Aperture: aperture priority (AV) (WK 2)

Aperture priority mode allows the user to control the aperture, the camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed in this mode.

f 1.8

f 22

(ISO 100)

As shown above, the aperture on the lower end of the spectrum (f 1.8) only had the figure in focus, whereas the second picture on the complete opposite end (f 22) had focus on things that were in the background as well. Adjusting the aperture allows the photographer to focus the eyes of the viewer. In the first photograph it is obvious what the focus is meant to be as the background is completely out of focus. In the second photo however the background in focus creates a distraction and draws the eye away from the figure in the center.
The second image is out of focus most likely because of camera shake, I was holding the camera and I suspect the shutter speed was not fast enough to eliminate this factor. I probably should have used a tripod to eliminate the camera shake, but I did not realise until I'd uploaded my photos to bridge.

Research: Irving Penn. (WK 2)

Irving Penn is most well known for his fashion photography. Penn's repertoire also includes portraits of creative greats; ethnographic photographs from around the world; still lifes of food, bones, bottles, metal, and found objects; and photographic travel essays.

Messenger from Cartier, New York, 1951

Vintage gelatin silver print

13 1/4 x 10 1/2 in.

Edition of 9

Charbonnier (B), Paris, 1950

Platinum palladium print

16 3/4 x 11 1/2 in.

Edition of 31

Cigarette No. 34, New York, 1972

Platinum palladium print

23 3/8 x 18 3/8 in.

Edition of 18

 Penn's use of earth tones rather than full colour add to the photographic interest. What would be rather uninteresting subject matter now becomes detailed. The shadows are fuller and the lighting more controlled. The figures and subject matter stand out from the background, set apart by the colours of the clothing, making solid lines seperating the two fields. Aperture would have been a big part of Penn's work. The third photograph, Cigarette No. 34, is the easiest example of showing aperture. The subject matter remains in focus, while the background, however plain, is not. The figures on the other hand, the plain background is in focus alongside the figures, creating more depth to the image. The third photograph shows the narrowest depth of field out of the three images, the close up subject matter allows the artist to have a narrower aperture without it becoming too soft. The third image is quite sharp even for a narrow depth of field. The other two images, as they are full body shots and all completely in focus, are an example of a wider depth of field. A wider depth of field was more appropriate for full body shots, it allows the photographer to keep the whole body of his model in focus, but also to add depth between the model and the background.

Research: Alexander Rodchenko. (WK 2)

'The most interesting points of view today are "from above down" and "from below up," and their diagonals', wrote Rodchenko in 1928.

 Alexander Rodchenko loved angles, in his photographs he would go to extremes to get the perfect angle. It worked for him, his images were interesting and different to that of his peers during that time. Lines and shadow played a large part in his photography, adding to the feel his vantage points created. Rodchenko did not have the luxury or easily portable hand held cameras, so a lot of thought would have gone into his photographs to get the images he's so well known for.

Stairs, 1930

 Photographing in black and white, Rodchenko's images are filled with shadows. The stairs in this image almost look like shadows they're that dark. The angle of this image is different, showing more of the scene rather than the focus which I would assume was the figure walking up the stairs. The figures look small in comparison to the rest of the photograph. There is a lot of direction in the photograph, with the lines and the people walking.

"One has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations, as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key-hole again and again."

Suchov-Sendeturm (Shuchov transmission tower), 1929. Gelatin silver print, 5 13/16 x 8 7/8 in.

 Primarily, Rodchenko used high and low angles, angles that were during that time, seen as unusual. His shots would stump the viewer and give them more to think about, I think in this way he was extremely successful. Rodchenko managed to take photographs from places most wouldn't dream of venturing to and for it, he came out with some amazing photographs.

Research: Sally Mann. (WK2)

Untitled /At Twelve/ Lisa Tab.,
1983–1985. 19 x 24 cm. (7.5 x 9.4 in.)

Untitled, At Twelve Series (Juliet in the Chair) 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm.)

Sally Mann works mostly with portraiture, but in her early works she also photographed landscape/architecture. Her 'At twelve' series is one of her most well known photographic series, the photos which were often of her own children, can be seen as somewhat controversial. There is an air of mystery in her photographs, some having a suggestive nature to them. Sally Mann's images could be taken a number of ways and for many of the 'untitled' photographs it is left up to the viewer to interpret exactly what is going on in the image. Her images are beautiful in their own ways with deep shadows and light playing a large part in the success of the photograph. I love the simplicity of her works, the shallow depth of field in both works keeps the focus on what's going on in the foreground rather than having any focus on what's in the back.

Research: Josef Koudelka (WK1)

Northern Greece, 1994. 260x83

 CZECHOSLOVAKIA. 1968. Prague. Invasion of Warsaw Pact troops in front of the Radio Headquarters.

Josef Koudelka has both sharp and soft photographs as seen above. There is great emphasis on social and culture in his photographs as well as death. Koudelka spent time photographing gypsy culture in Slovakia and Romania; which was later put on show. Koudleka is known for being able to show human presence in his 'wasteland-like' photographs, with a running theme of desolation, despair and alienation in many of his works. In the first image, it is possible that the artist used a slower shutter to get the desired amount of mist in the image. For the second I suspect he used a faster one, to get everything sharp, but also so his model did not have to hold his hand out as long.

Shutter: Bulb function (WK 2)

3", ISO 400

I had fun playing with the 'bulb' function in manual mode. I chose the hallway because of the low lighting and rather deep shadows. All I did was hold my hand in front of the lens for part of the three seconds before removing it which is what created a 'ghostly' look to the photograph. I definitely like this shutter technique, it can help make an otherwise boring photograph seem a little more interesting to look at.

I really liked the bulb function and went back and played some more with it. Some photographs worked and others didn't. I had a light on behind me, and even when I blocked it off a bit, I still had images that were too bright. My camera had a lot of trouble focusing in the dim light, so I had to let some in and then everything looked a little over exposed. I had the ISO set at 400 for the first three and then turned it down to 100 to see if that made a difference. It made a little bit of a difference as you can see, the final image isn't as bright as the rest. I also had some problems with camera shake, which is extremely visible in the first photograph. I should've used a tripod, that would've eliminated the camera shake and made taking the photographs so much easier. I unfortunately, didn't have a tripod with me. The images themselves are marginally successful, I like the one of my legs, it actually looks kind of cool. I think a larger aperture would have made a difference as well. I had quite a narrow one to try and darken the image a little bit.


 ISO 100/400
Bulb
F/7.1

Shutter: shutter priority (TV) (WK 1)

Shutter was a useful, yet fun, technique to learn about. It was interesting seeing the way shutter could influence the outcome of a photograph. Being able to control the length of time the shutter stays open, I could control how much of the image was in focus. When we first began the tasks in class, the portraits weren't as informative as the moving shots. With someone standing still you could see that the person was less in focus as the shutter speed slowed. Having someone walk through the photograph when the shutter was still open changed the outcome of the photograph even more than when the person was standing still. On the faster shutter speeds the figure stayed in focus, but as I slowed the shutter speed, the background stayed in focus while the figure(s) became blurred.

The above photograph was taken at 1" and as you can see, the figures are completely out of focus while the background remains completely in focus.

Using shutter, I've found there is more control over an image. You can control what's in focus and what's not. Another photograph I took, I managed to get the whole scene out of focus, including the person that was walking through the frame.

The second image turned out really interesting. There was a lot of light in it, but everything in the frame was out of focus. The way the colours all blur together creates, something rather different, but an interesting photograph nonetheless. I managed to get the whole scene out of focus and not just the moving person by panning the camera with her movement. There was a lot of light in this image and that was probably because of the time of day, it was relatively early (before midday) and the light was in front of me, so behind the person in this image and this is why there is so much light.

Medium shutter- (still/landscape)
1/60
1/80
1/100

Slow shutter- (used to capture motion blur)
1/40
1/30
1/4
1" (1 sec upwards)

(TV) Shutter priority allowed me to set the shutter speed to any of the above and more to see what kinds of photographs different shutter speeds could produce. With some photographs you could produce a photo with motion blurring or bring the entire figure to a standstill in the middle of movement. Motion blurring was created using a slower shutter speed and capturing a figure in the middle of a movement was created using a faster shutter speed.

Tripods are great for using longer shutter speeds, it almost eliminates camera shake, there is the chance that when you hold the shutter that you will jostle the camera a bit, but it is less likely to come out as blurred as it would if you held the camera with a longer shutter speed. Faster shutter speeds, so above 1/60 th do not require a tripod because the shutter is fast enough that it almost eliminates camera shake all on it's own.

An ISO of 100 was used for both of the above photographs.

Research: Francesca Woodman. (WK 1)

Francesca Woodman was best known for her black and white photography. Her artistic career, while short, was broad with her studies ranging from in America where she was born, to Rome. She used many different cameras in her short career that spanned a mere twelve years, but in that time she created at least ten thousand negatives.

A great number of her photographs are untitled and can only be identified by date or place. There is a lot of mystery in her black and white photographs. The suggestive nature of many of her photographs create thought provoking questions. Did she like the lighting or did she mean it as a comment towards woman's bodies or sexual behaviour? Being untitled makes it hard figuring out what the artist was exactly trying to portray in the images.

Motion blur is a big part of many of her images, the figure becomes almost unrecognisable, sometimes blurring into the background. A longer shutter speed is how the motion blur is created. The picture below shows a figure shaking their head, but other than that movement, the rest of the figure is still. Woodman would have had to have held the camera extremely still, or braced it on something to get the rest of the figure and background so clear.

Space2, 1976.

House #4, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976, Gelatin silver print, 14.6 x 14.6 cm.

Space2, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976-77, Gelatin silver print, 13.7 x 13.3 cm.

 Her photographs while hauntingly beautiful hole a lot of the unknown. The third image is one that appeals to me as it looks as if the figure is stepping out of the architecture, ripping the wall paper away as she does so. The balance of light and dark and the stillness of the photograph all work in it's favour. It's hard to know what exactly is going on in any of her photographs, but it's a bit of fun guessing.

Research: Barbara Ess. (WK 1)

No Title, 2000; 30" x 40"

Yes/No, 1991; 50" x 72"

No Title, 1997-98; 54" x 40".

The above photographs were all shot in a similar fashion using a Pinhole camera. Pinhole photography is a rather simplistic method involving a light proof box with a pinhole in it and film. Many of Barbara Ess' photographs are shot using this method, which is how she is able to get such ambient and shadowy light in her photographs. Barbara Ess uses very little colour in her photographs, often using muted tones to add to the air of mystery.

"In a way I try to photograph what cannot be photographed."

I love the darkness and mystery in these photos, because you only see such a small area it's hard to tell what is going on around the subject matter. There's something special about not knowing what is going on, it begs all kinds of questions. I guess it was they mystery of the images and the way in which the photographer managed to obtain these images that attracted me to them. They really are quite beautiful.

(The above photographs were scanned from the book; I am not this body, photographs by Barbara Ess.)

Photography Statement: What is photography and what does it mean to you? (WK 1)

What is photography? Photography is the capturing of an image; this can be something as simple as a book or as extravagant as a formal group photo. Photography has many different variations, from landscape to portraiture, photography takes a wide set of skills and ideas.There are many things that create a photograph, it is not always about theme or subject matter, a lot more goes into capturing a really good photo. There is lighting, shadow, backdrop, focal points, colour and a range of other things to consider when taking a photograph with purpose, but a good balance of all of these things combined produces a photograph worth looking at.

What is photography to me? Photography is a form of expression, a way to show someone exactly what you are thinking without having to say a thing. A good photograph does all the work for you. Photography is something that i have a passion for, it is able to describe a setting or person in ways I cannot. Photography has opened my eyes, but it's also given me an outlet. I am free to express myself within my photos and anyone viewing them could be none the wiser to their meaning. Not all of my photos have intent, it is not that I always go out looking to take a photograph of something specific, but there are times where I'll come across something, be it a place or just something little, and I'll come away with a slightly random, but really good photograph. Although I have a love for words, photography is the one thing that always manages to leave me a little speechless.