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.