16 December 2016

A Good Winter Break To You All!

Here are some macro snowflakes for you to peruse.
The artist uses a simple point-and-shoot camera.
Enjoy!

CLICK HERE for the site.
And his other site is found HERE.
HERE'S how he does it...with an old point-and-shoot camera.

Alexey Kljatov

14 December 2016

An interactive graphic to explore correct exposure. Click the image below, or CLICK HERE.

12 December 2016

PROJECT #15: LIGHT WRITING

DIRECTIONS: At night, slow your shutter speed to a very slow time (1, 5, 10, 20, 30 seconds...BULB). Position the camera on something sturdy so it will not move during the open shutter time. Have someone, or yourself, use a penlight (or some small intense light) pointed to the camera to "write" in the air with light.

NOTE: Sparklers/steel wool are NOT required for this project. If you use sparklers or steel wool (or similar), you must get permission/supervision. You and your family are responsible for any negligent damage/destruction that may occur.

APPS:

Light writing APP for iPhone. CLICK HERE.

Holographium APP. CLICK HERE.

Light writing APP for Android. CLICK HERE.
More light writing APPS. CLICK HERE.

SITES FOR REFERENCE:
A PDF guide to light writing. CLICK HERE.
Possible light tools. CLICK HERE.
Light writing image search. CLICK HERE.
How to light write. CLICK HERE.
Light graffiti. CLICK HERE.
Light writing on Tumblr. CLICK HERE.
Here is another way to make a photograph with light writing. CLICK HERE.

HOW TO. CLICK HERE

Here are some GREAT examples. CLICK HERE.

Pablo Picasso draws with light. CLICK HERE.

Pixel Stick. CLICK HERE

Skeleton skateboarder. CLICK HERE.

(Possibly) helpful videos for further clarification: =

05 December 2016

PROJ#14: (Intentional) MOTION BLUR (8+)

THE POINT: This project will help your understanding of aperture and shutter, and require you to control both functions to achieve your desired amount of motion blur. The measure of your skill will be in how accurately you control the shutter speed to capture intentional motion blur in one part of your image while still having non-blurred parts of your composition).

SHUTTER PRIORITY:

When you set your camera to shutter priority, YOU choose the shutter speed and the camera adjusts the aperture accordingly. Example: if you choose a fast shutter, your camera will likely open up the aperture wider to compensate. If you're adventurous, set you ISO as low as you can go for the given setting. Otherwise, set the ISO to auto mode.

NOTES
For this project, you will set your SHUTTER SPEED first. By setting the shutter first, you are operating within what is called SHUTTER PRIORITY. This means that you determine the shutter speed prior to other settings. One judges the amount of blur he/she wants to record in the photograph, then sets the shutter accordingly. One sets the shutter FIRST, then adjusts the aperture to compensate for the slow shutter speed. (Reminder: a 'slow' shutter for this project may be something in the range of 1/15 of a second for daytime photos, and much slower for night/low-light photos.) Keep in mind that THERE IS NO MAGIC SHUTTER SPEED OR APERTURE SIZE for any one photograph. YOU are going to have to estimate the shutter speed based on how fast your subject is moving, how much light you have in your setting, how much blur you want to capture, etc.

BEFORE METERING your subject, set your SHUTTER SPEED to the desired speed to capture your preferred motion blur (Remember, this is an estimate on your part). Next, meter your subject and set the aperture to the appropriate setting so as to not overexpose your film.

If you are working with a point-and-shoot digital camera, set your function to a "nighttime setting" to trick the camera into holding the shutter open longer.
Do not use flash, as this will negate the blur.
Also, if you can, set your ISO to a low ISO such as 100 or lower.

TO INSURE SUCCESS:

Try the same photograph TWICE or THREE TIMES or TEN.... Once with a shutter speed slower than your subject matter, and a second time with an even slower shutter speed. You will have TWO of the same photograph, with one likely more successful.

STUDENT EXAMPLES:

SPECIFIC EXAMPLES:
1. SUBJECT MOVING w/out BACKGROUND BLUR: Half of the roll done in this method

Here is a photograph I made in Tokyo last year. The camera settings were as follows:
ISO: 100
SHUTTER: 2 seconds
f-STOP: 22
You can see that at two seconds, one gets an incredible amount of blur. It doesn't take much.

Here is another example of extreme blur:

The camera settings were as follows:
ISO: 800
SHUTTER: 20 seconds
f-STOP: 3.5

The blur in this photograph is very subtle. You can see it in the red streaks of car tail lights. You can also tell - based on how the sided of the buildings are illuminated - that the shutter was open for longer than a fraction of a second. The 20 second shutter speed gave time for the red lights to reflect off of the buildings' sides, and make their way to the camera.

2. PANNING (BACKGROUND BLURRED, but SUBJECT NOT BLURRED: Half of the roll done in this method

Here is a student photo from 2005. Based on the shutter speeds and aperture settings for the Tokyo photos, what do you think the camera could be set to for this photo to have been made?

Panning is when the camera is moving at the same rate of speed, and in the same direction as the subject. When the photograph is taken, the moving subject is crisp, and not blurred, but the background is blurred.

This technique works best when the subject is moving perpendicular to the camera. Predetermine the path of your subject and focus for the distance it will be when you plan to release the shutter. Next, center the subject in the viewfinder and move the camera with the moving subject. When your subject reaches the predetermined exposure point, release the shutter while continuing to move the camera.

Here is a photograph taken for the yearbook four years ago - a perfect example of slowed-down shutter, still camera, moving subject, and enough blur to capture the motion, but not so much as to make the subject unrecognizable.

And a perfect example of panning:

OTHER KINDS OF MOTION BLUR YOU CAN TRY:

HOW TO SHOOT LIGHT TRAILS HERE.

STAR TRAILS:

A gallery of star trails HERE.

Don Komarechka star trails and fireworks HERE.

Dan Heller star trails HERE.

How to make star trails photographs HERE.

An extreme example of making star trails photographs HERE.

LIGHT WRITING:

The alphabet written in light HERE.

Interesting light writing site HERE.

PROJECT #13: SHUTTER PRIORITY (w/worksheet)

Directions: Using your camera (or an app on your phone), complete the following worksheet as it was explained in class.

Note: If you are working with an app on your phone, you will be limited in function.

30 November 2016

LOOK: Flying Henry

Flying Henry. CLICK HERE.

29 November 2016

SHUTTER SPEED APP FOR YOUR PHONE...download prior to next class.

MOST IMPORTANT: You want an app that will give you a range of slow shutter speeds (1/8", 1/4", 1/2", 1", 10", 30", Bulb)

The shutter speed may not look like a fraction. It may just be a listing of the denominator of the shutter speed fractions. (ex: 250, 125, 60, 30, 15, 8, 4...).

If you are using your iPhone (or other) for your camera this semester, you would probably do yourself a favor by purchasing some sort of "slow shutter" app that would allow you to manipulate the shutter speed on your smartphone.

Options:

There are others available, as well.
Check them out, and give yourself more options for creativity by buying one.

CLICK HERE FOR OTHERS (iPhone).

This site (CLICK HERE) might have a shutter app for your phone.

Or this site (CLICK HERE) may have one for you.

For Android: CLICK HERE.

21 November 2016

Practice

PROJECT #12: ANTI-GRAVITY (3+ final images)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Anchor the camera in ONE spot.
2. Make an EMPTY photograph of your location.
3. DO NOT MOVE THE CAMERA...even a millimeter.
4. Put your partner in place and have them mimic a floating body language (i.e. hands, feet, facial expression...)
5. Make a few photographs of them IN PLACE.
6. Assemble the photographs as instructed.

WHAT WILL BE DUE:
1. THREE unique anti-gravity photographs (two off campus) via the methods below and the tutorial(s) given in class.
2. After Thanksgiving, bring back AT LEAST TWO groups of photos that can be made into TWO DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT anti-gravity photographs.