By changing the ISO setting of a camera, the camera sensitivity to light changes. By increasing the number on the ISO setting, the camera becomes more sensitive to light, and so photographs can be taken in darker areas without the need for flash.

ISO is useful for taking photographs, as rather than using flash, and making the image seem more artificial, ISO makes use of the natural light already in the scene, and so makes the photograph look more natural.

However, using a high ISO setting can also add to the noise of the photograph, lowering the quality of the image overall. That is why it is important to carefully decide how high the ISO is set, depending on the setting that the photograph is being taken in.

For my experimentation, I used the same subject, while changing the ISO setting. In order to allow each photograph the same amount of light, I changed the shutter speed as I increased the ISO.  The results of 5 different photographs, ranging from ISO 400-6400 can be seen below.

As I raised the ISO, the photograph became darker, and so to counteract this I also gradually decreased the shutter speed, from 1/10 to 1/100. This allowed for the same amount of light in each image. 

In the above 2 images, the difference between the ISO was large (the first one had an ISO of 400, and the second of ISO 6400). The bottom image is clearly more sensitive to light, as it has made the image brighter without the use of flash, whereas the image above is less sensitive to light, and so the image appears to be darker.

The above images were both taken of the same leaf, yet the first image clearly has more noise than the second. This is because the first image was taken using ISO 6400, and the second taken using ISO 400. Although using a higher ISO allows for for camera to become more light sensitive, the amount of noise in the photographs taken with this higher ISO makes the image seem blurry and low in quality due to the extra noise produced.

For my experimentation into using white balance with a camera, I used the same subject in 2 different scenarios: inside and outside, and then used the white balance setting to change the temperature of each of the images.

The above set of images were taken outside using natural light, and each image has been taken using a different white balance setting, such as daylight and tungsten light. Each of the images has a different temperature because of the different white balance setting I used.

The set of images above are pictures of the same subject (a pen) taken inside, also using 7 different white balance settings. These photographs used artificial lighting, and the contrast between the 2 sets of images can be easily seen.

The white balancing used in the first set of images, along with the use of natural, bright lighting, helped to make the images more clear, whereas the artificial lighting on the second set of images, made the images seem more clinical and staged.

The white balancing gave each image a different temperature, adding to the effect of each image, and giving it a different colour theme.  The different white balancing setting can be used in different situations, to create the best image possible by altering the colour scheme in the image, and I will use the white balancing setting to alter images in the future.

Explanation:

The first contact sheet has photographs taken with a normal focus lens, which allowed me to vary my camera setting between very detailed and not detailed. This allowed me to decide the focus points of the images much more easily, as i could adjust the zoom and focus settings with ease. I therefore produced a wider range of photographs, with a wider range of focus points.

Explanation:

For the second contact sheet, I used the long focus lens.  This allowed me to zoom into subjects in the distance, while still maintaining focus on them. This lens was useful for taking abstract photos of the ceiling, and zooming into subjects to make them more abstract.

Explanation:

The last contact sheet has photographs taken with a portrait lens, which allowed me to really focus on close up subjects, while blurring out the background to draw the viewers eye directly to the subject. This lens was useful for taking close ups, as I had to physically move the camera closer, which allowed me to maintain a clear focus.

Key:

Red cross: don’t want to use – Red F: Out of focus – Red box – Needs cropping – Red question mark: unsure – Red sun: lighting/shade issue – Red outline of subject: don’t like this subject

Green question mark: unsure how to proceed with improvement – Green sun: change tone/small lighting issue – Green outline: small cropping issue – Green box around photo: Like/want to use

Photograph analysis:

The above photo was taken using a long focus lens. This light fixture was attached to the ceiling, and so in order to zoom in far enough and make sure the fixture was still in focus. I used a long focus lens. As shown, the focus of the camera is on the metal bar holding the light in the middle of the photograph, and it is in focus despite the long zoom.

For the above photo, I used the portrait camera lens. By using this lens, I was able to zoom right into the bin, while maintaining a good focus. This is different from the long focus lens, as it gave me more control over the positioning of the camera, and allowed me to experiment with the lighting more freely, producing the above photo as a result.

The photograph above was taken with a normal camera lens. I was able to focus more on the writing on the foreground, and have the reflection more out of focus, which allowed me to make an eye catching and slightly confusingly angled image. This effect would not be possible using, for example, a portrait lens, due to the difficulty with altering the focus and zoom manually on that particular lens.

The exhibition showed the different ways that Australian photographer Clare Rae, the resident artist in Jersey, responded to the work of Claude Cahun, a French photographer who specialized in creating surreal self portraits, which often focused on topics such as gender and identity. The exhibition made it easy to compare the two artists work, and the influence that Rae took from Cahun was made obvious. Both Cahun and Rae have presented their photographs using black and white contrasting colour themes, which is the most obvious similarity between the two artists work.

The following example is of a photograph taken by Cahun. This photograph explores the theme of identity, as the hands reaching out from the stone allow the viewer to question who the hands belong to, and so the missing identity of the subject makes the photograph more thought provoking. The use of the gesture the hands are making displays an emotion, but that emotion cannot be immediately recognised due to the lack of any other body parts that would usually be used to judge the emotions of a person. An unusual camera angle (facing slightly upwards) has also been used to add to the abstract and surreal theme of the photograph as a whole. In this image, Cahun has removed the identity of her subject, and has placed it in a surreal, abstract location in order to make her

The following image was taken by Clare Rae, and was directly influenced by the photograph above taken by Cahun. For this image, Rae has been inspired by Cahoons theme of identity, and has responded by creating a photograph of a human arm in an abstract and surreal location (behind a stone). For this image, Rae has placed the subject (the arm) coming out from behind the rock. This makes the  viewer question the emotions and motives behind the positioning of the arm, in the same way that the open gesture of the arms in Cahun’s work makes the viewer question the emotions that the subject is showing. Because the viewer of Rae’s work has no way to know why the arm seems to be coming out from behind the rock, they are left to wonder the identity of the subject, and so Cahun’s abstract and surreal style of photography can be seen to influence Rae’s.

The way the exhibition was organised allowed for the viewer to clearly see the similarities and differences between the two artists, by placing their work in two separate but connected rooms. The exhibition provided a wide range of both Cahun and Rae’s work, so that the way that Rae had been influenced by Cahun could clearly be seen in multiple pieces of work. The exhibition was organised and presented well, and showed the work of both artists using a simple and effective layout.