Assignment 1 Shooting Log 30th Jan 2011

Introduction: Now I've finished all the exercises, it's time to get on with the assignment "Contrasts". I don't really have a plan yet. I thought I'd record here, everything I attempt and put up a few examples of what I've done and then decide what works and what I can submit. I am expecting to learn a lot from this assignment.

Sunday 30th Jan 2011

Today was my first outing to look for ideas and take photographs for the first assignment. I went to Woolbeding Common on a bright cold day. The dominant idea came from the softness of the bare branches of  trees on distant hillsides. There was a slight haze which emphasised this. This image shows the general idea and includes the distant skyline and perspective. This framing or viewpoint weren't ideal so I moved around to find another.

(1/640s, f7.1, 90mm)

I got a better effect by zooming in a bit and turning the camera to horizontal format this took the bright sky out of the frame allowing better contrast on the trees and buildings but the foreground is not up to much.  (1/320s, f5.3, 105mm)

For the next shot I moved around as far as I could go to maintain my high viewpoint and included three trees for foreground interest. This foreground had the effect of dominating the scene and removing almost completely the "soft" feel of the light. (1/200s, f7.1, 50mm)

The picture I had in my mind was a close up of the house in the bottom of  the valley, with a plume of smoke from the chimney back lit by low sun softened by the trees. Sadly, the wind was blowing the smoke downwards. This was the only viewpoint which put the sun in right place but didn't allow a clear view to zoom in on the building. I abandoned this idea and walked on.

These tussocks of dead grass, flattened by recent snowfall suggested "soft" to me at the time but since then I'm not sure. I may have to look at his one again. (1/200s, f7.1, 32mm)