My street photographs - Part 1

   Usually Street Photography happens in a busy city/public place. This type of photography is good to take natural pictures of human behavior and also people are the best subject to create interesting images. It isn't the easiest thing what I've done because the essence of street photography is that capture an image without people recognize you're taking picture of them and it's really hard because if they see a camera in your hand, their behavior start changing immediately. Try to avoid eye contact and invade someone privacy.
 
   On Saturday I went out to take some street photographs at Newton-Le-Willows Market. The weather was sunny and cloudy on Saturday, so I had to change the ISO and aperture all the time, if I was taking pictures in shadow or out on sun. Few times I forgot or I hadn't got time to change back the settings because the moments was happening, that's why some of my pictures are overexposed, but I still show you them because I've got good compositions and good shots in the right moment. I used my Canon EOS 1100D camera to take these pictures. As you can see every image is black and white. To take B&W images, I need to press: MENU > 2nd camera icon > Picture Style > Monochrome.

   At this time, my concept about photographing in the street was walking around the market, looking around everywhere and waiting for interesting actions or people. Also, I was thinking about to get some compositions on my pictures to make it more dynamic. Using different camera angles for example.

Here is a few picture of my street photos.

  With my first picture I show you the technique what I learned to edit an image with Camera Raw (Adobe Bridge) and with Photoshop.

Editing with Camera Raw

1. I need to decide that Do I have to crop the image or not?

   This picture shows you how to crop an image using Camera raw. By cropping, you can remove the unwanted parts of the image, but be careful if you're cropping because that affects the image quality (ex. more noisy).

                      

2. I need to work with the exposure, recovery, fill light, blacks, brightness, contrast to create balance.

   My picture is really flat. Flat means, it doesn't bring out the depth and details. So,  I pumped the contrast to + 100. Contrast in photography is the difference between dark and light.

3. I need to sharpening.

  To show you what happening when you sharping an image, I zoomed in very close to see what happens because otherwise you can't really see the difference between the original and the sharped image.

1st image is without sharpening. 2nd image is with 150 amount of sharpening.



Sharpened image.

4. Save the image.

   Select a folder where you want to save the image, then rename your edited image and chose a file extension. Finally, press 'Save'.

   Next, I open the Photoshop to make further editing like burning and dodging. (Don't get confused, you can only use Photoshop to do the cropping and level balancing.) I just had to use and learn both editor in college.

Editing with Photoshop ( Burn Tool & Dodge Tool )

1. Burn Tool

   Find the burn tool icon (hand icon on the left side), then at the top change the brush size, the range - is the tones you want  the tools to effect - to highlights/midtones/shadows and the exposure - how intense you want it's effect to be - . The burn tool make things darker. To burn in sky set the range to highlights. After that, I burnt in the bright white sky because that was a bit distracting and also because I want that people focus on my primary subject (gentleman) instead of the sky. Usually people eyes look the brighter things first. Also, I burnt in the shadows by setting the range to shadows.

2. Dodge Tool

   Pick the dodge tool icon (like a black lollipop icon) and change the things at the top again. Now, the dodge tool makes things lighter. I wanted to dodge the gentleman's face and clothes to get more detail, so I set the range to midtones. I created the desired look I wanted, so finally 'how to save it?'.








3. Save the image

Go to File > Save as > Select Folder > Rename > Save

Compare the images and see the difference.

Street Photography

Hi bloggers!

   This week  we have been looking at street photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Joel Meyerowitz, Alexandro Rodchenko. These photographers have all used 35mm film to capture natural images. They were waiting for the moment on a busy street or they were looking for compositions: natural framing, geometry, Juxta position,  ambiguity, balance of contrast, reflection, repetition or strange camera angles, etc. I think the most important thing in street photography is to capture image which is narrative, which draws your eyes all around the image and you start to think or make a story in your mind about what's happening on the picture.


Joel Meyerowitz

   Joel Meyerowitz was choosing busy streets in New York to capture moments. He was waiting for the moment and looking all around the street and shot when he saw a good composition etc. His camera was already setting to the right functions so he could take a picture really fast to capture the moments. He was using wide lens to get more things on his images. I chose this image because the title of the movie "kiss me stupid" is just happening in real time, as you can see the kissing couple. The main subjects (couple) positioned in the center, exactly under the title. Some part of the image is blurred that's because the movement of people. Also, there is a repetition of the light on the top which are leading your eyes and you're focusing at the center. Quite narrative image,lot going on. I like the opposite color between the couple dressing. 


Henri Cartier-Bresson's photographs


I chose this image because it's shallow depth of field, the background is blurred and the two boys are in focus. I like the range of tones and the balance between the trousers,shirts,boys' skin color and the hats. There is a bit reflection in the mirror too. 

   Cartier-Bresson most of the time was capturing moments or waiting for moments, but this time he took an image where the kids are in a spiral position. You can see the repetition of faces and lines at the middle, also he chose a strange camera angle (90 degree) to get most out of the picture pointing upward. The spiral stairs is leading the viewer eyes. You can see the range of contrast. It`s got white, grey and black tones. Also it`s got the rule of thirds. If I split the image into thirds you can see different thing in one zone. Some of the zones are the negative space of the image. Wide depth of field is going on this image, so he used a quite small aperture to get everything in focus.

Depth of Field

                                                  Depth of Field

    is the distance between near and far objects which appear in or out of focus depends on what camera settings you choose, so actually it means how much of the photograph is in focus. The 3 main things to control depth of field are aperture, distance and focal length.

- Aperture: Easiest way to manipulate the depth of field by adjusting aperture. Low F-stops give short DoF, High F-stops give long DoF.

- Distance between camera and subject: To increase depth of field, move back; to reduce it, move closer.

- Focal length: At a given distance, at a given aperture, the longer the focal length of the lens (200), the shallower the depth of field is and the smaller the focal length of the lens (35mm) ,the wider the DoF is. 

Shallow depth of field:
   
   is when only a part of your image is in focus while the other are blurred. There is a word use in photography "BOKEH" which means the blur of an image. It can be pleasant (smooth Bokeh) or unpleasant (rough Bokeh) to the eye. So if you want to blur the distracting background for example on a portrait image or close ups object. All attention of the viewer is on the subject. To get a nice shallow depth of field you need to set your camera aperture to a small F-stop, like F1.8 - F3 and increase the shutter speed to 1/125th of a sec as an example, because if you don't use a fast shutter speed your image will be over exposed.

Wide depth of field:
    is when the hole image is in focus and very sharp. Usually used for landscape images. To get a nice wide depth of field you need your aperture should be very small F22/F16 and the shutter speed should be very slow around 1/30th of a sec as an example to let in enough light and get a correct exposure. You should use a tripod to avoid camera shake at slow shutter speed which can cause unwanted blur on the image.

* Meter Modes

   The metering mode is used to measure the brightness of the shot you want to snap (where you pointing the camera). Here is a few metering modes what you can find in your camera menu.

Spot Metering
Partial metering
Center-Weighted Metering
Evaluative metering

I will explain these modes later on if I get use to it.  

Positive Print

                                   Process Negative Film into Positive Print

* Materials:

- Enlarger
- Easel
- Grain Finder
- Photographic paper
- My negatives
- Tea towel

* Settings:

    Before I went in to the dark room, I had to chose 2 negatives what I like the most and outline the theme of perspective. I chose one of my library one and one of my people with umbrella. Once I selected my negatives I had to set my easel for 9 cm height and 6 cm width (9x6). This size is good for get a nice resolution image and nice border. After I set my easel I sticked on a piece of masking tape because the holder was loose. Next, I had to set my enlarger.

* Getting ready to process:

   This time I learned more about how to use enlarger. First, I placed the easel under the enlarger and I set the size of the light by turn the dial at the back of the enlarger to move it up and down. The right place of the light should be on the border of the easel. After that, I pressed the focus button on the timer and I set the aperture to F11. I left the light on and I pulled a handle up so I could slide out negative carrier. Then I went out from the dark room to place the negative into the negative carrier. I turned the negative upside down and when I put the negative carrier back into the enlarger my negative should be shiny side up. Pulled the handle down to fix the neg carrier and once I saw the image on the base board, I could adjust it into the right place. Then I visually focused the sharpness of the image, I took a grain finder and I tried to place it on a light place to find the grain. Once I found the grain and the focus dial on the side of the enlarger. I tried to focus on precisely but if my grain was blurred that means my actual image is blurred and out of focus. Switched the light off.



(1. First,I chose one of my neg with a taxi on but after I did my test strips and a big print I didn't waste more time on it because the taxi was out of focus and I think I chose wrong time value because it got overexposed, it's too dark. The camera was focusing on the buildings behind, so I get frustrated and I changed my neg to an other one. )

* Test strip and big print

2. Picture:

   After I changed my neg to a library one and I started again everything what I did with the Taxi. The settings were the same.So, I focused on, I got a piece of photo paper and I ripped it into 4 test strips. Then I placed one in the easel in diagonal line. First I set the timer to 3 seconds then I pressed the run button and exposed the hole piece for 3 secs. Then I held the photo paper box above the easel and I pressed the run button again and again while i was pulling away the paper box a little bit about 8 times. Then I processed the image in the usual way, showed the test trip to the teacher but it's gone black, so I went back,looked the aperture and because I forgot to change back the aperture after finding the grain, it was on F2.8 so I changed the aperture to F8 the magenta to 60 and I did an other test strip. I showed again to teacher and he suggested that to do a hole test strip with 11 sec. I didn't really get a good test strip because I was doing it quickly so it's got finger print and lighter tones because I took it earlier from the dev. Not a good thing to do because maybe then I will get a different tones on the big print. Before I did the test strip again I changed the to a thicker one which you can see on the test strip is more sharper then the one before.

    

   
   So after I had my test strip and it looked good, I did the big print, exposed it for 11 sec, processed it carefully and finally I've got a really good print of the library. Sharp enough, dark enough and the ceiling has a better exposed then on the test strip so it was a good idea to change my neg into a thicker one.

3. Picture:

   On my last one, I chose couple walking towards me and the college behind them,so I've got a good perspective, the building and people on my picture. I'd got everything done so quickly at third time. I did the test strip, I chose 9 sec to do my next text strip. Aperture was on F8, magenta on 60. I went back to the dark room, exposed my hole test strip for 9sec, processed it and I've looked it in light,the time value was right, so I started to do the big print.

   Exposed it, processed it properly and dried it. The problem with this picture is that the two people are overexposed while the building is well exposed so if exposed the hole print for less time I will lose the building. There is a way to doing it by changing the filter, but I couldn't do it this time. But overall, I'm happy with this image,it's enough sharp if I look the nine-grid zone I've got different things in every zone.

Contact sheet of negatives

                        Contact Sheet

The contact sheet is an overall printed image of my negatives.

The way of doing contact sheet is:

     I put my negatives with shiny side up onto the contact board and I place them under the slats on the glass top. Then I go into dark room with all the equipments. This time I learned that how to adjust the height and the aperture of the enlarger. So, I press the focus button first, so the light is running then I set the height and I place the contact board under the enlarger, after that I set the size of the light by changing the height of the aperture. Now, all part of the contact board should be illuminated. Next, I set the aperture to F11 by turning the aperture ring in one way while i saw 11 on a little screen then I press the focus button again,so the light will turn off. Then take out a photographic paper and rip it into 4 pieces. Those pieces will be my test strips.


  I place one piece in diagonal line with shine side up on the contact board. Press the sides of the contact board together till I hear a click. The purpose of the test strip is to find the proper time value to get a well exposed contact sheet. So when I did my test strip, I set the timer to 3 seconds then I pressed the run button and exposed the hole piece for 3 secs. Then I held the photo paper box above the contact board and I pressed the run button again and again while I was moving the paper box by a half frame about 7 or 8 times. Then, I processed the test strip in the usual way but I cut down the time a bit.

   After that, I showed the result to the teacher and we checked the dark tones and we decided to do an other test strip, but now I had to expose the hole test strip for 15 secs. I showed this one also to the teacher and he said that to do a big sheet of paper with 15 secs.

   So, I'd gone back, put the big sheet under the enlarger, exposed it, processed it in the usual way and dried it. Finally, some of the neg strips come out okay but some of them negs are thick or thin so one of them was underexposed one of them was overexposed, therefore I did an other contact sheet but this time I exposed the photo paper with 18 secs so now I nearly got a good exposure for every neg strips.

                                           
   When I was taking the pictures, mainly I was looking for lines,patterns,scale, overlapping and I tried to get people on my picture.

Correct Exposure and Processing B&W Film

                                        Start working with SLR

* 1. LOADING FILM

- To open the back cover, I fold out the film rewind crank then I pull it out.
- I insert the film into film chamber that the projecting end of the film is downward.
- Then I lift the film rewind crank and I turn it while the film locks onto the film rewind shaft.
- After that I insert the film leader in the take-up-spool and place it in one of the lower row.
- I roll the film on the take up spool.
- Finally I operate the film advance lever to advance the film till the film aligns with film guide rail.
- The frame counter is automatically resets after i loaded the film.

* 2. CORRECT EXPOSURE

   To ensure that I will have a correct exposure first, I should know the Sunny 16 Rule and second I should apply bracketing. These two thing will help me to get the exposure right.

- Sunny 16 Rule:

   This rule helps me to estimating the daylight exposures without using a light meter. So I should manually set the aperture on F16, if I'm taking a photo in daylight/full sun. To setting the aperture is all about how much light falls on the subject. Therefore I don't always use F16, because if it's half sun I should set the aperture for F11, F8 is for open shade, F5.6 for darker shade/indoors (sunny day) and F4 for the darkest shade/indoors (dull day). The different weather makes different shadows. In full sun we've got very strong and sharp shadows in half sun we've got soft shadows. To improve the exposure I also have to change my shutter speed to approximately the same as the film speed.

- Bracketing:

    The bracketing is about taking 3 images of the same subject with different settings. So, in every 1 shot I change the aperture and shutter speed. By doing bracketing, it helps me to get a minimum 1 well exposed image out of 3 because with SLR camera we can check the picture after took.

Ex:.

             F16                      F11                       F8

   When we took our pictures in college the weather was poorly raining and very cloudy so we started off with aperture F8 and 1/500 th shutter speed. The bracketing was F11 F8 F 5.6.

   For me, I had to use different settings then others because I haven't got time value index on my camera, therefore I started off with aperture F3.5 and I left it there because I only had to change the film speed in every 1 one shoot out of 3. So my bracketing was turning the film speed - ISO 400 - to +1  0  -1.

Film ISO is 400 and it has 36 frame.

* 3. PROCESS BLACK AND WHITE FILM

- Materials:  Exposed Black & White Film, Can opener, Scissors, Tank, Post, Spools, Funnel, Lid,
                   Thermometer, Measuring jugs, Chemicals (Dev (ID-11), Stop, Fix, Timer


   To process film I should be in complete darkness therefore I can't even use the safety light. Before I did my real process, I have been practicing how to load the film into the tank in daylight and in complete darkness. I set out the film and equipments in a logical order so I was able to find them in the dark.I had to be very careful when I get the film into the spool/spiral because the different parts of the film should be away from one another. The spool has grooves to hold the film away from one another so the chemicals can circulate freely, but if you load the film incorrectly the pictures will spoil. After practice, I was ready to do the real process with my Black & White Film. 



    1. Lid     2. Post     3. Tank     4. Spool     5. Funnel


- In the processing room:

     1. I set out the film and equipment in order

From the left: Tank with the post in it > spools > funnel > lid
In front of me, I had my film > can opener > scissors

     2. I switched of the light

- Opened the film canister
- I cut off the leader of the neg into a nice square end
- I found the projecting lugs (entry point) on the spool
- I rotated the sides of the reel back and then I wind the film into the spool correctly
- After I reached the end of the film I cut off the end.
- I winded up the left bit of the negative
- I put the spool into the tank, the post gone through the middle of the spool
- I put the funnel on and turned it till I heard a click so I knew that its light tight
- I put the lid on
- I turned the lights on

     



     3. I measured out the chemicals.

I was working with 2 other person so we had a tank with 3 spools.

Tank size 900ml

Dev: 225ml dev 675ml water 20min
Stop: 900ml stop 1min
Fix: 900ml fix 6min
Rinse: 20min

Water was at about 20 Celsius.

     4. I mixed the chemicals

   I measured out 225ml dev with a 700ml measuring jug then I poured it to a 1000ml measuring jug. After that, I washed out the dev from the 700ml jug then I measured out 675ml water with it and I poured it to 1000ml with the dev in it. So at the and I had exact 900ml mix of dev + water in the 1000ml measuring jug.

Developer:

  I started to pour in the developer into the tank quickly as possible. Then I started the timer after I finished pouring. I put the lid on and I started to agitate the tank upside down for 10 seconds and I taped it on the desk to avoid any air bubbles. I agitated again at the start of every further minute (20 min). After the 20 minutes I started to pour out the developer out of the tank straight to the sink because I can't use the developer again. During the development I measured 900ml stop for the next part.

Stop bath:

  After I washed out the remaining developer with water from the tank, I poured the stop bath into the tank. Agitated the tank upside down for 10 sec, I taped it on the table. After 1 minute I poured the stop bath back into the storage bottle.

Fixer:

  I poured in the 900ml fixer what i measured out before then I started the clock then agitated. This part took 6 minutes. Then I poured the fixer back into the storage bottle

Water Rinse:

Nearly the last part of processing the film is water rinse. At this time my film is fixed so I just removed the lid and a placed the tank under a piece of rubber tube with running water (20 Celsius) , so the water gone down the center of the spiral to the bottom of the tank. I rinsed the film for 20 minutes.

Drying:

The final part is drying. After the 20 minutes rinse in water I took out the film,lifted up and unwind it slowly. I was so excited when I saw that my negatives come out well and I can see the bracketing and full range of tones. Then someone held me the film and I removed any excess water carefully with a piece of shammy leather. After that i put plastic film clips at the two end of the neg then i hang it in the negative dryer for 20 mins.

After I've got my dry negatives I cut them into 6 strips and I stored them in a negative bag.

Composition in PH

                                               Composition in photography

   Composition is the arrangement of visual elements within the frame of a photograph.

- Visual Elements: - Line - color - scale - pattern - shade - contrast - shape

   Composition depends on structure, balance dynamic.


* THE NINE-GRID ZONE

- Theorem of rule of thirds.
- Each zone needs to produce a different effect in order to be doing its job.
- Most of the zone may exact the same.




* 1. STRUCTURE

  - Structural elements: line, position , shape
  - Non structural elements : light, texture, perspective, motion

1. Position: we can achieve some effects by positioning.

  Weighting toward the bottom.
  Center weighted photograph.
  Slightly off center weighted toward the top bottom on side.

2. Line and shape: are the building box of the photograph.

  They can help you a lot to control the eye of the viewer when exploring your photograph.

   > Line: 3 main type: horizontal,vertical,diagonal

     - Horizontal line: makes you feel relax, the distant of horizon
     - Vertical line: makes you feel the power of height, ex.: building, tree, person specially when the photo is in the portrait format.
     - Diagonal line: creates dynamic
Horizontal and vertical lines can be changed into diagonals by changing the viewpoint. They give an image a sense of direction.
The diagonal line is the strongest type of the lines. Use it to guide your viewers eye to your main subject.

   > Shape: the shape affects the photograph by 2 ways.

Where it is positive or where it isn't negative. Negative spaces are between the borders of the shape and the borders of the frame.


* 2. BALANCE

   - Triangle portrait: Arrange three people in a group picture in such a way that either their faces or their bodies makes triangle.  Higher the top, heavier the bottom. Balance is an equal relationship between 2 thing or more.

                                        

* 3.DYNAMIC
   
Dynamic is the movement of a viewers eye as it explores a photograph.

     - Ideal Dynamic: 1. begin with the most important subject (primary subject)
                               2. proceeds to less important secondary subject
                               3. makes a full circle to the primary subject



   In a poorly composed photograph the eye of the viewer may stuck on the secondary subject.

     - How can we control dynamic?

            1.try to arrange your subject in the front
            2.try to make your subject big
            3.try to make it near

Implied lines: ex.: someone looking  

Camera Basics (35mm B&W Film camera)

                              Camera Basics

* Basics of exposure

   In one word "exposure" is what photography is all about. The exposure refers to how bright or dark your photo, due to the amount of light has recorded by the camera sensor. So, essentially It's the basics of photography.


* What is exposure triangle?

   The exposure triangle is made of three elements: - ISO - Aperture - Shutter Speed

   First, you have to understand this and get it clear to move your photography to the next level. After you learned how the exposure triangle works then you have the ability to manipulate the triangle so you know the how your photographs will turn out.

                                       

Lets talk about the 3 elements what affect the exposure.

First, you should know that if you change one of the elements will impact the others.


     - 1. ISO (International Organization of Standardization) - is the camera's sensor sensitivity to light.



               

 




     - 2. Aperture - the size of the lens opening (a hole), measured in f-stops.

   You can change the quantity of light coming through the lens by changing the f-stop. When it's open, the light hit the camera's sensor then closes when the image exposed. Smaller the f-stop, bigger the hole,therefore more light is allowed to the camera. 



* Depth of filed: means how much is in focus.

     - Shallow DoF - increase the aperture and shutter speed,so the camera will only focus on the nearest object and everything behind gets blurred on the image because the larger aperture reduces the DoF when you taking portraits or close ups of objects. So it allows you to blur out distracting backgrounds..

     - Wide DoF - decrease the aperture and shutter speed, so the camera will focus on the object and background.

                                   


     - 3: Shutter speed - the amount of time keep the shutter open.

   The shutter speed measured in fractions:
15th of a second (1/15th) or  500th of a sec (1/500th).
Longer the shutter speed, more light hits the sensor.
To freeze action the shutter speed would be 1/250th to 1/2000th.
   

                         


* Shutter Speed Typical Examples

-1 - 30+ seconds Specialty night and low-light photos on a tripod
-2 - 1/2 second To add a silky look to flowing water
  Landscape photos on a tripod for enhanced depth of field
-1/2 to 1/30 second To add motion blur to the background of a moving subject
  Carefully taken hand-held photos with stabilization
-1/50 - 1/100 second Typical hand-held photos without substantial zoom
-1/250 - 1/500 second To freeze everyday sports/action subject movement
  Hand-held photos with substantial zoom (telephoto lens)
-1/1000 - 1/4000 second To freeze extremely fast, up-close subject motion



* Camera Modes 

   If you have an electronic SLR camera you may find these A/Av and S/Tv on your mode selector button.

     - Choose the A/Av/Aperture-Priority Mode if you want to change the size of hole in your lens then the camera will automatically change the shutter speed due to the f-stop.

     - Choose the S/Tv/Shutter-Priority Mode if you want to change the time value to freeze an action then the camera will automatically change the aperture due to the fraction.
     - Chose the M/Manual mode if you want to change everything on your camera: shutter speed,iso,aperture,etc.


* My SLR Film Camera - Miranda MS-3

   Here is my old 35 mm film camera. It cost ₤6. I bought in the Newton-Le-Willows market. On these 2 images you can see the name of the camera parts. It hasn't got a shutter dial so when I'm doing bracketing I have to do it in a little bit different way. I will tell you more information about bracketing and black & white film processing in next part.