2.5.2014 (Week 5)
Casey Chong Jing Ping (0318756)
Introduction to Photography
Exercise 3a (Highlights, Middle Tones, and Dark Tones) and 3b (Ansel Adams Shot)
Lecture
Before the lecture, Mr.Vinod gave us an ungraded quiz on twitter. After that, we had a discussion about the zone system. We had a lot to discuss as we had so many questions that we wanted to ask about the zone system because we did not really understand a lot of things about the zone system. The most major thing that I learnt was that the exposure meter in the DSLR is pretty much useless once you learn about the zone system. After that, Mr.Vinod gave us a discussion and explaination about the zone system. We understood him well and learnt how to use the zone system in our photographs. After the presentation, we were given an exercise to do, and we went out to the corridor in groups to take the photographs for the exercise. Shortly after that, we went back to the photo lab to check our photographs with Mr.Vinod to see if the photographs that we had taken were valid for the exercise or not. Those who did not meet the requirements went out of the class to redo the work while those who met the requirements of the exercise either stayed in class to wait for the others or go and help their friends who have not finished their work yet. After everyone was back at the class, Mr.Vinod assigned us to another exercise in which we have to do outside of the class, at home. After that, we could choose to stay and ask some questions about the day's topic or we could dismiss ourselves and have lunch.
Instructions
This third exercise delves in more detail on exposure using the Zone System method developed by Ansel Adams. Having learnt the said system, students will create exposures by pre visualizing the result. Used in combination with exercise 2 would should result in images of good exposure and depth.
3a) Highlights, Middle Tones and Dark Tones
1. Take a photograph of something that has 4 different tones of white using the exposure given by the exposure meter in the camera.
2. Take another photograph of the same object in the same position, but using the exposure given through the zone system.
3. Repeat these steps using objects with different shades of grey and different shades of black.
3b) Ansel Adams Shot.
1. Choose a place to take a photograph that has the 9 zones given in the zone system.
2. Take a photograph of the place using the exposure that is given by the exposure meter in the camera.
3. Sketch out the photograph on a piece of paper and record down the aperture, ISO, and shutter speed of the photograph of the 9 zones in the camera.
4. Using the concept of the zone system, change the shutter speed of the camera accordingly to the different zones in the area and record down the shutter speed settings of the zones on the paper.
5. Choose one zone that you want to focus on in the photograph and change the shutter speed using the zone system concept and take the photograph.
Exercise 3a:
White:
Using the camera's exposure meter.
ISO: 200
Aperture: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/200
Using the zone system concept.
ISO: 200
Aperture: f5.6.
Shutter Speed: 1/50
Grey:
Using the camera's exposure meter.
ISO: 200
Aperture: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/50
Using the zone system concept.
ISO: 200
Aperture: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/25
Black:
Using the camera's exposure meter.
ISO: 200
Aperture: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 0''4
Using the zone system concept.
ISO: 200
Apeture: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/8
Exercise 3b:
The photograph following the camera's original exposure meter.
The photograph following the zone system.
THE PLACE THAT I AM FOCUSING ON IS THE ROOF OF THE HOUSE, WHICH IS IN ZONE IV.
This is the sketch that I made for the photograph to determine all the different zones in the photograph, therefore determining the correct shutter speeds for each zone:
ISO: 200
Aperture: f14
Shutter Speed:
Camera Exposure Meter:
Zone I: 4’’
Zone IV(Roof): 0’’5
Zone IV(Ground): 1’’6
Zone V: 1’’3
Zone VI: 1’’6
Zone VII: 2’’5
Zone VIII: 2’’
Zone IX: 1/25
Zone System Concept:
Zone I: 1/4
Zone IV(Roof): 1/8
Zone IV(Ground): 0’’8
Zone V: 1’’3
Zone VI: 3’’2
Zone VII: 10’’
Zone VIII: 15’’
Zone IX: 0’’8
Screenshot of the Hardcopies:
The marking criteria for the above exercise are as follows:
3a) Light, Middle, and Dark Tones (5%)
Marking Criteria: The student must show evidence of using the Zone System technique to capture an ‘accurate exposure’ of a subject with light tones, a subject with middle tones and a subject with dark tones. An accurate exposure entails ‘visible tonal values and details’ in all three tonal areas.
3b) Ansel Adams Shot (5%)
Marking Criteria: Students must show evidence of using the Zone System. Student must produce 1 black and white image that captures depth and richness in tonal value by capturing light, middle and dark tones while maintaining details (texture and tone) in the dark and light areas of the image.
Feedback:
Specific feedback:
The specific feedback that Mr.Vinod gave me was that my exercises were accurate, and also my sketch was very good. On the ePortfolio front, Mr.Vinod said that my ePortfolio was very well written. In his words, he wrote "simply put it it was excellent work". He was very impressed at the way I wrote my reflection, because I attempted to write it like a true scientist, as he had told us to in the previous feedback, and I guess my attempt was not in vain, and not futile, because he said that he was impressed at the way I wrote my reflection like a true scientist. He also told me to keep up my good work at doing my ePortfolio.
General feedback:
*NONE GIVEN*
Reflections:
Experience:
My experience during class was that when we do not know what a topic is, we could come out with a lot of questions about just that particular topic. Once a question is started, other questions will automatically come forth and sometimes, questions will not run out. One question brings out another question. I also experienced that it is not easy to find a subject or environment that is purely filled with different tones of white, grey, or black, because most things are multicoloured nowadays. On the exercise 3b, I have experienced that it is even more difficult to find a scene that has all the 9 different zones in the zone system. It is very easy to find zone 1, zone 5, and zone 9 as those are the most basic zones as they are the colour black and white, and also the colour grey or other neutral colours. Moreover, what I have experienced was that it is quite impossible to take the same photograph twice in a row without a tripod. And the photograph also might come out shaky without using the tripod. Last but not least, I have had the experience that dogs can move. I know, it is a funny and weird thing to say as everybody knows that dogs are capable of moving. But I mad a mistake in doing exercise 3b because I took a picture of a scenery with a yellowish-brownish dog inside the photograph, and when I went back to the spot after sketching the photograph, the dog was gone and I stressed out for awhile there as I had placed the dog in a particular zone, which is zone 6. Luckily, my coursemate Katrina was there and she thought of using a bunch of huge leaves to replace the dog as they are yellowish-brown and are also in zone 6. In addition, I have experienced that it is very difficult to complete exercise 3b, even with a friend to help. But thanks to Katrina, we helped each other out and managed to finish the task just in time for we were about to leave. I had a wonderful but very tiring experience while doing this exercise, and hope that it will never happen again. But, it was fun.
My experience during class was that when we do not know what a topic is, we could come out with a lot of questions about just that particular topic. Once a question is started, other questions will automatically come forth and sometimes, questions will not run out. One question brings out another question. I also experienced that it is not easy to find a subject or environment that is purely filled with different tones of white, grey, or black, because most things are multicoloured nowadays. On the exercise 3b, I have experienced that it is even more difficult to find a scene that has all the 9 different zones in the zone system. It is very easy to find zone 1, zone 5, and zone 9 as those are the most basic zones as they are the colour black and white, and also the colour grey or other neutral colours. Moreover, what I have experienced was that it is quite impossible to take the same photograph twice in a row without a tripod. And the photograph also might come out shaky without using the tripod. Last but not least, I have had the experience that dogs can move. I know, it is a funny and weird thing to say as everybody knows that dogs are capable of moving. But I mad a mistake in doing exercise 3b because I took a picture of a scenery with a yellowish-brownish dog inside the photograph, and when I went back to the spot after sketching the photograph, the dog was gone and I stressed out for awhile there as I had placed the dog in a particular zone, which is zone 6. Luckily, my coursemate Katrina was there and she thought of using a bunch of huge leaves to replace the dog as they are yellowish-brown and are also in zone 6. In addition, I have experienced that it is very difficult to complete exercise 3b, even with a friend to help. But thanks to Katrina, we helped each other out and managed to finish the task just in time for we were about to leave. I had a wonderful but very tiring experience while doing this exercise, and hope that it will never happen again. But, it was fun.
Observations:
From this class, I have observed that one colour has a lot of different tones, at least 4 different shades. I also observed that there are a lot of different shades of colour, such as red, yellow, blue,... and even black and white have different shades too. All the different shades of colour, combined with all the different tones of the colours, can make never-ending types of colour. Also, I have learnt that different shades of colour belong to different zones. The most important thing that I have learnt was that the light meter, or exposure meter, is pretty much useless once you have learnt about the zone system, unless the object that you are taking a photograph of belongs to zone 5. I have observed that black and white and the other colours can be used in the same zone system concept. For example, normal red colour is placed into zone 5, and so is the colour grey, which falls into the black and white category. I observed that pastel is a little to the white side and colours like navy blue and brown are more to the black side. As the colours become darker, the zone numbers become smaller and vice versa for the brighter colours. I also observed that good photographs have less contrast between the dark zones and the light zones, especially between the darkest and lightest zones, which are zone I and zone IX. In addition, I have also observed that choosing the right lighting and time to take a photograph is very important because the Zone System can only help you so much. Sometimes, even the Zone System cannot help you, especially when the zones have too much contrast between the dark and light zones. In the end, Light, which is the lighting, is still the most crucial aspect in taking a good photograph.
From this class, I have observed that one colour has a lot of different tones, at least 4 different shades. I also observed that there are a lot of different shades of colour, such as red, yellow, blue,... and even black and white have different shades too. All the different shades of colour, combined with all the different tones of the colours, can make never-ending types of colour. Also, I have learnt that different shades of colour belong to different zones. The most important thing that I have learnt was that the light meter, or exposure meter, is pretty much useless once you have learnt about the zone system, unless the object that you are taking a photograph of belongs to zone 5. I have observed that black and white and the other colours can be used in the same zone system concept. For example, normal red colour is placed into zone 5, and so is the colour grey, which falls into the black and white category. I observed that pastel is a little to the white side and colours like navy blue and brown are more to the black side. As the colours become darker, the zone numbers become smaller and vice versa for the brighter colours. I also observed that good photographs have less contrast between the dark zones and the light zones, especially between the darkest and lightest zones, which are zone I and zone IX. In addition, I have also observed that choosing the right lighting and time to take a photograph is very important because the Zone System can only help you so much. Sometimes, even the Zone System cannot help you, especially when the zones have too much contrast between the dark and light zones. In the end, Light, which is the lighting, is still the most crucial aspect in taking a good photograph.
Findings:
What I found out about in this lesson is that the zone system actually helps to capture more details in the photograph. I also found out more about what exactly the zone system is, which is an approach to a standardized way of working that guarantees a correct exposure in every situation, even in the trickiest lighting conditions such as back lighting, extreme difference between light and shadow areas of a scene, and many similar conditions that are most likely going to throw off your camera's metering, therefore giving you a completely incorrect exposure. The zone system has a total of 9 zones, but the average camera can only detect zone 3 to zone 7, because any zone less than zone 3 would be pitch black and any zone over zone 7 would be pure white when it is being taken with the camera. I found out that it is not easy to find a place that has all the 9 zones of tonality, and that make doing exercise 3b quite difficult, even when I have a friend to help me.Taking a photograph and retaking it to be perfectly the same is also quite impossible, unless you have a tripod with you. And it also took quite a long time doing exercise 3b. It tests our patience when Katrina and I were attempting to do exercise 3b, and Glory to God, we finally finished taking both of our respective photographed areas along with the short notes that we jotted down. Halfway through doing the exercise, we realized that we took our photographs in colour and we had to take them in black and white, so frustrated, we were about to give up and attempt to take the photographs another day and at different places and just basically to redo the entire thing in an entirely new environmental setting, partly because we were tired, but 99% because there were a lot of mosquitoes there and we were dying of the mosquito bites. Finally, we managed to finish both our exercises and we could finally go back. It was an interesting experience, but I hope to never repeat it again, because of the mosquitoes and the humidity and all the other complications, one of them being my camera running out of battery because I forgot to charge it the day before. But I learnt my lesson, and hopefully I won't repeat the same mistakes ever again.
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