Assignment 1 Shooting Log 6th Feb 2011

"Heavy"  06/02/11

Sunday was a more successful day, I went over to a local Army training area where I knew there were old tanks used for recovery training. My idea was to photograph a tank in such a way as to give an impression of it's weight. I first of all had to choose my vehicle (there were lots to choose from) and photograph from a very low viewpoint and fill the frame giving an idea of the massive weight of all that metal and armour.  Here are a selection of thumbnails (cropped to fit the contact sheet):

From these I have chosen two possibilities:

4295: 1/60s f4 18mm

4302: 1/100s f5 18mm

My instinct is to go with 4302 as the diagonals are more pronounced and part of the turret is visible. Perhaps a tight crop?

To be able to shoot this low, I held the camera close to the ground and pointed the lens by guess work. This is a technique I have used before, shooting waves at the water's edge when you don't want to get yourself or the camera wet or muddy. (another advantage of the instant results of digital)

"Sweet" 06/02/11

I managed to achieve a lot this weekend. Back at home I managed to realise an idea I had for "sweet". I have a ceramic honey pot and I imagined a drip of honey down the side would make a good photograph. I set up the studio flash with a large softbox to the left, a white reflector to the right and two wide angle flash units to burn out the seamless backdrop, to give high key lighting.

Here's hoping my graphics tablet skills improve quickly!

4309: 1/125s f18 58mm

Once I'd set up the lights, I experimented with the postion of the drip and cropping using the 18-200mm zoom with the following choices for a final image:

4315

4323

4328

My final choice is  a close crop on 4328. The honey has a cleaner definition and I like to see the lettering on the pot clearly. (I'll need to adjust the white point for the final print)

"Sour" 06/02/11

 Next, I photographed a lemon. I left the lights much the same as for the last shot. The only difference being the position of the large softbox. I moved it from  90° to the right to 45°. Flash meter reading: 1/125s f22 variable zoom. I took a lot of shots, here are a selection from on a contact sheet.

I have selected 4382. It has nice specular reflections on the cut half lemon.

I'm not sure how well I have managed to illustrate these contrasting ideas. Is showing images of objects that are associated with sweetness and acidity enough? I have included the sharp blade as a pun and I hope to have conveyed the sweetness of honey by showing its' syrupy nature. Sweet and sticky perhaps?