A to Z Project

Your new assignment is to shoot objects (non-human or animal) whose name begins with each letter of the alphabet, ie. apple, ball, compost, etc. PLEASE make these pictures interesting, as you now have enough tools at your disposal to take more than eye level snapshots. Use depth of field, rule of thirds, ant/bird's eye, framing, and leading lines to create an interesting composition. Remember the the three checkpoints: Know what your subject is, Bring attention to your subject, Simplify. The examples on the left are cases in point (so to speak).

P is for Pencil. Photo #1 is from eye level shot at f/8. Everything on the desk is reasonably in focus, but what's the subject? Is there any way for a person to know that the pencil is the subject? Couldn't it just as easily be the desk, the calendar, the cardholder? Photo #2 is the same exact subject in the same exact place. Shot at f/1.8, the point of the pencil is in focus while the rest of the photo is blurred. Taken from almost desk level, the line of the pencil leads you in to the blurred line of the calendar, which keeps your eye moving. Since only the point of the pencil is in focus, your eye naturally gravitates to it.

Keep these ideas in mind for EACH of your 26 photos, as you now have the necessary tools to create interesting photographs.

Light Considerations

There are three things you need to take into account when looking at light: color, quality, and direction. Since we're now shooting black and white film, color won't enter into our conversation until later when we shoot color.

When we talk about "quality" of light, we are referring to how "hard" or "soft" the light is. Hard light is often "direct" light, while soft light is often "diffuse" light. Go outside right now and look at the trees. If it's noon and sunny with no clouds, you're likely to see "hard" shadows under the trees. If it's 4:00 p.m. and cloudy, you may see no shadows. If it's 9:00 p.m., you're likely to see shadows again, this time caused by streetlights. Let's consider each lightsource and the quality.

Bright sun at noon: the light source is small (the sun, so far away) and direct, creating hard shadows under the trees. This is "hard/direct" light.

Cloudy sky at 4:00 pm: the light source is huge (the cloud cover, diffusing the sunlight, much closer to you) and indirect (coming at an angle as the sun sets). This is "soft/diffuse" light.

Night: The streetlight is similar to the sun... small and direct, creating hard shadows where it hits the trees.

Which light is better? None is better or worse, they are just different. Hard/direct light is very dramatic, with great contrast between the lit and shadow areas of the subject. Soft/diffuse light is very flattering, with small contrast and even lighting across the subject. It really depends on the subject and the mood you wish to create.

Here are some samples we shot in class of hard and soft lighting. Be sure to notice the shadow areas IN YOUR VIEWFINDER before you snap the shutter. Even better, move your subject and/or yourself to create shadows where you want them to be, before you look through the viewfinder.

Here are some samples from class.

Film Speed

Film is made up of grains of light sensitive silver suspended in a gelatine emulsion. The grains of silver react when exposed to light, and clump together when put in the chemical developer. Different "speed" films have different size grains, which allows for a faster or slower absorbtion of light. "Slow" films, such as 50, have small grains, which absorb light slowly. Faster films, such as 400 or 800, have larger grains, which absorb light more quickly. When enlarged, "grainy" films such as 400 or 800 show visible grain, while slow films, such as 50 or 100, will show very little grain. The downside of a slow film is that because it absorbs light more slowly the shutter door must be open longer, and with a longer shutter speed there is a greater chance of blurriness. This is great if your camera is on a tripod and you're shooting a waterfall, but not so great if you're shooting a soccer game.

Think of film grain like a sponge... a sponge with big holes ::::::::: will absorb water quickly, while a brick (with small holes) ::::::::::::::: will absorb water much more slowly. The holes in the brick are less visible than the holes in the sponge, particularly when enlarged.

Here are two shots of your classmate, one shot at 400 speed and one at 3200. Notice how much "grainier" the 3200 shot appears.

Point of View

One way of creating interest in an otherwise mundane subject is to look at it from a vantage point other than that of a standing human. By moving around a subject, sitting, squatting, climbing a ladder, lying on the ground, we can show things in ways they are not usually seen. Try taking 4 shots of a subject from an ant's eye view and 4 from a bird's eye view to see if you can create interest in your subject. Here you'll see subjects shot from two different vantage points.

Reciprocity

You now have the ability and understanding to create a variety of effects using various combinations of aperture and shutter speed. You know that aperture controls depth of field (shallow or deep) and shutter speed controls motion (frozen or blurred). Each exposure has about seven combinations of apertures and shutter speeds that will give you 18% gray, you need to make a conscious determination about the effect you want. You'll see in these guitar pictures that the same scene has been shot with different combinations of aperture and shutter speed... each exposure is accurate, yet each gives a different effect. You can do the same with each subject that you shoot. In fact, it's a good idea to try two or three different (slow) shutter speeds when blurring motion, and two or three different apertures when trying to control depth of field.