The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition at the Natural History Museum is my exhibition highlight of the year! There is no point in discussing the individual artistic merits of my favourite photos - they are all incredible, all stunning and all worth a mention. It would be impossible to pick out clear favourites! I loved all the lions, tigers, fish, dugongs, monkeys, turtles - all spectacular.
What is perhaps worthwhile is to mention the photographers that I can relate to in terms of my own journey towards finding a personal voice, a unique style. This exhibition or standard of photography is to me perhaps the most inspiring and also the most out of reach. I can't imagine ever getting to this standard, and being able to create such beauty. I previously referred to Jasper Doest in my blog - in terms of my analysis of personal voice. He has captured a sense of vulnerability and tranquility that I certainly aspire to and am drawn to.
Aside the stunning animal shots, the wildscapes really stood out for me this year. The Cauldron by Sergey Gorshkov is a scene I would love to create: simple composition, minimal colours but strong colours nevertheless, action, drama - in fact the opposite of the long exposure minimalist scenes I also like - but strong and gritty instead. To see a volcano eruption in real life must be incredible and terrifying at the same time. The lava seems to be flowing outside the picture so you wonder where the photographer was at the time.....
The other wildscape entries I particularly liked were the two taken in Iceland (because I'm going there in January!) - by Ellen Anon - Ice Aurora and The Pull of the Sea. Both were taken in Jökulsárlón, which I've heard is over-photographed, so it's good to see an original perspective, and also again, for me, few but dramatic colours, long exposures and a sense of isolation.
Finally, thinking about personal voice and having something to say, I was really affected by the Wildlife Photojournalist Award to Brent Stirton for his portfolio God's Ivory telling just one of many horrific stories of animal slaughter for human indulgence. I found these images disturbing both at the exhibition and now looking at them again online. They tell the story of elephants being slaughtered for their ivory - the final part of the story and possibly the most disturbing image of the portfolio showing a devout collector sitting amongst his pieces. The irony or incongruousness / juxtaposition of religion and what is essentially murder is shocking. I wish I knew how to get started on a journey to highlight something as awful as this.
Friday 27 December 2013
Landscape Photographer of the Year 2013 Exhibition
I could forever about all the dreamy ethereal long exposure landscapes - and it was great to see some from Cumbria - but I particularly liked Sweeping - Sea defences, Felixstowe, by Justin Minns which was commended in the Your View category and also formed the cover for this year's exhibition book. I spent many childhood holidays in Felixstowe, where my grandparents lived, so this was an interesting perspective that I hadn't seen before. This is also relevant to the style of photography that I would like to achieve in terms of finding my own voice - although I'm starting to realise that there is a lot of this about.
Another long exposure landscape I liked was Iconic, London, England, by Charlotte Gilliatt, category runner up in the Urban View category:
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| Iconic (c) Charlotte Gilliatt |
Gilliatt's image has a lot more clarity and detail than mine (HDR?) and the water is smoother. But I wish I'd entered this now....who knows....
Another image I'd like to mention is "Ferry leaving Newhaven harbour in storm, East Sussex, England" by David Lyon (see Daily Mail article) - an astonishing picture with unusual composition (single point slap bang in the centre sitting above a triangle formed bu the waves, and an amazing abstract of black and white tones. I would love to take something like this, but would I have ventured out in those conditions??
Finally, and by no means least, I think the most stunning image and in my mind the one that should have one, is Bill & Ben, Fort William, Scotland by Robert Birkby, runner up in the Classic View category and Judge's choice by Damien Demolder. I was excited to see this as I am due to climb Ben Nevis in July 2014. I think the title is great, the composition with the lower third being the town of Fort William, the upper third a fantastic stormy sky and the middle the big mountain itself, very interesting. I wonder how long he stood in a storm waiting for that shaft of light to hit Fort William! I also wonder about the exposure - how did he balance the dark sky with the light and the mist? Did he use an N-Grad so as to be able to over-expose the bottom third?
Looking forward to 2014!
Highlight clipping
Scene with a range of brightness - using manual exposure - found the exposure setting at which the highlight warning just appeared:
Same shot with 1 stop exposure increase:
I then worked at reducing exposure by one stop at a time (but as I couldn't reduce the aperture any further than f/27, I had to increase the shutter speed instead) - this still resulted in a small amount of clipping:
The differences between the shots that are visible are the amount of clipping in the sky. Although I thought my first shot was where the clipping was only just appearing, I was surprised to see that there still a small amount as I decreased the exposure. This at the time was undetectable on my camera, but in the software you can see it.
If I go back to image 2 with the increased exposure and zoom in on the highlight:
You can see completely lost areas of information with a pinkish halo bordering the lost highlight. Also, the colour saturation around the highlighted area is weak. I can't see any real areas of white around the highlight clips at this exposure - all the white is lost.
The average exposure fares a little better - there is more distinction between the white and the highlights, plus there is better colour saturation in the grey. There is however still a pinkish glow around the areas of lost highlights.
The sky I preferred was in the third shot - one stop underexposed, however this left the fore and mid ground too dark. The solution is to use an N Grad filter to adjust the exposure of the sky. I did look in my software for the Recovery slider, but could not find it. But in Elements I found a "smart fix" feature which I applied to the one stop under exposed JPEG to produce this:
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| ISO 200 1/90s f/22 |
Same shot with 1 stop exposure increase:
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| ISO 200 1/90s f/16 |
I then worked at reducing exposure by one stop at a time (but as I couldn't reduce the aperture any further than f/27, I had to increase the shutter speed instead) - this still resulted in a small amount of clipping:
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| ISO 200 1/125s f/27 |
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| ISO 200 1/250s f/27 |
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| ISO 200 1/500s f/27 |
The differences between the shots that are visible are the amount of clipping in the sky. Although I thought my first shot was where the clipping was only just appearing, I was surprised to see that there still a small amount as I decreased the exposure. This at the time was undetectable on my camera, but in the software you can see it.
If I go back to image 2 with the increased exposure and zoom in on the highlight:
You can see completely lost areas of information with a pinkish halo bordering the lost highlight. Also, the colour saturation around the highlighted area is weak. I can't see any real areas of white around the highlight clips at this exposure - all the white is lost.
The average exposure fares a little better - there is more distinction between the white and the highlights, plus there is better colour saturation in the grey. There is however still a pinkish glow around the areas of lost highlights.
The sky I preferred was in the third shot - one stop underexposed, however this left the fore and mid ground too dark. The solution is to use an N Grad filter to adjust the exposure of the sky. I did look in my software for the Recovery slider, but could not find it. But in Elements I found a "smart fix" feature which I applied to the one stop under exposed JPEG to produce this:
Monday 23 December 2013
Personal Voice
In my feedback from my TAOP formal assessment, one of the comments made was that I have yet to find my "personal voice". Well this is true, and also not surprising being as I'd only been going about a year and a half (at the time the work for the assessment was taken)... but none the less, it has got me thinking. Although I'm surprised that this is a relevant factor at this stage of my journey, it must be important otherwise it wouldn't have been mentioned!
So, initially I wasn't really sure what this meant. I checked with my tutor (who also helpfully gave me some pointers to some materials to read to help me), who explained that it's essentially what makes your images stand out from other people's? What is it that makes them different - what sets them apart? Why are they unique? What is the photographer trying to say?
I then checked with my aunt, Mary Biddlecombe, who is an artist. Her advice was that personal voice is your personal 'message', the most important thing to you that you feel compelled to communicate. The thing of the heart.
So I think that I did get close to understanding this, when I realised in around September this year, why I am drawn to and want to make ethereal, negative space landscapes - to find the sanctity and solitude that I crave in order to escape the daily and constant clutter, chaos and hectic lifestyle that the challenge of F/T work, commuting, keeping fit etc etc plus doing a degree P/T creates....for me in landscape photography, it's about creating peace, calm and tranquility. So I took this one today, at Derwentwater during a storm...
However, I don't just want to take landscapes; I'm also very excited by wildlife/nature photography, but haven't had enough exposure to this yet, to even think about what my personal stamp might be. (see commentary on Jasper Doest in connection with the subject of personal voice). I had brief dalliances with colourful puffins, and with black and white head portraits this summer, but at this stage, I think I would have to have a lot more practice at getting the shots right before I could begin to think about making them my own. Similarly with Street and Travel photography, my other big passions; I'm still learning how to take the shots and find the moments, so making them personal will take some time.
I will comment on the reading material from my tutor as I read them.
So, initially I wasn't really sure what this meant. I checked with my tutor (who also helpfully gave me some pointers to some materials to read to help me), who explained that it's essentially what makes your images stand out from other people's? What is it that makes them different - what sets them apart? Why are they unique? What is the photographer trying to say?
I then checked with my aunt, Mary Biddlecombe, who is an artist. Her advice was that personal voice is your personal 'message', the most important thing to you that you feel compelled to communicate. The thing of the heart.
So I think that I did get close to understanding this, when I realised in around September this year, why I am drawn to and want to make ethereal, negative space landscapes - to find the sanctity and solitude that I crave in order to escape the daily and constant clutter, chaos and hectic lifestyle that the challenge of F/T work, commuting, keeping fit etc etc plus doing a degree P/T creates....for me in landscape photography, it's about creating peace, calm and tranquility. So I took this one today, at Derwentwater during a storm...
However, I don't just want to take landscapes; I'm also very excited by wildlife/nature photography, but haven't had enough exposure to this yet, to even think about what my personal stamp might be. (see commentary on Jasper Doest in connection with the subject of personal voice). I had brief dalliances with colourful puffins, and with black and white head portraits this summer, but at this stage, I think I would have to have a lot more practice at getting the shots right before I could begin to think about making them my own. Similarly with Street and Travel photography, my other big passions; I'm still learning how to take the shots and find the moments, so making them personal will take some time.
I will comment on the reading material from my tutor as I read them.
Jasper Doest
I have recently completely fallen for Jasper Doest....no...not the man himself....we have never met....but his photographs...of Japanese Snow Monkeys to be precise!
I first saw Doest's work last year at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012 exhibition; Doest's image Relaxation received commended in the Animal Portrait category. Then of course in this year's exhibition, Doest was winner in the Creative Visions category with Snow Moment. And, the 2013 Travel Photography of the Year results just recently announced, Doest was joint winner in Portfolio - Wild Stories with a collection of four of the monkey shots.
So, what is it about these photographs that is so captivating? Why is this relevant to me now? Well I have lately been thinking about personal voice, following feedback from my TAOP assessment. And with Doest I can see clearly what personal voice means. Japanese Snow Monkeys live in an environment that suits them. Throughout evolution, animals have either adapted or migrated, so you have to assume that these monkeys are in their element. Doest however, manages to capture them with emotion - the monkeys appear to be cold, lonely, isolated, mournful, soulful, in fact anything but at ease with their environment - which is kind of incongruous...
These are also of course astonishing pictures, with simplistic composition, dramatic environment, negative space, limited colour palette; I keep finding that I'm drawn to this kind of set up, in the never ending quest to escape the daily clutter, chatter and chaos.
So the challenge for me is translate this into my own work as I try to find my own personal voice (or voices as I think they might be different from Street to Nature..).
And, yes, I have emailed Doest to see if he has room on his 2015 workshop with the Snow Monkeys
I first saw Doest's work last year at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012 exhibition; Doest's image Relaxation received commended in the Animal Portrait category. Then of course in this year's exhibition, Doest was winner in the Creative Visions category with Snow Moment. And, the 2013 Travel Photography of the Year results just recently announced, Doest was joint winner in Portfolio - Wild Stories with a collection of four of the monkey shots.
So, what is it about these photographs that is so captivating? Why is this relevant to me now? Well I have lately been thinking about personal voice, following feedback from my TAOP assessment. And with Doest I can see clearly what personal voice means. Japanese Snow Monkeys live in an environment that suits them. Throughout evolution, animals have either adapted or migrated, so you have to assume that these monkeys are in their element. Doest however, manages to capture them with emotion - the monkeys appear to be cold, lonely, isolated, mournful, soulful, in fact anything but at ease with their environment - which is kind of incongruous...
These are also of course astonishing pictures, with simplistic composition, dramatic environment, negative space, limited colour palette; I keep finding that I'm drawn to this kind of set up, in the never ending quest to escape the daily clutter, chatter and chaos.
So the challenge for me is translate this into my own work as I try to find my own personal voice (or voices as I think they might be different from Street to Nature..).
And, yes, I have emailed Doest to see if he has room on his 2015 workshop with the Snow Monkeys
:)
Your tolerance for noise
The exercise required taking a series of photographs indoors during daylight using a combination of sharp detail and textureless areas, with some of the texture in shadow, on each ISO setting available. My camera Nikon D5000 has an ISO range of 100 to 6400. In a previous similar exercise completed in TAOP, I found that in darker situations, noise started to be introduced at around 250, so I was interested to see in a lighter context what the results would be. In practice, I rarely exceed ISO 200 if I can help it, unless I deliberately want to introduce grain, or if lighting conditions make it really necessary. I used my prime lens for the photographs (focal length 35mm), allowing a faster shutter speed on a wider aperture.
As the results show below, with a pale coloured background, the noise started to appear around ISO 320 and by ISO 500 it was too much. Even at the magnification of the images above, you can see noise by ISO 640 and obviously this continues to increase through to ISO 6400. So even though my camera has the ability to use the higher ISO sensitivities, I don't think it is advisable unless you deliberately want noise.
In recent photographic memory, I have only taken one image where I felt the noise added to the image. In this image, I think the noise in the sky adds some interesting speckles and texture in the top right corner as they meet the lines of the bridge, tree etc.
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| 1/10s f/1.8 ISO 100 |
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| 1/20s f/1.8 ISO 200 |
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| 1/30s f/1.8 ISO 250 |
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| 1/30s f/1.8 ISO 300 |
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| 1/45s f/1.8 ISO 400 |
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| 1/60s f/1.8 ISO 500 |
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| 1/60s f/1.8 ISO 640 |
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| 1/90s f/1.8 ISO 800 |
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| 1/125s f/1.8 ISO 1000 |
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| 1/125s f/1.8 ISO 1250 |
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| 1/180s f/1.8 ISO 1600 |
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| 1/180s f/1.8 ISO 2000 |
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| 1/250s f/1.8 ISO 2500 |
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| 1/350s f/1.8 ISO 3200 |
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| 1/750s f/1.8 ISO 6400 |
As the results show below, with a pale coloured background, the noise started to appear around ISO 320 and by ISO 500 it was too much. Even at the magnification of the images above, you can see noise by ISO 640 and obviously this continues to increase through to ISO 6400. So even though my camera has the ability to use the higher ISO sensitivities, I don't think it is advisable unless you deliberately want noise.
In recent photographic memory, I have only taken one image where I felt the noise added to the image. In this image, I think the noise in the sky adds some interesting speckles and texture in the top right corner as they meet the lines of the bridge, tree etc.
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| 1/45s f/3.3 ISO 2000 |
Friday 20 December 2013
More London From The Rooftops
On Thursday 17th October, I had the amazing opportunity of being able
to access the roof of Broadgate Tower with my friend Kate and James Burns,
who is a true inspiration. This wasn't a formal workshop/course, just
an opportunity to put in to practice what I learnt from James previously
on the photowalk
I did previously with him. We were blessed with clear weather, an
amazing sunset, and a nearly full moon. I've said before that I was
interested in rooftop photography as I thought I could use it to
practice some techniques for mountain photography, but to be perfectly
honest I think I am now just as crazy about rooftop photography. And
the feeling is like being on a mountain, with the open sky and the
sensation of being high up (and it's easier to get there!) - it
certainly clears out the cobwebs!! And I even got to try some zoom
bursts :)
Here are the results:
Here are the results:
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