Exercise 2.1 (Aperture)

23/08/13 Week 3
Francis Jason Wong Chin
(0316060)
Introduction to Photography
Exercise 2.1


Last week Mr Vinod told us to bring our camera and the tripod so that we could do the exercise of the 3rd week. So in the week 3 class, Mr Vinod gave us a lecture about what we would do during this class. He explained what was the aperture mechanism. This mechanism is located in our lens. Basically it controls the amount of light entering the lens through the CCD.

From this I learned that if the aperture opening is big that is f1.8, f2, f2.8, the background will be blur. If the aperture opening is small that is f8, f11, f16, the blacground will be clear.

After the lecture, Mr Vinod gave us an exercise outside the class. The exercise was to take pictures of a fence using what we learnt.
The instructions were:
- Those using a zoom lens, had to keep it fixed on 50mm.
- Do not move the camera on the tripod until the exercise is finished.
- The focus must be on the same point as the first to the last picture.
- Keep the details of the setting of each shot.


The first exercise was to take pictures by changing only the exposure and the shutter speed and ISO stay the same. Here are the pictures taken for exercise 2.1(a):

F5.6
S 1/160
ISO 200

F8
S 1/160
ISO 200

F11
S 1/160
ISO 200

F16
S 1/160
ISO 200

Hand out for exercise 2.1(a)

The 2nd exercise was to take pictures and adjust the shutter speed with the exposure following the indicator on the camera so the indicator become to 0. Here are the pictures of exercise 2.1(b):

F5.6
S 1/160
ISO 200

F8
S 1/80
ISO 200

F11
S 1/40
ISO 200

F16
S 1/20
ISO 200

F22
S 1/10
ISO 200

Hand Out for exercise 2.1(b)

The marking criteria for the above exercises are as follows: Marking Criteria: The student must capture the evidence of the Aperture’s influence in exposure using the various f-stops. The student must also capture the evidence of the Aperture’s influence on depth of field.

Feedback:
When Mr Vinod checked my work, the first thing he saw was that my first picture was not on focus. He said to me that it is an important point not to forget. He also said to me to use smaller point for the handouts.

Reflections:
During week 3, I learnt a lot about the camera and the aperture mechanism. I understand that the aperture change the effect of how a picture will be. It was my first time using these type of feature in a camera.

CHOSEN ART MOVEMENT

For the first assignment, we were asked to research about the art movement that suit us. From the different types of art movements that exist I have chosen Graffiti. I found graffiti the most interesting because of the techniques it uses. The techniques are spray painting and marker pens. I feel at ease with these types of materials as for my A-Level art project i uses this techniques.
Graffiti artists are seen like criminals as they are against the law when doing their arts. For me it's just art and nothing else. Some graffiti express underlying social and political messages. The artist that inspired me the most to chose graffiti is Banksy. Banksy is  pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist. Here are some of his work:

His work really interested me because of the its simplicity. His most colours used are black, white and grey. His work is seen with a distinct stencilling techniques. For Banksy, efficiency is the key of the art.
This is one of his work that really inspired me even if it's not a portrait but just a sentence. It has lot of meaning.

1st Class Work (Mind mapping and Self portrait)

For my first in class work, I had to do a mind mapping and self portrait of myself and present it in front of the class. We got about two hours to complete it.

This my mind mapping about me. I wrote about my details and other things about me.

My Self Portrait

1st Exercise (Presentation of 10 of your best-liked pictures)

For the first presentation we were asked to present the work that was given to us the previous week. The work was about our 10 best-liked pictures, 5 pictures taken by me and 5 from pro photographers. For the presentation we have to explain the reasons why we have chosen these picture, what we found interesting about it.

Five By Me

This picture was taken by me during an outing in Mauritius.  I have chosen this picture because of the landscape that shows Le Morne Mountain which is a in the world heritage list. This mountain preserved the history of how slave fight for their freedom.

This picture was taken at the Black river gorges National Park in Mauritius. I have shot and chosen this photo because of the beauty of nature in Mauritius but it is on the rare preserved nature here.

I have taken this picture and edited it during my free time. The contrast between the colours seems interesting to me.

I have taken this picture in the nature in Mauritius. I have chosen this one because of the light and the shadow of the photo. This emphasis on the posture of me.

This photo was taken in a natural park. I like this photo because of the background. I edited it with a kind of lomography effect that match perfectly the composition of the photo.

Five By Photographers

This photo was taken by Olivier Morin, a sport photographer from AFP a French press agency. I have chosen this picture because it can have lot of meaning like Usain Bolt is fast like a lightning bolt. The picture was so well taken, the weather and the stadium match perfectly.

This photo was taken by Milo Ponsford, an architecture photographer. The composition in this photo attracted me with the light, shadow and the perspective.

This was taken by Ansel Adams, a famous black and white landscape photographer. The sky match perfectly the landscape of the mountain as it really a complex one.

I have chosen this photo as it sophisticated and genuine. The black and white effect on the photo is great and shows the emotion of it. This photo was taken by Yousuf Karsh.

I have chosen this photo as we can see the emotion between the singer and the crowd. The environment match perfectly the scene. I have also chosen because this is one of my favourite band and the singer died last year.

MY HANDOUTS

Before the presentation i was feeling so stressed but it was ok. After the whole class presentation, Mr Vinod gave us a general feedback about the presentation. What to improve like speak articulation and how to present our work. He then presented some of his favourite photographers and their work. He also presented his liked pictures.
For me how i found my presentation is ok but need to improve in speaking. At the end of the class, he asked us to update our e-portfolio and after each class.

1st Class

For the first class, Mr Vinod our intro to photography lecturer introduces us to the subject we will be studying. He shows us the work that will be done during the semester. He also shows us the mark distributions of the subject. During the semester we will get 4 exercise, theme-based project and we must have a portfolio (hardcopy and E-portfolio).


Mr Vinod shows us what types of camera and lense to buy. What we should look for a camera is the CCD size and the effective pixels. He presented some camera brands to consider before buying like Olympus and Fujifilm. The camera could be either a DSLR or a mirrorless.


After some research, I bought the Nikon D7100 which is an APS-C DSLR with a 24MP sensor.

At the end of the class, we were given our first work. The work was to do a presentation about 10 best-liked pictures (5 from us and 5 from other pro photographer).