Robin Michals | COMD 1340 Photography 1

Category: Course Activities (Page 4 of 10)

Lab 8: Aperture, Depth of field and Perspective

Today, we will visit the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Look for Daffodil Hill, Magnolia Plaza, and the Shakespeare Garden (Dwarf Iris)as we head for the Steinhardt Conservatory.

https://www.bbg.org/map

On our field trip:

Take at least 10 different long shots that use perspective to depict deep space. Look up at a tree or along a path. Use either converging lines or diminishing scale or both. These photos should use extensive depth of field meaning everything from near to far should be sharp.
Using the shooting mode Av, set the aperture to f11. Use auto ISO.

Take at least 20 close up photos of individual plants that use shallow depth of field. There should be something in the foreground and something in the background. Don’t shoot from an aerial or bird’s-eye view for these photos. Sometimes the foreground should be in focus, sometimes the mid distance and sometimes the things in the far distance. Use the shooting mode Av, set the f-stop to f/4 with auto ISO. Make sure that your shutter speed is faster than 1/60 th of a second and that the blur in the photo is shallow depth of field and not motion blur.

Put your 30 photos in an album on Flickr. Send your best example of perspective and of shallow depth of field to the class group.

Week 9 – Depth of Field, Aperture, and Perspective

CUNY Photo Challenge

Submit your best image before March 28th.

Depth of Field

Depth of Field-The distance between the nearest and farthest points that appear in acceptably sharp focus in a photograph. Depth of field can be shallow or extensive. While the term includes the word depth, depth of field refers to focus.

Shallow Depth of Field

Shallow depth of field is commonly used in portrait photography to separate the subject from the background and in food photography.

Extensive Depth of Field

Extensive depth of field is often used in landscape photography and photojournalism.

The depiction of space

Perspective-the representation of a 3-dimensional space on a 2-dimensional surface by converging lines, diminishing scale and/or atmospheric perspective.

Canyon, Broadway and Exchange Place. 1936.
Photographer: Berenice Abbott

Sometimes photos combine perspective and shallow depth of field.

Photographer: Michael Kenna

How to control depth of field (with a camera)

These four factors control depth of field:

  • lens aperture 
  • focal length
  • camera-to-subject distance
  • sensor size.

Aperture

Aperture is the size of the opening that allows light to hit the camera’s sensor when the photograph is taken. 

  1. Aperture values are expressed in numbers called f-stops. A smaller f-stop number means more light is coming into the camera and will create shallow depth of field. A larger f-stop number will let less light into the camera and create extensive depth of field.
  2. The full stops for aperture are: F2, f28, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16, f22, f3

Focal Length  is the distance from where the light converges in the lens to the sensor. If it is a short distance then the lens is a wide angle lens and shows a lot of the scene. If it is a long distance, the lens is a telephoto lens and it magnifies the scene. Wide angle lenses create extensive depth of field while telephoto lenses create shallow depth of field.

Camera-to-subject distance is how far the subject is from the camera. If everything is far from the camera, it is easier to achieve extensive depth of field. If the main subject is very close to the camera and the background elements are far from the camera, it is easier to achieve shallow depth of field.

It is the small size of the sensor that makes cameraphones so good at achieving extensive depth of field. It is also the main reason it is so hard to get your cameraphone to achieve shallow depth of field.Sensor size-the smaller the sensor the easier it is to achieve extensive depth of field. Bigger sensors allow for shallow depth of field.

 Bokeh-Bokeh comes from the Japanese word boke (ボケ), which means “blur” or “haze”, or boke-aji, the “blur quality.” Bokeh is pronounced BOH-Kə or BOH-kay. 

 — From http://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/article/h0ndz86v/bokeh-for-beginners.html

Lab Exercises

Lab 8: Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Homework

HW 7:Space and Focus

HW 6 – Freezing Motion

Working outside in the day, freeze the motion of athletes, roller skaters, skate boarders and bike riders, dancers, jumping dogs or try a fountain. Get your friend or brother or sister to blow bubbles, jump rope, go on a swing. Try at least two different types of subjects ie soccer players and bikers, kids on swings and dancers. Capture the decisive moment. The soccer player when their leg is fully stretched out in a kick, a bike rider doing a wheelie. Don’t be shy. Fill your frame with the action.

Subjects that don’t get credit: cars, tiny birds far away, fans, water in your facet.

Use a shutter speed 1/400 sec or faster.

If using a cameraphone outside in bright light, it will automatically use a fast shutter speed. If you are working with less light, use Lightroom or other app that lets you set the shutter speed.

Post shots of at least two different activities to an album on Flickr for a total of 30 shots. Please don’t include all of the times you missed: shots out of focus, the back of receding bike riders, etc. Just your best work. Send your best two to the class group.

Due Sept 19, 12:00 noon.

Week 8 – Shutter Speed: Freezing and Blurring Motion

Inspiration

Shutter Speed

Shutter Speed is the length of time that the sensor is exposed to light to create the photograph. It is measured in seconds or fractions of a second.

The full stops for shutter speed are: 30”, 15”, 8”, 4”, 2”, 1”, . sec, ., 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000, 1/4000, 1/8000

Doubling the time, doubles the amount of light that reaches the sensor.

When shooting with a cameraphone and the Lightroom Photoshop app, you can set the shutter speed of your cameraphone between 1/10,000 and 1/4 sec.

A good rule of thumb when shooting with a camera is: Any shutter speeds slower then 1/60 require the use of a tripod. When shooting with a cameraphone, you will need a tripod to shoot at 1/15 or slower.

Resource

Capturing Motion

Your choice of shutter speed will change the way motion is captured in the photograph.

Frozen Motion-Motion is stopped and captured in the frame with a fast shutter speed.

World Sports Photography Awards Aquatic winners

World Sports Photography Awards Basketball

Maria Baranova: Performance

How to freeze motion:

  • Use a shutter speed of 1/ 500, 1/1000 or faster.
  • Use the AF mode – AI Servo.

Auto Focus

AF Area Selection Mode: facial recognition, single point Spot AF, Single Point AF, AF Point Expansion, Zone AF, Large Zone AF.

One Shot is for still subjects. AI Servo is for moving subjects.

Timing

The exact moment that you take the picture is as important as how long the shutter speed is. This is often called:

The Decisive Moment: A term coined by Cartier Bresson- “the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression.”

Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris. 1932
Photographer: Henri Cartier-Bresson

Drive Mode

For really fast motion, try a burst mode either high or low continuous. continouso

Blurred motion

Moving elements blur with a longer shutter speed.

Inspiration:

Lee-Ann Olwage, The Big Forget

Matthew Pillsbury, Sanctuary

How to blur motion:

  • Use a slower shutter speed – 1/4 sec to 30″ or even longer
  • Direction-if the subject moves parallel to the picture plane there is more visible movement than if the subject moves toward or away from the camera.
  • Focal length-a subject will appear blurrier when photographed with a telephoto lens than when photographed with a wide-angle lens.

Lab Exercise

Freezing and blurring motion

Homework Assignment

Freezing Motion

HW 5: Reflections

Due March 19, 12 pm. 4 pts. 30 photos of reflections.

Reflection – 1. the throwing back by a body or surface of light, heat, or sound without absorbing it.

Working outside during the day, photograph reflections to create strong compositions that include a combination of elements that are seen directly and by reflection. Reflections can be found in water, windows, and cars among other surfaces. Do not confuse reflections with shadows. Working outside during the day, take enough photographs to end up with 30 interesting photographs with reflections.

No credit will be given for improperly exposed photographs or out of focus photographs. No credit will be given for photos taken inside without sufficient light.  Tone your photos in Lightroom if they are under or overexposed.

Upload to an album on Flickr. Send your best two to the class group.

Reflections example by Sandra Tan:

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