Tutor Richard Peregrine
Learning outcomes assessed in this assignment
1. Perform and implement experiments with cameras, light-metering methods, exposure techniques and ISO selection relating to landscape photography
2. Discuss the implications of weather, time of day, time of year and qualities of light (shadow, colour, contrast and intensity) in places photography.
3. Select and justify appropriate equipment in relation to scheduled photographic excursions
4. Demonstrate appropriate image production and post production techniques for landscape photography
Task
There are four study areas within this unit. Each of these will represent an assignment in itself and is intended to provide the breadth of study discussed in the unit background. These are:
1 A familiar place that is significant or important to you
2 The City or the Urban Sprawl
3 Wilderness or Countryside
4 The ‘alien’ or ‘foreign’ environment
PORTFOLIO GUIDELINES:
A broad range of location environments are to be explored. For assessment, you are required to submit a portfolio of 8 images that represent a range of all four study areas plus capture and environment experimentation.
Optional: for one of the four study areas you can submit a coherent set of images presented as a series / book of images.
You must include evidence of DSLR use; create and print a range of digital index sheets (that reflect the photographs you have made throughout the assignment). Also provide evidence of image editing processes such as choice selection, refinement of the final edit and tutor involvement. Apply basic image adjustments to the final photographs presented in your portfolio to improve their final quality – adjustments such as contrast, tonality and colour are acceptable at this stage in the course.
Capture information must be given for all portfolio images, please provide the following; exposure settings, focal length, ISO/Film Speed, Location, Date and Time of capture. Place this information within the assignment portfolio, making sure the assessor can easily recognise which information belongs to each photograph in the portfolio.
Optional: include evidence of medium format use; present at least 1 roll of hand-processed 120-format film in the form of a set of black and white negatives and accompanying contact sheet. Provide a small number of silver-based work prints that have been produced from the aforementioned negatives – one or more of these prints can be included in your final portfolio submission. Students will be expected to work independently in the dark room but support will be available at the usual times.
RESEARCH ADVICE:
It is necessary for students to recognise the importance of research skills and research evaluation for each and every practical assignment in the FD programme – it should form the foundation of the entire project work produced. Consult your reading list for as a starting point but also listen carefully during lectures and tutorials for other areas of research that will increase your knowledge of the subject area. Research for this assignment can be broken down roughly into 3 sections:
Technical – such as camera, lens and media types
Contextual – photographers, artists, contemporary/historical themes
Assignment – accessible locations, genre studies, unit requirements etc.
Added to this are the notes you will make as a natural response to project work (lists, plans, intentions, evaluations etc.) – these can often play an invaluable role in describing your efforts to the assessor of the unit.
See ‘Production Reading List’ in the Reading List folder.
In addition you could research the work of some of the following photographers:
Ansel Adams, John Blakemore, Edward Weston, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Rene Burri, Fay Godwin, John Davies, Kevin Cummins, Sebastiao Salgado, Charlie Waite, Ian Beesley, Mark Power, Simon Norfolk,
Robert Frank, Susan Lipper, Lewis Baltz, Robert Adams, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, Ian MacDonald, Willie Doherty, Martin Parr, Paul Graham, Dan Holdsworth.
Assessment criteria
Range of ideas, experimentation and development of such ideas documented by use of a blog, sketchbook and / or supporting file.
Consideration and use of different systems and processes for image production.
Creative concept and its relationship to research.
Quality of finished prints (adherence to technical requirements).
Detail and accuracy of process descriptions and articulation in written form of rationales behind the concept of your images.
Items for Assessment
1 8-image portfolio of landscape or ‘places’ photography (print-based)
(or 6 images plus book / set of images)
2 Research and tear-sheet file or sketchbook. Include all research undertaken for the assignment, adhering to the advice and requirements listed in the brief.
3 Course file section or unit file containing all supportive material (only if it contains further study relevant to your project submission).
London
A recent London Fine Art residential provided an opportunity for the places brief.
I have visited London many times in the past, most of those visits were as a child with my family taking my brother to his school train and then collecting him at the end of term. These visits were usually in the evening after school we would get the train to Euston, then the tube to Kings Cross and then back again to Stoke the same evening.
I would like to obtain a series of images which recapture the memories I have of those rushed childhood trips.
The only houses I saw were tall and squashed in terraces made of a cream coloured brick. I only saw the rear of the houses from the train.
The tube was all about crowds, escalators, bright lights and trains that blew air as the came into the station.
London streets were always wet and full of people either photographing their friends or madly rushing somewhere.
Our visit will mainly be around galleries and museums but I intend to wander off between events looking for sights and sounds I remember.
I will take my DSLR, my compact digital camera and my compact film camera.
My DSLR with a wide angle lens will be useful for urban landscape.
My compact digital has an articulated screen which will allow me to explore different angles of view as well as sneaky street shots.
I will use my film camera with 400ASA black and white film for gritty street shots.
We will be visiting galleries including the National Gallery which is ideally placed for people shots as it is in an area of high tourist interest.
The Royal Academy is in a busy shopping area not far from Picadilly Circus.
The Tate Modern is out on the river in a modern setting - Millennium Bridge & new flats.
The tube -
35mm black and white film
People and wet pavements
Richards lecture today was about the different film formats and their characteristic aspect ratio.
Pinhole landscape photography.
Bartosz Koszowski produces very striking panoramic landscape images which are surprisingly sharp considering the method used. The images appear to wrap around the centre.
Steve Gosling by comparison produces beautiful atmospheric square pinhole landscapes.
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| Into the light |
We then went onto discuss different types of film cameras, their film formats, aspects ratios and uses.
Medium Format square (6x6)
Relatively lightweight and portable medium format cameras, can be used both in and out of the studio.
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| Hasselblad |
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| Seagull |
Medium format (6x7)
Heavier and more cumbersome best suited for studio work.
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| Mamiya RZ67 |
Large format (5x4inch)
Specialist use requiring sturdy tripod, negative plates and large cloth for viewing.
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| Cambo Explorer |
35mm
Lightweight, very portable, film size though relatively small is still larger than all but professional 'full frame' digital cameras.
References
http://www.bartoszkoszowski.com/
http://chriskeeney.com/blog/2009/10/steve-gosling-october-2009-%E2%80%93-featured-pinhole-photographer
Tuesday 7th February 2012
Metering
Modern dSLRs are capable of metering in most situations but to use the different modes effectively it is necessary to understand the basics of metering.
The Sunny 16 rule
100ASA 1/125sec
- sunny f/16
- slight cloud f/11
- sunny intervals f/5.6
- clouds f/4
The correct exposure - measure of the light level at a set level (ISO ASA)
- aperture
- shutter speed
Sunny
f/16 @ 1/125
f/8 @ 1/500
f/11 @ 1/250
f/22 @ 1/60
f/32 @ 1/30
Sunny
Distinct Shadows |
Hazy Sun
Soft Shadows |
Cloudy
Barely Visible Shadows |
Overcast
No Shadows | |
F-Stop
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f / 16
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f / 11
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f / 8
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f / 5.6
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ISO 100
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1/125
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1/125
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1/125
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1/125
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ISO 200
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1/250
|
1/250
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1/250
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1/250
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ISO 400
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1/500
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1/500
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1/500
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1/500
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ISO 800
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1/1000
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1/1000
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1/1000
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1/1000
|
There are many different meters still in use today some dating back to 1930s
Basics
- benchmark - setting ISO
- which method of light rendering
- press to take reading
- shift aperture and shutter speeds to suit
Reflected or incident
- reflected reading - light reflected off the subject, good for black and white or colour when overcast, average toned subjects
- incident (invacone) - light landing on subject, good for transparency film, high contrast, portraits
Grey Card
18% grey
place on subject area not in shadow
no invacone
spot meter
good for accuracy
Sekonic L308s
Metering flash
open flash - no cable, switch meter to read and trigger flash
cable flash - connect flash by cable to the meter and take incident reading.
Silverdale
Sandy Cove and Sunderland Point
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| Sandy Cove contact sheet |
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| Sandy Cove |
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| Sandy Cove |
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| Sandy Cove |
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| Sandy Cove |
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| Sandy Cove |
Sunderland Point
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| Sunderland Point |
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| Sunderland Point |
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| Sunderland Point |
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| Sunderland Point |
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| Sunderland Point |
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| Sunderland Point |
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| Sunderland Point |
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| Sunderland Point |
150years apart but their work is very similar, they both understand the synergy between people and place.
Mark Powers project Sound of Two Songs was carried out in Poland where he photographed urban scenes using a 5x4 camera. He came to love the country and moved with his family to Krakow. The camera he used required a set time to prepare for the shot so he needed strong pre-visualisation of the shot for it to be captured effectively at the decisive moment. Most users of 5x4 cameras shoot static subjects but Power shot people in his scenes.
Peter Henry Emerson took photographs in the Fens. He had to prepare his own plates and carry a large amount of equipment. Each image had a 10 second exposure, despite this he was a pioneer in the capture of action.
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| Emerson |
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| Power |
his portraits appear to be influenced by August Sander.
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| Sander |
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| Power |
Hans Van Der Meer is a dutch landscape photographer who used football pitches as his focus as he travelled around Europe taking photographs. The pitches are shown being enjoyed by the players but rarely with any spectators showing the game in its purest form - played for the love of the game not money.
The surrounding scenery is diverse but he uses the pitch as a common denominator giving the resulting portfolio cohesion.
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| Marseilles, France |
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| Budapest, Hungary |
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| Mytholmroyd, England |
August Sander was a German portrait photographer in 1920s. His style is very severe/germanic. He ran his own studio but as his business developed he preferred to get out on his bicycle and photograph people he met. In the 1930s his portraits were banned by the Nazi party because his images did not portray the definitive Aryan type. His later work was nature and architecture.
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| Dockworkers |
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| Farm Children |
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| Farm Couple |
References
http://www.bjp-online.com/
http://www.markpower.co.uk/
http://www.getty.edu
Darkroom sessions to produce images for submission.
College Darkroom
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| enlargers |
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| Handy aide memoirs on the wall above the sinks |
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| 3 processing trays |
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| print drying racks |
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| finished prints |
I have acquired a large box of ancient Agfa grade 3 matt paper which I used in the darkroom to print some of the London images in a trial run before printing the final images.
The paper has a very old feel to it and is off white. The size is not suitable for submission but I really like the results.
New York images taken using the Hasselblad Xpan
The last image in the contact sheet was my choice to submit for the places brief. I printed on 8x10 Ilford multigrade matt FB paper and was pleased with the result but it looks really small compared with the digital A4 prints. I was able to print on larger paper at a later date but was not satisfied with the results.
Printing images is a new skill I have not yet mastered and will need to carry out further work before I can produce a print I would be happy submitting.
Photos taken at Ground Zero
Formby Point
