Landscapes and Sunsets

Here are a few Landscape and Sunset Images taken by me using my Nikon D90.  Unfortunately I did not have my Tripod with me as this would have been very useful for some of the shots for framing and using a slow shutter speed.

This Landscape at a distance is framed between the sea and the clouds.  This was taken in the morning and captures a rainbow going straight through the image.

ISO 640  1/400  F/8

ISO 400  1/2000   F/16

This image was taken as the sun was going down and I like the reflection on the water and the boat in the distance.  As I shot this image into the sun I had to use a really fast shutter speed because of the light caused by the sun.  I also used a small aperture to try and limit the amount of light into the lens.

ISO 400   1/2000   F/16

This image was taken at dusk and I really like the colourful rings around the sun.  Again a really fast shutter speed was used to not let in too much light.

ISO 400   1/1600   F/18

ISO 400   1/60   F/9

I really like this shot of a boat framed between the sea and the moody caribbean sky taken just off the coast of Aruba.  Looking at the image now I think I will crop it to take out some of the low key tonal range.  This will give the image a better tonal range.

ISO 400 1/60 F/9 also taken off the coast of Aruba at Sunset 

ISO 400   1/125   F/18

Landscape image of Marigot Bay, St Lucia.  For this image I have used a small aperture to get all areas of the image in focus.

Palm Trees on a windy day on St Lucia 1/200 F18 ISO 400.  I love the angle of this image and the sky is a beautiful colour.

Joe Cornish

I first learned about Joe Cornish when he planned to talk at Burton College but unfortunetely I was unable to attend as I was on holiday. 

Joe Cornish was born in Exeter in 1958 and attended Reading University where he studied Art.  A great admirer of Ansel Adams, he admired his work as a conservationalist and his work in Yosemite Valley.  Later Joe became a travel photographer producing images for many travel books and articles. He then did an assignment for Raleigh International which inspired his love of the landscape, wild and wilderness.  Joe then went on to work with the National Trust where he learned all about the importance of photography and the conservation of the environment.

In 1993 Joe Cornish moved to North Yorkshire which enabled him to concentrate more on his passion of landscapes and this is when he decided landscapes was what he wanted to do.

When looking at the work of Joe Cornish and deciding which images to include in this blog I found it hard to choose as I like so much of his work.

Tunnel Beach, Dunedin, Dusk

Unfortunately I could not find a bigger image than this but this image was taken at a cove at the close of a dull day which had a lighter spell at the end.  The slow shutter speed gives a surreal effect to the rocks which have a sharp contrast within the image.  The clouds and the water have become blured with the motion.  The light at the end of the day has brightened this picture which shows lovely contrast and a really nice tonal range.

Cool Dawn, Tunnel Beach, Dunedin

This is a fantastic image taken of headlands at Dunedin.  The cliffs are so focused and together with the moving water below this creates a sharp contrast of the cliffs.  I really like the angle of the cliffs and the contrast of water to cliffs shows good tonal range.  Also the headlands guide your eyes across the image. 

Dark Sun Rising, Sound of Raasay

I really love this image as I really like shooting into the sun.   In this image he has captured the sun through really thick clouds. The suns rays can be seen shining across the whole of the image which lights up the photograph, a dark image lit up by the sun. Shooting into the sun can be quite tricky but can create some really fantastic images.

Drystone Wall, Winter Down

This is a great image which shows how the compositon aspect of lines can draw you into an image and then guide you through.  I love the contrast the frost brings to this image one side against the other and the way the shadow falls showing the aspect of the rule of thirds.  I love the way this image guides your eyes through the frost into a warm image lit up by the sun.  To me this image gives the impression of walking into the warmth and thats what I love about it.

Introduction into Unit 108 Digital Image Manipulation

In this unit I am going to learn the basics of manipulating digital images.  I will select four images for manipulation, select software to manipulate these images and then output these images for viewing.  I will learn how to use the controls, tools and techniques involved in image manipulation.  I will then produce a written account to support my work and images.

Planning My Shoot

In my shoot I will be using my SLR camara, the Nikon D90 fitted with the kit lens 18-105 f 3.5-5.6 ED VR.  Before I leave I will charge my battery fully to ensure I have full battery power as I do not want to take a chance the battery going dead whilst out.  I will take a spare 4GB memory card and my tripod.  My lens is fitted with a lens hood which will prevent any light from directly striking the front element which is handy this time of year when the sun remains low in the sky.  I would like to purchase a polarising filter in the future as when shooting landscapes and nature this can be a very useful piece of equipment.  A polarising filter can be used to deepen the colour of the sky, but a far more useful application is it can reduce reflections from shiny foliage which leads to more saturated colours.

My work will not just consist of one shoot, or any practise shoots.  As I have chosen the Theme Autumn so I will be going out on many sunny autumn days and then select the best images from those produced.  I would like to take some sunrise and sunset shots but as my time is limited and we don't get too many opportunities in this country I will have to leave that to chance.

The reason I have chosen sunny days is because I really like sunny autumn days and the sun can be used as a good light source.  The sun can be used to create interesting images with shadows and reflections and a blue sky always looks good in any image.  As I will be shooting on sunny days I will set my ISO on 400 and adjust if needed.  The ISO measures the sensitivity of the film to light.

Image Manipulation Task

The following images have been cropped into six sections per image and then different filters were used to show different ways of manipulating an image. 



Image 1



• Brush Strokes
• Crosshatch
• Fresco
• Mosiac Tiles
• Patchwork
• Palette Knife



Image 2



• Dark Strokes
• Coloured Pencil
• Plastic Wrap
• Sponge
• Watercolour
• Conte Crayon

In the following image I have used the magnetic lasso tool to copy and paste part of an image into another image.  You will see from the image below the pig has been manipulated into the picture.  To do this I have loaded both images into photoshop and used the magnetic lasso to draw around the pig and cut and paste the pig into the other image.  I then went into layer and then flatten which creates the new image.

The following image is a sepia image which is achieved by desaturating the colour in an image. Then you go to colour balance and adjust the Red and the Yellow settings.  I really like this image as I caught the sun shining through the window in the top of the church.

1/200    F11    ISO 400


The following images show how text can be used on an image.  The text can be manipulated into different forms and used in different colours.



The following image has been layered together.  The image of the flower has been layered onto the image of the wall.  To do this I have copy and paste the image of the flower onto the image of the wall.  I have then altered the opacity to acheive the final image,  I then flattened the image to create the new image.

Philip Hyde

I came across Philip Hyde when researching Ansel Adams.  Philip Hyde was born in 1921 and died in 2006.  He was a pioneer landscape photograper and conservationalist and in 1947 went to Ansel Adams photography programme at the Califonian School of Fine Art.  Like Ansel Adams he was a campaign photographer who tried to deter people from distroying the landscape.  Philip Hyde was a member of the environmental organisation The Sierra Club.

In 1970 Hyde moved from Black and White photography to colour and discovered improvements in the dye transfer printing process.  Philip Hydes work has appeared in many newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, National Geographic and the BMW Magazine.  His photographs have helped to protect our environment including places like Dinosaur National Monument, The Grand Canyon, Point Reyes and The Wind Rivers.

This photograph was taken of Aspens on the north rim, Grand Canyon National Park.  As an envirionmentalist this is the kind of image used to help protect the landscape.  This image follows the Rule of Thirds with the smaller trees at the forefront of the image and also the lines of the trees against there background.  I like this image I think it shows a nice shape and good tonal range.  I love the colour of the trees in the background and I think these have been digitally enhanced.  They may not have been manipulated because I have no knowledge of what can be acheived in a darkroom and look forward to finding this out in the future.

Another image which shows beautiful colour with vibrant yellow and orange, and texture throughout the image.  The lines of trees guides you eyes through the image from left to right as the trees make their way up the landscape.  I would say this have been digitally enhanced to achieve the wonderful colour.

I love this image.  The leaves cascade down through the image and the trees can be seen in the background.  The leaves are beautiful colours of autumn and I have taken some leaves myself which I would like to digitally enhance using beautiful colour like in this image.

Camara Control Exercise

I have chosen Autumn as my theme for my final assignment and have been out in woodlands practising using my camara. I have been practising shutter speed and aperture controls and how they work in relation to each other.   I have uploaded a few images to show how I am progressing.

F 5.6   1/125   ISO 400

As you can see this image is over exposed and this will happen when too much light is let into the lens.  This can be rectified by reducing the size of the aperture using a higher F stop thus reducing the amount of light.  Also the shutter speed can control how much light is let into the lens.  By using a fast shutter speed this will  not allow much light into the lens as the shutter will open very quickly.  A slow shutter speed will let more light into the lens because the shutter will stay open for longer.

F 14   1/125    ISO 400

In the above image I have used a smaller aperture which has not let too much light into the lens so the image is no longer overexposed.  If I had shot the image using a higher shutter speed that would have given the image a better tonal range creating a better sharper image.

F 13   1/125   ISO 400

This shows an image taken that is too dark and not enough light has been let into the lens.  Using a larger aperture or slower shutter speed would allow more light into the lens.  Also increasing the ISO would increase the light of the image.

F 11   1/125   ISO1250

A slightly larger aperture (Lower F Stop) and increasing the ISO has let more light into the lens on this image.  This image is one of my favorite photographs to date.  The focal point of the image is a circle of light just off centre.  The shadows coming towards you from the trees enhances the circle shape.  The circle of the image is set just to the left showing the rule of thirds.  The tonal range is very low key and could be thought of as under exposed but I like it.


Below are a couple of images which were shot in daylight with blue sky and sunlight to show how a really fast shutter speed can reduce the amount of light into the lens and create a dark almost painting like photograph.



F 5.6   1/2500   ISO 640

F 5.6   1/2500   ISO 640

Evaluation

The exercise went quite well as I am now starting to understand the aperture and shutter control settings more and how they work in relation to the light.  I am also starting to know what settings I should be using to capture a particular shot.  These images were shot using my Nikon D90 and kit lens.

Ansel Adams (1902 - 1984)

Ansel Adams was born in California in 1902 and here he captured the beauty of california, creating images which had perfect tonal balance.  He took photographs which captured the true beauty of unspoilt california which he intended to use deter people from developing the landscape.  His work as an environmentalist means most of his work was done in documentary style as he wanted to show his work in order to document the beauty of the landscape.

Together with Fred Archer, Ansel Adams developed the zone system, a technique for determining optimal film exposure and developement.  He also founded the F64 group with Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham.  The F64 group was set up for a small group of photograpers with an admiration of fine detailed landscapes.

Ansel often shot at F64 as when using a really small aperture, landscapes become sharp throughout the image.  He would use a tripod as when shooting with a really small aperture the shutter would need to stay open for longer to get the correct exposure.

  

In this image, Aspens, he has followed the rules of thirds capturing the small tree in the forefront of the picture.  This picture also has the composition aspect of lines, many trees standing next to eachother. I also see lots of pattern and texture in this image.  I really like this image and that it is based mainly around the trunks of the aspens and you cannot see the tops of the trees or the skyline. 

This is another image shot of just the bottom of the trees.  This image is really nice with all the snow on the branches and ground.  This image shows the compostion aspect of Patterns, Texture, Lines.  Whilst researching I have found many images like this as it makes for a really interesting image.  This image has good shape and a good tonal range making the image very pleasing to the eye.

This is one of my favorite Ansel Adams Photographs, shot in the usual Black and White style this interesting tree is a beautiful image.  I think this image shows a good tonal range throughout, which is shown with the reflection and the sky within the image.  The tree has a really interesing twist in the middle where it wraps around itself and casts a really nice shadow on the rocks below.

This is my most favorite Ansel Adams image.  This image shows the composition aspect of rule of thirds, reflections, and Angel.  I like the idea that the top of the image shows the bottom of the trees.  This image shows good tonal range with the reflections, rock and grasses within the water.

Oak Tree -  This shows great shape in the bark and the branches of the tree against the white background of the snow and snow filled sky.  The tree has a lovely patten along its branches and I would say that the tonal range is quite high key due to the amount of snow in the image but with the branches still shows good tonal range on the whole.



Initial Ideas and Brainstorming

Autumn Theme

• Colourful trees and landscape images
• Halloween
• Leaf Arrangements in the style of Andy Goldsworthy
• Molly and the Leaves
• Use Photoshop to make leaves more red or orange
• Harvest Festival, close up image of squash, pumpkin, cabbage etc
• Woodland images

Christmas Theme - Images relating to Christmas

• Christmas Food
• Christmas Trees
• Snow landscape images
• Snow men images
• Lights
• Decorations

Weather Theme - Showing images taken during different weather conditions. 

• Autumn Images
• Winter Images
• Sunset Images taken in the caribbean

I have decided to choose the theme Autumn providing I can get all my images taken before the leaves leave the trees and disappear into winter.  I have choosen this theme instead of my other ideas because I did not want to wait until christmas to shoot my final images.  I really liked the weather theme and as I am going to the caribbean in December that would have given me the opportunitity to fit summer into the final folio of images.

I have already been out with my camara on a practise shoot in woodlands to practise using the shutter speed and aperture relationship.  I would like to create a landscape picture in the style of Ansel Adams using a really small aperture and using my tripod a slow shutter speed to capture the detail in all the frame of the shot.  I have also been thinking of ideas in the style of Andy Goldsworthy using leaves to create an image showing texture and colour.

Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy is a British Sculptor, Photographer and Environmentalist who was born on 26th July 1956 in Cheshire.  He grew up in Yorkshire, studied Fine Art at Bradford and later moved to Scotland which was probably due to his work with the natural environment.

Goldsworthy's photography involves the use of natural common objects like rocks, stones, leaves, brightly coloured flowers, twigs, petals and pinecones.  He arranges these objects into various shapes and forms.  He rarely plans his work he prefers to use whatever natural objects are available to him at the time.  These objects can even involve the use of dead birds which he will pluck the feathers and create an image of inspiration.  He also uses natural objects and tools to sculpt his work like sharp stones which are used to cut various materials used for his sculptures.

Goldsworthy photographs his work in stages as he believes that  each sculpture or piece of art Grows, Stays and Decays.  He photographs his work at all of these stages to capture when the objects are at their height of brilliance.  Much of Goldworthys work has been achieved in England and Scotland, but he has also worked around the world including The North Pole, Japan and The Australian Outback.





Knotweed Stalks was created in 1988 one morning in really calm conditions on Derwent Water in Cumbria.  This image was created by pushing knotweed stalks into the bottom of the water to create a half circle effect.  These stalks have then reflected on the water to create a round image which show the composition aspect of reflection.  I think this image shows a nice form in the stalks which reflect in the water and I like the tonal values which contrast against the foggy background.  This image shows many aspects of compostion and the knotweed stalks show the aspect of line texture and patten.  I like this image as the reflection in the water shows the circle as a whole.




Rowen Leaves around a Hole was created on October 25th 1987 on a sunny day at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.  This image is beautifully done by using different stages of colour as the leaves change colour during the autumn months.  This image is based around colour and the vibrant reds and yellows have a really nice effect making the tonal range move from the centre of the image to the outer edge of the frame.  I really like the patten aspect of this image showing the changing in colours moving to the outer frame of the image.





Dandilion Flowers was created by using dandelion flowers.  For this image Goldsworthy had to wait for a sunny day and then wait until midday when the dandelions had dried out and fully opened.  The bracken was rising out of the bluebells and he used thorns to pin the dandelion heads to the bracken thus creating this lovely line of yellow through the bluebells.  This image shows the composition aspect of lines, texture and colour.



 Heron Feathers was created using the feathers of a dead Heron bird.  This piece of art is three and a half feet in length and took three days to create in a calm climate.  The nights were cold and there was a frost in the morning, but as the days warmed the smell of the dead Heron become so pungent that Goldsworthy had to hold his breath while plucking the feathers.  Goldsworthy used a sharp stone to cut the feathers and stripped them down one side to create a crisp sharp edge of white.  This image uses the Rule of Thirds. Patterns and Texture aspects of composition.



Photo Shop Task

In this task we were asked to take an image and then process the image through different adjustments to alter the colours of the image.  The adjustments are Hue/Saturation, Desaturate, Channel Mixer, Black and White, half Black and White and half Colour and Black and White with part of the image in colour.  The image used was an image taken during the composition task to show focus and colour.




In this image I have used the Hue/Saturation Adjustment.  I increased the Hue and Saturation to add more colour to the original image and then slightly reduced the lightness to give a sharper image.



In this image I have used the Desaturate Adjustment which has taken all the colour from the image



In this image I have used the Channel Mixer Adjustment with allows you to play with the colours to create different and more interesting looks to your image.





In this Image I have used the Black and White Adjustment.  This desaturates the image and then allows you to change the intensity of the black and white.





In this Image I have used the Marquee Tool to select half of the image and then used the adjustment to make half the image Black and White. 




In this Image I have used Desaturate to remove the colour from the picture and then paintbrushed the red back into the flower.  This is my favourite image from the photoshop task. 


Evaluation

I feel that the task went well I have enjoyed learning about photoshop and the different tool to alter colour and contrast.  This is my image which was shot on auto as part of the composition tasks so the shutter speed and aperture are whatever the camera choose to shoot at. The copyright of the image has no legal technicalities as the image chosen to manipulate belongs to me. Image was shot with my Nikon D90 and lens 18-105.

Composition Week 3

In this task we were asked to shoot a minimum of ten images showing the different aspects of composition i.e Lines, Texture, Colour, Rule of Thirds etc.  Of the ten images we had to pick three or four to put on our blogs and write about.  These images were all shot on Auto as this was a compostion task and not a camara control task.



This image illustrates the composition aspect of Lines.  The image also represents focus and the Rule of Thirds.  I really like this image as I feel the focus works really well with fading out the background.  I have focused on the second post which has resulted in bluring the first post.  This image could be improved without the car or the phonebox in the background, or if the phonebox could be changed to an old fashioned red phone box.  I shot this from a low angle to get into line with the posts.




 
This image of a cobweb illustates the compostion aspect of Pattern and Focus.  You could also say it demonstrates the rule of thirds making the subject centred and also lines which quite clearly go from the centre of the image to the edge.  This image was from my second attempt as in the first attempt after uploading the image I discovered I had the edge of a patio table in the background so had to take the image from a different angle which shows the blured background at a distance.






This image illustrates the composition aspect of Angle, Rule of Thirds. Colour and Lines.  I have tried to get a low angled image by getting as low to the ground as possible and trying to demonstrate the Rule of Thirds. I feel if I had got lower the image could have represented the Rule of Thirds better.  This also shows texture, the rough element of the gravel and the soft element of the grass beyond the fruit.




This image illustrates the compostion aspect of a frame within a frame, the window frame and the door frame.  I should have moved closer to the frame of the window to see what kind of image could have been achieved.  This image also represents the Rule of Thirds with the wheelbarrow being placed at a third of the picture.

Evaluation


In this task I have learned to pay more attention to detail when shooting a picture as after I uploaded the spider web picture I discovered it was shot at the wrong angle.  I have also learned to look for different photo opportunities within the subject taken, like moving in closer on the window on the frame within a frame image.  I cannot retake these images as I was away for the weekend in stratford.  For these images I used my Nikon D90 with the kit lens 18-105 F3.5 - 5.6.  I think that this lens was sufficiant enough for taking these shots no close up images for which to use a macro lens and no long distance images for which a more sufficiant zoom would have been needed.

Aperture Control Task

In this task we were asked to show four images one showing narrow depth of field, one showing wide depth of field, one showing fast shutter speed and one showing slow shutter speed.

Narrow Depth of Field 1/125 F4.2 ISO 800





Wide Depth of Field - 1/125 F16 ISO 800





Slow Shutter Speed 4s F36 ISO 200





Fast Shutter Speed 1/1000 F5.3 ISO 1600



Evaluation

I am still learning to use the camara controls at this point so it was hard enough trying to get a picture that actually did not appear under exposed or over exposed.  I found the narrow depth of field and wide depth of field easier than the shutter speed controls but I guess this would have been easier if I had shot something moving a bit faster than the water on the river.  I enjoyed the exercise and am happy I am not just shooting black images anymore.  My favourite image is the flower image the others are a little boring.  I used my Nikon D90 Camera with the kit lens 18-105 F3.5-5.6 and on the shutter speed control images I used my tripod.