Jonathan Osborne - Photography

Exercise Two - Focus with a set aperture

2010-02-07T19:48:00.000Z

For this exercise find a scene which has depth - a wood full of trees, for example, a row of cars seen from an acute angle, or a crowded market. From the same place, take two or three pictures, each focused on something at a different distance. (For this to work, the lens aperture must be wide - at its lowest f-stop number.)

For this exercise a number of images were taken of a glass chess set.

All three images were taken with a 50mm lens with the aperture set at f1.8 for all images, with the Autofocus Point (AF Point) set to the centre to ensure that camera focused on a particular section of the image .

The first of these images has focused on the chess piece furthest form the camera. With the aperture fully open, in this case f1.8, the chess pieces closest to the camera are not sharp.

In the second image, focus was set on the chess pieces in the centre of the picture, now only those pieces in the centre are sharp, those pieces closest and furthest from the camera our out of focus

The final shot in this set, focuses on the pieces closest to the camera, as such those pieces that further from the camera become increasingly out of focus.

Of the three, my personal preference is on the first of these, the sharp image of the furthest chess piece against the slightly blurred background, leads the viewers eye from the blurred images in the front of the image to the sharper images back of the picture, giving the viewer more experience as they explore the image as their eye moves from front to back.

Exercise One – Focal Length and Angle of View

2010-01-31T20:18:00.000Z

This exercise required three photographs taken at differing focal lengths, the first a near life like, the second with the camera at is shortest focal length, and the final image wit the camera set to its longest focal length. For this exercise the camera was set to automatic and only the focal length was changed.

Starting with an image of the Chimonanthus praecox (Winter Sweet) that grows outside of the house, this was taken with the view through the viewfinder looking the same to that seen by the unaided eye.

Much of the detail and interest of the primary object of the picture, the shrub, is lost, due to the inclusion of the background.

The result is what comes across as a messy image.

ISO400
40mm
F8.0
1/125 sec

A second shot was taken, with the lens set to its widest setting, this time at 18mm. Compared to the previous image that overall picture seems much better inasmuch at least the entire shrub is visible. The initial photograph did not show all of the plant, this image allows the viewer to see the overall plant in respect to its surroundings, giving a better understanding of the plant, but still lacks impact.

ISO 400

18mm

F8.0

1/160sec

The final shot in this set was taken with the lens set to its furthest telephoto setting. This focuses the attention on the flowers of the plant, and eliminates much of the distracting background that surrounds the plant that was seen in the previous two.

Also, zooming into the image has had the effect of throwing much of the background out of focus, again, allowing the primary area of interest, the flowers, to grab the viewers interest.

While this improves the overall effect of the picture, this could have been improved by moving the camera to have less sunlight of the branches behind the flowers to further highlight the flowers.

ISO400

200mm

F7.1

1/250sec

While zooming in improves the overall effect of the third picture in the above set of images, this may not always be the same for a different set of images. The set below was taken looking out across the fields at the back of our house.

ISO400 18mm f11 1/320sec

This image shows a good view of the fields taken from the garden, with the foreground forming a frame that leads the viewer to the objects seen in the distance.

More light on the foreground may have improved the dark areas that are a bit harsh compared to the background.

ISO400 59mm f13 1/400sec

ISO400 200mm f10 1/500sec

My First Attempt ...

2008-10-11T06:21:00.000+01:00

At the Colchester Photographic Society I was persuaded to enter some pictures for a competition, below are the images that I submitted.

I'll let you know how I got on!!!

Eschscholzia californica

(taken in our garden - no edits on the colour, only cropping)

Choir at Kings College Cambridge

(One image had to be monochrome)

Kite Boarding at Frinton on Sea

(We came across two guys Kite Boarding on some grass at Frinton)

Willy Lott's Cottage - Flatford

(Not sure about this - but it was suggested that I entered it)

We will see how we get on when they are judged on Tuesday, I wont be there as I should be in Basle for a couple of days.

Out in the Garden

2008-09-28T07:52:00.000+01:00

Yesterday the weather was nice so I wandered around the garden, the result was these two shots.

This is Eschscholzia californcia, or Californian Poppy, and it is the contrast between the yellow and blue that caught my eye. The only changes I have made is to crop the image.

The second, not really a photograph, is of three leaves from one of the trees, some sought of Cherry I believe, that were scanned on my Epson scanner.

I thought it made a good picture?

A couple of things, one good one sad...

2008-09-27T08:39:00.000+01:00

Something Good!

I surprised myself a bit earlier this week, recently I joined the Colchester Photography Society, and this week they had a Still Life studio evening. This is an area that I have not looked at before, but with a little encouragement anf some assistance from a couple of people that know about setting up lighting etc., i took the shot below.

I was so impressed when I printed this out at A4, that I am going to have another go over the weekend, I hope to have something to post here sometime over the next few days.

Something Sad.

It was with much shock that I heard of the death of Richard Wright of the band Pink Floyd, I have been a fan of their music for some time, first seeing them in concert at the Empire Pool at Wembley in 1974. The last concert I attended was at Earls Court in 1994.

I'm lovin' it ....

2008-09-12T19:10:00.000+01:00

... Not!

On a walk through the lanes near where I live I came across this McDonnalds coffee cup balanced on the dead stinging nettle stem. The photo was taken “as is”, and nothing has been changed or moved, not even the angle!

While it is amazing that the discarded cup managed to balance on the stem, it is sad that it is there in the first instance, probably thrown from a passing car window?

The cup, I noticed, is covered with text stating how environmentally friendly that product is, with coffee and materials for the cup from “sustainable” sources, I wonder how environmentally friendly the discarded cup is?

On the same walk I came across a can of Pepsi to go with the McDonnalds.

Not just these items get discarded littering the countyside, shortly afterwards I came across this door, abandoned in the middle of no-where, obvisoly someone needed to take the door to this location and then dump it, could they not have used the time and transport to dispose of it a little more thoughtfully?

Gardening Photographs

2008-09-05T14:08:00.000+01:00

Carol & I love gardeing, you can follow our gardening escapades at our gardening web site at LittleMartins.com.

On the left is a image of one of Carol's Runner Beans, that I have changes to a Black & White image, just to see how it would turn out.

Good enought to eat??

Flatford

2008-09-04T16:20:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I ventured out early one morning to stroll around Flatford Mill. While I live only a few miles away it is not somewhere that I have been to many times, probabaly as it gets very crowded with trippers at certain times of the year.

I was still surprised with the number of people that were around at that time in the morning, about 6:00am, but I was left in peace to take a few photographs, including this one.

I hope that you like it.

New Butterfly House at Jimmy's Farm

2008-08-30T13:02:00.000+01:00

One of our freinds is the Butterfly Keeper at Jimmy's Farm.

Recently the new Butterfly House opened, we went to the opening where I took the picture above. I'm not sure what it is, other than it is quite large, and it is a moth, as opposed to a butterfly.

2008-08-27T08:00:00.001+01:00

This image was taken early one morning, on a walk of the lanes where I live.

These ferns grow in the hedgerow alongside the roads, and we allways seem to take them for granted, stopping to spend a bit of time studying them you can appreciate the complexity of the plant, often missed as we dash past in our cars.

I understand that ferns are some of the oldest types of plants, as such, they are likely to still be here long after we have all gone!

Crete

2008-08-22T16:43:00.000+01:00

One place I love to visit whenever I can is Crete. Having visited there a number of times over the past 10 years, I never tire of it.

This is an image of Chania Harbour, taken early one morning, before the hoards of tourists decend upon it.

I'll be posting many more images that I have taken while visiting Crete, so be sure to re-visit if you like.

Let me know what you think, do you feel the same about any place in the world, it may be your own home location. I'll be posting some images from my locality over the next few days.

Recording

2008-08-20T14:15:00.000+01:00

Another area that I find interesting is the recording of the local environment, here, as an example, is a photograph that I recently took of Willy Lott's Cottage at Flatford, Suffolk, UK.

Compare this with the "original", John Constable's Haywain, and it is possible to see the changes to the scene.

While obviously there are differences, the basic components are still there, the river, the cottage, etc., but there are certain changes, particularly to the view.

This may be due to Constable's artistic license, but also the banks of the river were raised significantly during the twentieth century as flood prevention scheme.

It is this type of change that I seek to record in my photographs.

Abstract Photographs

2008-08-19T16:10:00.000+01:00

One area that I am particularly interested in, I am not sure if it has a "name" or not, is real photographs that form an abstract image. Below is an example of one of my images.

This is a shot of a sandstone formation taken on the Greek Island on Lemnos earlier this year, it is the abstract shape of the orange rock formation against the blue sky background that I find particularly interesting.

I will be looking through my images and will attempt to post up some other examples of what I am trying to explain.

Above and Below

2008-08-18T15:43:00.000+01:00

This shot was a bit of an experiment, but I am pleased in the way that it came out.

Using my Canon IXUS 850 in a waterproof housing, while standing in the pool of a villa in Crete I attempted to hold the camera with the lens partly above and below the water, with the results as shown above.

No editing has been done to the image, and the colours where exactly as taken.

I was very impressed, let me know what you think.

My First Post

2008-08-17T17:42:00.000+01:00

Hopefully not my last, here I hope to share me photographic experiences, today, a walk alongside the river at Wrabness, where I took the photo above.