Kitabı oku: «Collins Complete Photography Projects», sayfa 3

USING FLASH

While the newer digital cameras with high ISO speeds enable photographs to be taken in low light conditions that would previously have required flash, it can still be used as a creative light source even where it’s not essential. However, it should be employed with care to avoid ruining the beauty of natural light.

Most cameras have their own built-in flash, and all manufacturers also make dedicated flash guns for their cameras. These have more power than built-in flashes and because they have their own battery power they don’t drain the camera’s batteries. They fit onto the camera’s hot shoe and, unlike built-in flashes, they have a swivel head so they can bounce light off the wall or ceiling, which can produce a softer effect than direct flash. You can also hand-hold them or use a separate support; the new flash guns can be used off-camera remotely, while older models require a cable to synchronize with the camera.

AVAILABLE LIGHT

The available light version of this young gardener is charming, but his face can’t be seen as clearly as a mother would like. 1/60 second at f9.5, 26mm, 400 ISO. GH

FILL-IN FLASH

Here the camera has balanced the built-in flash with the available light, giving a ‘fill’ light so his face is no longer lost in shadow. 1/100 second at f9.5, with fill-in flash, 26mm, 400 ISO. GH

BUILT-IN FLASH

This is a portrait made with the built-in flash. It is important to underexpose direct flash pictures such as this by about –½ stop to eliminate that bleached-out, pasty look that you see on many direct flash portraits. 1/60 second at f2.8, 6.1mm compact camera, 400 ISO. JG

DIRECT FLASH

This portrait of Jen was taken with the flash gun on the camera pointed directly at her. The direct front light has flattened her face and the highlights are bright. Because the background is further from the light than her face, it is underexposed. 1/180 second at f8, 46mm, 200 ISO. GH

BOUNCE FLASH

With the flash gun still on the camera, I tilted the flash up to bounce the light off the ceiling. I pulled up the white bounce card in the flash head, which has added a little front light to fill in the shadows and put a sparkle in her eyes. This gives a more natural look and the bounce light has lightened the background, too. 1/180 second at f8, 46mm, 200 ISO. GH

OFF-CAMERA FLASH

I removed the flash gun from the camera and held it to the left, giving more modelling to her face. I set the flash to remote mode to synchronize it to the camera, but an off-camera cable would also have done the job. The background and shadows are very dark. 1/180 second at f11, 46mm, 200 ISO. GH

OFF-CAMERA FLASH AND DOME

With the flash still off-camera, I added the diffusing dome to the flash head. The diffuser has spread some light around the room, which has filled in the shadow on Jen’s face and lightened the background. 1/180 second at f8, 46mm, 200 ISO. GH

TURNING DAY INTO NIGHT

This cat portrait was taken with built-in flash. It was afternoon, but I wanted to create a surrealistic feeling of night. Using aperture priority mode, I set the aperture to f10, knowing that I was close enough to adequately light the cat with the flash. To get the dark background I needed to underexpose, which I did by setting the exposure compensation to –3. 1/250 second at f10, 19mm, 500 ISO. JG

USING RED EYE FOR EFFECT

The ‘red eye’ that we all normally try to eliminate can be used as a fun effect. This shot of my little dog makes her look like a devil dog running out of the darkness. Flash also freezes action and can be used solely for that reason, but in this shot I combined the built-in flash with a slow shutter speed to add some movement. 1/60 second at f6.3, 95mm, 400 ISO. JG

COMPOSITION

The basics of photography aren’t just a matter of getting to grips with your equipment; you also need to understand the aesthetic values that will turn your photographs into something much more than everyday snaps.

When you admire a photograph or painting you may at first believe that it is the subject matter that is appealing to you. In fact, once you understand the dynamics of the picture’s composition, you will know that you are being influenced just as much by that.

The early photographers were mostly painters experimenting with this new technology, so they continued to use painterly laws of composition such as dividing the picture plane into thirds and placing focal points where the thirds intersect (see here). However, the development of wide-angle and telephoto lenses changed photographic composition forever. Although classic composition still formed the basics, photographers could now play with perspective and manipulate colours optically.

The basic compositional possibilities shown here will be demonstrated time and again throughout the book. Composition is the way that photographers look at the world. It is our style. It is how we recognize a photograph by one of our favourite photographers – we know how he or she sees the world.

RECORD SHOT

This picture, taken at an art fair, is what I saw when I first walked by. It’s taken as a record of the place without thinking of the content at all. 1/180 second at f4.1, 6.5mm compact camera, 400 ISO. GH

CHANGING THE FORMAT

Taking a closer viewpoint and using a vertical format has allowed me to exclude most of the unwanted detail. However, the picture still looks distant and unconnected with the subject. 1/125 second at f4.3, 15.6mm compact camera, 400 ISO. GH

LOW-ANGLE CLOSE-UP

By moving closer still and coming down to a low angle I have isolated the potter and I can see his technique. The relationship of the round pot and his head holds the picture together. 1/125 second at f4.3, 15.6mm compact camera, 400 ISO. GH

RULE OF THIRDS

A classic rule of composition is that for a strong visual impact, the focal point of a picture should be near an imaginary intersection of two lines that divide the picture into thirds horizontally and vertically.

FINDING A FOCAL POINT

Most landscapes are greatly improved by the inclusion of a focal point. Here I found a white farmhouse to give the viewer a point to fix on and to form a story about the farmer and his land. 1/500 second at f6.7, 200mm, 400 ISO. GH

HIGH VIEWPOINT

Most pictures are shot at eye level – the photographer just stands there and takes the picture. Varying the camera height gives a different view of the world. In this case I was able to walk up some stairs and join the man reading his newspaper. 1/500 second at f5.6, 200mm, 200 ISO. GH

USING PERSPECTIVE

Perspective is one of the most important compositional tools for the photographer, and our huge range of focal lengths allows us to play with this for graphic effect. In this picture of sailors calling home the wide-angle 24mm lens has exaggerated the perspective, making a nice graphic shape. 1/30 second at f8, 24mm, 100 ISO film. JG

LOW VIEWPOINT

I dropped down to a low camera angle so that I could look up at the heavy metal fans, separating them from the rest of the crowd and making the sky their background. With the help of an 18mm wide-angle lens I was also able to really emphasize the rock and roll gesture. 1/1000 second at f8, 18mm, 400 ISO. JG

BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY

Photographs were basically monochrome for about one hundred years, though alternative printing processes and handpainting could inject some colour for the dedicated photographer.

In 1935, Kodachrome was born and really took off. For a comparatively low price, everybody could now record their colourful world on colour slides. From there, the production of colour films grew rapidly and before long colour negative films meant that instant prints were available from every chemist in the high street.

Yet black and white photography remains a very popular medium. Black and white prints are a major art form and digital cameras plus computer software have made them so much more accessible than traditional analogue black and white. The quality of the papers, inks and printers is now incredible, making digital black and white photography an exciting alternative to really go for.

However, traditional black and white technology has been making a comeback. The craft of the darkroom and the magic of the image coming to life in the developing tray continue to fascinate, and if you wish to learn how to pursue this form of photography you should be able to find a course near you on which darkroom technique is taught.

The decision as to whether to go for colour or black and white used to mean being able to visualize how a subject would look in tones of grey before choosing which film to put in the camera. With digital, we can switch from colour to black and white in a second to check whether the colour is converting to black and white successfully. We also have the added possibility of being able to shoot in colour and then convert to black and white later.

We highly recommend that you explore monochrome; you will be looking purely at light, tone and texture, and you may find meaning in your photographs that you might have missed, distracted by the presence of colour. It’s good practice to look at the same pictures in both colour and black and white, assessing which works best and analysing why; you will soon develop a feeling for the look that will be most suitable for the image.

SHOP WINDOW

This picture is all about colour – it is of course what attracted me to take the picture in the first place. 1/200 second at f5.6, 20mm, 400 ISO. GH

ASSESSING MONOCHROME

There are colour subjects that don’t work in black and white and this is one of them. If I had been walking around taking black and white pictures I wouldn’t have given the shop window a second look. As your experience increases with monochrome you will learn to recognize the colours and light that will translate into strong black and white images.

SUMMER AT THE COAST

In colour, this seascape is like a pleasant watercolour painting. The boats and clouds have merged into the blue, giving a soft, summery look. 1/750 second at f6.7, 85mm, 400 ISO. GH

CHANGING THE MOOD

Translated into black and white, the picture has gained a dramatic atmosphere. The boats and sky now become the subject, which in the colour picture was the wall.

THE OUTBACK

Late afternoon in the Australian outback, and a huge storm was gathering. A shaft of light burst through the black clouds and lit the ghost gum trees; five minutes later I was running for the car in torrential rain. Many great landscapes have been taken just before a storm, so it’s worth getting wet. I underexposed by –2 stops to make sure that the picture was not too bright. 1/500 second at f11, 100mm, 400 ISO. JG

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Landscape is a huge subject, and although it’s one of the most popular areas for photographers you may find it the most difficult in the book – partly because you have no control over the weather and the elements in the landscape, but also because of that popularity.

In these days of easy-to-use digital cameras, photo-sharing websites and microstock agencies that accept work from amateurs, the proliferation of photographic images has been staggering. The result is that most people now look at pictures with a more sophisticated eye, and a pleasant landscape shot among thousands competing for attention isn’t enough to satisfy a photographer who wants to be truly creative.

So this chapter is about learning ways to make your pictures stand out from the everyday shots. We shall demonstrate how landscapes are dramatically affected by changes in the light, and how you can use depth of field and filters to make your images powerful. Most importantly, we shall teach you how to isolate beautiful pictures from the great outdoors. When we first start out on our landscape journey, the majority of us take wide scenic views; it’s only when we learn to focus on sections of those views that our images start to become meaningful.

As with anything you want to shoot, understanding how to make the most of what’s in front of your lens will improve your pictures by leaps and bounds. This chapter will help you to make that big step up from just taking nice pictures of nice scenes to creating genuine photographic landscapes.

FINDING INTEREST IN FLAT LIGHT

The day was overcast and misty, so the light was flat – not at all my usual landscape light, but I decided to try out a roll of Ilford infra-red film I had with me. This cut through the haze and gave an almost etched look that amazed me, given that the situation had looked so unpromising. I added a sepia tone in Lightroom to give an antique feel. For a similar look, try infra-red film, the IR setting in the menu of your camera or the infra-red preset in the Lightroom Develop module. 1/125 second at f16, 35mm, 125 ISO film. JG

USING A FILTER TO ADD PUNCH

This crazy little atomic-looking cloud drifted past when I was sitting on a beach in Brittany. I had my camera with me, wrapped in a freezer bag to keep it sand-free, and thought the cloud so cute I had to photograph it. I used a polarizing filter to darken the blue sky and make the cloud stand out. Keeping your camera with you at all times means you don’t have that awful ‘if only’ feeling when something picture-worthy crops up. 1/1000 second at f11, 180mm, 200 ISO. JG

PROJECT 1: FINDING A FOCAL POINT

Unless a landscape has a dominant feature or a very strong pattern that can hold the eye in the picture it will tend to be just an ordinary scene that doesn’t detain the viewer for long.

Most landscape photographs benefit from a focal point such as a white farmhouse, a lone tree or, as shown here, a small boat – in this case added with Photoshop, in the absence of a focal point in the landscape itself. For a landscape with a natural focal point, check out the opening spread for this chapter – your eye goes straight to the white ghost gums because they are so much brighter than the surrounding landscape.

For this assignment we want you to go out and find a landscape with a prominent focal point. You don’t need a magnificent sweep of mountain or moorland – part of the business of being a photographer is finding visual interest in subjects that a casual observer might pass without a glance. The viewer’s eye is always drawn to signs of human activity, so a deserted tractor in a field, a barn or a house will usually work well, but you might choose to use a natural feature instead.

SEARCHING FOR THE LIGHT

Think about the possibilities of the angle of light in relation to your focal point, and whether you could make it more important in the picture at a different time of day. If the answer to that is yes, plan to come back rather than just settling for second-best. A compass is invaluable to a landscape photographer – they are not expensive, and you may even have one on a smartphone. On a sunny day, it’s not hard to work out that if your focal point is lit from the front in the morning sun and you want it backlit you need to come back in the evening, for example, but if the weather is dull you’ll be glad of a compass to tell you which way the light will fall when the sun is out.

Once you have begun to think about focal points you will soon look for one as second nature. However, while you should always search for the perfect photograph, a little digital help can be the answer where you have a lovely scene but the crucial point of focus is missing. So, for the second part of this project, shoot a landscape that needs a focal point, then find one in your archive and put it in; you’ll find details on how to do this in Combining Images. Again, remember the light – if your photograph is taken on a sunny day with strong shadows, a house, boat or tree with the light coming from a different direction will be an obvious fake.

EVENING SEASCAPE

I shot this seascape very late in the evening in the Highlands of Scotland. I like the warm light and the composition and I underexposed it by –1 stop to make it more dramatic. At the time I was thinking, ‘A little boat would be great,’ but none was to be seen. For your own photograph, find a landscape with a broad view that pleases you, but no specific focal point; estuaries, forests and agricultural land are good places to look. 1/350 second at f11, 120mm, 400 ISO. JG

A FOCAL POINT FROM THE LIBRARY

This boat picture is a perfect match because it was shot in very similar light conditions to John’s seascape. It’s a good idea to collect pictures such as moons, boats, clouds, cottages and so forth for inserting into landscapes that just lack that little something. GH

RETOUCHING THE SHOT

The colour of the boat has been changed using Hue/Saturation in Photoshop to match the colour in the original shot; this made the retouching easier because we didn’t have to cut out the boat too accurately. I think it has improved the seascape, and it’s fun to see your picture transformed like this. If you take care to match the colour, light and tone, your own added focal point should sit comfortably in the landscape. JG