White Balance Experimentation

What is White Balance?

White balance in digital photography means adjusting colors so that the image looks more natural. We go through the process of adjusting colors to primarily get rid of color casts, in order to match the picture with what we saw when we took it.
https://photographylife.com/what-is-white-balance
Here are examples of my experimentation indoors:
These are all images of my experimentation of white balance. I adjusted the exposure so the photo wasn't too light or dark then applied the different settings which changed the temperature of the images.

Here are examples of my outdoor work:

Ralph Meatyard Artists Experiments

Ralph Meatyard

Ralph Meatyard was an american photographer from Illinois.  Meat yard worked as an optician who also practised photography.  One project of Meatyard’s work is looking at photographs out of focus,  and spent months just looking through an out of focus camera to learn how to ‘see no focus’.  Meat yard began the project because of his initial attraction to the out-of-focus backgrounds in some of his images.  Meatyard eliminated the “thing” and looked only for the background, which he would then throw out of focus. Eventually, feeling that the background was still too recognizable, he stopped this practice and began to see his surroundings through an unfocused lens.

Ralph Meatyard

My Own Experiments

Contact Sheet
Edited Contact Sheet

 

Own Response | Analysis
Own Response | Analysis
Own Response | Analysis
Own Response | Analysis

Chosen Four Together

Final Chosen

 

Other Experiments: Into Black and White

A lot of Ralph Meatyard’s work is seen in a black and white tone so for my photographs I decided to also experiment with them in black and white as something different to add on to just experimenting with the camera itself with the focus and shutter speeds.

Editing
Editing

While experimenting with the black and white I also adjusted and experimented with the exposure and contrasts of the photographs as to add more tone and different highlights and darks into the photograph.

Editing

For one of my photographs I also experimented with cropping to get rid of unwanted dark space and the side of the photograph to just leave the objects shapes against the light.

Chosen Four: Experimented

Final Four

Final Chosen Photograph

I have chosen this as my most successful photograph as I feel it shows the most connections to Ralph Meatyard’s own work, which was where my inspiration was coming from.  I have chosen my edited version as my favourite as I feel it works the best and has the best contrast as the photograph unedited is as well very dark and doesn’t show much colour so to put it in black and white eventuates this and I feel works next to Meatyard’s work best.

Final One

 

Shutter Speed Experiments

Shutter Speed :

The shutter speed is the amount of time for the shutter to open and close, the faster the shutter speed the less amount of light will be let in  during the time taken for the image.

Example:

slow shutter speed
faster shutter speed

Above are two examples of the same photograph set up but taken with different shutter speeds.  Both photographs were taken with an aperture with F5.7 so that I could see the full effect of only changing the shutter speed.  The first photograph with a slower shutter speed produced an image that was over exposed and had too much light in it,  this happened because the shutter was open for longer so more light was being let into the image leaving it over exposed.  The second photograph however had the shutter open for less amount of time and produced an image that isn’t over exposed as not as much light was being let in.

 

Depth of Field Experimentation

In this experimentation shoot we had to focus on the depth of field of our photographs. Depth of field is the distance between the nearest and the furthest objects giving a focused image. Here are some examples of my experimental images:

In the first image contrasts the third image because the focus is on the object closest to the camera. However, in the third image, the focus is on the window which is the object furthest away from the camera.

The second and third image both link because they both focus on the objects/background furthest away from the camera. All of these images are an unedited experimentation of focal length.

Experiment – White Balance

White Balance:

White balance just means adjusting colours so that the image looks more natural. We go through the process of adjusting colours  to get rid of colour casts in order to match the image to what we saw while capturing the frame. Factors such as sunlight, lightbulbs and flashlights do not emit purely white light and have a certain ‘colour temperature’. This can cause parts of images to appear different colours on camera than what the eye sees.

In a non digital way this can be demonstrated with the use of tinted glasses or goggles. For example if you are skiing with yellow tinted goggles on, the snow will look yellowish. However, after you ski for a little bit, your eyes and your brain will adjust for the colour and the snow should look white again. When you take off your ski goggles after skiing, the snow will look bluish in colour rather than pure white for a little bit, until your brain adjusts the colours back to normal again. This is done automatically for us. The white balance setting on a camera is just the manual version of this.

Examples of my experiment in outdoor lighting:

Setting – 1/4000, f5.6, ISO 400

Examples of my experiment in indoor lighting:

Setting – 1/30, f5.6, ISO 400

Camera Skills

 

Shutter Speed:  the shutter speed changes the way movement appears in photographs. Very short shutter speeds can be used to freeze fast-moving subjects, for example at sporting events. Very long shutter speeds are used to intentionally blur a moving subject for effect.

ISO: 

ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor. The lower the number the less sensitive the camera is to light and the finer the grain. Higher numbers mean the sensor becomes more sensitive to light which allows you to use your camera in darker situations. The cost of doing so is more grain/noise within the final outcome.

Depth of Field: The distance between the nearest and the furthest objects giving a focused image. A narrow depth of field means that its main focus point will be the only thing in focus, leaving everything else in a blur. Where as a Large depth of field means that most things in the frame will be in focus. Aperture:  ‘The opening in the lens.’ When we hit the shutter release button of the camera a hole opens up that allows your cameras image sensor to catch a glimpse of the scene you’re wanting to capture. The aperture that you set impacts the size of that hole. The larger the hole the more light that gets in – the smaller the hole the less light.

Experimenting With These Camera Settings:

 

 

 

 

Camera Skills: Focal Length

MACRO/CLOSE UP:

In this image I experimented with using the macro setting on my camera in order to capture the great deal of detail within the hands. Whilst on this setting, I continued to use auto focus as it allowed me to take many photos at once without the hassle of adjusting the focus every time the hands moved or shifted in position.

DEPTH OF FIELD:

In this photo I experimented with depth of field by using manual focus on my camera. Instead of focusing on the leafs closest to the camera, it is focused on  a different part of the photo. I found that this technique allowed me to create images that were quite different and unique.

FOCAL LENGTH:

In this image, I tried to play around with the focal point and what effects I can achieve with this. The flower, as seen in the photo, was quite far away from me and the camera. I zoomed in and used the macro setting in order to capture the delicate details of the flower and the plant. It was quite difficult to capture this photo as zooming in meant having a very steady hand and using auto focus that the macro setting provided for me.

MF/AF FOCUS:

In this photo I used a conjunction of manual focus and the macro setting on my camera. It was very difficult to get the correct focus on my camera whilst using the macro setting with auto focus therefore i switched over to manual focus to help me correct this issue.

CONTACT SHEETS:

In this photo shoot, I focused a lot on plants and flowers in order to experiment with different settings such as macro and AF and MF focus, resulting in very vibrant, and colourful contact sheets.

Week 3 Homework – The World is Beautiful

Albert Renger-Patzsch

Albert Renger-Patzsch was a German photographer associated with the new objectivity.

In its sharply focused and matter-of-fact style his work exemplifies the esthetic of The New Objectivity that flourished in the arts in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Renger-Patzsch believed that the value of photography was in its ability to reproduce the texture of reality, and to represent the essence of an object. He wrote: "The secret of a good photograph—which, like a work of art, can have aesthetic qualities—is its realism ... Let us therefore leave art to artists and endeavor to create, with the means peculiar to photography and without borrowing from art, photographs which will last because of their photographic qualities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Renger-Patzsch

The New Objectivity:
The New Objectivity (in German: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism.  These artists rejected the self-involvement and romantic longings of the expressionists, Weimar intellectuals in general made a call to arms for public collaboration, engagement, and rejection of romantic idealism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Objectivity

Contact Sheet:

This is my contact sheet with the few images I have selected to edit.

Green circle - An image I would like to further use.

Red cross - An image I would not like to use.

Red F - The image is out of focus.

Red shading - The part of the image I would like to crop out.

Yellow question mark: An image I am unsure whether to edit or not.

Here are my final images:

I used adobe lightroom for this image, I applied a black and white preset because Renger-Patzsch's work was mainly in black and white. I then hightened the clarity and lowered the exposure. I then played around with the shadows and highlights until the image looked aesthetically pleasing. I like the depth of field created because the image is focused on the knot in the centre, and particularly towards the right of the photo, the blurryness.

Once again I used adobe lightroom to manipulate this image. I applied a black and white preset, hightened the contrast, clarity and highights, while lowering the shadows. The image has a crisp look to it and there is no depth of field created. I also cropped the image to remove some of the unwanted wall so it focuses on the actual image.

In this photo I used adobe lightroom to edit this image. I liked the contrast of light in the photo, especially the light reflected on the left which juxtaposes the dark shadow of the wall. I applied a black and white preset, then lowered the exposure and shadows. However, then I hightened the clarity, highlights and contrast. I then slightly cropped the image.

My final image is of a hinge on a caravan door. I applied a black and white preset on adobe lightroom, then hightened the contrast, clarity and shadows. I then lowered the highlights and exposure. I also slightly cropped the image to create more focus on the actual door hinge than the door.

 

Camera Skills

Focal Length

In order to take this photo I used the macro setting on the camera. The flower was a good focal point for focal length experimentation as the detail could be captured clearly in addition to the bright natural lighting.  I tried to zoom in as far as the camera possibly could to create as much definition to the flower and capture all the shades of purple.

AF/MF and Focus Points

In the first photo I used auto focus to take the photo of the plant, it  focused on the pepper, why was what i intended to do. Whereas in the second photo I used manual focus which focused on the background resulting in an unsuccessful photo. Personally in this particular shoot auto focus worked better for me, as i couldn’t get the camera to focus in on the pepper with manual focus, but this can be improved with practice.

Depth Of Field

In this photo the tree is the sharpest point, the more you move away from the tree the more out of focus everything else becomes. I ensured that the camera had a small aperture in order to create a deep depth of field.