Manipulation - Initial ideas

Having seen manipulated images of professional photographers in class, my initial thoughts are those of taking animals from an image and placing them in a different setting, though this will depend on any difficulties involved.  Another idea is simply to change the background of images to create something unexpected, and maybe collate a few different images (or parts of) into one, and /or layer them together.

My Preparation

For the photographs that I have taken and shown in my blog so far, my preparation for these was as follows:-

Making Waves:

I took this image whilst on walkabout during college class and walked behind the college in the park grounds onto the bridge where the duck was performing in the river Trent. It was the second time I had used the camera and didn't know how to operate all its controls properly.
Equipment (or kit) I used:
*Canon EOS 5D mark II camera with relevant batter installed inside
*L series Lens 24-105mm
*SanDisk Extreme CompactFlash card 8gb, 60mb
 Later, on a computer I adjusted the exposure and size.

Within weeks of taking Making Waves I was studying the  camera instruction manual and a DVD that told me specifically how to use this camera.  I found the DVD to be of great help rather than just reading the book, though obviously I am still experimenting and learning.

Trunk Body:
Was taken  one evening at dusk when I noticed the light on the tree as the sun was going down. I used the equipment as listed above, now with a UV filter attached to the end of the lens for protection and to prevent flare.  I will continue to use this kit unless otherwise stated. The light had a sort of golden glow which I liked.  I later cropped into the image on the computer.

Droplets:
 These shots were taken in the morning  when the sunlight was spotlighting the lovely pinks. I used the above same equipment.

Home Fingers:
 I was aware that I needed to take different light images and waited for a sunny day to take shots of the same tree at different times of the day. I used the above same equipment.

Mooving and Monster Tree:
I took these shots when I went out to lunch one day with my parents and leaving the eatery spotted the cows in the field.  I had put the camera in the car, just in case, as it was a sunny day. At this same time I went to check a tree out that I had previously seen.  However whilst looking for the original tree,  I came across another tree I liked, where the light was nicely resting on it.  This was Monster Tree, which I now consider to be one of my best shots to date. I used the above same  equipment and later computer cropping (Monster Tree only).

Hurdles and The Eye Road:
I had gone out on a designated 'im going out with my camera' afternoon at the weekend for a drive round country lanes in the hope of seeing some views to capture, and stopping the car at such views to get out and take relevant images.  I used the above same equipment with computer cropping later (The Eye Road only).

Walk With Me:
I had gone out on a camera field trip on a cold day and prepared by wearing 2 pairs of socks, trainers, 2 jumpers, coat and a pair of fingerless gloves. I used the above same equipment.

As I walked around experimenting with different scenes, I felt myself getting carried away, knowing I could delete any shots I didn't want later. But then as I was making my way back to the car and still shooting, my camera showed the 'card full' message.
 Had I really took between 300-400 images? I was surprised that I had and this sadly left me franticly trying to delete some there and then,  in the hope of catching this next particular scene where I was convinced the light was just right.  I felt alittle narked with myself; Surely photographers don't have to delete as they go, I thought, and next time I would be better prepared.
Later I discovered that I had the camera settings to take images in jpeg and raw setting, therefore taking up lots more space than necessary.  I had decided to shoot some  images in raw due to the fact that I had heard that later more can be done, maniuplation wise, using that setting and I wanted to see the difference.  I have since gone back to jpeg images only.

What went Wrong:
The wrong setting taking up too much memory and not having another compact flash disc with me as a spare.

What went right:
The equipment I used did suit my subject matter.  I found the lens to be very versatile and the camera produces some good results.
I thought I had taken some shots I could use in my blog, and later viewing them on the computer, I found I had.

The Light Task

We were set a task to take pictures of an object at different times of the day, morning, midday, tea time and a night shot. I took a favourite tree.

Morning 

                                                                      Home Fingers

                                                     shutter 1/500 aperture 11.0 iso 400

I took this picture  at 8.40am on a  sunny day.

                  

                                                                           Midday                        

                                                        shutter 1/400 aperture10.0 iso 200

                                                                            Night 

                                                          shutter 2"5 aperture 4.0 iso 320
                                                                    (slow shutter)

The night shots were taken at 7.00pm in November.  I do not have a flash on my camera.  Light is coming from a street lamp from the left behind the hedge. I could see the moon in the sky behind me so decided to take the shot again, from the other side of the hedge to include the moon. I am wondering if it played some part  in the lighting set up? And there appears to be a UFO in the frame?

                                                                            Night    

                                                          shutter 2" aperture 4.0 iso 3200

                                                                     (slow shutter)

This is the shot from the other side of the hedge, with the moon showing and a small planet. I like the scene from this angle.  The lamp light now comes from the right and the image is more lit up. The tree  makes me think of 'ET's' finger. It is one that has been cut back, but retained for a reason.

What Went Wrong:-

I forgot to take the tea time shot and it was dark before I knew it. I will come back with one this same month, but it will be a different day.....I am waiting for a sunny one.

What Went Right:-

I like the night scenes improvising with different light to light up the subject.

What I learned:-
The camera chose slow shutter speeds for the night shots (2 and 2.5 seconds) and as I had not used a tripod for these, the details were not as clear as those taken with faster shutter speeds (morning and midday).


                                                                          Tea Time

                                                       shutter 1/30 aperture 4.0 iso 3200

I took this at 4.30 in the afternoon when daylight was fading and the street lamp had already come on (the other side of the hedge from the left). The sun also sets from the left.  I can see that the brightest, clearest image of them all is the one taken at midday.

Manipulation 2

                                                      
We  watched a slide show in class showing manipulated imagery. Then we were set a task to:-

* Divide 2 images into 6 portions and use different filter effects in each portion.
* Layer 2 images on top of each other and cut out part of an image to place ontop of an image.
* Add text onto an image.

This is image 1 I chose of the 2 images for filter effects:-

There wasn't alot happening in the sky so I chose the stronger filters for the top 3 boxes and tried to keep aspects of the image still showing in my chose of filters for the bottom 3 boxes.

                                                
I divided  image 1 into 6 sections (or boxes) using the crop too and rulers:
  First I dragged the image from the desktop and placed it over the photoshop icon in the dock  (set of icons at bottom of computer screen).  Then by pressing cmd 'r' brings the rulers to the top and left side of the image.  By checking the image size from the top icon; image, image size you can get an idea by the width and depth measurements in millimetres where you want to put the ruler lines ie. one horizontal one approx middle of image and 2 vertical ones at approx thirds into the image.  To do this you click the mouse in the white area above the ruler markings at the top and drag down, and a horizontal line appears and you drag and place it where desired.   Similarly by clicking the mouse in the white area on the left of those ruler markings you can drag a vertical line, or more (2 in this case) inwards and place where desired.
I now had the 6 boxes so then in the left box of tool icons I clicked on the top left crop tool,  placed mouse in the top left corner of the image and dragged down to the opposite bottom corner of that top left  box.  It highlights the box by a dotted line shimmering around it.   Then I clicked on the filter  at the top and chose a filter to use for that box.  A sub menu comes up and I then chose a further option.  After this I highlighted the second box in, then filter and chose a different one... and so on until all the boxes were filtered. I then saved the image by closing photoshop, whereupon  a box appears asking if you want to save the image as amended.

The filters I used for each box were:-
top left - filter, stylise, solarise
top middle - filter, render, clouds
top right - filter, stylise, tiles
bottom left - filter, distort, diffuse glow
bottom middle - filter, sketch, torn edges
bottom right - filter, pixelate, crystallise (cell size 72)

This is image 2 of my images for filter effects:-

Again I was using what I consider the heaviest or stronger filters in the top boxes than the bottom ones.

 I used the same method as in image 1 with the following different filter effects:
top left - filter, artistic, neon glow
top middle - filter, sketch, bas relief
top right - filter, texture, patchwork
bottom left - filter, artistic, underpainting
bottom middle - filter, render, lighting effects
bottom right - filter, texture, craquelure


Next I put two images on top of each other by dragging 2 of my images from destop into photoshop. Then I moved the top image off and slightly to the right, by clicking on the tab at the top of both images. Once the images were side by side, I clicked on the second image (the one on the right) and dragged the inside part back over the background image and altered the opacity to show one image through the other:-


I used this wilderness scene as a background image:

and placed this image of Minky, my cat, on top:

To produce Wild Minky:

My idea here was that I had taken a wild look of 'Minky" so I thought I would place him in the wild, or onto a wilderness sort of image.  I like the effect it produced, so I am now thinking I could get into this Photoshop malarky.

Next was to cut out a piece of image and put it onto another image.  I placed 2 images in photoshop by dragging them both off my desktop over the photoshop icon at the bottom.  These were the 2 images  I used:

 I clicked onto the tab of the sheep image to bring that to the front.  I clicked on the lasso tool in the tool box then in the box at the top, double clicked on the magnetic lasso tool. I used the tool to cut round the sheep in the foreground, then double clicked to stop the lasso tool.  Then I clicked on edit and cut, then on the tab at the top to bring up the background image, and edit and paste. The sheep was in the scene high up in the middle so  then I used the move tool to move it where i wanted. I tried to bury his feet in the snow bits to make it look like they were covered by the snow slightly, so as to not make it look as though it had just been placed on top.   Then I flattened the image, by clicking on layer at the top, and  flatten layer.

This was the result.  I had wanted to place some animals in different surroundings to where I had originally taken them, and will do more of this later.

Next was to make an image look like it had a sepia effect:

I took the following image of a moon behind a tree late at night:

I then enhanced the colours and rotated the image:

Following this I added a sepia effect as follows:

›

First I opened the history box to show what I was going to do (my actions would appear in that box) by clicking on 'window' and 'history'.  Then I had to desaturate the image by clicking on image, adjustments, desaturate.  This created a monochrome (black and white) picture. Then I clicked on layer, new adjustment layer, colour balance layer (to bring up the colours box). I increased the cyan/red bar to +38 and decreased the yellow/blue bar to -50 (these are slider bars that move up and down). When I was happy with what I thought resembled a sepia effect, I saved the image as a jpeg file, in maximum so that if it was ever printed out, it would have the best quality applied to it.  I took a screen shot of the image with the history box, by holding down command, shift, and figure 4 buttons together, taking the mouse to the top left corner, and dragging down through the image and the history box together (I had placed the history box next to the image first, by dragging it over).
                                          

Then we had to type some words on an image... a kind sheep had posed for me when I was out in the field:

Blue sheep

shutter 1/500 aperture f9 iso 200

I took the image from my desktop and placed it into photoshop.

Then from the tools box I clicked on T (for type) and when the icon changed, I amended the text size box to 300 (that is how big you want the text to be). I typed the words 'ba ba' just to the right and slightly above the sheep. After that I pressed the T icon in the top box to warp the text and chose the 'rise' style and this waved the text. I then ticked the little box to save it.

Equipment used for above images:

*Canon Eos 5D mark II camera with battery

*L series Lens 24-105mm

*SanDisk Extreme CompactFlash card 8GB

Composition and images

Composition is deciding what to include and what not to include in the frame, when taking a photograph. It is the arrangement of many elements (as follows), all of which I hope to show throughout my images along the way:-

* Lines  *Shape  *Form  *Tone  * Colour  *Texture  *Pattern  *

More than one of the above elements ( most likely) will appear within the same image. The arrangement of  these elements is achieved by the photographers choice of ideas, position and camera set up when taking the shot and there are factors to be considered:-

Shooting angle - high/low/tilted/tripod. Taking below/above/eye level of  the subject.
Reflections  - in water/glass etc.
Light and shadows - the type of light (sun, lamp etc) the direction it comes from and way it falls onto the subject, the time of day and year.
Distance - standing close or away from the subject, foreground/background detail.
Lens control - zooming in or out, what to be in focus/out of focus. What type of lens/filter etc.

Also there are some basic rules of image capture to bear in mind:-

The Rule of  Thirds:
 If you imagine a 'noughts and crosses' matrix box in your viewfinder when looking to take a shot and place your subjects on the lines where they meet  ie. approx. one third up or down, and/or one third in from right or left edge, then that would be following this rule.

Lines to Guide the Eye:
Lines in an image can show perspective or lead the eye towards a chosen element/subject or conclusion ie. the lines of a road or path may lead the eye down to its end.

Frames within Frames:
As a frame surrounds a picture and focuses the eye inward, you can frame your subject with elements of the image to lead the eye inward more. ie taking a shot of a window frame to show the contents within.

Balance of Tone:
This is where dark and light areas of the image balance/ emphasise each other by selected placement ie. lots of light to bit of dark or visa versa.

So there is quite alot to consider with the composition of taking a photograph just as there is in a painting or drawing.
 We were set a task to produce 10 images, and use 3 or 4 of them  to show several elements of compostion:-

Trunk Body

This is a cropped image (see original below) of a trees trunk for a close composition showing a foreground in focus and background out of focus; to highlight, texture, shape, form and balance of tone.

shutter 1/125 aperture 4.00 iso 640

This was my original image showing reflections of the leaves on the trees trunk from the sun light coming from the right. It also highlights shape and pattern. I held the camera at an upwards angle.

Hurdles

shutter 1/4000 aperture 4.00 iso 800

In Hurdles I am trying to show the Rule of Thirds with the sky and grass lines, distance (far), tone (as in the mood of the image), and pattern of the hurdles. I consider the mood to be open and exilarating. I was driving past this scene when I stopped to take a shot and remember thinking "yes I want to take more". I like the rolling hills with the sun light hitting its peaks, coming from the left (for a change). The different shades of greens and lonely tree in the centre appeal to me with the contrast of the white sheep (who add interest). I like the way there are different bands to the image: A pleasing scene to zoom into is how I would describe it. The sky and parts of distance trees may look abit washed out however, though there is plenty other colour to make up. I held the camera at a slightly downwards angle, because I was higher than the scene, on a hill.

               The Eye Road            

The Eye Road shows Frames within Frames with shape and lines. I like it because it is unusual. The mirror is not really a 'natural' object but the scene that it reflects is so still falls within my theme. It was a very sunny day but because the mirror was behind bush trees in the shade the camera wanted a high iso setting. I quite like the contrast of colours from the darkness of the bush to the sparce sun lit leaves... and their contrast to the maturity of the colour contained in the reflection. I like the way the reflection catches some shadows, sky and cloud with a sprinkling of the nearby overhanging tree. I find its inside detail interesting; different portions separated by lines, lines that lead the eye, and a lit up grassy area. 

Not so keen on the clumsy centre obsticle though which looks like a brick something or other and there appears to be bits on the mirror... Maybe I should have wiped it? They could be dirt, though also may be scratches and I hadn't give that any thought at the time.

 Again I have cropped the image from its original (see below) to highlight the inner frame. If I had taken the shot closer I would have got my own image in its reflection which I did not want.

shutter 1/2700 aperture 4.0 iso 800

The original image is leaf busy, but I love the  mass of russet colour. I do not like the bit of gate at the back however.

     Walk With Me

       

    shutter 1/320 aperture 9.0 iso 200

Walk With Me round the bend to see what is beyond please. I have tried to show Lines To Guide The Eye by this shot of autumns colours.  I like the way it shows the light and shadows....by the sun catching different areas of field. The mood of the image to me is relaxed and calming as that is how I felt when I took it (I was out walking alone).  I think it entices you to wonder round the bend.

 I love the natural colours where the warmth comes in from the russet leaves on the foreground floor and on the tree to the far right of the scene. The background centre tree also shows this red in its lower branches lit by the sun. I like the way this light has showcased the sheep too. Texture can be seen in the brick wall and tufty grass. The way the incoming overhanging branches greet the trees in the centre is friendly. 

All in all I really like this shot but that is probably more to do with the fact that I'm relating it to how I felt when I was there (free and great). It would be better if the leaf colours were more vivid.

Droplets 1

shutter speed 1/2700 aperture 4.0 iso 800

This image shows colour which is more vivid, distance (close) and focus where the background is all out of focus and just a centre branch in focus. I think the picture may have been better if I had tried to have the one branch coming in from the corner instead of the centre. I like the light and love the bright pinks.

Droplets 2

shutter speed 1/640 aperture 5.6 iso 800

There is more space in Droplets 2 and more detail in focus (leaves).  A flower coming in from the right side gives better effect than just one in the middle I think, though the colour is not quite so vivid. With this one I like that the right flower holds morning dew drops. 

Light @ The End Of The Tunnel

Shutter 1/200 Aperture f5.6 iso 200

I have included the  image above as another example of a frame within a frame, a more natural one.  The colours have been enhanced slightly on the above image,  to show texture in the bridge wall and a colourful scene within. The bit that Im not keen on is the telegraph pole but besides that I was pleased with the shot. I also shot from a different angle, but preferred this as it showed a kink in the shape of the archway. I thought of a fisheye lens effect as it appears the scene is coming out at you.

Reflections

shutter 1125 aperture 5.6 iso 200

Reflections in the water struck me here and I liked it for the imersing pattern. To me it looked nearly  equal.  I felt it was a peaceful atmosphere as I photographed the scene, indeed I was the only one  there at the time.   A centre line dividing land from water deviates from the rules, but I though it had effect.  I enhanced the exposure using the enhance button in i-photo, but there is still some shadow darkness to the left where details are not so visible.

Watercolours

shutter 1/125 f8.0 iso 200

In the above image I am thinking back to the rules and the rule of thirds.  I particularly like the subtle colours, and have not altered anything.  The depth of field is interesting to me and  I was looking at the darker bark tree in the background, playing king.  I feel the scene has harmony and with the warmth of the soft foreground,  has the appearance of a painting sort of effect in my opinion.  I am pleased with this one,  though the top right park of the sky looks washed out.

Equipment used for all above images:

*Canon EOS 5D mark II camera with battery

*L series Lens 24-105mm

*SanDisk Extreme CompactFlash Card 8GB

Crop or Not

shutter 1/250 f11.00 iso 200

More vibrant colour contrasts in this image with lines to guide the eye;  from grass lines front to back distant trees;  the foreground tree branches guiding me towards the distinctive sky and cloud patterns;  and the deep shadow horizontal ground line guiding me across from one foreground tree to the other.   Whilst I am not a big fan of taking photographs in the vertical position, and find it more fiddly with the tripod at the moment,  I felt it worked well here and have included it because it is one of the few I have taken using a tripod to date. 

 Equipment used: as above, plus Tripod.

Introduction to Manipulation

Marie divided the course into 2 halves, the first half for Photography study and the second half Manipulation (being the amendment or after image taken processes). She did this so that we didn't have an overall feeling of everything needing to be done all at once. We could still continue on our Photography side when we entered the Manipulation half, but the division would help the organisation of our work. I think this was a very good idea. It gave me chance to get to grips with the manual camera, computer,  and the taking of images before the need to focus or think about the amendment of them.

So now I will be studying Unit 108 (Digital Image Manipulation) as well as filling in work on the Photography side and continuing my research. I will need to produce 4 manipulated images at the end of the course, theme related with written supporting evidence, creating images that have been substantially modified for visual effect.

Evaluation to date

 Half way through the course and my thoughts are that I have learned loads. My feelings were that I was getting alittle behind with my work because not only did I not have my own manual camera when I started the course, I didn't know how to work a blog or  have any internet access at home, so I felt abit slow. Now this is sorted  and I think Ive caught up abit.

 Having been out in the field collecting relevant images:  I still need a tripod shot for my slow shutter speed image task.

 I have started to take my camera with me when I go places, rather than just on a dedicated camera out journey, because I may see things on my travels that I would have missed, especially on a sunny day...  Lunch out with my parents resulted in my 'Mooving' and 'Monster tree' shots.

I need to be thinking about the collection of 6 final images for this part of the course (assignment 102) and how to present  them at the end (assignment 107).  Also I have to plan in the total number of research pieces (10 Photographers' work).  I need to show some of their images, state why I like them, how they inspire me, and compare some of my images to their work.

 Marie has been brilliant (and others in the class which I think is really great)  and I'm loving the course and eager to come each week. Thank you to everyone that has helped me.

My first research is complete. I enjoyed it and relate my work to his (Thomas Packenham's) because I am also hunting trees to photograph. I think he respects trees in the same way I do. His choices of which trees to shoot on his travels , (determined by his three principles) and background stories, made fascinating reading with images that inspired me.  I tend to look for something alittle different with trees (ie. monsters inside) and then sometimes it can be just their form, colour, or the way the light is catching them that attracts me. I would like to read his first book in the future.

I have learned that 'light' is everything in photography and now I want to chase the light.

The Beginning - Parts Of The Camera - Aperture Control Task

                                                                  THE BEGINNING

At the beginning of the course we learned how a DSLR camera works ( 'Digital Single Lens Reflex').  We could use the college Canon manual cameras while in class to help us which is what I did. Having not really known anything about them before, or handled one, I quickly began to like the feel and look of the 'manual' camera. This is what I learned:-

                                                    PARTS OF THE MANUAL CAMERA

Apertures:

The aperture is like the iris of the eye, as its opening and closing determines how much light is let inside the camera. This in turn regulates how much of the picture will be sharp (in focus). The controls of this eye are measured by 'f' stops ( numbers prefixed by f).  If you want a narrow depth of field to your picture you would use a low number f stop (say an f2 or an f4.5) and if you want a wide depth of field you would use a higher number f stop like a f.22 or above. There are a number of f stops between these two figures to choose from too. With a wide depth of field more of your picture is in focus and with a narrow depth of field only selected items will be in focus.

Shutter speed:

Shutter speeds are measured in fractions of a second. They control how long the aperture is open for. The shutter is released when you press the button on the camera to take the shot.  If you want to freeze a moving object so it is crisp and not blurred in moving,  you would use a fast shutter speed ie. 1/125 and if you want to slow something down (streams of light from a car headlights or blur water running from a waterfall) you would use a slow shutter speed ie. between 1 second or 1/8 of a second. Shutter speeds can go to very fast speeds of up to 1/1000 of a second or more. It is best to use a tripod when taking shots with slow shutter speeds so that the image it is not all blurred.

Iso speed:

The iso speed is the camera's sensitivity to light. Therefore if its bright and sunny you need a low iso of 100 or 200 (like the old films we used to get when going away on hols) but if its darker, cloudy, overcast you may need a 400, or for night scenes an 800. You can also get speeds of 160, 3200 and 6400+.

                                                     APERTURE CONTROL TASK

I learned that I would need to label my images with the relevant information from the time of exposure. ie. Shutter speeds, aperture values, Iso speeds, equipment used (type of camera, lens, tripod etc). We were asked to present shots which show narrow and wide depth of field and fast and slow shutter speeds, as follows:

Aperture Control:

Monster tree

                                                Shutter speed 1/100.  Aperture f4.5 Iso 400
                                                                (narrow depth of field)

I took this shot with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera containing relevant battery and all following images I shoot will be taken with the same camera unless stated. The Lens on the camera is an L series 24-105mm and I zoomed in up the tree. The camera also contained a SanDisk CompactFlash card 8GB and I had screwed a UV filter onto the end of the lens for protection from marks, scratches and weather, which I will  leave on.  The branches are in focus but not the green foliage further up. I am pleased with this picture and wouldn't change anything.

 I had been dining out this day with my parents when I took these images (Monster Tree and Mooving) and spotted this tree afterwards, nearby to where we ate.  It was late afternoon when the light was falling well and creating great reflected colour on the tree.  I thought how lucky I was to have captured it.

I like to take shots of trees from different points of view. ie. from standing back to look at them as a whole, parts of them, and from standing close to look up the inside of the tree's trunk and branches. I look at their shape, colour, querkiness and anything else that catches my imagination eye,  like monsters... seemingly there is one hiding in the top branches of this tree so I've labelled it accordingly.

I love this tree for the way the light reflects on its many arms here and there and the patterns they behold. Textured tentacles follow up with the eye to welcome you through its centre body to its head at the top.  I really like the colour mix: shades of grey formed from light from the sun coming from the right, dispersed with slight green mingled to the sum of sky blue from above. The tree shows it has one button at the bottom of its coat. And of course on close inspection the monster is an added bonus. I think he may be more aparent with a crop....

                                                                  Can you see him?

I cropped into the image in iPhoto to show the upper part of the tree closer....tentacles going everywhere!

How I did this:

There is a pencil icon on iPhoto which I clicked onto (once you have the relevant image on your screen) then clicked onto the crop icon. This puts a highlighted border around the image which you can use your mouse to draw the border inward( by diagonal corners/ sides) making the picture smaller. You are condensing the details of the image to focus on just the details you want to show, then you press 'apply'. The condenced details are made full size. You can then crop in on this new scene again if you wish to make more features more aparent. Once I had done this, I dragged the image to my desktop (by clicking on it and holding the mouse down, whilst I dragged it) where I began to load it in this blog...

 To do this you click on the little picture icon on the bar at the top of the screen you are writing your text in (new post screen - it brings up an 'add image box), then click on 'choose files'. From here you make sure 'desktop' is in the top file box (using any drop down arrows to select it) and the series of numbers of your photos on the desktop will be shown within the showing box. You highlight the image you want to load on, and this image imediately appears in the box to the right. You select the 'choose' button and wait while it loads onto the 'add images' box, then press 'add selected'.
 Where you have left your cursor in the blog and/or made room for it,  is where the picture uploads  to this screen.
 Once the picture is here, you can click onto it once, it turns a light blue and sizes appear below it. The bold type size that shows is the size the picture is currently displayed at, and further size options appear in a darker blue ie. if its already bold in Medium, you have a choice of small, large, X-large, original size.

 I clicked on the cropped image of Monster tree and chose X-large, as shown above.

( I am making most of my images larger this easy way once I have uploaded them to this blog, as they come quite small)

                                                                           Mooving

                                                Shutter speed 1/100.  Aperture f22 Iso 400
                                                                 (wide depth of field)

 When a group of cows started to come down towards me at the bottom of a field, just outside the venue where we had eaten, I decided to shoot the scene just experimenting to see how it would turn out. Im using the image as it fits with the example of the aperture value I wanted to show and my theme of natural wonders......the cows just wondering down, with some of them showing their shadows with light from the sun coming from the right.  I like the image for the simple composition, colour contrast of the cows dark to mid brown tones to the deep green textured grass of the foreground, with the lighter green, to the light blue/whites of the cloudy sky. I find myself counting the cows: I caught 12 in the scene, with a springling of trees in the far off distance. The scene is well balanced in my opinion but I await its marks, and if it is, it is by luck more than judgement.

 I like the fact that a cow is perched on the horizon, the just off centre cow has his face radiating and the horizon clouds are herding together too. The blue of the sky contrasts well in my opinion, even with the band of cloud running through.
 I was standing behind a fence when I took the picture, and zoomed in with the lens. I would have liked a closer shot of the cows too.


What went wrong:
In my Mooving image I detected a speck to the right, mid way up in the scene and wondered what it could be.  I was concerned that my camera might have some sort of fault?  Later I learned that it was dust inside the lens and is quite common when using manual cameras and changing lenses.  I would need to get it cleaned professionally, which I did at a later date.

What went right:
I had a lovely day out and was pleased with my above shots when I examined them on the computer.

Shutter control:

                                                                       Making waves
                                              
                                                            shutter 1/125. Aperture 4.00
                                                                    (fast shutter speed)

 I took this shot in the evening and do not have a flash on my camera. My incorrect settings led to this image being to dark. I later enhanced it in iPhoto (using the enhance button) which added light to the image to the following effect:

How I did this:

 Similar to before, once you have your image in i-Photo on the screen you click on the pencil icon at the bottom. If it is not showing at the time, you can left click your mouse to bring up sub menus which let you select 'edit in full screen'. Once I did this the pencil icon showed. From here I clicked on the pencil and then the enhance icon. This imediately makes the image brighter, taking down lots of the shadows.

The duck had been dipping its head in and out of the water to create this rippled effect which shows well on the fast shutter speed (freezing the movement of the water waves), so I thought the image was worth rescue. I like the colours of the duck but its not close or clear enough to see its eye, so I decided to crop into it in iPhoto , and enlarge on here as follows:

The duck looks bigger and so do the waters waves. You can see its colour  better; I like the yellow beak,  emerald green head, red feet and its necklace but I still can't see its eye (maybe it had it closed) .  I was standing on a bridge high above the duck when the shot was taken. I did zoom in but next time I would like to be nearer the water for hopefully better results. I do like the patterns the waves created though and is an example of my pattern effects image. The increased size shows how bitty the water was.

Images can also be amended in Photoshop. I did alittle of this at the beginning of my blog. My aim though is to create the best possibly image I can within the camera, not really liking the idea of lots of manipulation afterwards (I may be old fashioned here) though I can see its advantages.

My slow shutter speed images to date are my night shots of 'Home Fingers' (see Light Task blog). Though I plan to take more in the future with the use of a tripod, when possible.
Equipment used in above images:
*Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera with battery
*L series Lens 24-105mm
*SanDisk Extreme CompactFlash card 8GB

Research Thomas Pakenham

"My research of other Photographers' work begins with a book that caught my eye in the college class by THOMAS PACKENHAM entitled "Remarkable Trees Of The World" (see cover below). Thomas Packenham lives in County Westmeath, Ireland, is a photographer and writer and I chose him because his work falls into my theme; I love trees and also want to photograph them, and he has spent a decade hunting and taking photographs of trees. In this, his second book, he travels the globe choosing 60 trees to shoot and write about. He produced this work in October 2002.
Packenham's  first book covered 60 trees throughout England and Ireland which he did in 1996 entitled "Meetings With Remarkable Trees." A television series followed.  He has won awards for his books, is Chairman of the Irish Tree Society and plants trees for both ornament and profit.

There was only 3  principles to the way he chose his trees: (1) "Each tree must be alive, or dead on their feet; (2) They must have strong personality ie. to the extent that his wife would say 'Wow' when they walked together in its presence; (3) They must have good face: meaning that they present a face to his camera which will make a portrait."

I admire his spirit as an explorer travelling far in pursuit of his passion. I also like the way he gives descriptive names to the trees, labelling them Gods, Godesses, Dwarfes, Methuselahs, Ghosts and Trees in Peril, highlighting how easy it is to lose grand examples of 'Natures Wonders'. He describes the trees characters and refers to them as having personalities.

I connected to his work when he described how he lost his favourite 200 year old Beech tree in his garden (see image below) due to storms. He said he felt the loss like a bereavement he had been so attached to it. This touched a chord with me as I remembered feeling quite sad when some 80 year old trees were chopped down opposite where I live, to make way for a housing development.

This is a picture of the 200 year old Beech
taken by Thomas Pakenham

"This photograph was taken before the Boxing Day storm in the final year of the millennium" It was the star tree of his book and TV series "Meetings With Remarkable Trees" and had five trunks.

I like the shape of this Beech, the way the branches reach out like a fan or part of a wheel; you can imagine it going round in a full circle like a big wheel at a fair.  The fact that it was photographed in the snow is lovely emphasising the contrast of the  hard dark trunk reaching up to the softness of the snowy foliage. I also like the way he purposely choose to have a person in the image to  show the scale. On this small picture, which  I took from Packenham's book, its hard to see the lovely blue sky that would have been coming through the wood and snow effect. Its the sort of tree I would have marvelled at too had I been there and can fully understand why it would be his favourite. Especially as he had it in his own garden, I would imagine he may have felt privileged.
Though this image (taken from Pakenham's book) has not come out as clear as I would have hoped, I wanted to include it in my log because it was one at the beginning, that enticed me to read on...

The broken branches of the tree after the storm
taken by Thomas Pakenham

It actually bought a lump to my throat when I read how he seemed heart broken to loose it. It shows how delicate trees can be, even for their great size.

Thomas Pakenham's photographs study the tree shape, age, girth, height and individuality. I found the stories behind why he had singled out the trees very interesting  ie. how our May Day May Pole was originally made from a tree; how in years gone by people had lived in the tops of trees for protection from wild animals; how loggers in Australia chop down certain type of tree (Tingles) because they make nice furniture, and how some of these there are also ravaged by fire.

He describes these old Tingles "like trolls, brutal, ugly, magnificent creatures that can live for centuries ", if left alone.

The tree that looks like a troll
taken by Thomas Pakenham

This is Packenham's photograph of a giant red Tingle near Walpole, Western Australia. " Fires had had their share of it which didnt leave much for the loggers".  I like the unusual shape of the tree,  the fact that it has been fired lends to its individuality with its burnt out areas.  I like that it still stands strong regardless...it still lives on and I would fancy that's what Packenham may have liked too from the writings in his book.   You could walk inside the trunk for close inspection and I would  if I was there.  I've never walked inside a tree before.

The House of Representatives
taken by Thomas Pakenham

Pakenham took this shot of giant Sequoias  in Sequoia National Park , California at 8 o'clock in the morning. He describes them thus:
 "These giant sequoias are elegant and feminine: cinammon-coloured titanesses, 40 or 50 feet round the waist, draped about the arms with swags of shining green, soaring 200 feet to the heavens."

 He goes on to say how they got their name from Politicians years ago who helped save the national park..."Teddy Roosevelt, the bear-hunting president was delighted to help and the politians, to reward themselves for their generosity with tax- payers money, gave political names to many of the finest trees  'Lincoln (two separate trees), ' The President',  'The Senate',  'The House' and so on".

I like his coments and the picture because of its strength...  the bold dark brown trees contrasting against the snowy carpet.  They make a statement.  There's a storm coming but they will stand their ground.  Its interesting he only shows the bottom half of their trunks but you  can imagine them going up up and beyond.  I think  the scene is stark and cold looking but the floaty foliage adds some softness, and I would still want to be there. You can imagine the stillness, the damp cold and the peace.  Someone is in the image again helping  depict the grand scale. It looks like he likes to show a figure in his images.  It may be Thomas Pakenham himself.

Justice tree
taken by Thomas Pakenham

This photograph was taken in Erle, Westphalia, north-west Germany.
In 1892 this tree was said to be the oldest oak in Germany, at 1200 years old. Stomachless now its head lives on looking eeriely dragon like.  In those days it was used as a secret court of Justice, a practice which stopped in the 19th Century whereby it was used for celebrations "(in 1819 the Crown Prince paraded 30 fully equiped infantry men inside it)"

Its fascinating.  Who could not take a picture of this tree? Looking brutish,  the leafy shrubs adds softness to a prehistoric creature.

General Sherman - The Champ
taken by Thomas Pakenham

I could not leave the tree man without showing his illustration of the largest living thing in the entire world!

The biggest tree (and thing) in the world lives at Sequoia National Park, California, and was named after William T. Sherman a brutal commander in the American Civil War. The picture was taken by Thomas Pakenham ...

 "who stood there looking up at him in November on a dismal day when a snow cloud was coming in over the tree's monsterous upper arms. "
" At 274 foot high, the victorious general, his trunk girth 60 foot, appears not to taper at all from a height of 30-50 foot (it does though but only by approx. 12 feet)"
" General Sherman himself , all 1500 tons of him,  eyes you with the bluntness of a tank in World War II (and of course, that was another of the general's incarnations)"
" and a local had said of The Champ: "each one of those branches is bigger than any tree east of the Mississipi."


General Sherman had been  compared to his rival General Grant for the top position.

" Grant had weathered a thousand years,  being the giant tree of King's Canyon National Park....General Grant is of  vast size whose foliage falls like a bright green cascade".

  Grant went on to become ' the Nations' Christmas tree in 1965, nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

  "The rivalry of the two trees went on for more than a decade and a half,  endangering the peace of two Californian counties".

  General Grant was discovered in 1862 and General sherman in 1879. The final outcome of win was judged by the American Forestry Association's complicated points system which determined it by cubic feet volume, as one of the trees had been taller (Sherman) and the other thicker.

General Grant - The runner up
( 'The Christmas Tree')
taken by Thomas Pakenham

I like both trees equally, well nearly equally. Grant to me looks stompey; his snow boots together in defeat of losing the battle. He could easity stomp on the figure with one move. His trailings come down curling nicely over his cinnamon toned body but Sherman's body is also great and not so thick set; He stands proud of his status with more mass of greenery further outstretching his soaring limbs to who knows where? His scene is awash with green, while Grant's with green and white. The neighbour trees in both images look good too.
 They are both wow scenes to me, if only for their grand size. I think they are  outstanding examples of that type of tree.  Is it coincidence that the scene that looks more christmasy with snow tints, is Grants? (and I like that fact), but its Sherman that does it for me!

I compare my work to that of Thomas Pakenham in the way that I also take photographs of trees that capture my attention. ie. Monster Tree, Alive and the following:

                                                                 Autumn Gold
                                                          shutter 1.100 f6.3 iso 200

This tree is between 200-300 years old and I think its lovely showing off its autumn colours to mix in with the surroundings.  The age, shape and colours alone would have made me take the shot but more interest comes with its hollow base hole... which needed more inspection.  I find this a rewarding angle to take the picture from but  I also took a closer shot from a diagonal angle, where it showed me another face:-

                                                              shutter 1/60 aperture 5.0 iso 200

Now clearly there is a face isn't there? It can't all be in my imagination.  I think the more you look at trees the more faces can be found?  The base hole looks spooky...I may not be looking inside, but the texture of this tree is fantastic, so intricate, I love it.

Research Colin Prior

Colin Prior - Biography

  Taken by Colin Prior 

My second research is on Colin Prior who was born in Scotland in 1958 near Glasgow and spent his early life exploring wildlife in nearby woods and fields. The Scottish highlands were close and by age 10 he had progressed onto them for exploration with his father. This helped his appreciation of the natural world.

As an adult he worked at an electric company as an Operations Manager for 5 years when he won Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in a camera beneath the waves competition, as 'Best Newcomer'. The prize trip to the Cayman islands began his first steps as a professional photographer.

He began work for a commercial diving company as a Technician because of his fascination with the underwater world and this led to his first professional phtographic job.

taken by Colin Prior

His career developed as a freelance photographer, commissioned by advertising agencies and design consultants he did work for companies including  TSB, Hilton and British Airways. His 4 year commission for British Airways on their corporate calendar helped him establish international reputation.

In 1995 he founded 'Earth Gallery', a publishing and distribution company where his prints and calendars were marketed in galleries, book shops and retailers throughout the UK.

taken by Colin Prior

He lives in Glasgow, runs a Photography school and is Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and founder member of the International League of Conservation Photographers.

I love his work! The three images that I have already featured throughout my blog are from his photo-essay on  'The Birthplace of Icebergs'  and I love the way he captures the light on the subject. The very top image here stands for what he is all about (my opinion) and shows the cameraman with the Earth's natural light.....It is Colin Prior's sign on facebook. Not that I use facebook, but I found out as I was trying to take snap shots of his images on line; the three controls (shift, comand and 4) would open a facebook page if I didn't use them in the correct order.

Prior's images stand out to me and fall into my 'natural' theme. The colours of the sky (second image up) are beautiful against the silluette of the icebergs, and the dazzling golden image above shows sunlight x-raying the iceberg to resemble an animal possibly, and its golden reflection. I find it warm, rich and gently soothing.

I like the way his site is set out with photo-essays under different headings which describe the overall theme of the pictures therein.  Examples are shown below:

by Colin Prior

taken by Colin Prior

taken by Colin Prior

This image shows a humpback whale and I like the way he caught its cold breath in the icy air. Again he  uses the sun to spot light the centre subject. We can only see the whales head but can imagine what is beneath the water. All others colours are sub- dued here. He wanted the emphasis on the whale.

It is interesting he chose to shoot this image in black and white.

taken by Colin Prior

This image cute, his big dark  eyes looking wary,  his furry paws clinching into the ice, the seal looks at home. I think his curly whiskers look delightful and Im wondering if that is sunlight or ice capping him?  I hope he's happy!

I guess Prior may've chose to photograph the seal in black and white to emphasize that that is just what the colours are in the image, black and white. Or could it be a deeper meaning like black and white photographs are very old, and so are the seals in this habitat?

taken by Colin Prior

I find this iceberg collection of pictures amazing. Just look at the blue of this water with the sea creatures head raising out. The movement on the water suggests it has just surfaced, its face happy to oblige the little birds. I like the contrast of the brilliant white ice to the coalbolt blue of the sea. The grey-blue of the backdrop sky looks good hazily, adding atmosphere.

taken by Colin Prior

Staying with the blues and the birds - this image shows how from foreground to background the sea    changes colour and calmness.

This next picture is from Colin Prior's "Alaska - In Search Of Solitude":-

taken by Colin Prior

Another great picture to me and I'm liking the bear... I have one at home (in the form of a cat named Bear) so I was happy to see this image amongst his animal shots. You can still see his eye clearly amidst all the water spray and again to me its simple composition is very effective. I would love to take a shot like this and may attempt it in the future, borrowing a friends dog.

Comparisons/contrasts to my work:

 I am thinking Prior likes to focus close in on his subjects so that it takes the maturity of the frame in some of his images (as well as wide angle big scenes), using simple composition ie. His whale, seal and bear images.  I like that and compare that fact to some of my images, ie. Making Waves, Monster Tree, Droplets and Blue Sheep.

 He likes to use colour in different shades of colour or not too many different colours in an image (in my opinion) for some of these shots and then uses more colour in the big (wide angle) scenes, just as I do. ie. comparing his images that contain just 3 colours (see second image below and second and third image up) to my Monster Tree and Trunk Body...

Then his big scenes as I call them, his wide angled ones, have more and contrasting colours to them ie. his colourful mountain scene (see third image down) and colourful sky (see fifth image down) comparing to my Walk with me, Hurdles, Morning flight (see below) and my first photo-shop sky scene, though my images are not in the same league as his obviously.

Morning Flight

shutter 1/3200 aperture 4.00 iso 800

I took this shot early one morning... I noticed the sky out the window and went trotting outside to capture it because I liked the colours and the cloud. I like that I caught a bird in flight, adding abit of interest and tried to frame the scene with trees but I didn't like that I had to capture houses in the shot too. Though they do add to the framing,  they are not natural. You can also see a plane trail. My kit was: a Canon 5D EOS Mark II camera containing relevant battery,  an L series 24-105mm lens, SanDisk Extreme CompactFlash card 8GB, 60MB/s.

 (The 8GB on the Compact Flash card signifies the space or memory of the card, and the 60Mb is about the film speed and time it takes to download the images, ie a 60Mb would be faster at downloading lots of continuous frame shots than a 30Mb) 

As an animal lover (ie. my images of duck and sheep so far)  I wanted to show some of Colin Prior's animals in the wildness. There were lots more and I could get carried away...I am thinking he is an animal lover too from his images and the fact that he is a founder member of the International League of Conservation Photographers, so I relate to this also.

taken by Colin Prior

And this image certainly looks wild and wilderness like. I like snow scenes and love mountains so this type of picture will always appeal to me. I plan to take some snow scenes when we next get snow.

Im liking the fact of scale...  the grand mount to that of the small moon in the distance. Of course it is just the distance that shows this effect. The moon in reality is the grander by size, albeit 93million million miles away. The sun highlights the peaks nicely.

taken by Colin Prior

Here the colours and contrasts have grabbed me again. They come together poetically, like an artist has painted the scene and made up the colour swatch. The contrast of the different terrain, white snow, brown rock, sun lit areas here and there, atmospheric backing cloud, all interesting and appealing. 

In front of the distant band of cloud  the grey band looks ocean like. The image has a lovely composition with the colour ways I think. There is even some moody dark cloud over hanging with a hint of threat. Very uplifting would be my descriptive. He must have felt on top of the world!

***************

The picture below is great! To me it looks like somewhere really high. I like cloud formations and find them interesting in themselves. The sea of clouds look wow and what would those people walking be thinking on approaching them? I would be thinking... its time to go!  I imagine they marvelled at the manaceing mass, half expecting it to wash over and engulf them anytime soon.  The scene looks cold with its blues but I bet its hot from the bright sun, if your adequately clothed that is. 

 I like the simple composition and simple colours; the distant mountains looking bluish from the reflected sky looking so blue with sun cloaked clouds and the white snow with grey in its shadows and walk trails. The way the cloud climbs the mountain to the right of the image effectively giving the same 4 bands of colour ( from inwards going out); white, blue, white, blue, is clever.  The walk trails that lead the eye show the direction of the travellers and I wonder if one of them had momentarily veered off, on purpose. 

                                                             taken by Colin Prior

I identify my photographs to these by way of hope. Hopeful that I may one day take some similar images  as I find these very inspiring.

taken by Colin Prior

 I will just conclude with an image by Prior of coloured cloud sky which again I am trying to take when such are available. But I would be very lucky to see and capture one as fine and fantastically coloured as this.