Monday 6 June 2016

Intentional camera movement - colour and simplification

Intentional camera movement (ICM) causes the image to be smeared in the direction of movement. The amount of smear depends on how long the shutter remains open and the speed of movement. With most scenes this smear results in the loss of fine detail and the mixing of colours that were adjacent at the original scene. If ICM is successfully done, both effects can be desirable strengthening the final image. Photographers often compose an image to achieve simplification, the general aim being to remove anything that does not support the main idea. Everything that remains should support the main idea. The ICM loss of detail can achieve this and the colour simplification means that colours in the final image can bold.

Lochan, Cambus O'May

Yesterday I went for a short walk at Cambus O'May. The sun was shining and the air was warm - enough to be glad of the shelter of the trees and make me believe that summer had arrived. These ICM images were both captured at the start of my walk through the trees. The path goes up a slope rising above a small loch, so you must look down to see the loch through the trees. 

Footpath, Cambus O'May

The images were captured using a 3 stop ND filter and CP filter, ISO 100, small aperture f/18 or f/20 and long shutter speed 1.3s or 2s.

"One does not photograph something simply for 'what it is', but for 'what else it is'."
Minor White

Monday 14 March 2016

Cucumber sandwiches

Continuing the food theme ... cucumber sandwiches are wonderful, simple and elegant! Bread and butter with slices of cucumber and a sprinkle of salt - presented on fine china. The china in this image is Japanese.

 Tea and cucumber sandwiches

Saturday 5 March 2016

Serving suggestion - pie sandwich


A previous serving suggestion blog image was "inspired" by some poor examples of images on food packaging. The image was semi-abstract, including cut-out photo images of food items. The odd appearance of some food items was obtained by including the shadows in these cut-outs such that the shadow cast by a lettuce leaf is included in its photo cut-out. The colour and placing of the shadow is therefore deliberately inappropriate to the lighting although it works for me.
The image below is more realistic, but again each item is a cut out from a separate photo. Shadows have been selectively added after the fact, but these are still deliberately odd, so that there is something not right about the overall image.

Pie sandwich

The pie sandwich is something that I first encountered in an episode of Coronation Street, being eaten by Corrie's Gary Mallett. The Urban Dictionary tells me it is also known as a Wigan sandwich. This food concept is also known in Dundee.

Monday 8 February 2016

Serving suggestion

I normally expect manufacturers of foodstuffs to put effort into making their products attractive to potential consumers. The manufacturer's marketing departments sometimes illustrate the food contents with so-called "serving suggestions".

Here is my attempt at bettering the professionals.

Serving suggestion

Saturday 23 January 2016

Multiple exposure - triptych

A recent challenge from a local camera club was to produce a triptych - three images in one frame. The three images in a triptych should be related in some way. For example they might tell a story, have a common theme, or show three views of the same subject.

A favourite painting is "The Garden of Earthly Delights" - a triptych by the Flemish painter Hieronymus Bosch, dated about 1500. Bosch's painting is very complex, full of fantasy, symbolism and metaphor. The painting is a mystery - today no one seems to have a full understanding of its meaning.

Inspiration for the camera club's challenge comes from Bosch's bizarre painting - it steals a few simple ideas as a basis. Here is the result:

 Triptych

A technical inspiration is the use of multiple exposures. I had been exploring the creative possibilities of multiple exposures, and testing a few ideas using fruit as the subject. Most of the triptych is composited from multiple exposures of fruit. Some examples:

In each case, the multiple exposure image has been created in-camera by a Canon 5D mark III in Darken" multiple exposure mode.