Assignment 1 – Beast to Beauty

[Nardia Buist]

I have resized the images as the files are huge SOOC. Hope this is ok.

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[Duncan Rawlinson]

Assignment 1 – Beast to Beauty

Hi there,

I think there was some confusion about not getting back to you fast enough. Did you post these before or we’re they missed?

First things first, thanks for submitting your assignment and thanks for enrolling.

If you ever have any concerns or questions just email Office@PhotographyIcon.com

You can also follow on Twitter @PhotographyIcon

Also your Nikon D800 shoots very high resolution images and that’s great! Just be sure tp export your photos as high res as you can such that they are under 10MB. 10MB is the file size limit for uploads here. But please feel free to upload big images. The bigger the better really so we can look at the details.

Here is the EXIF data for these images:

IPS-Assignment-1-After.jpg
http://photographyicon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/IPS-Assignment-1-After.jpg
Date Time Original: 2014:04:05 19:06:03
Exposure Time: 1/20
F Number: f / 2
Exposure Program: Manual
ISO Speed Ratings: 1600
Metering Mode: CenterWeightedAverage
Flash: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Focal Length: 50mm
White Balance: Manual white balance
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D800
LensInfo: 500/10 500/10 14/10 14/10
LensModel: 50.0 mm f/1.4
Lens: 50.0 mm f/1.4
Exif Version:
Color Space: 1
Pixel X Dimension: 600
Pixel Y Dimension: 400
Date Time Digitized: 2014:04:05 19:06:03
Subsec Time: 70
Subsec Time Original: 70
Subsec Time Digitized: 70
Shutter Speed Value: 4.32
Aperture Value: 2
Max Aperture Value: 1
Light Source: Fine weather
Focal Plane X Resolution: 2048.40
Focal Plane Y Resolution: 2048.40
Focal Plane Resolution Unit: 3
Sensing Method: One-chip color area sensor
File Source: DSC
Scene Type: Directly photographed
CFA Pattern: 854
Custom Rendered: Normal process
Exposure Mode: 1
Digital Zoom Ration: 1
Focal Length In 35mm Film: 50mm
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Gain Control: High gain up
Contrast: Normal
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Subject Distance Range: Unknown
ExifIFDPointer: 220
Orientation: 1
X Resolution: 72
Y Resolution: 72
Resolution Unit: 2
Date Time: 2014:04:05 20:02:54
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Macintosh)
DateCreated: 2014-04-05T19:06:03.007

IPS-Assignment-1-Before.jpg
http://photographyicon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/IPS-Assignment-1-Before.jpg
Date Time Original: 2014:04:05 17:36:16
Exposure Time: 1/60
F Number: f / 7.10
Exposure Program: Manual
ISO Speed Ratings: 3200
Metering Mode: CenterWeightedAverage
Flash: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Focal Length: 50mm
White Balance: Manual white balance
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D800
LensInfo: 500/10 500/10 14/10 14/10
LensModel: 50.0 mm f/1.4
Lens: 50.0 mm f/1.4
Exif Version:
Color Space: 1
Pixel X Dimension: 600
Pixel Y Dimension: 400
Date Time Digitized: 2014:04:05 17:36:16
Subsec Time: 60
Subsec Time Original: 60
Subsec Time Digitized: 60
Shutter Speed Value: 5.91
Aperture Value: 5.66
Max Aperture Value: 1
Light Source: Shade
Focal Plane X Resolution: 2048.40
Focal Plane Y Resolution: 2048.40
Focal Plane Resolution Unit: 3
Sensing Method: One-chip color area sensor
File Source: DSC
Scene Type: Directly photographed
CFA Pattern: 854
Custom Rendered: Normal process
Exposure Mode: 1
Digital Zoom Ration: 1
Focal Length In 35mm Film: 50mm
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Gain Control: High gain up
Contrast: Normal
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Subject Distance Range: Unknown
ExifIFDPointer: 220
Orientation: 1
X Resolution: 72
Y Resolution: 72
Resolution Unit: 2
Date Time: 2014:04:05 18:15:35
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Macintosh)
DateCreated: 2014-04-05T17:36:16.006

You’ve certainly nailed the assignment and done exactly what it asked for. You’ve taken a mundane object and used photography to make it appear more interesting and appealing. You’ve simplified the background, you’ve used shallow depth of field, and a reflection.

So either your instincts are good and you’ve got a good eye or you’ve been a shooter for some time now. Whatever the case you’ve done very well!!! Good job!!!

Maybe you can tell me a bit about your goals and your history with photography.

I have only a few minor notes for these images.

First it appears as though either your ISO is set to auto or it is being used incorrectly. For an image like this of something in a controlled environment that isn’t moving you should shoot as low ISO as you can. ISO in simple terms is just how sensitive your camera’s sensor is so when it’s dark you might have to use a higher ISO to make your sensor more sensitive to capture more light. In this case you used ISO 1600 and 3200 respectively and those are both very high. The reason you don’t want this is because at these higher ISOs your images become noisy.

In terms of your use of shallow depth of field here there is really no advantage in a photograph like to use such shallow depth of field. There is literally only one element in the frame so it should probably be completely in focus, not just part of it.

All else equal the smaller the f-number the shallower the depth of field. In this case f2 for your after image and f7.1 for your before image. Don’t worry if none of this makes perfect sense at this point, you will learn much more about this as you progress through the course.

Often simplifying your background like this is a great idea nine out of ten times. In this case it may have been more interesting to add a hand or a person to the frame! It’s counterintuitive but often adding people to your photos makes them better. Take a look at this:

Take Better Photos by Including People

Overall you’ve done a great job here.

Really think about this when you’re shooting, think to yourself what can I do to not only capture this, but capture it in an interesting way.

This is easier said than done!

[Nardia Buist]

Thanks for your feedback Duncan. Yes I have been shooting for about 7 months now. I started another course and while it has proved very useful I felt it was set at a much more advanced level, it assumes that the photographers have the basic understanding and knowledge of photography which I did not have. I really needed something that would fill in those gaps for me which so far I feel it this course really has.

At this point I am just a hobbyist photographer, I am not sure whether I want to take it further and make it a business but I am in the midst of setting up a website for my portfolio and just seeing where it takes me. If you are interested please take a look you will have to excuse the lack of images at this point as I am still adding them as I go.

As for the ISO’s I am not sure what happened there to be honest! I only use my camera on manual now and usually very careful, I may have left it set from the last photo I took for the first one. And I am not 100% sure what happened with my secnd image, obviously I wasn’t thinking. Generally I will only use ISO 100 – 200.

Once again thank you for your feedback 🙂

[Duncan Rawlinson]

Excellent.

Trust me I can relate to not knowing what happened with the ISO. I was flying in a small four seater plane once and trying to shoot in somewhat lowlight and I accidentally lowered my ISO and didn’t notice until it was too late. The decisive moment was gone.

See you on the next assignments.

[Author]

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