OCA COURSE; Exercise:Colours into tones in black and white.

Normal greyscale conversion for comparison. I don't think this differs from the yellow greyscale image, so I probably didn't do it correctly.

Yellow greyscale conversion.

Yellow Lightroom conversion.

Normal greyscale for comparison.

Green filter greyscale conversion.

Green filter.

Normal greyscale for comparison.

Blue filter greyscale conversion.

Blue filter.

Normal greyscale for comparison.

Red filter greyscale.

Red filter.

Normal greyscale conversion.

Normal full colour image.
This is part of a painting by Natasha Barnes, who lives in South Africa, and, I think, has a commission with IKEA! She seems to be a bit of a colourist. The photographs were taken with a Canon EOS 40D with 50mm macro lens, mounted on a tripod directly above the picture. I used flash as a light source because it's cloudy, dark and cold outside with 15" of melting snow. Grey card is bottom right, and the exposure was based on this. I used old Cokin filters in red, blue and green, before converting to greyscale using the easy greyscale button in Lightroom 2. The yellow filter is generated from Lightroom using the colour sliders (80% yellow, 3% the rest), but I'm not sure this has converted to b& w. This post reads from bottom to top.

OCA COURSE ASSIGNMENT 3: COLOUR

OCA COURSE

THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY

IAN GLAVES

504473

 

ASSIGNMENT 3: Colour

 

Harmony Through Complimentary Colours:

 

1. Trees against blue sky: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 17mm, 1/1600 @ F4, ISO 800.A well used cliché, but always a nice combination. The leaves were turning (almost) orange quite early this Autumn. I was caught out with the high ISO setting, as I had just been shooting in the shadows.
   
2. Post Box and Bollard: Canon 40D, 17-40mm@ 40mm, 1/400 @ F5.6, ISO 400. Although small in the frame, the bright yellow bollard in the road compliments the red post box.
   
3. Old Chairlift Pylon: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 40mm, 1/400 @ F7.1, ISO 400. This derelict chairlift, a former tourist attraction, stands in the North Bay area of Scarborough. It should be pulled down soon. The rusting red structure seems to compliment the blue sea and sky. The interesting shadow it casts looks like the Crucifix.
   
4. Telescope: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 20mm, 1/320 @ F5.6, ISO 400. There are several of these bright yellow telescopes around the sea-front, although their magnification is unspectacular to say the least! They are a nice compliment to the blue sea (if the sun shines).
   

   
    

Harmony Through Similar Colours:

 

 

1. Open-air Theatre: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 22mm, 1/400 @ F8, ISO 400. Derelict until the Council secured a multi-million pound grant for its refurbishment, the venue has just been re-opened by HMQ. They have colour coded the green seating and even labeled the colours. What more could you ask for?
   
2. Elephant Hawk Moth: Canon 40D, 150mm macro, 1/160 @ F5.6, ISO 1600. A birding friend of mine is also into moths, and sets a trap up at night when he comes to stay. We caught several of these beauties this summer. You need to be up at the crack of dawn to empty the trap, so the light is poor. This one kindly settled on a tile of similar colour. It's a shame the antennae aren't sharp, but you don't always get a second chance.
   
3. Kiosk and Flag: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 22mm, 1/500 @ F 5.6, ISO 400. This is the crazy golf kiosk in crazy purple, but I thought the red flag was reasonably harmonious, if anything can be harmonious with this edifice.
   
4. Chalets, North Bay: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 29mm, 1/100 @ F 5.6, ISO 400. Another renovation job by the Council. You can actually buy one of these seaside boxes for £35,000! The rainbow effect stands out for miles, but the red/orange/yellow ones are harmonious enough.
   

 

 

Colour Contrast:

 

 

1. Poppy field: Canon S90 Compact, 18.2mm, 1/250 @ F 8, Auto ISO 250. The red and green are complete opposites.
   
2. Open-air Theatre: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 22mm, 1/500 @ F 8, ISO 400. Another shot but with contrasting yellow and purple.
   
3. Sir Nigel Gresley: Canon 10D, 17-40mm @ 17mm, 1/60 @ F 5.6, ISO 100. The National Railway Museum at York run heritage trains down the line to Scarborough now and then. You can tell when one is due by all the photographers on the bridges. The contrast here is between the blue engine and the dirty orange overall.
   
4. Lupin: Canon 10D, 100mm macro, 1/125 @ F 25, ISO 200, tripod. I grew this! Subtle contrast between yellow and purple.
   

 

Colour Accent:

 

 

1. Post box: Canon 40D, 50mm macro, 1/80 @ F 5.6, ISO 100, tripod. This is our local postbox on a farm shed wall. You can't miss it.
   
2. Purolator filter: Canon 1D Mk 111, 100-400mm @ 170mm, 1/125 @ F 5.6, ISO 800. This was at the tractor show as featured on my blog. The yellow label stands out to make sure the owner takes note of the instructions.
   
3. Fordson Tractor: Canon 1D Mk 111, 17-40mm @ 40mm, 1/160 @ F 8, ISO 100. The red wire stands out, it's probably high voltage!
   
4. Chalets and Flats, North Bay: Canon 40D, 17-40mm @ 31mm, 1/125 @ F 5.6, ISO 400. Another big new development – I wish I knew where they get the money! The highly coloured chalets stand out against the bland apartment block. (Sorry – they are all sold).
   

 

        

OCA COURSE; Assignment 3: Colour.

Image 16: Chalets and flats, North Bay.

Image 15: Fordson tractor.

Image 14: Purolator filter.

Image 13: Post box.

Image 12: Lupin.

Image 11: Sir Nigel Gresley.

Image 10: Open-air Theatre.

Image 9: Poppy field.

Image 8: Chalets, North Bay.

Image 7: Kiosk and flag.

Image 6: Elephant Hawk Moth.

Image 5: Open-air Theatre.

Image 4: Telescope.

Image 3: Old chairlift pylon.

Image 2: Post box and bollard.

Image 1: Trees against blue sky.

OCA COURSE; Assignment 1: Missing Image

Liquid.

OCA COURSE; Assignment 2: Images

Two points.


Single point.


Deliberate shape.


Rhythm.


Pattern.


Implied triangle 2.


Implied triangle 1.


Horizontal/vertical.


Shapes 2.


Shapes 1.


Diagonals.


Curves.

OCA Course; Assignment 2: Text

OCA COURSE

THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY

IAN GLAVES

504473

 

ASSIGNMENT 2:

Elements of design

 

 

As most of my education and working life has been heavily involved with the sciences, I found this art-orientated assignment a challenge, but then I suppose that's the whole idea!

The theme for my collection of images is "Trees". I live on the edge of the North York Moors Forest Park, so there are a lot of them about. Nevertheless, finding images that fitted the brief proved difficult on occasions. Most of the images are un-cropped, with minor adjustments of exposure, contrast, saturation and sharpening using Adobe Lightroom 2.

 

1.Single point dominating the composition: Beech Plump. This is a clump of beech trees sitting on its own in the middle of a large area of cultivated fields. I don't know the origin of the name "Plump" in this context, but that's what it's called. It dominates the area by being singular and slightly higher than its surroundings, and I thought it would be more dominant if left in shade, contrasting against the sunlit field in the foreground (potatoes with tops chemically burned prior to harvesting). I used a 28-135mm zoom on maximum telephoto setting, on a tripod.

 

2. Two points: Moors. I took this image about a year ago on a bird-watching walk. I thought at the time the cloud formation was interesting, but on second look the two trees on the horizon add perspective and scale to the image. There are also implied triangles here. I used a 17-40mm lens at the widest setting, with a polarizing filter to enhance the blue sky. It was hand held.

 

3. Several points in a deliberate shape: Cones. I really struggled with this particular exercise. I hunted high and low to find an arrangement of separate trees in some sort of recognizable shape, to the extent I became a danger to other road users! In the end, more out of frustration than anything, I "arranged" these cones found under a pine tree, into a rough triangular shape. Although the forest floor can be interesting, I fear this is a dreadful photograph and I really don't like it. I used a 50mm macro lens and a tripod.

 

4. A combination of vertical and horizontal lines: Scots pines. The forest edge exposes tree trunks and branches which are normally inaccessible due to the density of growth in the commercial plantations. The field, fence and gate, as well as some of the branches, give the horizontal contrast to the vertical trunks. Not a particularly spectacular image! I used a 100-400mm zoom at about 135mm, and a tripod.

 

5. Diagonals: Larch trees. Commercial forestry is only interested in growing tall and straight trees, so they are planted close together and progressively thinned out to reach maturity at about 40 years (it's a slow business!). These are mature larch trees. I tilted the camera upward, and rotated it to position the central tree across the frame. The sunlight catching the uppermost branches added a little colour. I used the 17-40mm zoom at its widest setting, but hand-held because of the awkward positioning.

 

6. Curves: Eucalypt leaves: There is a small experimental patch of Eucalyptus trees in the forest, which, as it turns out, aren't commercially viable. They produce nice pink leaves, so I arranged these to try and show a series of curves. I could have cropped a bit closer, I think. A 50mm macro lens was used, with a tripod.

 

7. Distinct, even if irregular, shapes: "Chameleon" eucalypt bark. I went into the Eucalyptus plantation with this exercise in mind, as I knew the bark had interesting patterns. Wow! The first tree I looked at, there was this Chameleon staring at me. What a gift. I've included another bark image to show what I was expecting to see. Both were taken with the 50mm macro lens, and a tripod, with good depth of field to compensate for the curvature of the trunk.

 

8. At least two kinds of implied triangle: Nursery, and Beech roots. Wykeham Forest has fields (called nurseries) that are used to grow seedlings for new plantations across the nations' forests. In fact, it grows about 11 million every year. They are sown in straight rows five wide to facilitate mechanical harvesting. Perspective has thrown the parallel rows into a triangle, which I assume, is therefore implied and not real. A 17mm wide-angle setting and a tripod were used. The beech roots are at the other end of the age spectrum, and some have been felled because they are a danger to the road by which they stand. The roots have a firm grip on the earth, and there are three implied triangles here, one either end with apices upwards, and one centrally with apex downwards. A 50mm macro lens on a tripod was used. There are also implied triangles in the "Moors" image, the trees being roughly triangular, as is the cloud formation.

 

9. Rhythm: Deepdale Avenue. I found it puzzling to try and differentiate between "Rhythm" and "Pattern" – even the dictionary definitions don't really help. I suppose rhythm is a regularly recurring collection of elements in groups, whereas a pattern is more a geometric repetition of one element. Anyway, they seem interchangeable to me! The regularly occurring ornamental trees along this road, and the shadows cast by those on the opposite side of the road, seem fairly rhythmical to me. As the only colour was green, it looks better in grayscale. This would also do nicely for "horizontal/vertical". I used a 100-400mm zoom on the 400mm setting, but no tripod because of the traffic!

 

10. Pattern: Cypress leaves. The repetitive tiny leaflets, and the repetitive branching made me think of pattern, rather than rhythm. Again, grayscale seemed more appropriate. I used a 150mm macro lens on a tripod.

 

 

Ian Glaves.

15.08.2010.

OCA Assignment 1: Contrasts

OCA COURSE

THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY

IAN GLAVES

504473

 

ASSIGNMENT 1: Contrasts

 

Pairs:

001-002 Black/White

These are two images from my collection of several thousand bird photographs, and were not taken specifically for this assignment. Blackbirds are commonplace, but the Mediterranean Gulls are rare visitors. We have up to 6 wintering in Scarborough, God knows why, as their name implies, they come from warmer climes!

 

001: Blackbird.

Camera: EOS 1D Mk3

Lens: Canon EF 70-300 DO zoom @ 270mm.

Aperture priority, F8, 1/100 sec., ISO 800, fill-in flash.

Image cropped, saturated 10%, sharpened.

 

002: Mediterranean Gull in flight.

Camera: EOS 1D Mk3

Lens: Canon EF 70-300 DO zoom @ 300mm.

Aperture priority, F8, 1/1600 sec., ISO 800.

Uncropped image, lightened 1.5 stops, sharpened.

 

003-004 Sharp/Blunt

Nails have a sharp end and a blunt end. These close-ups were taken on a tabletop in my garage. I like the "security fence" impression of the nail points, but I'm not sure the blunt image works.

 

003: Nail points.

Camera: EOS 40D

Lens: Sigma 150mm F2.8 macro

Aperture priority, F5.6, 0.5 sec., ISO 800.

Natural light, tripod.

The nails were mounted a couple of inches above a black cloth.

Original image flipped top to bottom, converted to grayscale and sharpened in "Lightroom".

 

004: Nail heads.

Details as for 003, but exposure 1sec, @F8 using built-in flash for a little sparkle.

Converted to grayscale and sharpened.

005-006 Broad/Narrow

Between the seafront (Sandside) and the old town, there are several narrow passageways with steps leading up to the boarding houses and fishermens cottages, often called "ginnels". I thought one of these would make a good contrast with the Valley Bridge, one of the wider roads in Scarborough. In photographing the passageways, I found old streets and buildings on the harbourside that I don't remember ever having been down, so I had a good time taking some snapshots for future reference. Valley Bridge used to be the suicide centre of the North until some benefactor paid for the railings, now a prominent feature.

 

005: Passageway.

Camera: EOS 1D Mk3

Lens: Canon EF 17-40 F4 zoom @40mm.

Aperture priority, F8, 1/125 sec., ISO 200

Hand held because of pedestrians present.

Image cropped, saturated 10%, sharpened.

 

006: Valley Bridge.

Details as 005, but lens @ 17mm.

Lightened ½ stop, saturated 10%, sharpened.

 

007-008 Many/Few

There are many pebbles on Burniston beach. A few get trapped in depressions in the rocks and erode holes with the action of the sea.

 

007: Pebble beach.

Camera: EOS 1D Mk3

Lens: Canon EF 28-135 zoom @35mm.

Aperture priority, F11, 1/400sec., ISO 200

Tripod.

Image saturated 10% and sharpened.

 

008: Pebbles on rock.

As 007, but lens @ 135mm and shutter 1/320 sec.

 

009-010 High/Low

I chose to interpret this pair as high and low viewpoints. The high shot is from Spa Bridge looking into the "hole in the road", South Bay, Scarborough. The low shot is from the opposite direction. There wasn't much colour in either scene, so I converted both to grayscale (click of a button in "Lightroom").

 

009: Hole in the road from Spa Bridge.

Camera: EOS 1D Mk3

Lens: Canon EF 17-40 F4 zoom @17mm.

Aperture priority, F8, 1/100 sec., ISO 200

Tripod.

Image converted to grayscale and sharpened.

 

010. Spa Bridge from the hole in the road.

As 009, but F8, 1/90 sec., ISO 100.

 

011-012 Large/Small

I live in a rural area with several farms around. Darryl is an agricultural contractor, and this is his (very) big tractor. They cost about £100,000. The toy copy is given away free with the big one!

 

011: Darryl's big tractor.

Camera: EOS 1D Mk 3

Lens: Canon EF 17-40 F4 zoom @24 mm.

Aperture priority, F8, 1/40 sec., ISO 200

Hand held (Darryl was in a hurry).

Saturated 10% and sharpened.

 

012: Darryl's little tractor.

As above, but taken at 40mm setting, and 1/90sec.

 

013/014 Sour/Sweet

I tried to avoid the lemon cliché for sour and used a cooking apple instead. It was turned into my favourite sweet- apple pie. At least enjoyed eating the subject!

 

013: Cooking apple.

Camera: EOS 1D Mk3

Lens: EF 50mm macro F2.5

Aperture priority, F7.1, 1/320sec., ISO 200

Natural light from kitchen window.

Image cropped, saturated 10%, sharpened.

 

014: Apple pie and Ice-cream.

As above, but with off camera flash via a reflecting brolly overhead.

Manual exposure F8, 1/125sec., ISO 100

Cropped to plate edge, saturated 10%, sharpened.

 

015/016 Liquid/Solid

I scavenged some mercury from an old sphygmomanometer for the liquid part of this, and had great fun chasing it around a dish, watching it break up and coalesce "Terminator 2" style. (It's toxic, so don't try this at home folks!). I like the idea of liquid metal/solid water, and tried to reflect this with ice cubes. I was my intention to build a solid wall of ice cubes, but I couldn't get them to stand up, so I ended up photographing a solitary cube before it melted. I'm not sure it works. I converted both images to grayscale. There is also a round/square contrast here.

 

015: Mercury.

Camera: EOS 40D

Lens: EF 50 mm macro F2.5

Aperture priority, F8 1/50sec., ISO800

015 cont.

Tripod

Natural light from window.

Image cropped square, grayscale, sharpened.

The mercury was dirty, and heavy use of the clone stamp tool in Photoshop Elements was required to clean up the dust.

 

016: Ice cube.

Camera: EOS 1D Mk3

Lens: EF 50mm macro F2.5

Aperture priority, F5.6, 2sec., ISO 100

Tripod.

Natural light.

 

Ferrybridge power station and Fairburn Ings RSPB Reserve.

This landscape was taken for a talk I gave on Birdwatching in Yorkshire, and contrasts the industrial scene of the power station with the tranquil greenery and water of the bird reserve. If the habitat is right, wildlife will co-exist with man's activities.

 

 

 

OCA Course: Assignment 1: Contrasts - images

For the main text for this assignment refer to the previous post.



Rural/Industrial Contrast: Ferrybridge Power Station and Fairburn Ings RSPB Reserve.


Solid/Liquid.



Sweet/Sour.




Small/Large.



Low/High.





Few/Many.




Narrow/Wide.




Blunt/Sharp.




White/Black.