Project 1 -
Exercise 3.1: Freeze
"Using fast shutter speeds, try to isolate a frozen moment of time in a moving subject. Depending on the available light you may have to select a high ISO to avoid visible blur in the photograph. Add a selection of shots, together with relevant shooting data and a description of the process (how you captured the images), to your learning log."
The Golf Balls
So I took my camera out of Aperture priority mode (which I am now feeling very comfortable with) for this next part of course work and switched it to shutter priority. New territory for me. When taking motion shots in the past, I've let the camera make all the decisions for me and simply popped it into sports mode.
I wanted to try this exercise first off with something falling from a height and knew I needed the camera to be steady so I used a tripod for the shots below and with help from my mum who was dropping the balls in front of the camera. It was an overcast day so my ISO was set quite high and I used fast shutter speeds which I played around with.
Failed attempts...
ISO 800 ~ 18mm ~ f/3.5 ~ 1/1000sec ISO 6400 ~ 18mm ~ f/9.0 ~ 1/1250sec ISO 6400 ~ 18mm ~ f/5.0 ~ 1/4000sec
The shots above are just a few of the many failed attempts at this exercise. The point of the exercise was to keep the moving subject in focus without blur, which I struggled with. I couldn't quite work out why I couldn't keep the golf balls in focus. The background was sharp but the golf balls in the foreground were not.
I then decided to take the camera out of auto focus and switch it into manual so I could play around a bit more and this seemed to work.
ISO 12800 ~ 24mm ~ f/9.0 ~ 1/4000sec ISO 12800 ~ 24mm ~ f/9.0 ~ 1/4000sec ISO 12800 ~ 24mm ~ f/9.0 ~ 1/4000sec
The three shots above are without blur and I am fairly satisfied with them, although I think a little more practice is needed. To me they look a little over-exposed where the light is bouncing off of the golf balls. I am still getting to grips with playing around with all the manual settings on my camera so I may have over compensated on my ISO setting even though it was a dull day.
Looking back now, I realise if I had used a deeper depth of field I would have been able to get the whole frame in focus on my earlier attempts with the golf ball shots.
The Cooking Book
ISO 12800 ~ 31mm ~ f/29 ~ 1/4000sec ISO 12800 ~ 31mm ~ f/29 ~ 1/4000sec ISO 12800 ~ 31mm ~ f/29 ~ 1/4000sec
Again, I used a tripod for these shots with a small aperture for a deep depth of field. I wanted to use something that was a little more static than balls falling from the sky and a book being held but with the pages being flipped seemed like a nice idea. I was able to capture the pages motion effectively. There is no blur but the shots are a little grainy - I think because I hadn't quite focused the lens right in manual mode and because my ISO was very high where it was a dull, overcast day.
The Schnauzer and her ball
All shot at... ISO 12800 ~ 22mm ~ f/11 ~ 1/4000sec
It's easy to see that I enjoyed taking shots of my dog more than I did of golf balls and books by the amount that I took. I hadn't planned to use my Schnauzer for this exercise but she was keeping me company in the garden and kept looking at her ball longingly. I ditched the tripod so I could move around a lot more, following her. I took a low stance as the sun began to peek out slightly from behind the clouds.
Each of the shots above fulfil the brief and isolate a frozen moment of time in a moving subject. By this point I had started to get the hang of using a fast shutter speed and was happy with what I was shooting.
Reflection
It's safe to say I learnt a lot doing this exercise. At the beginning I was getting frustrated with myself as I just couldn't get a clean shot without blur but I took a deep breath and played around with my camera and used knowledge I have learnt so far whilst doing this degree. Each time I pick up my camera I learn something new, which is what this is all about for me.