CW_5 : histograms

Varied tones

 According to the histogram, most pixels fall on the left side of the picture. When printing, the tones going out of the histograms might not be very accurate, but overall the printing result should be similar to the digital version.

High key tones

 According to the histogram, most pixels fall on the right side of the picture. When printing, the brighter tones might not come out with any details. It would give to the printed version an over saturation in the higher white tones.

Low key tones

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According to the histogram, most pixels fall on the left side of the picture due to the dark background.  When printing, the darker tones might not come out with details. It could give to the printed version an over saturation in the darker tones



Considering the information on the histogram, my camera properly exposed the high key and low key because there is no clipping in the histogram

The histogram with the most dynamic range is the varied tones picture.

CW2 - assignment 1

slow shutter speed

fast shutter speed

Deep DOF

 Shallow DOF

CW_4 : Lens depth distortion

Telephoto : 55mm

- Little amount of background on the sides

flatness

- No sense of distance between background and subject

- Top surface of the cube and table non visible

- Little background

- About 6 meters away from subject

Wide angle: 17mm

- A lot of background on the sides

- Slight distortion in corners of the picture

- Top surface of the cube and table visible 

- More background

- About a meter away from subject

Telephoto : 55mm

- Little amount of background

- Subjects look close between them

- Flatness

- Subject body proportions accurate

- About 8 meters away from subject

Wide angle : 17mm

- More background

- Subjects look more distant between them 

- Body ratio distortion 

- about 2 meters away from subject

The Take Away 

          - what happens to the width of the background when you go from WA to tele?

WA : wide amount of background + distortion

Tele : small amount of background

          - what happens to the distance between the background  & subject "  "  "  " "  "  "?

WA : more distance between subject and background 

Tele : less distance between the subject and background

          - what happens to the subjects themselves in terms of expansion & contraction (for the width) as well as compaction and enlargement (for front to back)?

WA : body proportion distorted (close to camera : bigger / further away from camera : smaller)

Tele : body ratio respected 

  Scenario: 

go further away and use a telephoto lens

CW_3 : White Balance

AWB

The automatique white balance kept the colours close to reality. The tones are slightly warm, and in comparison to the two other used white balance this is the most suitable one.

 

 Shade

The tones are very warm, to the point where the colours are desaturated and it gives to the picture a very yellow look. The blue in the book is nearly inexistent. This colour distortion is what makes this white balance the least stable among the 3 WB.

fluorescent

There is a lot of purple tones because  of the fluorescent WB. The whites are grey-purple looking and the general picture more cold looking. If suitable, I think this WB could be useful. 

Right WB 

Wrong WB 

Using an inappropriate WB in this case creates a very cold look to the picture. The colours are wrong, as we loose the orange and white colours in the picture. Yet, if you're trying to created a moody cold feel, this WB can be effective.

CW_3 : Noise reduction

ISO 100 f2.8 1/1250sec noise reduction : high

ISO 100 f2.8 1/1250sec noise reduction : medium

ISO 100 f2.8 1/1250sec noise reduction : low

ISO 100 f2.8 1/1250sec noise reduction : none

ISO 800 f4.5 1/3200sec noise reduction : high

ISO 800 f4.5 1/3200sec noise reduction : medium

 ISO 800 f4.5 1/3200sec noise reduction : low

ISO 800 f4.5 1/3200sec noise reduction : none

ISO 3200 f9 1/4000sec noise reduction : high

ISO 3200 f9 1/4000sec noise reduction : medium

ISO 3200 f9 1/4000sec noise reduction : low

ISO 3200 f9 1/4000sec noise reduction : none

There is a difference in sharpness and noise between the different noise reduction amounts. In fact, you can see that the picture is softer with a high reduction mode than without the noise reduction. I think a high noise reduction can be usefully in night photography, when your camera needs a high ISO, which created a lot of noise.I think the best result of a well exposed scene is the medium noise reduction level, because the high noise reduction is too soft and the low noise reduction too noisy.

CW - DOF workshop

Shallow DOF : 100 ISO ; f2.8 ; 1/20sec

The use of shallow DOF in this pictures brings in a softer look, with the book label in focus and the rest slightly blurred. A shallow DOF focuses our attention on a specific element of a composition, and creates a more ‘romantic’ vision of the still life. It creates a sense of vignetting around a single focal point, but we still take the other objects which are not in focus into account.

            Medium DOF : 100 ISO ; f11 ; 1sec

With a medium DOF we still have the sense of vignetting in the picture, but not as much as with a shallow DOF, so we can see the majority of the composition in focus. This change flattens the picture, as it gives us the impression that the object are more or less at the same distance from the camera.

            Deep DOF : 100 ISO ; f22 ; 4sec

Because of the use of a deep DOF, all the elements of the still life are in focus and we have a lot less sense of distance between the camera and the objects. With such a flat view, I think it makes the picture less interesting, in this case, because we lose the softness of the shallow DOF,  the picture looks more harsh and our eyes aren’t guided to a specific point. We don’t really know what to bring attention to either.

I think the most effective depth of field for this still life is the shallow DOF, because it brings depths and a focal point to the picture. It also brings a nice soft look to the composition.

Shallow DOF : 100 ISO ; f2.8 ; 1/250sec

Using shallow DOF to shoot portraiture makes the person stand out from the background and look more “3D” then with a deep DOF. The model looks very sharp as they contrast with the blurry background shallow DOF creates. The focal point is obviously the model, we are not distracted by the rest of the composition.

Deep DOF : 1000 ISO ; f20 ; 1/50sec

Deep DOF flattens the pictures and we lose sense of distance between the background and the model. As everything in the picture becomes sharp, we don’t have an obvious focal point and we don’t really know where to look at first. Deep DOF does not make the model stand out as much in comparaison to the background as shallow DOF does. We also lose sense of the 3D features in the model’s face which gives them flatter face features.