ISO is the number that refers to the sensitivity of the sensor – the higher the number, the more sensitive the sensor, but, along with a higher sensitivity, there is also a reduce in quality, or an increase in grain. Grain is the sandy effect over an image that is synonymous with film photography – it can be used artistically though, it creates a vintage effect and paired with some good editing can add a certain emotion to an image. ISO ranges from a very low 50, to a standard (highest quality) 100, all the way to the most sensitive (on the majority of cameras) being around 6400. With the invention of digital photography, ISO is now something you can change on the camera – it used to be that the roll of film you chose had a set ISO (this is because the film is the equivalent of the modern the sensor.)

As you can see, the first image is 100 ISO, the second image is 800, and the final image is 6400 – and with each bump in ISO the amount of grain increases, indirectly proportional to the quality. The amount of light doesn’t change in these because I adjusted the shutter speed for each ISO change.

ISO is the number that shows how sensitive the camera sensor is to light.

my pictures using ISO

picking my favourite pictures:

I started by flagging my favourite images and giving them rankings from 1 to 5

my 5 star pictures:

then I colour in the images:

And finally I used the compare tool to pick the image I would like to use:

As much as I like both of them I decided to choose the one on the right because I like how the light is more on the far part of the image and the closer part is darker and I think it contrasts really nicely.

Editing:

I decides to make the picture black and white because it sets an ambiance. I also removed most of the whites because I wanted my picture to be dark.

IOS controls how sensitive the camera sensor is to light.

The higher the ISO number the more sensitive your sensor and the less light is needed in your photo, however this can lead to more noise in the picture. Preferably you would want to keep the IOS as low as possible and change the studio lighting instead if possible or go outside as daylight is always better quality light. However, some photographers use the “noise” created by high ISO to their advantage for artistic purpose to give the image an “old” feel to it or to accentuate the concept meaning behind their image.

You can see here the noise appear in the photo and the quality of the image decrease as more light is let in through IOS. This is why keeping a correct ISO for the environment you’re shooting in.

First I took some images inside the corridor where there was still some natural light. I took a set of seven images each at a different ISO setting but keeping all other settings the same. The first image of the corridor in the blog I took at ISO-800. The second at the highest possible ISO setting on the camera i was using which was ISO-6400 where you can clearly see the “noise” seep into the image as the sensor takes in more light than necessary to create a clear image and instead it ends up with almost a pixelated look.

For the second image I went to the fire exit door to use the bright natural light. I took the images not even a few seconds apart so the lighting outside did not change I also did not change any other setting other than the ISO and the difference is very obvious. This proves that the ISO is what causes the over exposure that forms the “noise”.

A shutter speed and exposure photoshoot was taken to understand how each skill is done

Through Adobe Lightroom I used ‘P’ and ‘X’ which allowed me to flag the photos I think looked best and which show a clear understanding of each skill

Original Images

These are my edited photos

Purpose of Lightroom

Lightroom is typically used for selection, rating and editing of many images, contrary to Photoshop which is typically only used for high levels of editing on one or few images. After a photoshoot, you could use Lightroom to organise your photos into a collection and rate them based off numerous factors (e.g. what you photographed, quality of photograph) to pinpoint your best photos, after which you can edit them all at once on Lightroom and/or select the best few to edit thoroughly using Photoshop.

Creation of Catalogues

When I first opened Lightroom, I had to create a personal catalogue – I named this catalogue my name and saved it in the video data drive.

Importing Images

I then had to import some of my images into Lightroom, using the import button on the bottom left of the interface.

Once I selected import, I then had to choose a path to import my images from, which in my case was from the media drive.

Once I had selected this path, all my images appeared and I could choose which ones to import into Lightroom.

Creation of Collections

Next, I made a collection specifically for my shutter speed photography. To do this, I clicked the plus sign next to collections to create a new collection, titled it Shutter Speed and dragged and dropped the images I had imported into this collection.

By doing this, I can sort my large gallery of photographs into smaller groups, for example instead of having all my photographs in one area making it hard to differentiate and identify them I can split them into unique collections (e.g. a collection for aperture, another for shutter speed etc.)

Selection Functions

I then had the option to select and rate my images in different ways – one thing you can do is flag your images as good or bad using either the P key (for good) or the X key (for bad), allowing you to then filter out which images you want to see using the flagged filter which removes the images you marked as bad from view. You can also rate your pictures from 1-5 stars and then filter them by these star ratings.

Develop Mode

After learning how to import images, create collections and rate/filter images in library mode I then learnt how to use develop mode. This mode is used when you need to do major editing on one particular image (similar to Photoshop), unlike library mode which can be used to make small quick adjustments to multiple images.

At the bottom, there is a before and after view option which I could use to compare my edited image to its original version and identify strengths and weaknesses of both images, then make further adjustments if needed.

Develop mode has many presets which can be used to make quick edits of your images (an example is above where I have used the black and white PB02 preset), or you can make lots of adjustments manually to really transform the image into a successful one you like. I spent a while using the manual developing features, and then produced an edited version of my image which I am satisfied with.

Contact Sheets

A contact sheet is like a photo gallery of all your raw (unedited) images – using a contact sheet, you can colour code and organise your images to highlight the successful/unsuccessful ones as well as grouping your images to show the intention and thought process behind your work.

William Klein

William Klein was a photographer well known for his unique contact sheets where he drew over and colour coded images to identify and group them, showing his thought process behind his pictures and clearly identifying what he considered his strongest work. This unique, almost artistic approach to contact sheets and photographer was ultimately what made him stand out and be unique compared to other photographers of his time.

What is Adobe Lightroom Classic?

Lightroom Classic provides all the editing tools you need on your computer to enhance your photos. You can boost colours, turn boring images into eye-catching ones, eliminate unwanted distractions, and fix crooked pictures.

I learnt to use Lightroom today.

First I learnt to import photos into Lightroom.

I then put all of my imported photos into a collection, this was stored in the D drive (Video Data).

I then learnt how to rate photos with the 5 star feature. furthermore I then used the flagging system to pick which photos I liked and which photos I didn’t.

After learning the basics I then decided to play around with the develop mode and learn how to effectively edit one image at a time.

I used this menu on the right hand side to edit and change my image to improve many different aspects of it.

This is how the image looked after I edited it, the main noticeable difference is the vibrancy change to make the image much more appealing.

Using the side by side comparison future the differences are clearly shown.

I then learnt to use the pre-set filters.

Contact Sheets

What are Contact Sheets?

A contact sheet is a type of photographic paper that displays a collection of small images. These images are taken from a roll of film that the photographer has sliced into several strips. The photographer then places these negatives on the sheet to see all the images side by side, making it easier to compare them.

Contact Sheet example

Willian Klein

William Klein (April 19, 1926 – September 10, 2022) was a photographer and filmmaker who was born in the U.S. but later became a French citizen. He was known for his unique and ironic style in both photography and filmmaking, often using unconventional techniques in photojournalism and fashion photography. Klein was recognized as the 25th most influential photographer by Professional Photographer magazine in their list of the top 100 photographers.

Work example

I imported loads of photos into Lightroom (172). I then made a subfolder or collection as its called in the app of all my favourite photos (32) which I then rated out of 5 stars, this app was really useful to help arrange my photos into groups and get them all sorted.

What is Lightroom used for?

Adobe Lightroom is a photo editing and storage application available through the Adobe Creative Cloud. This program allows users to quickly and easily edit their photographs with tools to alter contrast, balance colour, and change brightness on mobile devices immediately after taking the picture.

This is my contact sheet

In the top left I selected the photos I wanted and then pressed print

I then selected this template for my photos to go in

Where its saved

Shutter speed works with the aperture to allow light in to the camera lens whilst also effecting movement.

Harold Edgerton – fast shutter speed – in 1931 worked with a stroboscope. By matching strobe flashes with the motion being examined he would take many photos through an open shutter at the rate of lots of flashes per second. This led to Edgerton inventing ultra-high-speed and stop-action photography.

Fast Shutter Speed

Francesca Woodman – slow shutter speed – was an American photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring either herself or female models. Many of her photographs show women, naked or clothed, blurred, merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured

slow shutter speed

photographs taken with slow shutter speed found on the internet:

photographs taken with a fast shutter speed found on the internet :

photographs we took using shutter speed for the first time:

fast shutter speed:

slow shutter speed:

photographing balls in the air until if forms a line challenges:

best one:

I think this photograph is the beast because the balls are really close to forming a line which was the initial propose , i also think that because the sky was dray the balls contrast really well with the sky.

photo after editing:

trying out with shutter speed for the second time

Experimenting using low shutter speed:

we had an idea to draw some shapes with the flash using low shutter speed and it worked really well

all the pictures taken:

editing on photoshop:

On photoshop I made the picture black and white because I wanted the attention to be on the red light. So after I edited my picture black and white I erased the black and white filter so only the background would be black and white and the light would continue red.

What is shutter speed?

Shutter speed is the speed at which the shutter of the camera closes, determining the period during which the sensor is exposed to light. A longer exposure time allows more light to reach the sensor, resulting in a brighter image – controlling and adapting shutter speed is crucial for capturing either sharp images of moving things or exploring creative blurring in moving things.

Fast shutter speed

Fast shutter speeds, at 1/500th of a second or faster, will freeze and capture quick-moving action – so you get a clean image of a subject that would otherwise be blurred.

Slow shutter speed

A slow shutter speed can help you illuminate a darker scene, as it brings more light through the lens. But with a faster shutter speed, the lens is open for a shorter length of time, so less light enters the lens. That makes low light a challenge and demonstrates the importance of a well-lit scene.

Eadweard Muybridge

Muybridge would take his photographic discoveries on tours across America and Europe. During his lifetime he advanced the chemicals that develop film. He quickened camera shutter speed to a fraction of a second. And by aiming dozens of lenses at the same subject, he found ways to stop time and stretch it like elastic.

This is one of Eadweard Muybridge’s work in which he has used fast shutter speed to capture every moment of the horse’s jump.

Harold Edgerton

Edgerton experimented with shutter speed by synchronizing strobe flashes with the motion being examined (for example, the spinning of engine rotors), then taking a series of photos through an open shutter at the rate of many flashes per second, Edgerton invented ultra-high-speed and stop-action photography in 1931.

This piece shows how Edgerton used slow shutter speed to capture the movement of the racket.

Hiroshi Sugimoto

Sugimoto refers to his signature photographic style as “time exposed.” He plays with shutter speeds other photographers struggle to master. His goal with these experiments is, in part, to create time capsules of events and to reveal the paradoxes of time. Sugimoto’s signature style is his use of an 8 x 10 large-format camera combined with extremely long exposure times. This style exemplifies Sugimoto’s mastery of photographic techniques and has contributed to his fame and recognition as an artist.

Sugimoto’s photographs reveal his reverence for technique. They are primarily in black and white, and often made with an analogue large-format camera. These are images made with intent; carefully planned, and often slowly executed. Sugimoto’s work engages with the history of photographic materials and processes.

Francesca Woodman

Woodman used long shutter speed and double exposure when photographing so that she could actively feature in her own work. This also meant that she could capture different stages of movement, in a way that could trace the pattern of time. As a result, her image is blurred, which suggests motion and urgency. Woodman uses long shutter speeds from 1/2 – 5 seconds, as a self portrait photographer this is important and very clever, Woodman uses long shutter speeds to suggest her slow progression through life with a mental illness. as she has long shutter speeds her photographs show the movement of her body (motion blur).

During her career, Woodman produced over 800 black and white photographs. She featured as the subject in many of them, sometimes partially clothed, naked, disguised, hidden or a blur. She used ordinary objects and materials, such as mirrors and pegs, to transform her body parts into distorted and surreal versions.

Effects of changing shutter speed

A slow shutter speed can illuminate a darker scene, as it brings more light through the lens. With a fast shutter speed, the lens is open for less time, so less light can enter. That makes low light a challenge and demonstrates the importance of a well-lit scene. Slower shutter speeds get you blurry lights and motion-blur effects. Think blurry headlights on a highway or artsy light trails. Conversely, faster shutter speeds let you freeze motion with little to no blurriness. Picture an athlete running on a field, perfectly sharp and paused in time. If you’re shooting in lower light, however, faster shutter speeds can require you to increase your ISO which can add unwanted noise or grain to your image.

Class Photoshoot

These are some images from our class photoshoot that is presented in the style of Francesca Woodman, in which we used a slow shutter speed to create almost a ghostly image in black and white.