Unit 29 Location Techniques

Bristol Docks

I chose to photograph structures from around the Docks in Bristol. I chose these 3 pictures as they show some of the older structures that are around. I also took more close up photos to show the detail of the old trains. I added a black and white filter to make the photo more atmospheric. 

Exercise 3 - Movement through shutter control 

Shutter speed controls the appearance of movement in a photo.
Fast shutter speed freezes the movement, photos are sharp even if the camera is unsteady.
Slow shutter speeds blur the movement if the camera is still. A tripod is needed when using a slow shutter speed otherwise the whole picture will be blurry.

Research

SLOW SHUTTER SPEED

These photos are by Michael Bosanko. He uses a slow shutter speed and paints with light. He uses lots of different torches to create the images.
I really like his work as I think its imaginative. It shows how useful using a slow shutter speed can be.

These are some other slow shutter speed photos from the internet:

I like how using a slow shutter speed captures movement in a different way to what you would normally see.

FAST SHUTTER SPEED

These photos are by Chaval Brasil. They were taken using a fast shutter speed.
I like how using a fast shutter speed captures movement normally to quick to see. In these photos it shows every little drop of the liquid.

SHOOT 1 

ISO- 100, shutter speed - 4 seconds, aperture- f/22

      More light has been let in so the photo is lighter, water looks smooth, shows movement of people and cars as you can see the trail of them.            

 ISO- 100, shutter speed - 1/60, aperture - f/5.6

Darker photo, water is sharper, people and cars are frozen in the photo, no movement shown.

ISO- 100, shutter speed 1/5000, aperture - f/5

Cars are in focus, photo is well lit, no movement because of the fast shutter speed

ISO- 100, shutter speed 1/4, aperture - f/29 

Cars are blurry as the slow shutter speed captured them as they moved. Slightly too light as more light was let in.


SHOOT 2 - PANNING

Panning is when you have a slow shutter speed and follow a moving object with the camera as it takes the picture.
As cars drove past i focused my camera on them and moved the camera along with the movement of the car, this meant the car stayed in focus and the background blurred.

I tried different shutter speeds, this was 

1/3 seconds, this was too slow and too 

much light was let in. 

I used a 1/10 shutter speed for this photo but I took the picture too early so the bus wasn't as much in the photo as I planned

Shutter speed - 1/10

 Shutter speed- 1/10

Shutter speed - 1/10

Exercise 1 and 2 - Depth of field through aperture control

Brief- Produce two different sets of images that show control of Depth-of-Field.

Depth of field is the amount of distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in sharp focus in a photo.

Research

How aperture affects depth of field 

From my research I have found out how when you increase the aperture you get a larger depth of field and if you reduce the aperture, you get a shallower depth of field.

Experimenting with aperture

I found objects that i could focus on, I then took a photo with a small aperture then again with a large aperture. I also had to change the shutter speeds to keep the exposure correct.

Aperture- f/4.2, shutter speed 1/2000,the shutter speed was too fast for the low aperture

Aperture- f/22, shutter speed- 1/15, the shutter speed was too slow and too much light was let in, this over exposed the image.

Aperture- f/22, shutter speed - 1/25, the focus is on the building in the background as I had it on manual focus.

Final Images

Aperture - f/3.5, shutter speed 1/1000, this was successful as the small aperture created a shallow depth of field, this meant the background was out of focus while the shoe in the foreground is in clear focus.

Aperture - f/22, shutter speed - 1/25, the bigger aperture created a larger depth of field, this meant the whole photo is in focus.
 
Aperture - f/4, shutter speed - 1/320

Aperture - f/20, shutter speed - 1/20

I found this shoot quite hard as it was difficult to get the aperture with the right shutter speed to get a correct exposure and then focusing on the subject. I have learnt that smaller aperture creates a shallower depth of field and a larger aperture means a wider depth of field. If I did this shoot again I would find more interesting objects to photograph as the shoe images are quite dull.

Exercise 4- ISO setting

ISO is the level of sensitivity of your camera to available light. The lower the ISO number, the less sensitive it is to the light, while a higher ISO number increases the sensitivity of your camera. 

Im going to shoot a subject using different ISO settings to see how the photo changes.

SHOOT 1 

ISO - 100

 ISO - 400

 ISO- 3200

 ISO- 6400

 ISO- 12800


SHOOT 2

 ISO- 100

 ISO- 400

 ISO- 3200

 ISO- 6400

 ISO- 12800

ISO- 25600

When the ISO was at 100 the photo was clear, as the ISO was increased the image became more grainy. The photos with ISO of 12800 and 25600 came out quite noisy.

When the ISO was lower a slower shutter speed was needed to capture enough light, as the ISO was increased I changed the shutter speed to get faster. 

SENSE OF PLACE

From a previous shoot at an abandoned hotel I became fascinated by photography of abandoned buildings and places. I was intrigued to why the places had become abandoned. I think the photos taken there are good as they show how nature can take over when everyone leaves, for example Kolmanskop. Others look really eerie such as Pripyat, where the whole city is deserted.

Hashima Island

I decided to look more closely at some more famous abandoned places. I found Hashima island the most interesting so I researched how different photographers had capture the derelict buildings. 

Hashima Island is an island off the coast of Japan. There was rich submarine coal deposits under the island and miners came, making the population grow to 6000 people. Buildings were built making the island crowed with structures. But the coal ran out and all the residents left. It is now abandoned and very hard to get onto to.  

My favourite photos taken where by Michael Gakuran.

Michael Gakuran is a photography who likes to explore abandoned areas. He faces challenges getting these photos such as getting when its actually illegal and having to shoot quickly as he didn't have a lot of time. 

I really like all the pictures he has taken as they show how derelict the place has become. The left picture is my favourite the low angle shows how the buildings towers over everything else. I also like how in middle picture the person puts into perspective how big the buildings are. 

Plan

I plan to go to Newport Towers Hotel which is an abandoned hotel. I will takes pictures that will show the atmosphere of the area.

Newport Towers Hotel

While I was there I wanted to compare how the hotel looks now to when it used to be open. On the left are photos I found on google from when the hotel was open. I toke my own photos at the same place trying to get the same angle of the original photo. It was quite difficult because of how much it has changed in that time. Looking at each picture is really interesting because go the amount of nature that has grown around it and how much the actual building has changed (graffiti and fallen bricks/paintwork). 

I couldn't get a decent photo at the same angle because of how overgrown the tree was so I took it at a slightly different angle (below) to still be able to show the change.

Final Images

I chose this photo as one one my final ones as it works well as an establishing photo. It has the name of the hotel so you know what it is and I like that some of the letters are missing as it shows it is old. In this photo its not clear that the windows are boarded up but I added a black and white filter and darkened the photo. This gives a ghostly effect.

This derelict image gives a sense of danger and foreboding. This is emphasised by the editing of the colour. I darkened the photo to create this feeling.

This photo was successful as its from a low angle so is more intriguing to look at. The wood is chipped and worn which still shows that the place is starting to deteriorate. the light hanging down improves the photo as it something extra to look. I used the rule of thirds so that the viewer is drawn to the light.

I chose this photo so the viewer gets more of feel for what the hotel is like. The main feature is the bold words. 'Danger of death' is something quite disturbing to see on a sign but would make the person viewer these collection of photo question why its so dangerous. I added a vignette and darkened the picture to make the main focus on the yellow sign.

Although this isn't the best photo I chose it as a final one as I like how eerie it looks. The building leads into the background where its foggy. This is really effective as it shows the creepy atmosphere of the place. The boarded up windows show clearly that the hotel is derelict.

This photo was successful as its very creepy and shows how sinister the place feels. This is because how the corridor leads into darkness. The peeling wallpaper and dull colours also adds to it. Also words on the wall 'please keep doors closed, bodies freezing' is a bit unsettling but makes the picture more interesting. 

Evaluation

The photos from this shoot weren't as good as I planned because the hotel was more boarded up than last time I had been. This meant there wasn't as much to photograph. I did go inside but there was just empty rooms which wasn't effective for my photos. I am happy with my final photos as they effectively show the eeriness of the hotel. If I did this shoot again I would find more derelict buildings and experiment with more angles and techniques. 

STREET PEOPLE

Research

HENRI CARTIER BRESSON:

-Born August 1908, died August 2004.

-He was a French photographer and painter.

-He was considered the master of candid photography and developed street photography.

-His work was inspired by many photographers.

I like Henri Cartier-Bresson's work as its not set up. I think with his photos he sets up the camera to get the foreground and background he wants then waits for people to walk past. For example the right picture, the stairs lead into the rest of the photo which he would of done on purpose but then he might of waited for the bike to ride past. A lot of his photos include architecture, and often have children in them.

GARRY WINOGRAND:

-Born January 1928, died March 1984.

-Street photographer from New York

-His work portrays American life and its issues in the mid 20th century.

Garry Winogrand's work is similar to Henri Cartier-Bresson's. He captures everyday life of people. Whereas Henri's looked more set up, Garry Winogrand's appear as if he just quickly took the picture and didn't have time to compose. I think this because of some of his photo aren't straight.

Try out images

I found this project really challenging as I don't like to ask people if I can take there photo and people don't normally like to be in random photos. So to overcome this I went to an event where there was a lot of people and took pictures of people at the stalls. I still found it quite hard as there was too many people in the way to get a decent, in sharp focus photo.

Final Images

I am happy with the photos but I think I could improve them. My favourite photo is the last one as it clear. Although I asked if I could take the picture she then looked away which I think worked well as now it looks more natural. The light that is just in shot at the left corner helped light up the picture. I added a black and white filter to most of the photos because I was inspired by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Garry Winogrand's work.

Reshoot
I think I can improve the photos I got for this project so I am going to do a reshoot.
I chose to focus on one theme which was street performers, I chose this theme as

Final Images

Evaluation

I prefer the photos I got from the reshoot because they are clearer and you can see the people better. Before I was too scared to ask if I could take the photo so the pictures I got where from angles were they couldn't see me taking it, they weren't very effective. So in the reshoot I went to the street performers and asked if I could take a photo, they all didn't mind being photographed. 

The final images were successful as they show different people performing on the street which I think is interesting to look at.