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.