Camera Labs

This is the thread for any comments or questions concerning February's Assignment.

- Bjorn -

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Street and documentary photographer | Google+ | Twitter | Blog | Tumblr

Leica M9-P (my article on Camera Labs) | Leica D-Lux 5 | 50mm Summilux

Question... are we allowed to use *film* submissions that have been scanned to digital?

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Nikon D80 || AF-S DX 18-135mm
Nikon N75 || AF 28-80mm G , AF 70-300mm G, AF 50mm f1.8D, AF 35mm f2.0 (all Nikkor)

Hi thestig2010,

I can't see why not. So long as the competition rules are followed and the image is actually captured and the film developed during February. There's a request for "minimal post processing" but I don't think the intention was to prevent scanning the film so long as the scanning parameters aren't tweaked to change the nature of the image being scanned. What does everyone else think?

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Fine with me.

"The Stig" is my alias on Call of Duty haha. Topgear is a great show.

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Sony A850 | Sony Battery Grip | Carl Zeiss 24-70 Vario-Sonnar T f/2.8 | Sony 70-200G f/2.8 SSM | Lensbaby Composer Pro | Sony HVL-F58AM

Alienbees B800 (x3) | Alienbees Cyber Commander | CSR+ Receivers | Grids, Softbox, Gels, Manfrotto/Century/Avenger stands

www.flickr.com/frankiewithers
www.fkwstudio.blogspot.com
www.fkwstudio.com

@djfsolo - Haha, yes it is a great show!

@Bob - Okay cool, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a violation of the "On Assignment" rules in general. I was fortunate enough to be out shooting on Feb 1, get my film developed and scanned that evening at a local lab, and uploaded to flickr the same day, and wow was I amazed with the end result... (see submission)

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Nikon D80 || AF-S DX 18-135mm
Nikon N75 || AF 28-80mm G , AF 70-300mm G, AF 50mm f1.8D, AF 35mm f2.0 (all Nikkor)

@thestig2010 great photo really love the way the waves are breaking.

I am struggling with this months assignment as I haven't done any high key photography before. Is the best way to get a high key photo to change the exposure compesation.

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Camera: Canon 550D with battery grip
Lenses: Canon 24-105mm f/4L, Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 18-55mm, Tamron 70-300mm,
Accessories: Manfrotto 055XPROB with 808RC4 head, Canon 430ex II speedlite, Lowepro Nova 180AW and Lowepro Pro Runner 450AW

Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer -Stewie Griffin

Ive entered film shots into the assignments before Im pretty sure.

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Nikon D5000 and D300 with 12-24mm, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 60mm f2.8 Macro, 18-200mm, 17-55mm f2.8 (all Nikon)

I too have submitted a film shot or two before. I love film, it would be great to have it as a future assignment.

Great shots so far! It seems it's gonna be an interesting month. I'm still beating myself up for not submitting a shot last month.

Hi James,

Leaving the camera on 'auto' will almost certainly result in under-exposure and a relatively dark image. Since auto always tries to achieve a balance between light and dark, when confronted by a mainly light toned HK subject (as the brief requires) the exposure system will always assume that it is a mixed-tone subject brilliantly lit and crank the aperture closed a couple of stops accordingly.

I've just been to the beach here in Sri Lanka and shot a load of frames using the exposure compensation dial on my G10 to fool around with the exposure. I eventually settled on +1 stop but with hindsight I reckon I could have gone a bit further. The trick is to try and pitch the exposure just right so that there are some small areas of 'proper' black to go with all the lighter tones. If there is no area of black (or near black) the result will be a bit grey, flat and soggy-looking. Equally you don't want the lightest tones to wash out and have no detail in them.. Tricky!

I too had never tried doing HK shots before so I'm pleased that Daisy has set us this task... requires a bit of head-scratching but there's no gain without pain!

Good luck

Mike R

Thank you very much mike this will certainly help. I am going to try it out today and see how I get on.

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Camera: Canon 550D with battery grip
Lenses: Canon 24-105mm f/4L, Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 18-55mm, Tamron 70-300mm,
Accessories: Manfrotto 055XPROB with 808RC4 head, Canon 430ex II speedlite, Lowepro Nova 180AW and Lowepro Pro Runner 450AW

Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer -Stewie Griffin

I always thought high key was a pic that lacks deep shadow detail and contains mostly mid and high tones. by shadow i mean the black end, any image that contains a full dynamic range surley must be exactly that, full dynamic range. just my thought for high key images.

Please read the following page ... OK, so it relates to HK portraiture but the principles apply to any HK shot. http://www.flickr.com/groups/729513@N22/discuss/72157614513806951/

The 4 Histograms below were got a) demo histogram from Google by searching Images for 'histogram high key' and b,c,d by downloading photos submitted so far and running them through photoshop to get their histograms. Look to your laurels folks and stick to the rules.



Daisy (the Dominatrix!)

Yeahhhh, I think I missed the idea of "high key" after doing some research. But I really like the picture I took, I love film, and I'm not changing it

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Nikon D80 || AF-S DX 18-135mm
Nikon N75 || AF 28-80mm G , AF 70-300mm G, AF 50mm f1.8D, AF 35mm f2.0 (all Nikkor)

To quote yourself daisy:

"My ‘take’ on High Key photography is that a full range of tones from the lightest to full black must appear somewhere in the picture with the lighter end of the tonal spectrum dominating; areas of black should be minimal but certainly present."

If we're talking histograms, then Id say that this is exactly what Ive got.

Your "classic demo" doesnt agree with your own statement of "areas of black should certainly be present" as the histogram clearly tails off well before the black section, where as mine does indeed feature true black. Mine also has the "lighter end of the tonal spectrum dominating" illustrated by the spike, so by your very own definition, I believe my histogram to be alright.

However, you are indeed the task setter and if you believe my image to be in breach of your statement, then of course I will withdraw from this months assignment, or resubmit an image at your discretion. I apologise for not being a studio portrait photographer and for not submitting what you would consider to be a stereotypical 'High Key' image, but I thought it would be interesting to combine my style with your very own definition.

Apologies,
Jeremy

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Nikon D5000 and D300 with 12-24mm, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 60mm f2.8 Macro, 18-200mm, 17-55mm f2.8 (all Nikon)

Hold your fire Jeremy. This is new territory for most of us and venturing into the unknown is always a nervy business. I ran the brief past Bjorn before posting and he gave it the green light, so the concept is deemed to be sound enough. In posting the histograms I sought not to criticise any individual but aimed to alert folks to how histograms work and what they reveal so that they might perhaps for the first time use them to analyse their shots. Each photographer should research what HK is about beyond the prompts I've given and choose a suitable subject.

I don't as yet see as yet any white kittens on white rugs, fair skinned girls in white dresses/rooms, piles of white feathers, white flowers, misty landscapes or the like. I hope that come voting time the winning photo will not only satisfy the brief but will be an astoundingly beautiful artistic composition in its own right.... that just happens also to be HK. We all have 20 days to go and plenty of opportunity to think through our own solution. I for one haven't a clue what I'm going to do and am still casting about for something suitable.

Your submission is an interesting and striking one but if you wish to re-submit I suggest that you contact Bjorn via PM.

Daisy