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.