Digital Photography and Imaging

WEEK 6 (03.10.2022)

Lim Rui Ying / 0358986
Digital Photography and Imaging / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

LECTURES

Digital Photography

The main parts of a camera are the camera body, lens, sensor, shutter, and aperture

Fig. 1.1 Main parts of a camera (image from week 6 lecture slides)

Exposure setting

In photography, exposure is the amount of light which reaches your camera sensor or film.

1. Iris/Aperture

- controls the flow of light entering the lens

- measured by f-stop, indicated by a sequence of f-number: f/1, f/1.4, f/2, f/ 2.8, f/ 4, f/ 5.6, f/ 8, f/ 11, f/ 16, f/22, f/32... The lower the f-number, the larger the lens opening.

Fig. 1.2 Iris/Aperture (image from week 6 lecture slides)

2. Shutter

- small plastic sheet that opens and closes to allow light onto the film or prevent light from reaching the film

Fig. 1.3 Shutter opens and closes - GIF (image from week 6 lecture slides)

Shutter speed

- snap a lot of frames at one time, must have a tripod

- measured in seconds: 1/1000 s,1/500 s,1/250 s,1/125 s,1/60 s,1/30 s,1/15 s,1/8 s,1/4 s,1/2 s,1 s, 2 s, 3 s…

Fig. 1.4 Shutter speed (image from week 6 lecture slides)

3. ISO
- controls the amount of light by the sensitivity of the sensor

- common ISO camera settings are 100, 200, 400, 640, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400…

- the lower the ISO the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain

Fig. 1.5 ISO (image from week 6 lecture slides)

Lens perspective

1. Focal Length

- lenses can be categorized by the focal length

Fig. 1.6 Types of lenses (image from week 6 lecture slides)

- the shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view and vice-versa

Fig. 1.7 Focal length (image from Panasonic Support)

Fig. 1.8 A comparison of nine different focal lengths (image from Capture the Atlas)

2. Depth of Field

- the proportion of the image that is reasonably sharp and in focus

- refers to how much of your image is in focus

Fig. 1.9 Depth of field (image from week 6 lecture slides)

3. Lenses - wide angle lens, telephoto lens, standard lens

Wide angle lens

- ideal for fitting a large area into your frame

- especially useful for landscape photography or street photography

Fig. 1.10 Wide angle lens (image from Nikon)

Telephoto lens

- great for isolating a subject that is far away

- allows you to photograph subjects from a distance thanks to their magnification

Fig. 1.11 Telephoto lens (image from Nikon)

Standard lens

- offers a fairly accurate representation of what the human eye sees, both in terms of visual angle and perspective

Fig. 1.12 Standard lens (image from Nikon)

DSLR vs Smartphone

- quality: DSLR cameras can take better quality photographs compared to smartphone cameras

- sizes: phone cameras are very limited by size. the size of the lens and the size of the sensor that captures the photos. Entry-level DSLRs have much larger lenses and sensors than mobile phones do.

- convenience: smartphone cameras are easier to use compared to DSLR cameras

TUTORIAL

Project 2A: Digital Imaging Exercises

We are assigned to complete Project 2A in three weeks' time by following the tutorial videos and creating our own version of work based on the skills learned from the tutorial.

Exercise 1: Photo Manipulation (Hearst Mansion)

- follow the tutorial video by Mr Martin

- make our own version of Hearst Mansion

Video 1: Hearst Mansion Exercise tutorial video by Mr Martin

Exercise 2: Recolouring Black and White

We will be using different methods in each part of this exercise.

Part 1 - follow the tutorial video by Mr Martin

Video 2: Recolouring B&W Part 1 Exercise tutorial video by Mr Martin

Part 2 - exercise 1: follow the tutorial video

- exercise 2: choose one from the images provided and recolour it

Video 3: Recolouring B&W Part 2 Exercise tutorial video by Mr Martin

Photography Basic

Project 2C: Conceptual Product Photoshoot

We will begin Project 2C this week as well. For this task, we are required to manipulate and combine two objects together into one object. We should apply the Photoshop skills and techniques we have learned before for the photo manipulation part.

We should watch these tutorial videos selected by Mr Fauzi before beginning the product photoshoot:

PHOTOGRAPHY BASICS in 10 MINUTES by David Manning

https://youtu.be/V7z7BAZdt2M

Creative Product Photography At Home - Beginner To Pro! by Chris Pieta

https://youtu.be/ffiJH5fUeN0

Shooting a Bottle with ONE Continuous Light and a Smartphone by figandlight

https://youtu.be/AKXwJbZ7kXQ

PRACTICAL

PROJECT 2A: Digital Imaging Exercises

EXERCISE 1: Photo Manipulation (Hearst Mansion)

Photo manipulations are changes digitally applied to photos for a certain effect or aesthetic. In this exercise, we are going to let Shazam (Fig. left) lean against the wall in the Hearst Mansion (Fig. right). We would understand how to use and master the skills of Quick Selection Tool, Layer Mask, Filters and Colour Correction.

Fig. 2.1 Shazam (left); Hearst Mansion (right)

This exercise is divided into two parts: Hearst Mansion exercise follows the tutorial video made by Mr Martin and My Own Version of Hearst Mansion.

I have done this exercise following the steps in the video and here is the outcome of the Hearst Mansion exercise:

Fig. 2.2 Final outcome of Hearst Mansion followed the tutorial video, Week 6 (3/10/2022)

My version of Hearst Mansion

My friend helped to take a photo of myself for my version of this exercise. I applied the same steps in the previous exercise for my version of Hearst Mansion.

Fig. 2.3 A photo of myself

First I select myself using the Object Selection Tool and Lasso Tool. I make a copy of myself and paste it into the Hearst Mansion. Then I adjust the colour myself to match the colour of Hearst Mansion.

Fig. 2.4 Progress #1 of my version of Hearst Mansion

Next, I add a shadow at the back of myself using the Brush Tool. I apply Gaussian Blur to the shadow and adjust its opacity.

Fig. 2.5 Progress #2 of my version of Hearst Mansion

I create a reflection of myself by duplicating myself horizontally. I crop out the part needed as the reflection in the pool using Pen Tool. Lastly, I adjust the lightness and saturation of my reflection and apply a ripple effect to it.