ASSIGNMENT 2 - SUBMISSON

DIGITAL IMAGE QUALITY

PRODUCE A SET OF SIX IMAGES WHICH HAS A  COMMON
THEME

include the following lighting conditions

• A high dynamic scene
• A low dynamic scene
• Low lighting conditions- high ISO
• Mixed lighting conditions, ie Tungsten, daylight and incandescent

ASSIGNMENT PLANNING

Theme selection. 

I wanted to use the theme of MOVEMENT to connect the images together,
I chose this theme as this assignment requires a variation of lighting conditions.
Movement capture requires a variation of shutter speeds, which can be used
in conjunction with different lighting levels. I wanted to shoot some restricted
light images for this assignment which meant I could use slower shutter speed
and capture movement and manage lighting at the same time. It also allowed me
to increase iso levels which is a requirement for this assignment.

Image planning

I choose LONDON as my main source of images as it has a variation of
scenes that I could be used to source images for this course. I choose the
following images I wanted to cover.

• water movement, using slow shutter speed in conjunction with a high

          dynamic scene.

• The mixed lighting of London town such as Piccadilly circus which

          has high levels of INCANDESCENT lights. I wanted to capture the
         contrast of daylight and the bright man made lights of London whether
         in advertising or shops displays. Capturing the movement of
        day to day city life.

• Dusk lighting to capture the moment day turns into night also

          to capture the mixed lighting conditions and use this in conjunction
         with rush hour and try to capture London returning home after work.

• Low lighting of a cloudy day to reduce contrast levels, or the use

          of shaded city areas where light was " flat". Maybe capture car
         movement or cyclist in London.

I will use three main locations for these images.

•  THE THAMES
• OXFORD STREET AND SURROUNDING AREAS 
• THE SOUTH BANK.

I am also going to travel the the coast to experiment with moving
water scenes as there is limited images in LONDON.

Equipment Planning

NIKON D70S
18-70MM nexor lens
70mm-200mm nexor lens
tripod
polasior filter
ND filter
remote trigger
notebook and pen

IMAGE 1-MIXED LIGHTING CONDITIONS


WATCHING THE WORLD GO BY,,,,,

hand held
RAW.
iso 200
f14 1/20 sec
WB pre set to lighting conditions

lighting conditions
late afternoon, 1/2 hour before dusk. flat daylight. Shaded location
Incandescent lighting of window display.

REPROCESSING DATA

WB set as shot, some fill light added in RAW conversion.
No colour balance change. Levels managed, contrast and
brightness managed. Incandescent light masked when light
added to not over lighten the highlights. In versed and dark
added to Incandescent area of image. Dodge brush used to
add light to back wall which was one stop under exposed.

IMAGE COMMENTS

I walked passed this window display a few days before I shot the image.
I planned to shot the image late afternoon so the light was duller and the
contrast between the Incandescent light and the foreground was more
dramatic. I had planned the image to capture the static models, who
seem to be waiting for a something ,against the people walking by the
display. I chose a slower shutter speed to capture the movement as
blurred against the static models. Blurring the movement would
contrast the static window display. I set the shutter speed
at 1/40 sec and started to bracket down from there. I used the linear
capture to measure if areas were over exposed. The bright window
display was over exposed at 1/40 sec. I settled on 1/20 sec and
the started to shoot a sequence of images. I spotted at the corner
of my eye that a taxi was coming down the road so I zoomed into
the image and pressed the shutter as it passed, in a sequence of
images. This was the resulting image.

SELF APPRAISAL/LEARNING

Aesthetically I really like this image as it is a true reflection of the 
image I had pre planned when I saw the taxi approaching,

I think the light captured is balanced well, but on reflection I would
like to add just a bit more light to the back wall,( 1/2 stop) to
balance it more against the bright Incandescent light. I also believe
colour is balanced. The late afternoon lightwhich is warm
and seen as red by the camera enhances the colour
tones of the gold on the window and the yellow lights. I would have
liked to improve this image by using a tripod to make the image 
sharper in the background, as I hand held the image at 1/20 sec.



IMAGE 2-LOW LIGHT, HIGHER ISO


stunt rider....

hand held
RAW
iso 1000
f 4.5 1/200 sec
wb pre set to lighting conditions

lighting conditions
under cover limited lighting, strong contrasting light
in background.


REPROCESSING DATA

WB set as shot, small recovery of highlight on white
graffiti in the background. Contrast levels balanced.
dodge brush used to add light to the foreground.
burn brush used to darken white in background.
Filter for sharpness.

IMAGE COMMENTS

I walk pass the south bank on a regular basis and planned to
try to photograph the skaters for this assignment. The skaters
use an undercover space, which is very shaded so light is
limited. I wanted to "freeze"the movement in the image so
required a faster shutter speed. I therefore needed to increase
the ISO levels so I could achieve a correct exposure levels.
After selecting a required shutter speed I then used the cameras
TTL function to read the exposure levels. I needed minimum
sharpness of F4.5 so moved the ISO levels so I could achieve
this. I settled on iso 1000. I set white balance to the available
light. As the light was shaded the image has been warmed
slightly by the camera to counterbalance the cool shaded light.


SELF APPRAISAL/LEARNING

I am pleased with the final image. I think the image
could have been improved by adding in a fill. flash
when taken the image. It would have added light
and improved color saturation. This would have 
also reduced the ISO increase. The quality of
image has not been compromised too much
as the pixelation levels are disguised by the
busy scene.

 I would also use a telephoto lens
next time to distinguish the subject from the
background more. 

IMAGE 3- LOW CONTRAST

rush hour journey home

hand held
RAW
panned image
iso 200
f/8
1/40 sec
WB pre set

lighting conditions

late afternoon cloudy, flat light no contrast in light

REPROCESSING DATA

Image crop to bring rider onto point of third.

WB set as shot. Level adjustment. Contrast adjustment

Colour balance change by additional blue added. 

Brightness and saturation added.

IMAGE COMMENTS

As outlined in my assignment planning I wanted to capture

the movement of rush hour. I selected a location which

is a busy crossing point at the junction of Regents street

and Oxford street. I had planned to capture the movement 

of people across this junction. I experimented with this 

concept and was not happy with the results. I noticed that

cyclist crossed this point at speed so wanted to capture

this movement and so experimented with panning a shot

to emphasis the movement and speed and also to isolate

the cyclist from the background. The light was very flat

and there was no contrast lighting. I set the image to a 

mid range shutter speed and then isolated the cyclist and

panned a sequence of shots moving the camera with the 

cyclists. This image was the result of that technique.

SELF APPRAISAL/LEARNING

The final image is a reflection of the planned image.
I think the image could be improved by the 
isolation more of the cyclist from the background. I could
have done this by panning more ( which may require
a slower shutter speed) or use Photoshop to blur
the background . Due to the flat light and the
time of day the image is a still a bit dark. I could
potentially add more light by moving the curve
level upwards? I set WB to available light so the
original image was warmed by the camera. I 
added blue to reduce the background colour to
grey, which was a bit red in the RAW image.
Overall I think this image is a reflection of 
movement and flat contrast levels.


IMAGE 4- HIGH CONTRAST LEVELS

spring tide-southwold pier

tripod
RAW
iso 200
f25 1/15sec
Wb set to lighting conditions

lighting conditions

cloudy late afternoon night, high contrast at time when the sun
broke through the cloud base. Windy so tripod required.

REPROCESSING DATA

1 STOP under exposed so light added using levels.
Dodge brush used to add light to the foreground.
Burn brush used to darken areas of the scene,
Contrast level added to emphasis the high
contrast scene. Monochrome processing to add
to the drama of this high contrast image.

IMAGE COMMENTS

I really wanted to take a image of
water movement for this assignment. I travelled to the
nearby coastline to capture the sea movement by
using a slower shutter speed and a tripod to capture
the water as blurred, to emphasis the water movement.
The weather was cloudy but windy so the light changed
dramatically when the sun broke through the cloud
base. The light was creating pockets of highlights and
shadow areas. I set the tripod up at a location which
had contrast interest,to capture a high contrast image.
The light was shining through the cloud base so points
of the sea where lit and the base of the pier was in
shade, increasing the contrast levels in this image.
I decided to re process this image as monochrome
to add to the drama of this image.



SELF APPRAISAL/LEARNING

The image is an example of a high contrast image.
I like the contrast between the dark details of the 
pier base against the white breaking wave tops.
I think the monochrome processing has enhanced
this image. I would improve this image by maybe
adding more contrast.


IMAGE 5- MIXED LIGHTING CONDITIONS

London bridge-changing London skyline

tripod
RAW
iso 200
F 25
5 SEC
WB pre set to lighting conditions

lighting conditions.

Dusk. low cloud cover. Very cold temperature and high wind.

REPROCESSING DATA

Fill light in RAW conversion. Levels altered,
Colour balance checked but not changed. Contrast and
brightness changed. More contrast added since original
processing ( image too flat and need some depth) Dodge
brush used to add some light to the blurred boat and
water in the foreground.

IMAGE COMMENTS

When I read the brief for this assignment on producing an image with
mixed lighting conditions I planned to capture the contrast of lighting in London.
 I had photograph London bridge before but at nightfall. London is
changing dramatically and new buildings are being erected all over the city area.
I choose to shot the river at dusk and capture the contrast
of the last light against the colour of the river and
surrounding buildings. I had hoped that the available light would have
been red from the last light but sadly the weather had been
overcast and so the colour tones were captured as blue/green.
I wanted the capture the red sky against the red lights on the
bridge and the buildings. I choose a slow shutter speed to
show the river as a shiny flat surface and enhance the
reflections and also to blur the movement of the boats
on the river. The temperature and wind conditions meant
that I had a limited period of time to take this image.



SELF APPRAISAL/LEARNING

I believe that image represents an image of mixed
lighting conditions but think the image could be
technically improved. The long exposure and 
high winds means that some the detail in the 
background is not a sharp as I would have
liked. I think the image would be better if
the sky was of a red setting sky rather
than an overcast blue sky. Even though
the colour tones contrast I think overall
the image would be better with an overall
red/orange tone.


IMAGE 6- FLAT LIGHT

Thames side runner

hand held
RAW
F 4.5
1/1250 SEC
wb daylight setting

lighting conditions

mid morning, flat, grey sky limited cloud cover.


REPROCESSING DATA

image 2 stop under, and so light needed to be added in RAW
conversion. Fill light and brightness added in conversion,
WB set to daylight as shot.
Curve moved into light. white and black added through
level adjustment. brightness added and contrast levels
set very high. No colour balance added. Image cropped.


IMAGE COMMENTS

This was an unplanned image taken from the Millennium  Bridge
looking down onto the banks of the Thames. The light was very
grey and when I looked down from the bridge I noticed that the
tones of the river, the pavement were so dull/colourless that
they looked monochromatic. I also noticed that there was
lots of people running along and that their colourful running
kit, contrasted against the dull scene. I wanted the capture
the runners as sharp so set the shutter speed to a high
iso to capture the movement as still. I set the WB to daylight
. I saw this single runner and started to shoot a series
of shots. This image was the one I selected as I like to
position of the runner in the frame.


SELF APPRAISAL/LEARNING

This image shows a scene of low contrast.

I like the contrast between the dull background 
and the coloured shoes of the runner. I think
the image would have been better if the runner's
clothing was brighter.On reflection I should have
worked more on the exposure levels and should
have stopped down from the original setting to 
improve the initial exposure level. As the scene
was very flat I have added contrast to the image.
which has given the image some depth. I like 
the different viewpoint. I have struggled with
the colour balance of this image. As there is
so little colour in this image i found it hard
to judge if the colour tones looked correct.

OVERALL SUBMISSION SUMMARY

My original theme selection as governed the images I have
planned and taken. The images I have submitted are appropriate
for the brief that was given for this assignment. I feel I need to
continue to work on the WB selection when taking the RAW
image and also the colour balance of the final image. I have
now decided to WB against a grey/white card on site rather than
WB against the scene. I will continue to experiment with colour
balance in photoshop. I would also like to continue to improve
my exposure levels on site and will continue to bracket my
exposures.