Wednesday 14 September 2011

Part 4 Light–Project:The Time of Day – Weather 1

Exercise: Cloudy weather and rain
Part 1. Sunlight and cloud: The objective here is to photograph the same subject in both sunny and cloudy conditions making a note of the the difference in exposure. The white balance is set on direct sunlight.
1. Buildings (windy day with rapidly changing light)
7572: 1/1500s f19 ISO3200 18mm (cropped)  4.00 pm
DSC_7572_crop_web
7574: 1/1750s f13 ISO3200 18mm (cropped)  4.00 pm
DSC_7574_crop_web
The difference in exposure works out at 1 stop less aperture and ¼ stop less shutter speed which I estimate is ¾ stop difference overall. I think I should have left my camera on Aperture or Shutter priority to make the estimation easier. The high ISO setting is as a result of taking pictures in the rain earlier in the day. The only appreciable colour difference is the cloudy exposure is slightly blue. This is borne out by my earlier images taken in the shade.

2. Street Scene (windy day with rapidly changing light).

7686: 1/180s f11 ISO200 26mm (cropped) shutter priority 10:40 am
DSC_7586_crop_web
7687: 1/180s f9.5 ISO200 26mm (cropped) shutter priority 10:40 am
DSC_7587_crop_web
I used shutter priority to make sure that I could get easily comparable  exposure settings. In this case just half a stop.

3. Outdoor portrait (windy day with rapidly changing light).
7595: 1/180s f16 ISO200 75mm (cropped) shutter priority 12:45 pm
DSC_7595_crop_web
7596: 1/180s f8 ISO200 65mm (cropped) shutter priority 4:20 pm
DSC_7596_crop_web
This outdoor portrait has an exposure difference of two f stops.
Conclusion: My preference for sunny or cloudy conditions in these examples depends very much on the subject of the photograph. In general, outdoor scenes look better with sunlight, buildings in particular can benefit from the modelling effect of strong sunlight, the curved, domed building in the street scene above is an example. However  the harsh shadows in the same picture are distracting. The picture taken in even light has more details throughout but it does appear flat. All of the cloudy pictures have a slight blue tinge to them. The portrait is far better photographed in the duller conditions. There are no harsh shadows on the face, the skin tone is more even with no bright highlights, the background is less distracting and the softer light from the left gives a softer modelling to the features. These exposures are as taken with no post processing adjustments.

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