Project 26: shooting the moon 4

As mentioned in my second post for this project, the Photographer's Ephemeris told me that the next occasion when I could shoot the full moon rising over the horizon at twilight was on 28th and 29th November.  Unfortunately nobody informed the weatherman and on both nights a large bank of cloud totally obscured the sky.  The moon did, however, appear later in the evening but too late and too high in the sky to include any foreground.  I did, however take the opportunity to take the image below.

Project 27: by the light of the moon

Although I am not especially pleased with the photograph, I am absolutely amazed at the result, although it was what I expected.  It looks just as if it was taken in daylight, even down to the shadows cast by the moon.  I chose a night of a full moon to do this project, in fact it was a full moon that rose just after the sun had set so I had hoped for some spectacular images for project 26 but, unfortunately the weather had different ideas and the sky was covered with cloud and it was raining.  By 8.00 pm, though the sky had cleared somewhat and I decided to attempt this project.  I drove out of town so that the picture would not be affected by the light pollution.  I placed the camera  on the tripod, set mirror lock-up and enabled noise reduction for long exposures.  Then using bulb and my electronic release took an exposure of 8 minutes at f4 having used the course notes as a guide.  The red dot on the right of the horizon is the aircraft warning light on to top of a nearby mast.

What have I learned?
Firstly I have learned that it is entirely feasible to take photographs in the darkness given a long enough exposure.  Our eyes have two different types of sensory cells: rods and cones.  Cones are responsive to bright light and provide us with our colour vision during the day.  Rods are very sensitive to light and allow us to see at night and under low light conditions but do not respond well to colour; hence a moonlit scene appears almost colourless and the sky black.  The camera film or sensor does not have this restriction, however, and given a long enough exposure will produce an image as if it were daylight.
I found focusing somewhat of a problem and, consequently, the picture is not as sharp as I would have liked.  Composing the shot was also a bit of guesswork.  Although there were clouds, it was quite breezy and they were moving quickly across the sky and so do not appear sharp.  I had hoped that I might have captured some star trails but there were very few stars present.
I am now intrigued by this procedure and shall certainly have another go.  It has always been an ambition to photograph star trails and I shall take the next opportunity.

Assignment 3: a linking theme; Water. Response to Tutor's comments.

Again I was absolutely delighted with my tutor's response to this assignment.  I presented 8 images and he was more than complimentary about 6 of them.  The second he felt that I could reduce the colour temperature slightly and increase the white slider a touch to give more sparkle to the sea spray.  This I have done as shown below and also printed out.  The sixth image was the only one not well received also he stresses that the comment is subjective.  It was felt that it has too much cyan (perhaps a colour cast caused by using an ND filter to achieve a long exposure)  and the long exposure, combined with too much cyan has produced a surreal effect that does not fit with the rest of the submission.  I have adjusted the image as suggested and reproduce it here and have also reprinted it.  Several of my alternative images were suggested as replacements and I have selected the one illustrated here.

In this image I have reduced the clour temperature a touch as suggested and also increased the whites to give some sparkle to the spray.

Here I have adjusted the white balance to auto as suggested.  I am not all sure about this and think I prefer my version.  Auto WB gives a colour temperature of 5100k whereas my original version I set a colour temperature of 4856k.  As it came out of the camera it was 4750k and definitely much more blue.  At the end of the day I shall replace this with the image below. 

This shot of Pollenca Bay in Mallorca was taken at dawn just before the sun rose above the horizon. The sky is suffused with orange and this is perfectly reflected in the waters of the bay. The masts of the yachts are also reflected. The image embodies feelings of peace and calm.  I also love the relationship of the complimentary colours of orange and blue particularly in the print.

I may now change the order of the sequence of images and include the sunset at the end.

Jitka Hanzlova, National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh. November 17th.

Jitka Hanzlova defected from the communist regime and settled in Essen, West Germany.  Her work is a constant pursuit of the relationship between the individual and the context in which he/she lives.  The exhibition begins with Rokytnik, the village where she grew up in Czech Eastern Bohemia.  She took the photographs between 1990 - 1994 after the fall of communism when she was able to return.  The village was still old-fashioned and living in the past.  The images evoke her childhood, a time long past and is a mixture of landscapes and portraits.

The second part of the exhibition is entitled Bewohner (German for inhabitants).  She took the pictures between 1994 and 1996.  They feature Berlin and Essen but also other european cities.  They are pale and old-fashioned photographs and again evoke a time long past.  They are a mix of portraits and cityscapes.

The exhibition moves on to Forest, produced between 2000 and 2005.  It continues the cycle of work about the village where she grew up; it is the forest of her childhood.  The pictures are largely landscapes and make the forest appear dark and gloomy, a place of dreams and nightmare.  I think that she looks back to her childhood nostalgically and refers to the experiences of her youth, but, she says that the forest has a powerful existential quality- as life source, as the darkness in which we sometimes find ourselves and from which we emerge into light.  Does she refer to a childhood and youth repressed by a communist regime?  For her the forest is critical to human survival, for the exchange of oxygen, the cultivation of flora and fauna and the growth of micro-organisms.

Flowers 2008 onwards are wonderful still lifes.  They are beautifully lit and reminiscent of the work of Robert Mapplethorpe.  I liked one, in particular, of a dying delicate flower in beautiful oranges set against  a velvety black background.  In this section she recalls the fleeting nature of existence and the inevitability of death.  It also relates to the influence of the renaissance portrait in which black backgrounds were used to intensify the luminosity of the subject.

Brixton 2002 comprises photographs of Afro-Caribbean women against the backdrop of the urban environment.

Section six of the exhibition is entitled "Here" and the pictures were taken in 1998 and from 2003 - 2010.  They are photographs of Essen and capture the detail of a western industrialized city being taken back by nature, seen in images of stunted vegetation, cracked walls and isolated buildings.  Again they are pale and nostalgic, like faded 1960s transparencies.

Horses, taken from 2007 onwards are unusual portraits of the subjects from strange angles and odd close-ups.  Not my style at all.

The final part of the exhibition is entitled "There is Something I Don't Know"  and the photographs are taken betyween 2000 and 2012.  They are all portraits inspired by the renaissance tradition of portraiture.  They are the product of an intimate rapport between the subject and the photographer.  They are brighter, more saturated than other images in the exhibition and for me more appealing.  Again, as with many other protraits, many are not making eye contact with the camera.  I mention this only as some protraits that I took for People and Place were criticised by my (then) tutor for not making eye contact.

Largely the pictures in this exhibition are not to my taste. Although often nostalgic I often find the ideas behing the images quite dark.  I am reminded to a degree of some of the work of William Egglestone, perhaps early Martin Parr and to some extent Joel Meyerowitz.  I am much more attracted to the rich colours and black and whites of Galen Rowell, Edward Weston and Ansel Adams.  Despite this I found the exhibition interesting.  It certainly worked from the perspective that it gor me thinking: did she have a dark childhood, are the images deliberately undersaturated to give a nostalgic feel, does she remember her youth with fondess or dislike.

What have I learned?
I suppose that I haven't learned that not all photography is to my taste and nor should it be, but it has reinforced this in my mind.  It also pointed out that photography, even landscape photograhy, can be used as a social commentary and as a form of autobiography.

Reflections 6

Just a quick noet to record the fact that I have now calibrated my monitor and successfully downloaded the printer profiles for the Permajet papers that I use.  I found downloading and installing the printer profiles extremely straightforward thanks to the very clear instuructions that I downloaded from the Imaging Warehouse website.  It was easy to copy them to the folder that both Lightroom 4 and Photoshop Elements can see.  I have printed on both Permajet Oyster and Portfolio papers and am delighted with the results.  The only slight technical hitch was that the Epson 2880 didn't immediatley recognise the change from the photoblack to matte black cartridge.  Hopefully this is not going to be too much of a problem.  The next stage is to download the Hahnemuhle profiles.

Project 32: a variety of images

Recently, whilst on a visit to the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland, I took the opportunity to enjoy a walk above the Uath Lochans in Glen Feshie.  I was able to take a wide angle view from the ridge above the lochans and then zoomed in to take a series of telephoto shots from the same location.  In some I included the sky and in others not.  Some are portrait, others landscape format.

A wide angle view of the lochans and the Caringorm Mountains beyond.

Here I zoomed into the right hand lochan to show the reflections.  I took more reflection shots when I returned to the lochans.  They were amazing,

Telephoto view of the left hand lake.

A vertical shot concentrating on the nearby ancient Caledonian pines.

Another vertical shot.

A horizontal telephoto, this time including some sky.

On returning to the valley I enjoyed photographing the wonderful reflections in the lochans.

Reflection in Uath Lochan

Another reflection

What have I learned.
I have a tendency when photographing landscapes to use a wide angle with something near in the foreground and everything sharp from front to back.  I generally use a tripod and small aperture to achieve this.  I need to remember to use a telephoto from timeto time to look at more intimate detail in landscapes in the same way that both Eliot Porter and Ansel Adams did..  Both vertical and horizontal formats should be explored and the sky need not be included.

Project 26: Shooting the moon 3

Last weekend I was staying with my son in Edinburgh and we had gone up to Calton Hill to take a night scene over Edinburgh at twilight.  As we neared the observatory I noticed this crescent moon in just the right spot to include it and the observatory.  I had left my 100-400 lens behind but fortubately my son had his 70-210 with him.  I took the shot at the 210 setting which made the moon reasonably large in the frame but also allowed me to include some of the observatory.