Playing with lighting

This assignment made me realised how much effort a photographer must put in to get the best picture. Over a span of two days I went around experimenting and looking for subjects to shoot. It wasn't easy finding the right the kind of subjects to capture. I suddenly understood the importance of the 'photographer's eyes'. Another problem encountered was while handling the equipment. It was like, when you found the subject, you have to start playing around with the settings to get the best shot. And by the time you managed to set everything properly in place, the sunlight dims, the subject moves, the wind blows or worse still, the battery goes flat. It was indeed frustrating, but I believe everyone has to learn the hard way. Out of a total 150 shots, only a handful turned out right.

I recokened that since this is an assignment on light, I could try taking a day and a night shot to show that I have experimented under different lighting conditions and limitations.

Here's my 1st photograph. Day shot.

1/30s, F/5.6, FL 47mm, ISO 100

This picture is in its original form, without any photoshoping. (Earlier on I had the impression we could use image processing tools to do some editing)

This is a picture of a symmetrical composition of the two trunks, together with the sun beams backdrop giving a feeling of a beautiful refreshing day. 'Beginning with optimism' I call it. Within the similarity, the contrasts in the thickness of the trunks and the brightness stands out too. The whiteness of the sun spot give viewers a sense of presence. I think it also has depth of field as a classmate commented that it looks like it was taken in a forest ( correct me if I'm wrong!), but it was just 2 trees standing along some pavement around bugis.

My second piece, night shot.

15s, F/16 FL 24mm, ISO 200

This shot took me over an hour to capture. Because of the lack of tripod, I had to make do with what I had with me. I positioned the camera bag on the floor and placed the camera on top of it. As it was not elevated enough to capture the view I wanted, I had to placed softer materials like a cap under the camera lenses to keep it at the correct angle. I tested this shot with several times with different shutter speed, ranging from 8 to 20 seconds. It seems that the best shot was at 15 seconds. Also it was necessary to press the button at the right time, not too early or not too late, otherwise the beams of the car will not turn out nice.

This photo in my opinion, looks quite like a postcard image. It has depth of field as seen by the beams of the taxi's headlights, which in turn give viewers a kind of presence to the vehicle. Also, there is contrast between the bridge and the beam. From this picture, we can also see the red looming clouds overhead the bridge.

For this assignment, I will give myself 8/10. Upon second look at my 2nd photograph, it looks a little overexposed. I should have tried with different ISOs which could perhaps haven given me better outcomes. But overall I am quite pleased with the two shots. More room for improvement in next assignment! : )

I liked Samatha's work. I thought it was creative to take pictures of an artificial setting. Also, it seems to tell alot behind the photo. Something like a grim storyline. I will rate her 9/10.