4 - CAMERA AND ITS FUNCTIONS

Analysing the functions Of the Camera

Non Digital Camera Map

fig 54

NOT ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH (image taken from internet)

Above is the Olympus OM10, with which I took one reel of photographs. I wanted to see if there is any major difference in the quality of the content of the photographs taken. See below for the pictures (soon to be added). 

fig 55

Taken in Harrow on the Hill Shopping Centre using OM10 black and white celluloid film camera

Taken using an Olympus OM10. I had few expectations of using this camera but only did so as part of the experimental process of trying different equipment. What transpired was that I was far more selective in taking my pictures and took more time to compose and focus each image. With hindsight, this has been a particularly useful experience and I am delighted with the texture and feel of the final prints. This image was converted from the celluloid film to a digital JPEG. The actual print has far greater saturation and a beautiful texture. This particular photograph of a woman walking past Moss Brothers in Harrow was something that I thought would be average but is in fact one of my favourite pictures in my whole project, as it is focused, framed well and tells a strong narrative of the world we live in.  

Digital Camera (Canon 550d)

 Map and Key Functions

1 Main Control Dial 

fig 56

2 Various Lenses

fig 57

3 Front View of the Canon EOS 550D SLR

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4 The LED display/ Shot of the Back of the Camera

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5 Side View of Canon Zoom Lens

fig 60

Example of Wide angle Photography (taken with 14mm focal length)

fig 61

6 Close up of Main Control Dial

fig 62

Function of Aperture

7 Picture Taken with Narrow Aperture (f 13)

(Much of the picture is in focus despite varying proximities from camera lens, an example of "deep focus")

fig 63

8 Picture Taken with Very Wide Aperture (f 3.5)

(Only the wine glass is fully in focus, an example of "shallow focus")

fig 64

9 Shot with Wide Aperture

(Only the wine glass is in focus,)

fig 65

10 Shot with Narrow Aperture

(Most of the objects are in focus despite varying proximities)
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fig 68

The picture above was taken during the night, with a 1.5 lens and no flash. Thanks to the extremely low aperture, I was able to capture a fairly well lit image without a very high ISO (I was wary of the graininess of the final picture). When working with such a low aperture in a dark room, it is necessary to use a very slow shutter speed, so the camera must not be moved in the time taken to get the shot.



fig 69


fig 70

Canon EF 1.4 50mm Lens 

(rented from Calumet Camera Shop for £16, 1 day)

Having read that 1.4 lens cameras could produce a higher level of quality, I wanted to explore this type of lens for the portraits which I was planning to take next Monday. Hence I rented this camera today to test out under various lighting both indoors and outdoors with some interesting results.

Something which I was particularly curious about was how this new camera (with the same aperture/shutter settings) would compare with the original lens on my Canon 550D SLR (3.5-4.5 28-105mm), and at first some basic shots taken from a cafe revealed no difference. It was only when I used the camera under full automatic (including flash) that the difference in detail became clear. As it turns out, even though this lens supposedly works well at low light due to an especially wide aperture, it only really shines (pun intended) at high levels of light. This became evident when I used my original lens with the same flash to produce a picture with much poorer quality. I shall perhaps further explore this issue later on as it seems to defy the main advantage of the new lens and I cannot as yet explain this. Nevertheless, I used this to my advantage in the pictures which I went on to take (see below).

Picture 11. Taken at the Wellcome Cafe, using original lens (f3.5)
fig 71

I took this photograph on the first of February at approximately 4:15pm

Picture 12. Taken at the Wellcome Cafe, using rented 1.4 lens

fig 71

In my opinion, the two lenses give a very different feel to a similar picture. The rented lens gives brighter, more blocky colours with more contrast, whereas my main 3.5 lens shows more tones (for example the apples in the background). At this point I did not truly see the benefits of the rented lens, I felt they were generally of a similar quality. 

Picture 13. Taken outside the Wellcome Cafe, using rented 1.4 50mm lens
fig 72

This was actually the first picture which I took with the rented lens, and fortunately it was at a time when there was excellent natural lighting in the area. As I later discovered, the advantages of the rented lens are most apparent under a lot of light, and detail aside, I particularly liked the expression on the girl's face and the contrast of her almost gothic jacket with her angelic features and pale surroundings. All of this was pure coincidence, however this is perhaps my favourite shot of the day. 

Function of Shutter Speed

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fig 77

Although I love the effect created by the man's transparent newspaper, I must admit that it was purely accidental. The picture was taken in a dimly lit cafe and in an attempt to have both subjects in focus I kept a fairly high aperture and used a very long shutter speed, forgetting that good focus would require a tripod and still subjects. The man happened to hold up the paper, changing the effect of an otherwise blurred, uninteresting picture.

fig 78

Having seen the way that fig 78 turned out, I felt inspired to experiment with very long shutter speeds on other subjects, capturing their movement in single shots. The main problem which I faced here was the fact that to achieve the wing-like images behind herI needed her to move her arms, which of course caused the rest of her body to move with them, so her face was out of focus. To combat this, I took a still, very focussed picture of the model with an extremely low aperture, then superposed the focussed image of her head on the blurred one where she moved. 

Function of Focus ring

fig 79

fig 80

Taken in Piccadilly, London

(Above) this is one of the first photographs I took with the rented f1.4 lens. The exceptionally low aperture made the lens very sensitive to overexposure, so as you can see, the sunlight made it difficult to capture his face. 

Eventually, I made the shutter speed much faster and turned the aperture up, so that there was not too much light in the picture. I also opted for a close up of his face so that the level of detail captured by the f1.4 lens was really noticeable. Below is the final picture.  

fig 81

Evaluation

What Went Well: 

 I have learned:

• How to utilise all of the manual functions on a camera
• When a low aperture is more appropriate to add effect to an image,
• Successful experimentation with short shutter speeds to limit light exposure (see fig 64a/b)
• ways to create special effects using extremely long shutter speeds (however experimentation using flowing water was not as successful, see fig 60), more examples can be seen in the "Text and Image" page

Improvements

In hindsight, looking over the pictures I have taken, there are some things  that I feel could have been better, for example:

• I would have liked to have shot some airborne subjects in the style of Cartier Bresson's "Rance", see fig 167