Hands

ASSIGNMENT - HAND PHOTOGRAPHY

Create an image showing a hand or hands. Research position, style and lighting. Concentrate on lighting. Soft hands should not be lit as if they have worked a life down the pit.

Use props creatively

RESEARCH

http://www.pinterest.com/thejad/hand-photography/

PHOTOS

5f 1/25
I added linear curves, reduced the saturation and placed a b/w filter for darker over this image in Photoshop. To show the detail and definition in the hands as a classic portrait.

 4.5f 1/40
I reduced the saturation and adjusted the curves using linear. I wanted the fingers/hand to seem as though they were coming out of the darkness and touching the light. Almost ethereal.

4.5f 1/25
I adjusted the curves (linear), reduced the saturation and filtered b/w lighter
I like that the fingers are just touching each other and the light and that two fingers are highlighted in particular while the rest is darker and detailed. This give it an edge.

8f 1/20 I wanted to detail hands reading a book in a classic old world setting. Carol has unique hands and uses this finger to follow the line of text and I wanted to capture this with this picture.
 I adjusted the curves (linear) and reduced the saturation. I then colourised it red/orange to make it look sepia. Old and classic. Timeless.

4f 1/20
I wanted the foreground in focus and the background out of focus so chose a shallow depth of field.
I wanted to show the fold in the book and both hands on the text.
I adjusted the curves (linear), reduced the saturation. Colourised it red/orange (sepia).
Another classic shot.

5f 1/30 I wanted the flower to appear small and delicate in the hands and to soften and feminise the hands. As though the flower was being plucked/picked.
I adjusted the curves (linear). I then highlighted the flower using the magnetic lasso and added it to a new layer so that I could colourise it and increase the saturation. I wanted the flower to stand out from the hands. I reduced the saturation on the hands.

8f 1/30

The Dogs in Park Bridge

Of course it was difficult to get Frankie to sit still and pose in the right place and right direction. And look at the camera. This was either going to take a lot of time and effort (and treats) or I'd have to improvise and take what I could get. What I wanted was a good shot of Frankie to send to her vets as a thank-you following her recent operation - so I wanted her right leg in shot and her looking well and active outdoors. Of course she's sitting on it here so that's no good. I also wanted Park Bridge in the background but she wasn't co-operating with that angle.

Cute face. I've really discovered lowering the f/s to open the aperture but reduce depth of field to create some nice looking close-up shots like this one. Eyes in focus, nose and ears out.

 Another sad droopy face with a low aperture.

 Decided to try another angle and get the chimney in. She stood at last! But the lead ruins it a bit. I was shooting for a cloudy day which was perfect as there was lots of natural light but it was soft and not harsh. Everything was lit well. So we have a bright white dog and deep red chimney. It's a shame she's hiding that leg again...

Lovely shot of her waiting to have a run/play. I decided to change to shutter priority and shoot at a speed of 1/125 in case she moved as she was running around quite a bit.

My other dog Chance jumped in the water for a swim so I tried to get a good shot of him doing his thing but I think that the angle is too high and I'm too far away. He looks cute in the reeds though. I don't think that this water is even here in the summer!

I tried to get another action shot of Frankie but the sun came out and it's really made the contrast too harsh and quite ugly. I should have changed the white balance and possibly the shutter speed to be faster but the light was changing rapidly and the dog was moving quite quickly.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

 

 

 The light was terrible and it was threatening to rain - finally made me order a lens hood

Song Lyrics

Watch the video HERE

Well, I know the feeling
Of finding yourself stuck out on the ledge
And there ain't no healing
From cutting yourself with the jagged edge
I'm telling you that, it's never that bad
Take it from someone who's been where you're at
Laid out on the floor
And you're not sure you can take this anymore


So just give it one more try to a lullaby
And turn this up on the radio
If you can hear me now
I'm reaching out
To let you know that you're not alone
And if you can't tell, I'm scared as hell
'Cause I can't get you on the telephone
So just close your eyes
Oh, honey here comes a lullaby
Your very own lullaby
 
Please let me take you
Out of the darkness and into the light
'Cause I have faith in you
That you're gonna make it through another night
Stop thinking about the easy way out
There's no need to go and blow the candle out
Because you're not done
You're far too young
And the best is yet to come

Well, everybody's hit the bottom
Everybody's been forgotten
When everybody's tired of being alone
Yeah, everybody's been abandoned
And left a little empty handed
So if you're out there barely hanging on...

Macro Photography - Fruit and Veg

Pintrest Research (Inspiration)

DPS Hints and Tips

"You need to be close enough to your subject to be able to focus with macro filters. The only thing macro filters do is to allow you to focus closer. what type of filter are trying to use (+1? +3? Etc.)? I found that the +1 is useless"

"I have found (and read) is that you must manual focus"

"What I found was that you will have to be very close to focus at all, and like using a true macro lens, you will have very little focal distance. Use a tripod and manual focus. If the camera won't focus at all, then you are probably too far away, or possible too close. You may only have a few millimeters of focal length to work with"

Photographs:

It was useful to understand that the depth of field was very shallow and so I could only focus on parts of the frame rather than the whole frame.

ISO worked best at 100 due to the intense light source and the more light the better. I used a light box and three additional lights - all domestic. I didn't use flash as I only have the crab flash attached to my camera and it would be too far away.

I couldn't get too close to the subject but I had to be close enough. A few centimetres was about right.

f/s worked best at 10-16 but I often had to use 8 for camera shake as my tripod isn't very steady/good and I don't have a remote trigger.

Self-Portrait

RESEARCH

Pintrest Board

PHOTOS

U1 LO1.4 Equipment and Accessories

Hama Star 61 Tripod

UV Filter

Crab Flash Diffuser