Planning of shoot (Pt1) - Landscapes

The planning behind my landscape shoots....part 1

1. Tripod 
A tripod was a must for my landscape shoots for a number of reason:
1) As I was using long shutter speeds on some shots a tripod helped keep my camera still when shooting to avoid camera shake.
2) As I was shooting on coastal cliffs in December/January the winds were quite strong at times. Weighing down my tripod ensured my equipment wouldn’t fall over and get damaged in the wind.
3) As my tripod also has a spirit level on it I was able to level my photos as much as possible whilst ensuring I got the height I needed in a number of shots.

2. Focal Point 
The main focal point of most of my shots is the sea, however this is viewed from different angles and heights.  The rule of thirds has come into play in my images by breaking up the photo into three different sections; land, sea, sky. To give a variety of images in my selection I have changed the focal point on some of the images through different lighting conditions and post processing by enhancing certain colours and textures. In the first photo in 'Landscapes - Theme 2 - Filey' I have focused on the colours at sunset, whilst in photo 4th photo I have framed the image through an old outhouse building window and kept the focal point on the ocean..

3. Natural Lighting 
I planned both my shoots in the afternoon to make best use of the lighting. My first shoot was shot around 1:30 – 3:30pm this gave a high sun in the sky, which gave intense lighting on the beach. I used this to my advantage and shot more beach images this day and used the bright blue skies to give contrast to the image.

Golden Hours - On my second shoot I planned to make use of the amazing sunsets that the North has been having over the past few weeks. Sunrise would have been a lot harder to achieve as it would mean a 5am rise due to sunrise currently being around 7:30am!   With the sun setting in the west and Filey being on the west coast it meant it would be setting over the land, meaning I would be able to capture it shooting towards Filey promenade from the cliffs.  The angle and colour of the lighting brought a new depth to the images and created amazing textures in the clouds and skyline

Hands

Landscapes - Theme 2 - Filey Coast

A few landscapes I took along the Filey coast at the weekend. Unfortunately it was high tide at 2:30pm which hampered my plans at taking some images from out on brig (I definitely did not want to get stuck out there with my camera!) so I stuck to the tops of the cliff. 

This image was taken as the sun was setting. As Filey is on the east coast the sun sets over the land rather than the sea. I took this image with my 50mm lens as it performs better in low light then my kit lens. I've lightened the image slightly in photoshop. There is a seagull in the left hand corner which I might attempt to erase.

This was taken on Humanby Gap which is a more enclosed isolated cove. It was taken around 2:30pm with an overcast sky. Because of this the sky is mainly white/grey and drains the original image so I have converted it to black and white to give the coastline more contrast against the sky and sea.

This is taken on the beach at Hunmanby Gap, again at just before high tide. I've played with the highlights and shadows in this image to add texture to the clouds and wake.

Portraits - Louise

Two portraits of my mum that I took at the weekend for the mini assignment. What I like about these two photos is the difference between a sitter connecting with the image. I think the second image is a lot softer due to this connection compared to the first. 

I used my 50mm f/1.8 lens for these shots. I feel depth of field a flattering tool to use in portraits to make sure all the attention is on the sitter.

Hands - images

A few from my hands project, taken with my new prime 50mm f/1.8  lens 

I've toned down the temperature of the last image with blue tones. The lighting during the shoot was from household lights which made the images very yellow. I'll continue to experiment with different tones in photoshop.

Britishness

I've also gone for the British tradition of tea.

Eve Arnold

Very saddened to hear that the first female to join Magnum Photographic Agency, Eve Arnold passed away at the grand old age of 99 years old yesterday. Although I only came to know about her photography a few months ago as part of my photography course she has greatly inspired me.

Eve Arnold
Source: Washington Green website

I have been using her book 'Handbook (with footnotes)' as part of my research for my Hands project.

Portraits - Ed

Not project related but thought I'd post a portrait I took of my brother over the Christmas break. I know It's the crop of choice at the moment but I really like the frame a middle crop gives to the photo. Unfortunately Blogger seems to have compressed the image and noise can be seen in the background :(

Hands

Another image that I think will be included in my final portfolio for my 'Hands' project.