A3: White Balance (due 11/2)

Assigned: Week #8 10/26/11

Due Date: Week #9 11/2/11

Images Due:  10 Final Digital Images (but shoot at least 25 and edit to your favorite 10!)

Prints Due: Week #11 11/16/11  2 Final pints (1 from Part A and 1 from Part B)

Details:

To be shot in RAW file format and Manual Exposure Mode! 

*You may want to use higher Digital ISO settings, as well as a tripod.

For this assignment, you are going to explore color temperatures using your digital camera as your tool.

As with any assignment, make the most interesting compositions you can!  Although it’s a technical assignment, you should still concentrate on making a beautiful photograph while illustrating the color temperature concepts.

Part A - Color Temperatures (edited to 5 final shots):

I would like you to shoot multiple subjects (people, landscapes, or still lifes - your choice) illuminated by light sources that each have their own unique color temperatures.  Please set your camera to the daylight white balance preset (the sun icon which presets your camera to around 5000K, or set it manually).  Then shoot at least 20 images lit by different types of light sources such as fluorescent, tungsten, floodlamp, neon, mercury or sodium vapor (streetlights), etc.  Explore subjects illuminated by multiple light sources in the same shot to further understand the concepts of white balance.

Keep in mind that you should be shooting outdoors at night, dusk, dawn, or indoors in order to have a majority of your scene illuminated by artificial sources.  Therefore, I highly recommend shooting with a high ISO (so sensor is more sensitive to the light) and using a tripod (because you may be shooting with very slow shutter speeds!).

Part B - Time of Day (edited to 5 final shots):

To further illustrate the concepts of color temperature, you are going to shoot the same scene at different times of the day.  I want you to pick an outdoor landscape scene that you can go back to multiple times on the same exact day.  Shoot the same subject at least 5 times during the day ranging from early morning to late evening.  For example, shoot at 6:30am, 7, noon, 5pm, and 6pm.  Make sure you document what time of day your shots were captured and shoot a majority at sunrise and sunset since that’s when color temps change dramatically!  (October Sunrise 7:20am, Sunset 6pm!)

You are welcome to capture the same exact framing, or shoot a couple different angles of the same scene while you are there each time.  Be sure it is an interesting image though and be sure to bracket your exposures to guarantee proper exposure. 

It would also be in your best interest to shoot on relatively clear days to more accurately demonstrate light and color changes.  Start on this as soon as you can, because if you wait until the last minute, I’m sure the weather will stink and your grade will reflect your results!

Submit all 10 digital files (at least!) in class next week labeled appropriately.

Example File Naming = “A3_Name_A_Tungsten.CR2” or “A3_Name_B_6:30am.CR2”

Give a 5 star rating, or a color label using the Label menu in Bridge, to your 10 favorite photos.

© J Bryan Kramer

Week #8: 10/26/11 White Balance

"..Why would anyone want to photograph an indisputably colourful world in monochrome? If colour film had been invented first, would anybody even contemplate photographing in black and white?” - Russell Miller , Magnum: Fifty Years at the Front Line of History by Russell Miller , ISBN: 0802116310 , Page: 4

 

White Balance and Color Temperature

The color temperature of a light source is measured in degrees Kelvin and it describes its color exactly.  The lower the color temperature, the more “warm” red wavelengths are in the light.  Higher color temperatures have more “cool” blue wavelengths.

Cool = above 5500˚K (like shade at 6000˚K) 

Neutral = 5000-5500˚K (like midday daylight)

Warm = Below 5000˚K (like Tungsten at 3200˚K)    

In a digital camera, white balance is a setting that compensates for the differences in color temperature of the surrounding light. The white balance must be adjusted to ensure that all colors in the scene will be represented faithfully. It can be adjusted automatically by the camera or manually, by selecting presets (tungsten, fluorescent, etc.) or by aiming the lens at a totally white surface (the white card) and selecting "lock white balance." Alternatively, a gray card with 18% gray is sometimes used.

White Balance Presets and Color Temperature Scale 

 

Shot with Manual White Balance Settings.  Notice it's the opposite of what you would think - 3000˚K is Cool - It's more like adding a color filter to adjust for the color temperature the camera thinks it is capturing!

Click here to see a fun example of how a Photoshop version of white balance really changes a scene's mood!

Week #7: 10/19/11 Critique A1 + A2

"…the art is in selecting what is worthwhile to take the trouble of photographing…" - Berenice Abbott

"A technically perfect photograph can be the world’s most boring picture." - Andreas Feininger

 

Critique of Assignments 1 and 2

Today we will simple be critiquing your final prints for A1 Abstracts and A2 Depth of Field and Motion!

DUE 10/19/11

Below is a list of items due for tomorrow's class.  Please have all the necessary prints ready for critique at the start of class.  And please submit the digital files in the appropriate "Assignment Submissions" folder on the class server with clear labels.  For example: A1_Nobles_1.psd or A2_Nobles_DofF_1.psd

6 Total Digital Files to be submitted as layered PSD files with proper Curve Adjustment Layers:

• Assignment #1: Abstracts = 2 different final images
• Assignment #2: Part A - Depth of Field = 2 final images (matching subjects - 1 with greater Depth of Field, and 1 with limited Depth of Field)
• Assignment #2: Part B - Motion = 2 final images (matching subjects - 1 with blurred Motion, and 1 with frozen Motion)

6 Total 8"x10" Prints (Same list as the digital files to be submitted):

• Assignment #1: Abstracts = 2 different final images
• Assignment #2: Part A - Depth of Field = 2 final images (matching subjects - 1 with greater Depth of Field, and 1 with limited Depth of Field)
• Assignment #2: Part B - Motion = 2 final images (matching subjects - 1 with blurred Motion, and 1 with frozen Motion)

Week#6: 10/12/11 Printing

"Sitting over a hot computer ain't my idea of fun. My creativity goes almost completely into picture taking. (But) I suppose if I ever retired, I would enjoy learning the Photoshop craft far more than playing golf." - Herbert Keppler - On going digital. (Popular Photography & Imaging, January 2005)

" Focus on content.. be color blind." - Lakshman Iyer

Motion

A photograph is a small moment in time.  Depending on your shutter speed (and other factors!), you can capture a small moment of time or a longer one.  Within that slice of time objects may be moving.  And depending on the below factors, you can capture moving objects either frozen in mid-movement, or completely blurred.

 

Motion is controlled by these factors:

1.       Shutter Speed:

Faster SS = Less Motion (Frozen)

Slower SS = More  Motion (Blur)

2.       Focal length of lens:

Short FL (zoomed out) = Less Motion (Frozen)

Long FL (zoomed in) = More  Motion (Blur)

3.       Subject Distance: 

Far Subject = Less Motion (Frozen)

Close Subject = More  Motion (Blur)

4.       Speed of Object:

Slow Speed = Less Motion (Frozen)

Fast Speed = More  Motion (Blur)

5.       Direction of Object:

Moving Towards Lens (into camera) = Less Motion (Frozen)

Moving Parallel with Lens (across picture) = More  Motion (Blur)

*The important factor is how much of the images actually moves across the image sensor during exposure.  The more of the sensor that your image crosses while the shutter is open, the more the image will be blurred!

Today we'll be talking about proper color management workflows and how to take an image from monitor to print with as much color accuracy as possible.

Colors on a monitor are displayed using a combination of RGB light, while printed colors are typically created using a combination of 4 inks CMYK.  Because the RGB and CMYK color models use different methods to display colors, each produces a different gamut, or range of colors. 

The color space for a device is defined by the gamut it can produce. And an ICC profile is a description of a device’s color space.  The profiles are used to help ICC systems communicate properly and translate your color gamut from device to device accurately.

Proper Color Management Workflow diagram:

Color Management Workflow:

STEP 1:  Calibrate your monitor

STEP 2:  Set up the Photoshop Color Management Environment

STEP 3:  Assign a Profile to the image

STEP 4:  Soft Proof your image on screen

STEP 5:  Print your Color-Managed image using ICC Printer Profiles

Below is a handout detailing the proper color management workflow steps for printing to an Epson inkjet printer. 

 

Great links for additional Color Management information:

Digital Photography Best Practices Workflow website

digitalphotopro.com magazine article

A2: Depth of Field + Motion (due 10/12)

Assignment #2: Depth of Field and Motion

Assigned: Week #5 10/5/11

Due Date: Week #6 10/12/11 - For Part A
Due Date: Week #7 10/19/11 - For Part B with PRINTS!

Details:  20 Digital Images (10 for each Part)

Shoot as Large Resolution and Low Compression JPEGs, Auto WB, and in Manual Exposure Mode using your in-camera light meter to find the proper exposures for your scene and composition.
Shoot outside only during the day with an ISO of 100 to start with, but change ISO if necessary to achieve the desired exposure settings.

Part A - Depth of Field:  To illustrate the concepts of depth of field, choose a subject with a distinct foreground(s) and background(s). Always focus on just your foreground subject and do not change focus.  Then follow the below steps:

1. Set your lens at its widest aperture (lowest f-stop # such as f5.6 for less D of F) and a long zoom
2. Compose your photograph and focus on a foreground object that is no more than 5 feet away
3. Use your in-camera light meter to find the shutter speed for proper exposure, and shoot a frame
4. Now, close down your aperture at least 3 stops (to an f-stop such as f16 for greater D of F)
5. Compose the same exact shot as your first frame and focus again on the foreground object
6. Use your in-camera light meter to again find the proper exposure (you’ll have to use a slower SS!) and shoot another frame

Repeat this exercise with other subjects illustrating both limited and greater depth of field following the above steps.  Shoot different foreground subjects and compositions, for a total of 5 subjects (10 shots at the very least).

Part B - Motion (HW for NEXT WEEK!):  For the second half of the assignment, I want you to illustrate the concepts of motion.  Find a subject with motion and capture the same motion with both a slow shutter speed in one frame (to show blurred movement) and a fast shutter speed in another frame (to show a stopped, crisp action).

Try to find interesting subjects and compositions and make the most appealing photograph you can!  (In other words, cars driving down the road are not the most interesting subjects!).  Some better subject ideas include waterfalls or quick moving rivers, people moving (runners, children on swings, skateboarders).   Remember subject distance is important as well so do not have your main subject too far away from you - Fill the frame with the motion!  Follow the below steps:

1. Set your lens to 1/30s to capture blurred motion (or slower if you have a tripod)
2. Compose your photograph filling the frame with the motion and focus on the object
3. Use your in-camera light meter to find the aperture for proper exposure, and shoot a frame
4. Now, close down your shutter speed at least 3 stops to freeze motion (such as a SS of 1/250s)
5. Compose the same exact shot as your first frame and focus again on the foreground object
6. Use your in-camera light meter to again find the proper exposure (you’ll have to use a wider aperture!) and shoot another frame

Repeat this exercise with other subjects illustrating both blurred and frozen motion following the above steps.  Shoot different moving subjects and compositions, for a total of 5 subjects (10 shots at the very least). 

                                                                                                                     

                                                                                        

Download the images from your storage card to the class server before next week’s class! 

Once downloaded, rename the files (ex. = A2_LastName_001.jpg) and rank the images.

Week #5: 10/5/11 Manual Exposure

" What use is having a great depth of field, if there is not an adequate depth of feeling?" - W. Eugene Smith

"Cartier-Bresson has said that photography seizes a 'decisive moment', that's true except that it shouldn't be taken too narrowly...does my picture of a cobweb in the rain represent a decisive moment? The exposure time was probably three or four minutes. That's a pretty long moment. I would say the decisive moment in that case was the moment in which I saw this thing and decided I wanted to photograph it." - Paul Strand  

© http://regentphotograpy.spruz.com/

Aperture: Quantity of light

F-stop is a measurement of the size of the lens opening.  The larger the f-stop #, the smaller the lens opening which gives you more depth of field.  And the smaller the f-stop #, the larger the opening which yields less depth of field.

Shutter: Time of light

Shutter Speed is a measurement of how long the shutter remains open during exposure.  Faster speeds will "freeze" motion in your image.  (Faster speeds are higher numbers because they are fractions of a second).  While slower speeds will "blur" motion.

Digital ISO:  Sensitivity of the sensor

ISO Speed is a measurement of how sensitive the image sensor is to light.  The "faster" the ISO, which is to say the higher the ISO #, the less exposure it needs.  High ISOs are good for low light situations like when shooting indoors.  Slower ISO speeds, which are lower ISO numbers, are good for shooting outside and they also produce less "digital noise".

One stop of exposure is either a doubling or a halving of the amount of light!

 Law of Reciprocity:  E = I x T (Exposure = Intensity x Time)

 Doubling I, means we have to half T  

1s@f8 = 2s(2x)@f11(.5x)  

Exposures are reciprocal – they yield the same density in your image.

f16@1/30  =  f11@1/60  =  f8@1/125  =  f5.6@1/250  =  f4@1/500

Depth of Field

When you focus a camera on an object, the distance between the lens and the image sensor is adjusted.  In theory, you can only focus on one single distance (the plane of critical focus) and the objects at other distances will be less sharp.  But, in most cases, part of the scene will be acceptably sharp both in front of and behind the most sharply focused plane.  The further an object is from the plane of focus, the more it will fall out of focus.  This region within which objects appear acceptably sharp is called the depth of field.

 
Depth of Field is controlled by these factors:

1.       Aperture size (lens opening):

Larger Aperture (Small f-stop #) = Less Depth of Field (Background more out of focus)

Smaller Aperture (Larger f-stop #) = More Depth of Field (Background more in focus)

2.       Focal length of lens:

Longer FL (zoomed in) = Less D of F

Short FL (zoomed out) = More D of F 

3.       Lens-to-Subject Distance (focus distance): 

Close Subject = Less D of F

Far Subject = More D of F