The four categories I’ve chosen for this assignment are:
1. Street scene in the middle of a clear, sunny day.
2. Early morning / late evening landscapes
3. Backlit scenes
4. Dappled light
1. Street scene
This first category was taken during the day on an unusually hot February afternoon.
The first two images were taken in the old town where the narrow streets can be very dark, so selecting those that run from North to South was essential for this exercise.
The third was taken in a relatively more modern street on the other side of town.
I used the Nikon D300s with 18 – 200 mm VR lens, without a tripod for these three images.
Sandgate 1
18 mm, f/9, 1/500 sec – under exposed one stop. The exposure for the first image was measured using spot metering of the sky. This read f/9 at 1/250 sec. I wanted to make the dark areas darker and avoid any highlight clipping, hence the under exposure..
To maximize the contrast I shot into the South to emphasize the highlights and shadows.
This had the effect of making the buildings seem much darker, even those which were in sunlight, but I find the long shadows in this image appealing.
In composing this image I used the strong diagonal top right - bottom left and the direction of the shopper's shadows to create a leading line.
Sandgate 2
120 mm, f/9, 1/640 sec – 1.5 stops under exposed. Taken further down the street, I wanted to emphasize the people in the street. Again, spot metering was used on the sunlit pavement and read f/9, 1/250 sec. I reduced the exposure to avoid highlight clipping and to darken the shadows.
Using a longer lens setting has shortened the perspective but made the street look busier.
Retaining the height of the buildings in the image gives a sense of place.
Sunny side of the street
112 mm, f/9, 1/500 sec – half a stop under exposed. Because of the variations in light for this scene I used 3D matrix metering which suggested 1/400 sec. The rim lighting of the patient husband’s beard appealed to me here and also the chrome chairs / table. The shadowed area beyond the main subject was too light for my liking, hence the slight under exposure. Darkening this area makes him stand out.
I used a relatively wide aperture, as I wanted the figure to be isolated from the background.
2. Early morning / late evening landscapes
These three images were taken with the same camera / lens, but using a tripod. The early morning light lasts a long time at this time of year!
East pier lighthouses
28 mm, f/25, 1/60 sec – Captured with one stop under exposure to reduced highlight clipping and increase shadow depth. I used spot metering using the top of the lighthouse as the metering point and a small aperture to give a longer depth of field. The low sunlight gives a ‘warm’ look and creates a 3D view due to the shadows. The perspective with the red lighthouse increases this perception.
Positioning the lighthouse centrally was necessary to allow the perspective of the far pier.
Below the quay
32 mm, f/25, 1/50 sec – Taken as metered. Because of the variation in light conditions here I used 3D matrix metering. Without the low angle of the sun, the shadowed are does not get lit. I framed this to include the West pier lighthouse to enhance the perspective. A small aperture was used, to keep the lighthouse in reasonable focus.
This image and the previous one seem to have very vibrant colours – I suspect this is done in-camera during the JPEG conversion.
Under the boardwalk
52 mm, f/32, 1/25 sec – Taken as metered. 3D matrix metering was used here. I wanted to have a long depth of field, hence the small aperture. The long shadows from the side rails and pier stanchions, caused by the low sunlight have created a grid running down the length of the pier. The recessing verticals and the shadow grid give a sense of distance to the image. These vertical and horizontal lines and the receding curves were what I concentrated on in the composition. When the sun is higher the concrete area is in full shadow, so the grid and lighted verticals would not be so pronounced.
3. Backlit scenes
The following three images were taken over two days, with very different weather conditions. Again, they were all taken on the Nikon D300s, with the 18 – 200 mm VR lens and tripod mounted.
West lighthouse and Abbey
60 mm, f/32, 1/200 sec – Taken as metered This image was taken from the lower level of the West pier with the sun just appearing over the East cliff and striking the top of the lighthouse. I used spot metering, with the metering point being the top of the lighthouse.
With the lighthouse positioned to the right of the image and the distant abbey on the left, there are several aspects of contrast here - tall / short, near / far and dark / light.
I accepted that there would be some highlight clipping where the sun was reflecting from the handrails and window, but this exposure would give me such a high contrast image that I was willing to sacrifice this small area.
Young Ralph’s Cross on Blakey Ridge
24 mm, f/25, 1/200 sec – 1.5 stops under exposed. I wanted to make this image a powerful one with lowering skies on this bleak moorland. The low cloud was in fact not as black as this looks, but the effect is what I was trying for. I hadn’t considered the reflections on the wet road, but I was happy when I saw the result.
I framed the image with the cross to the left, to create a lead into the scene.
I used spot metering to expose for the highlight areas in the sky – the auto exposure suggested f/25, 1/60 sec. As I wanted a darker image, I used the settings above.
Boundary stone on Breckon Howe
95 mm, f/29, 1/30 sec – one stop over exposed This boundary stone sits on top of a round barrow. I set up the camera part way up the barrow and used spot metering with the sun as the metering point. In this case I kept the boundary stone to the right in the frame, with the sun to the left, again creating contrasts of large / small, near / far and dark / light.
I underexposed one stop, accepting that some clipping would occur, but wanting to retain some detail of the heather at the base of the stone. Using a longer lens setting made the sun slightly bigger in the frame while still keeping the boundary stone in frame.
4. Dappled Light
These images were taken in Sneaton forest. All were taken with the Nikon D300s, using the 18 – 200 mm VR lens and all were tripod mounted.
Dappled stream
150 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec – Taken as metered I used a wider aperture to enable a faster shutter speed, due to the low light conditions – I thought the reflected light would look better with the water movement ‘frozen’ rather than blurred lights.
In composing the image I wanted to use the water for the dappling, so I positioned the stone to the left and the leaves to the bottom of the frame while allowing the water to fill most of the frame, with movement from left to right.
I used 3D matrix metering due to the uncertainty of the best metering position in the constantly changing water.
Sunlit bracket fungus
200 mm, f/9, 1/60 sec – Taken as metered. Spot metering was used for this image, using the fungus as the metering point. The natural spotlighting of the fungus by the sun through the trees has made this an effective, high contrast image. Rim lighting on some of the trees adds interest to the scene. There is a small amount of highlight clipping, but I felt this was acceptable for the exposure.
When composing the image, I positioned the fungus in the lower part of the image and slightly to the right, to create a perceived line from dark to light. The contrasting vertical lines in the trees also accentuate the perceived dark to light movement.
Dappled bridge
90 mm, f/9, 1/160 sec – Taken as metered. I used centre weighted metering for this image – with the lighted bridge in the centre and uncertain lighting strength in the rest of the frame, it was the obvious choice. The exposure made the dark areas darker than I perceived them, but I think this improved the image.
The dappled light highlights the bridge and separates it from the dark area beyond. The dappled shadows on the path draw the eye to the bridge.
Rework
Of the four categories taken, the ‘early morning / late evening’ section is the only practicable one where there could be some control over the conditions to alter the look of the images. · If different weather conditions were used to alter the street shots, the scenes would be so changed, that the resemblance wouldn’t be shown – certainly there wouldn’t be people standing outside shops on dull, wet days.
· Taken on a dull day, the backlit scenes with less back lighting would show more detail in the dark areas but the impact of the silhouettes would be lost. It would be a shame to lose the impact on these images.
· For the dappled light section, retaking them on a dull day wouldn’t help the images as the contrast is what really makes them. Contrast could be increased as the sun gets stronger later in the year, or the leaf cover increases, but I don’t want to delay this assignment that long.
· The images that were taken in the early morning could be improved by showing more detail. This could be done when there’s more cloud cover. More detail would be seen in the shadows and the light areas would become darker, so less contrast but possibly more texture and interest.
Lower contrast images
The three images from the early morning category have been taken again, on an overcast day with occasional drizzle, using the same camera and lens, with 3D matrix metering. All images were taken as metered. The only post capture processing has been resizing.
East pier lighthouses 2
26 mm, f/25, 1/60 sec The image is now much flatter, due to the lack of hard shadow. More detail can be seen in the stonework of the lighthouse and the pier. The colours are more muted.
Below the quay 2
34 mm, f/25, 1/8 sec Some shadow can still be seen here, but they are not as sharp. Colours are now muted and the image again looks too flat. The haze and drizzle have made the lighthouse almost non-existent in the image. Again, the original high contrast image is preferable.
Under the boardwalk 2
38 mm, f/25, 1/40 sec With the hard shadows missing from the image, the stanchions now look very grey. The interesting shadow grid has receded due to the later time of day, but mainly the softer shadows don’t have the same impact, even though the sun is trying to break through. The haze and drizzle have now made the colours in the town fade.
With all three low contrast images, more detail can be seen in what were the shadow areas, but the earlier high contrast versions have much more vibrancy and depth. They have their place, particularly if detail enhancement software is used, but with the views taken I much prefer the earlier, livelier images.
I’d prefer to work with RAW and possibly HDR to get the best out of these images, but that of course is not in the remit for this assignment.
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