Getting To Know Your Camera

Exercise 1

Exercise 1: Focal Length and angle of View.

Location: West Mersea
Lens: Canon EF28-135mm
Camera: Canon 7D

 This exercise was to take three photographs at different focal lengths, with one being equal to the human eye.
After setting my camera on the tripod I slowly changed the focal length of the lens.  One eye looking through the viewfinder, one unobstructed at the scene.
Both views were equal when the lens was at 50mm.  Allowing for a 1.6x Field of View Cop Factor (FOVCF), this is equivalent to 80mm.

28mm

50mm

135mm

This result was higher than I was expecting as it had been written in the notes that it should be 50mm on a full frame camera. 

Prints were made of the three photographs and I returned to the original scene.

The images were held at a distance from my eye that made the scene appear the same as real life.

The results were:

28mm – 32cm

50mm – 52cm

135mm – 147cm

As you can see by the results the results of the focal length are almost a tenth of the distance the images were held away from me.  Any differences could be put down to the face that everything was lined up by eye.

The only surprise during this exercise was the 50mm (80mm FOVCF) focal length of my eye, as this seemed a little higher than expected. I repeated the exercise again and had a result of 50mm (80mm FOVCF) again.   I was expecting this to be a straight forward exercise, and I think it still is.  This has left doubt in my mind whether I need to allow for a 1.6x FOVCF as I was initially only viewing the scene and my viewfinder has a 100% field of view.

With doubt cast over my result and repeating the exercise again has meant that I spent more time than I had planned to complete this exercise.

Exercise 2

Exercise 2: Focus With A Set Aperture

Location: West Mersea

Lens: Canon EF50mm

Aperture: f1.8

This at first seemed like a straight forward exercise:

Find a subject. (check)

Set the camera to the largest aperture. (f1.8 in this case)

Mount camera on a tripod. (check)

Position the camera so that three focal points could be selected on different points of interest...

The focal points were changed within the camera so that the camera wasn't disturbed between each shot.  The point of focus is shown on each picture.

In this set of images I think the image I prefer is the third one.

Children often play hide and seek in this location.  Is someone about to come out from between the sheds?

As a photograph in it's own right without knowing the background knowledge of the area I would have to say that the second photograph is more pleasing.  It has the added interest of the lock, which would benefit being more in focus.

Below are a few more images that I took for this exercise:

Exercise 3

Exercise 3: Focus At Different Apertures

Location: West Mersea

Lens: Canon EF50mm

Aperture: f1.8 - f22

The notes on this exercise said to take three photographs, one at the lenses widest aperture (f1.8) one at the mid-point aperture (F11) and one at the smallest aperture (f22).  This I did, but upon checking the images I found only a very small difference between the results of f11 and f22.  I then took two more photographs, one at f10 and the other at f7.1.  These images show the differences between apertures better visually.

f1.8

f7.1

f10

f22

The limits are marked below:

f1.8

f7.1

f10

f22

Exercise 4

Exercise 4: Shutter Speeds

Location: Debham

Lens: Canon 17-55mm

Shutter Speed: 1/400 - "1.5

I didn't want to photograph cars passing the house and the weather has not been the best recently si I had to bide my time waiting for an opportunity to arise.  While out with the family we stopped in Debham Essex for a look around the area.  A weir with drift wood stuck on it looked like a suitable subject for this exercise.

The light wasn't as bright as I would have hoped for.  A tall building very close by and trees shaded the area.  The fastest shutter speed that I was able to achieve was 1/400.  This was enough to catch the splashes of waster, but not as sharply as I would have wished for.  As the water was flowing so fast, a faster shutter speed would be better to have a sharper image.  The slowest shutter speed though was 2.5 seconds which gave a smooth soft feel and brought calm to the chaos.

1/400 sec

It is possible to see from the water droplets in this image, but with water cascading from different directions and at speed 1/400 sec isn't quite fast enough for a sharp image.  If it were sharper it would look more like a piece of abstract glass.  I haven't quite achieved it this time.  Also shallow depth of field has resulted in the water being in a softer focus compared to the log.. The water splashing off the log and other objects of the scene are chaotic.  It is not until halfway through he sequence that serenity overcomes.

1/320 sec

As expected blur has increased in this image.  It is more noticeable in the top left quarter of the image.

1/250 sec

Droplets of water are still visible on the right side of this picture, but only just.

1/100 sec

In this image the water has a quality similar to ice.  It has smooth edges and looks solid, similar to melting ice.

1/60 sec

This is very similar to the previous image.

1/25 sec

The water now is totally blurred.  The image is looking more fluid now rather than frozen.

1/10 sec

I think this is the last image to show the blurred drops before the water becomes more dreem like.  It is not how we would usually see water and so becomes more mysterious.

1/6 sec

With slower shutter speeds the water is becoming more transparent.  The log on the left about a third of the way up is becoming more viable.  This is as a result of the slower shutter speed blurring so much that only still things are recorded as a solid.

1/2 sec

At this shutter speed it is now possible to see the effect on the water splashing down the right hand side of the image.  It is almost totally transparent allowing us to see a moss wall behind.  This will be revealed more as the shutter speed slows more.

0.6 sec

This is my favourite image out of the sequence, The water has a dream like quality but without being too transparent.

1 sec

In this image it is hard to tell if the water is flowing naturally under gravity or whether it is under high pressure.  The water has many contrasts.  Some areas are opaque while others are transparent.  Some are grey while some areas are white.

2.5

In this image the water has almost a smoky mist like quality about it.  Almost silk like.  It has a very soft visual feel about it.

Exercise 5

Exercise 5: Panning With Different Shutter Speeds

Location: Local

Lens: EF50mm

Shutter Speed: 0"5 - 1/320

As it says on the tin, "Panning With Different Shutter Speeds".

I set the point of focus to just off centre so that the focus would be on the boys head.

I started with a slow shutter speed of half a second and increased the shutter speed with each pass.  The reason I started with a slow shutter speed was in case the cyclist slowed with fatigue as the shoot progressed.  I didn't want a slow shutter speed with a slow cyclist as I could potentially result with twelve images looking very similar.

A couple of the images I feel could have been sharper (images 6 and 7).  I think this could have been down to the focusing rather than the panning alone.

(1) 0"5 sec

(2) 0"3 sec

(3) 1/5 sec

(4) 1/8 sec

(5) 1/18 sec

(6) 1/20 sec

(7) 1/30 sec

(8) 1/50 sec

(9) 1/80 sec

(10) 1/125 sec

(11) 1/200 sec

(12) 1/320 sec

I would place the images is the following order of preference:

1 - Image 2, 0"3 sec.  This is the image that I prefer by quite a long shot.  It shows a lot of movement but the child's face is still viable.  You can see that he is making noises with his lips like a motorbike.  The boy is enjoying himself and having fun.
2 - Image 1, 0"5 sec.  Even though this image is heavily blurred, it's from movement.  This to me is a fun image, you can make out a big smile on the boy's face and that he is enjoying his time out.
3 - Image 11, 1/200 sec.  This image shows determination on the child's face as he tries to go faster.  The image is sharp and as a result it appears that the bike is stuck resulting in the subject trying harder still.
4 - Image 10, 1/125 sec.  As above.
5 - Image 3, 1/5 sec.  Again a lot of blurring within the picture, but again you can see a smile of enjoyment.
6 - Image 5, 1/18 sec.  Pretending he was on a motorbike.
7 - Image 4, 1/8 sec.  Movement without a lot of definition.
8 - Image 12, 1/300 sec.  Just one last time, I can do it.  At the fastest shutter speed the image is sharp showing little movement.  The expression and body language of the boy is one of tiredness and fatigue.
9 - Image 8, 1/50 sec.  Some blurring in the background and the wheels but no sense of urgency or excitement.
10 - Image 9, 1/80 sec.  As above.
11 - Image 6, 1/20 sec.  This image could have been sharper.  It shows movement and the boy is happy.  I feel this is just a snap shot rather than a photograph.
12 - image 7, 1/30 sec.  This image is out of focus which lends nothing to the image.  Also the subject doesn't look happy.

Thank you to my Son Joe for being my willing assistant for this set of images.

Reflection: Getting To Know Your Camera

Angle of View

I had not considered the focal length of the lens in comparison to the eye before.  It is something that I will have to keep thinking about. Also I had never thought of Angle of View instead of magnification before.  Before I would think of it as greater magnification, the bigger the object would appear.  Now I will have to make a conscious effort to thin k of it as angle of view.

When I carried out this exercise I was surprised at the result.  I had read in the course notes and I’m sure in magazines that 50mm on a full frame camera is close to what the human eye sees. This was also backed up by information on the following site: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/cameras-vs-human-eye.htm#angle-of-view

So with my result of 50mm I was initially quite please for about three seconds then I worked out the 1.6x FOVCF.  80mm, how could I be so far out?  I checked the differences between EF and EF's lenses to se if they were calibrated to compensate for a crop factor.  No.  The only difference is that the EF-s lens protrudes into the camera body more so would be unsuitable on a full frame camera as it would catch on the mirror.

I set my camera up in the garden and tried again.  The result came back the same.  I put a different lens on, same result.  So I put my 50mm  prime lens on the camera.  It stilllooked right to me.  I started to think maybe with a viewfinder that shows 10% coverage that I didn't have to allow for a smaller sensor.  The problem with that is that I know it would have to be accounted for once the camera was compared with the prints that I had made.

Focus Set Aperture

This seemed a backwards way of working compared to how I would normally work.  In this exercise I composed first and then selected a point of focus.  I think that when viewing a scene this is what we would do naturally though.  We scan to find our plausible image, and then find the point of focus, the point of interest.  (I don’t think this was the idea of the exercise, but if it makes you think about what you are doing then why not.) 

Trying to get the focus points to line up with suitable parts of the image was a little frustrating.  I don’t think I am proud of any of the images as photographs, but for illustration pieces they work. 

I haven’t worked with my tripod too often in the past.  I find that I take it with me with full intentions of using it, only to find I abandon it at the earliest opportunity.  I find that it restricts my movement (I know that’s the idea), but I just find it annoying.  I need to learn to work with it and to make it a natural part of my camera equipment.  Apart from panning I used my tripod with all the exercises, it’s a start.

Focus At Different Apertures

This exercise is all about depth of field.  The relationship between aperture and focus.

The larger the f-stop the smaller the aperture, the less light allowed to the censor, the larger the depth of field. (big number, small hole, large focus area)

The smaller the aperture the more light passes through resulting in shallower depth of field but also the possibility of a faster shutter speed.

When out taking photographs I like changing the aperture, blurring foregrounds or backgrounds, bringing the eye to the point of interest.  It can help bring the image to life.

Shutter Speeds

What a pain in the.....
I didn't want to photograph cars but the weather was poor, I had to bide my time until an opportunity arose.

In the end  my subject was a weir but in a shaded location.  T knew that my shutter speed wouldn’t be great.  I took a couple of test shots and checked them on the camera.  All looked fine.  With the camera in shutter priority mode this exercise carried on without any drama.  Having a small aperture on this lens (f-32) I was able to slow the shutter speed to 2.5 second to give a long exposure. 

This is the first time I had photographed water with slow shutter speeds and I was pleased with the results.  I know that better locations are out there, but for a first attempt I was pleased. 

I have learnt that the resolution of the camera screen isn’t best for checking for sharpness.  I thought I was fine with the first image, but no.  It could and should have been sharper.  It is also possible to have the image too blurred.  Moving objects become invisible if it isn’t passing in front of the camera constantly. 

This was and exercise that I would be pleased to try again after finding a better scene.

Panning With Different Shutter Speeds

Again the weather wasn't on my side.  An overcast day but still bright enough for a shutter speed to freeze the subject.

I have tried panning before, but always with solid objects… Cars, theme park rides and aircraft.  A Boy on a bike had so many moving parts.  Only the small frame of the bike to stay as a solid. 

I was really pleased with image no 2, mainly as it was a slow shutter speed 0”3.  I was disappointed with a few in the middle of the sequence as they came out blurred but I think I did enough to demonstrate panning.  I would have reshot them but the boy was getting fatigued and as I wasn’t paying him I couldn’t whip him too hard.