I am not sure if this is something I should be mentioning in a learning blog, but I feel that I am running out of steam lately.
Assignment 3 was submitted on (about) week of 13th March, which is, two weeks ago. The feedback for assignment 2 came back on the same week. I need to re-shoot several images based on the feedback, but so far I have not done any. Part of it, I feel that if I take my tutor's feedback seriously, I will generate some new idea and it will take me for a run just like in assignment 3. New idea is great, but I just feel no space left to take on new ideas (maybe I should just write it all down and do it later).
Strangely enough, I got some idea for doing assignment 5 already! I have not started assignment 4 or anything in section 4 yet. I don't feel I have any appetite to do other things but thinking of where I can get the shots for assignment 5! I can't stop!
On top of it I got things that I did for entertainment (shooting sport). Right after assignment was submitted, it was the Women champion league match between Arsenal and Gotoburg. Then there is the night match between Watford and Tottenham (purely disaster in a photographic sense), and the last match of the season for Crystal Palace. Camden Town won the London FA Junior cup last Sunday. This weekend there is KCL dance competition and the regular Sunday football match. I did my garden this week and plant some potato and other stuff.
Hmm... Should I go back to my study asap?
Friday 30 March 2012
Monday 26 March 2012
Comment: Ethic in Photojournalism
I was reading this article on BBC the other day.
The article starts with a quote from Serena Miller. It goes like this
"For a number of years I was relentlessly pursued by 10 to 15 men, almost daily... Spat at, verbally abused... I would often find myself, at the age of 21, at midnight, running down a dark street on my own with 10 men chasing me. And the fact they had cameras in their hands made that legal."
Sometime ago I posted on the OCA forum about photographer's right in UK. This article in BBC, comes from totally opposite direction, about things that a photographer should not do. While I do think making a living as a professional photographer is hard, I don't see why these people can sleep well by constructing a situation to make some famous people into distress, then trying to sell photographs based on a constructed story.
We talked about shooting techniques in the OCA class but there is next to nothing about ethic. It is fair to say that the degree does not prepare us to be journalist, but everything we do as a photographer affects the right we are going to have, and affects how society is going to see us. I enjoy my right to do street photography and even photograph random people, knowing that even if I happen to capture a children on my shot, it is still legal (as long as it is not indecent image). I don't like to have to walk around on the pitch as make sure everybody is above 18 before shooting a football game, or wedding, etc. If we do enjoy these freedom, we should also ask what is unethical even at a small scale that we won't cross that line.
I posted another discussion about free photographs on the OCA forum sometime ago. I had been accused by pro and semi-pro that by not taking money from the event I shoot, I am distorying their livelihood. My problem was, some of these events are participated by my friends, teammate, what is the logic for me to charge my friend just to make those what so called pro stay in business? Not to mention that most of the events I get access to are dominated by student. Do I expect they have a lot of money to pay for photographs after a £9000/year tution? Of course, this problem has come back to me again. Not because I seriously want to protect somebody who doesn't have enough skill to beat an amateur, but I worry about the ethic on my action. Just because giving out photograph suits me, it might not be ethical to destory the industry and left all the newly graduated photography student have no chance to get job. Say, I will be graduated with a degree in Photography one day (some day).
Probably most of the student in OCA will not end up to be a photojounalist. However, most of us will take photograph of people, take photograph on the street, take photograph on events. There is something for us to think of.
Assignment 2: Re-cropping Images
The first part of the "re-shoot" can be done by re-cropping the images in lightroom. The tutor told me that there are several images will benefit from tighter crop. I wonder if it is a general problem for me since I have the tendency of leaving a lot of empty space in my photographs very often. I can't come up with the reason why, but I feel that I have to "include everything", such as the whole glass, the whole person, etc.
Anyway, here are some images that are reconsidered.
1. Vertical Line.
Let's start with the original image first.
2. Rhythm
Let's start with the original again.
However, I found it look better if the glass with colour be slightly lower. It might coincide with the rule of third, but it does look more balance (top down wise).
Can we crop more? Yes, but I feel somehow I want to have just a little bit of white space in the image. Cropping too close (below) will lead to the rhythm carries me outside of the image area. For example.
3. Single Point
Here is the original image.
The tutor mentioned that the blue spot can be considered to be another point. Unfortunately that is something unplanned, as originally I only want to shadow of the glass to be in the image. However, he also recommended a tighter crop. I think, in order for the rose to take over as the main "point", I should crop closer around it. However, the topic here is still "glass" so I want to leave some sign of glass around. Still roughly follow the rule of thirds...
4. Two Points
Here is the original image.
The comment of the tutor is a little bit unclear. He said, "There is also a dominant line running horizontally across some images that is impacting upon the subject matter particularly in the two point images."
What is not clear is if this "horizontal line" means the edge of the table, or am I leaving too much white shape on the top and bottom (due to shooting in portrait mode). I am emailing him back for a clarification, but by the mean time I try to crop out those white spaces. I think this looks more even.
Anyway, here are some images that are reconsidered.
1. Vertical Line.
Let's start with the original image first.
The problem seems to be I have leave too much space at the top. So I crop it tighter to empathize the subject area.
I don't think it is good to crop any tighter than this. If I crop more, the shape of the glass will be less distinct and destroy the subject. For example, this is less desirable.
2. Rhythm
Let's start with the original again.
So, too much space on the left. There are many ways to reduce it. For example:
However, I found it look better if the glass with colour be slightly lower. It might coincide with the rule of third, but it does look more balance (top down wise).
Can we crop more? Yes, but I feel somehow I want to have just a little bit of white space in the image. Cropping too close (below) will lead to the rhythm carries me outside of the image area. For example.
3. Single Point
Here is the original image.
The tutor mentioned that the blue spot can be considered to be another point. Unfortunately that is something unplanned, as originally I only want to shadow of the glass to be in the image. However, he also recommended a tighter crop. I think, in order for the rose to take over as the main "point", I should crop closer around it. However, the topic here is still "glass" so I want to leave some sign of glass around. Still roughly follow the rule of thirds...
4. Two Points
Here is the original image.
The comment of the tutor is a little bit unclear. He said, "There is also a dominant line running horizontally across some images that is impacting upon the subject matter particularly in the two point images."
What is not clear is if this "horizontal line" means the edge of the table, or am I leaving too much white shape on the top and bottom (due to shooting in portrait mode). I am emailing him back for a clarification, but by the mean time I try to crop out those white spaces. I think this looks more even.
Tuesday 20 March 2012
Comment: What Is Good Supposed to Look Like?
It comes back to the very reason on why I enrolled in this degree program: you can't get better unless there is somebody with experience in this field tell you what is missing. Some people has the skill to learn from the school of hard-knock. However, very often I find myself not able to tell what to look for. An image that is good enough is probably not that good. Friends and family can provide sentiment but they cannot give me any idea on how to get better.
School is not the only place I can learn. Here is an interesting occasion. I have been to the UEFA women champion league quarter final match of Arsenal Ladies vs IFK Goteborg last week. When I was there, there were three video recording (two from Swedish TV, and one for UEFA if I get it right), and at least four photographers around with 400mm f/2.8 lens with monopod. In additional there are armature like me around, so the media list is quite long (my name is actual listed under "freelance").
Anyway, a difficulty to learn photography by "copying" the pro is that, the shooting condition can be very difficult and it is not obvious why my picture is not good. There is no issue if I shoot side by side with the pro. A pro and I stood at different side of the goal and took this shot.
This is from the pro:
This is from me:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111658380662836941338/14thMarch2012ArsenalLadiesVsIFKGoteborg?noredirect=1#5719870353352669506
Forget a moment that the pro get a better angle (no people blocks in front), notice the sharpness of the image. The question is, is mine less sharp because of handshake? Slow shutter speed? Equipment issue? Or else?
I took this up to Trung, a good friend of mine. He noticed that my image is slight over-exposed. He noticed from the historgram that some of the signal disappeared to the right, and that corresponds to the face area (side lighting) of the player in the air (Lisa Ek from IFK Goteborg). Then he also notice that the pro image has been photoshopped. He pointed out that the pro used the Unsharp mask (how can he tell?).
Do both and we can get this at 100% crop. Any better?
Before:
After (the skin tone dial down and with unsharp mark):
I notice from the ball that my shutter speed is probably too slow. I don't think it is hand shake because I was using tripod. My camera + lens is about 2.7kg while the max load of the tripod is 5kg. Then at 1/800s, it should be fast enough to shoot even if I need to hand-hold the lens. I try to raise the shutter speed to 1/1000s to 1/1250s in the next match with Crystal Palace. Despite the ISO noise in the second half is horrible (the sun got covered up), most of the image are sharp at 100% corp. The folder is here.
https://picasaweb.google.com/111658380662836941338/18thMarch2012CrystalPalaceFcVsCambridgeWomenFc?noredirect=1#
I think I still have a long way to go to become good at shoot sport, but it helps to go to the high level game and shoot next to a pro.
School is not the only place I can learn. Here is an interesting occasion. I have been to the UEFA women champion league quarter final match of Arsenal Ladies vs IFK Goteborg last week. When I was there, there were three video recording (two from Swedish TV, and one for UEFA if I get it right), and at least four photographers around with 400mm f/2.8 lens with monopod. In additional there are armature like me around, so the media list is quite long (my name is actual listed under "freelance").
Anyway, a difficulty to learn photography by "copying" the pro is that, the shooting condition can be very difficult and it is not obvious why my picture is not good. There is no issue if I shoot side by side with the pro. A pro and I stood at different side of the goal and took this shot.
This is from the pro:
This is from me:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111658380662836941338/14thMarch2012ArsenalLadiesVsIFKGoteborg?noredirect=1#5719870353352669506
Forget a moment that the pro get a better angle (no people blocks in front), notice the sharpness of the image. The question is, is mine less sharp because of handshake? Slow shutter speed? Equipment issue? Or else?
I took this up to Trung, a good friend of mine. He noticed that my image is slight over-exposed. He noticed from the historgram that some of the signal disappeared to the right, and that corresponds to the face area (side lighting) of the player in the air (Lisa Ek from IFK Goteborg). Then he also notice that the pro image has been photoshopped. He pointed out that the pro used the Unsharp mask (how can he tell?).
Do both and we can get this at 100% crop. Any better?
Before:
I notice from the ball that my shutter speed is probably too slow. I don't think it is hand shake because I was using tripod. My camera + lens is about 2.7kg while the max load of the tripod is 5kg. Then at 1/800s, it should be fast enough to shoot even if I need to hand-hold the lens. I try to raise the shutter speed to 1/1000s to 1/1250s in the next match with Crystal Palace. Despite the ISO noise in the second half is horrible (the sun got covered up), most of the image are sharp at 100% corp. The folder is here.
https://picasaweb.google.com/111658380662836941338/18thMarch2012CrystalPalaceFcVsCambridgeWomenFc?noredirect=1#
I think I still have a long way to go to become good at shoot sport, but it helps to go to the high level game and shoot next to a pro.
Monday 19 March 2012
Comment: Prepare to Re-shoot Assignment 2
For the next few weeks if not month, I will be reviewing the shots submitted in assignment 2 based on the feedback from my tutor. I just submitted assignment 3. Hopefully, I will get some feedback soon after, so I can review that assignment as well before starting anything in section 4.
I also have to finish reading the "Colour Management" book to finish section 3. It will be a while before I can do much in section 4 anyway...
The list of comment is very long (which is good). I am extracting those that need further work and see what I can do with it. Some of the comment are suggestion on composition, which I can try (very easily) by cropping it in lightroom. Some of them require re-shooting in order to see the effect.
Those with composition issue and I should explore a tighter corp:
1. The Vertical line
2. Single point
3. Rhythm
Those with composition issue because the horizon (table end) are tiled:
1. Two point
2. Some of the other images as well, but I need to check it one by one
Those need to be re-shoot in order to see the effect
1. In the Rhythm2 image" "The stem of the glass is too soft" and "There is just a hint of the colour red below the main area of red, which is distracting"
2. In the Diagonal image, the image will be stronger if the flow of liquid is vertical
3. In the Pattern shot, "the edges of the glasses are inconsistent, sometime there are black edges and white edges on the same glass".
4. The Implied Triangle shot, a lighter background will enliven the picture.
Long list of thing to try. I need to wash the wine glasses and buy some roses for the reshoot.
I also have to finish reading the "Colour Management" book to finish section 3. It will be a while before I can do much in section 4 anyway...
The list of comment is very long (which is good). I am extracting those that need further work and see what I can do with it. Some of the comment are suggestion on composition, which I can try (very easily) by cropping it in lightroom. Some of them require re-shooting in order to see the effect.
Those with composition issue and I should explore a tighter corp:
1. The Vertical line
2. Single point
3. Rhythm
Those with composition issue because the horizon (table end) are tiled:
1. Two point
2. Some of the other images as well, but I need to check it one by one
Those need to be re-shoot in order to see the effect
1. In the Rhythm2 image" "The stem of the glass is too soft" and "There is just a hint of the colour red below the main area of red, which is distracting"
2. In the Diagonal image, the image will be stronger if the flow of liquid is vertical
3. In the Pattern shot, "the edges of the glasses are inconsistent, sometime there are black edges and white edges on the same glass".
4. The Implied Triangle shot, a lighter background will enliven the picture.
Long list of thing to try. I need to wash the wine glasses and buy some roses for the reshoot.
Sunday 18 March 2012
Assignment 3: Colour
I got the feedback for assignment 2 from my tutor a few days ago, so I will be working on the re-shoot based on his comment in the next few weeks. By the mean time, I finished assignment 3 and submitted it already!
These are the shots I submitted for assignment 3.
Topic: Urban Landscape
These are the shots I submitted for assignment 3.
Topic: Urban Landscape
Image 1: Complementary Colour: Blue/Orange. Real Triangle.
Image 2: Contrasting Colour: Blue/Yellow. Vertical Line.
Image 3: Complementary Colour: Blue/Orange. Real Triangle.
Image 4: Similar Colour: Red/Orange. Colour accent on Red. Real Triangle.
Image 5: Contrasting Colour: Red/Yellow/Blue. Colour Accent on Red. Vertical and Horizontal Lines.
Image 6: Similar Colour: Orange/Yellow. Curve.
Image 7: Contrasting Colour: Red/Yellow: Real Triangle.
Image 8: Similar Colour: Blue/Purple. Real Triangle.
Image 9: Contrasting Colour: Blue/Yellow. Pattern.
Image 10: Contrasting Colour: Blue/Yellow. Colour Accent on Yellow. Diagonal Lines.
Image 11: Contrasting Colour: RedYellow/Blue, Vertical and Horizonal Line.
Image 12: Similar Colour: Yellow/Green, Green/Blue. Contrasting Colour: Yellow/Blue. Colour Accent on Yellow. Vertical Lines.
Image 13: Complementary Colour: Blue/Orange. Real Triangle.
Image 14: Complementary Colour: Purple/Yellow. Real Triangle.
Image 15: Similar Colour: Yellow/Orange. Implied Triangle.
Image 16: Contrasting Colour: Red/Yellow/Blue, Colour Accent on Red, Real Triangle.
Exercise 27: Colours Into Tone in Black and White
This is the most confusing exercise so far. The instruction is simple, but I have no idea on what is the purpose of this exercise. If you have to deploy colour filter, this is effectively set the brightness of the other colours to zero. As a result, these colours will appear dark in the black and white image.
Anyway, for the sake of simplicity, I took a snapshot of my bookshelf. This is what it is like. It is very boring, but it has all the colours the exercise asked for.
Now, turn this into black and white as is:
Now with the Blue filter. Somehow Goldstein's Classical Mechanics survived even though it appears to be green in the original (colour) image. So this green is not as pure as the Macroeconomics book next to it.
Now the green filter:
Red filter:
Yellow filter:
Anyway, for the sake of simplicity, I took a snapshot of my bookshelf. This is what it is like. It is very boring, but it has all the colours the exercise asked for.
Now, turn this into black and white as is:
Now with the Blue filter. Somehow Goldstein's Classical Mechanics survived even though it appears to be green in the original (colour) image. So this green is not as pure as the Macroeconomics book next to it.
Now the green filter:
Red filter:
Yellow filter:
Saturday 10 March 2012
Comment: Winning Image from World Press Photo 2011
Samuel Aranda's photograph of a Yamani mother holding her injured son won the world press photo 2011. There are several interesting article analysis this image.
BBC posted the story behind the image. The article is as below.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/17111673
There is an article from David Campbell discussing how people over-analyze the "artistic point" of the image, as well as different come up with different symbol they can associate with in the image.
http://www.david-campbell.org/2012/02/20/this-photo-is-not-just-what-it-is-reading-world-press-photo-debate/
And here is an analysis from Marc Prüst on why he thinks this image deserves to win. Here is couple things he said I would like to quote.
"a photograph cannot and does not provide context, it cannot explain a situation, it does not show reality, a photograph does not say more than a 1000 words..... Because its beauty forces the viewer to look closer to what is happening ..... and it invites the viewer to read the caption. The caption then provides the context essential to a fuller understanding of the situation, and the story, actually one of the most important stories of 2011."
The full text is here.
http://marcprust.com/2012/02/13/world-press-photo-of-the-year-2011/
So what do I think?
Ha. I have written a post on the work done by Natasha Caruana as well as the work by Zarina Bhimji in the OCA study day. Both of them have very good story to tell, and I have my hat off to both of them in trying to work on such complicated topics. Just by looking at their images, it makes me wonder what on earth are they trying to talk about. This is counter-intuitive, given that I don't think some of the images are that strong. In fact, if I have not read the article about their work first, I would not be seeing the photographs at all. After I read the story behind, suddenly their works make so much sense. So it is not triggered by the photographs, but the story behind.
The image from world press photo, most the other awarded as well, are visually strong. When I saw the photographs, I would like to know what's going on behind them. I think, having a good story is one thing, having a visually strong image is still a plus, unless, you get people to promote your pictures and somehow people pay attention to the background to your work and look at your work again. For those who has one chance to get through the editorial desk, bad image will not land you there.
BBC posted the story behind the image. The article is as below.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/17111673
There is an article from David Campbell discussing how people over-analyze the "artistic point" of the image, as well as different come up with different symbol they can associate with in the image.
http://www.david-campbell.org/2012/02/20/this-photo-is-not-just-what-it-is-reading-world-press-photo-debate/
And here is an analysis from Marc Prüst on why he thinks this image deserves to win. Here is couple things he said I would like to quote.
"a photograph cannot and does not provide context, it cannot explain a situation, it does not show reality, a photograph does not say more than a 1000 words..... Because its beauty forces the viewer to look closer to what is happening ..... and it invites the viewer to read the caption. The caption then provides the context essential to a fuller understanding of the situation, and the story, actually one of the most important stories of 2011."
The full text is here.
http://marcprust.com/2012/02/13/world-press-photo-of-the-year-2011/
So what do I think?
Ha. I have written a post on the work done by Natasha Caruana as well as the work by Zarina Bhimji in the OCA study day. Both of them have very good story to tell, and I have my hat off to both of them in trying to work on such complicated topics. Just by looking at their images, it makes me wonder what on earth are they trying to talk about. This is counter-intuitive, given that I don't think some of the images are that strong. In fact, if I have not read the article about their work first, I would not be seeing the photographs at all. After I read the story behind, suddenly their works make so much sense. So it is not triggered by the photographs, but the story behind.
The image from world press photo, most the other awarded as well, are visually strong. When I saw the photographs, I would like to know what's going on behind them. I think, having a good story is one thing, having a visually strong image is still a plus, unless, you get people to promote your pictures and somehow people pay attention to the background to your work and look at your work again. For those who has one chance to get through the editorial desk, bad image will not land you there.
Exercise 25: Primary and Secondary Colours
In this exercise, I have to photograph six screens, preferably not still life, of one of each colours dominate the screen: red, yellow, orange, green, blue and purple.
Red:
Blue
On the blue side, however, over-exposure will blow the sky. If there is something to hold back the sky, personally I do prefer the slight over exposed colour of the gate.
Orange
For orange, the brighter the image, the more wash-out the colour look. For this one, I prefer the image to be under-exposed. I wonder if it because of the fact the paint has low saturation to start with on this image compare to other colours I photographed previously.
Green
For this set, both over-exposed and under-exposed images look weird.
Violet
Purple is the most difficult colour to find. I don't want to be photographing shirts in a clothing store. In nature, it seems I only see it in flower. There is one construction site that has purple paint on the wooden board. This colour is also quite dark, so I am not sure if I have to complete isolate it in order for it to dominate the screen. For example, for this set, I have a feeling that green is the more dominating colour.
Red:
Yellow:
This is strange. For both red and yellow, over-exposing the image give me stronger colour. Expose the image according to the meter looks more "correct" based on what I see in reality, but the colour is just less vivid.
On the blue side, however, over-exposure will blow the sky. If there is something to hold back the sky, personally I do prefer the slight over exposed colour of the gate.
Orange
For orange, the brighter the image, the more wash-out the colour look. For this one, I prefer the image to be under-exposed. I wonder if it because of the fact the paint has low saturation to start with on this image compare to other colours I photographed previously.
Green
For this set, both over-exposed and under-exposed images look weird.
Violet
Purple is the most difficult colour to find. I don't want to be photographing shirts in a clothing store. In nature, it seems I only see it in flower. There is one construction site that has purple paint on the wooden board. This colour is also quite dark, so I am not sure if I have to complete isolate it in order for it to dominate the screen. For example, for this set, I have a feeling that green is the more dominating colour.
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