it was better to add light to the areas I need to

and leave the areas that were correctly exposed

I wanted to continue the dramatic theme that I had set out in

this workflow. I cropped the image and sightly straighten

the angle of the flower head. I then removed the detail

of the stem and the stand I used to shot the images.

using the lasso tool I highlighted the detail and used

content aware tool to fill in the background. I highlighted

the flower head and changed the levels of the flower head and

darkened the background to make the flower head standout.

I then converted the colour in colourbalance and also increased

the contrast and vibrancy levels.

IMAGE 3

original raw file

f14 1/60 sec

flash colour balance

1 silver reflector

1 studio flash unit
flash white balance

final edited image

I had planned to show the linear detail 

of the orchid stem.

After a small crop to reduce the detail

above the flower head I edited out

the supporting pole.

I also using the lasso too carefully 

picked the detail of the stem flower

and leaves and inverted the selection

to darken the background. I then

removed the selection and balanced

the levels using. I also adjusted the 

contrast and brightness levels. I then

adjusted the colour balance using 

the channel mixer added green and 

blue to balance out the red tones

added by the camera. I then added

some light to the flower head to 

make them stand out against the

dark background.

 IMAGE 4

original raw file

f29 1/60 sec

close up extension tube

silver reflector

overhead flash with soft unberlla
flash white balance

final edited image

I spent a long time setting up this image as I wanted to make
sure the lighting set up was correct so I did not over expose
the outer leaves but lit the internal stamen detail. I used a
silver reflector bounce back the light into the centre of the
orchid head.
I cropped the image in a square format for presentation purposes.
As you can see from the orginal raw file I needed to remove
the detail of the dark vase that I used so I could shot
down onto the flower head.
Once I removed the detail I used the lasso tool to pick out
the detail of the flower and inverted the selection so I could
darken the backdrop. I then removed the selection and
adjusted the overall tone of the contrast of the final image.
I zoomed into the image and cleaned up all the detail on the
flower head. Unlike the other total flower which was very
contrasty and darker and dramatic I wanted to keep this
image softer and brighter. I was careful not to over make
the image was too light in areas as it could have been
to loose the detail of the water droplets. I then coverted
the colour using channel mixer.

IMAGE 5
original raw file

f16 1/60 sec
1 studio flash
1 silver reflector
white balance flash setting

final edited image

I planned to take an image of the buds showing the detail

of the stem and the buds and I added some water droplets

for creativity.

I again processed the image by adjusting the levels by addiig

both light and dark to the image. Again I highlighted arounf the

stem and inverted so I could darken the background more.

This image was shot at f16 so the flower heads were very sharp

as well as the buds. As I wanted to focus the viewers eye onto 

the bud detail I highlted around the flower heads using the lasso

tool and then added some additonal blur. This now allows the 

viewer to be instantly focused on the buds and water detail.

I then adjusted the colour balance in photoshop. The buds

are a lot yellower so I did not add too much blue as i did not

want to loose alter too much from the orgianl tones.

IMAGE 6

orginal raw file

f20 1/60 sec

overhead studio flash with diffusion umbrella

silver reflector

close up extension tube

white balance flash

final edited  image

As stated in my planning I wanted to have some macro close up

images for the orchids stamen. Not only a beautiful image but an 

important part of the plant as it is used in pollination

I had to spend a lot of time getting the set up right and the lighting

so I could make sure I had the statem centre fully lit. I was also

careful not to over expose the white petals and water droplets.

I again adjusted the levels and then highlighted around the base of the

flower to add some more dark to the backdrop. After addind more

light and sharpness to the flower centre I colour balanced the image.

I then added some contracts and increased the saturation of the images.

STORAGE OF IMAGES

all edited images were saved under DPP Assignment 1 Study

of an orchid/ PUBLISHED IMAGES FOLDER

I then backed these images onto my external hard drive.

all images saved as jpeg.

EXTERNAL PUBLICATION

I have uploaded the images to a basic google wesite which

I have set up to store and publish some of my portfolio of images.

The web site is basic so I was limited on my final presentation 

level. I planned to flow of images so I did not have similar

images adjacent to each other. I also added brief descriptons

below each image to show the viewer the reasoning behind 

each image. I did go back and add more light to the potted

orchid image as I felt it was too dark when published.

to see the final images please click on the link below.

http://www.kaybaisdenphotography.co.uk/study-of-a-orchid

LESSONS LEARNT

This assignment has helped me improve my undertaking

of a photographic shoot. It is important to be planned

such as having the right equipment with you and it is

clean and in full working order. To ensure you 

have the right equipment it is important to plan you

shot and your expected outcome of images. As I 

was using a studio environment it was easier to control

the factors. It is important to adapt to change as it

is unlikely that the shot will go to plan.

I think I need to improve  my naming of images as I still

think my system is flawed. I should write down each image

which is being edited as I go along as I think that my numbering

system can get confused. I ended up naming the final image

by their planned subject detail.

My approach to my image taking is always planned in some

detail. I think this unique approach has helped my during my

studies with OCA. I think before embarking on previous 

courses my approach was more adhoc which ment I could

waste a day shooting and come back with no Images at all

or miss shots as I did not have the right lens with me etc.