P&P: Exercise 23: Selective Processing And Prominence

From the course notes:

Select one image that you have already taken for an earlier project, an image in which the issue is the visual prominence of a figure in a setting. For this exercise you will use the digital processing methods that you have available on your computer to make two new versions of this image.

In one, make the figure less prominent, so that it recedes into the setting. In the second, do the opposite, by making it stand out more. Possible selective adjustments are to brightness, contrast, even colour intensity if you are presenting a colour image.

This image was taken during a December 2014 trip to Istanbul.  The version here is how I developed and displayed it on my Flickr account.  For this exercise, I have developed two additional images.

P&P: Exercise 21: Making figures anonymous

Facing away, Small

When the place is the principal subject, but when it will look better inhabited, it is often useful

to find ways of reducing the visual attention that a person or a face tends to command.

The point here is to use people as accents, not as subjects, and thus techniques that make them less individual, and more anonymous, are appropriate.  Several techniques are suggested, including reduced size, facing away or partly hidden, blurred, or in silhouette. 

As with the previous exercises, these images were taken at Dubai Mall.  The one above depicts the shop front of a bakery and uses figures to add some visual interest.  The female foreground faces away, the make at right is small.  

P&P: Exercise 20: Busy traffic

From a single figure we move to many.  In this exercise we are to depict a space heavily trafficked, looking for possible patterns in the coming and going.

P&P: Exercise 19: A single figure small

We are asked to create an image of a large space with a tiny human figure, one that is at first glance not so easily seen.

Consider how obvious, to a viewer’s eye, the figure will be in the image. Some delayed reaction adds to the interest of looking at this kind of photograph, and there is even an element of surprise if the scale of the place (perhaps a cathedral interior) is larger than expected.

P&P: Exercise 18: How space changes with light

Coming soon.  Idea:  Mother's home at sunrise, high sun, sunset.

P&P: Exercise 17: The user’s viewpoint

For this exercise we are to consider the use’s point of view for a space designed for a particular activity, considering height, orientation and focal length.  I have chosen to stay with the library theme established in with the previous exercise.  The first image looks at the entrance and front desk from two perspectives, the patron and employee, with the same space shot from opposite sides.

DPP: Exercise 24: Sharpening for Print

This exercise is intended as an experiment in sharpening, both for screen and print.  I expect I will be adding to this over the next two weeks as I experiment with new software, but for now I present the results of my first trial.

DPP: Exercise 23: Alteration

In this last exercise in Part Four, we are asked to alter an image through the removal of an object.  The finished image should not reveal retouching to the average viewer seeing the image for the first time.

DPP: Exercise 22: Addition

Moving up the scale of alteration, we come to an exercise requiring the addition of something not in the original capture.  But we begin by producing an image similar to those in previous exercises employing post processing techniques to overcome the limitations of camera technology.

DPP: Exercise 21: Enhancement

Here's a guy who's beard caught my attention. I had my camera in hand, asked for a photo, clicked twice on whatever settings were selected from a previous image, and he was away.  The original image direct from the camera is below, as well as large copies of the two above.  The one on the left represent global adjustments, while the one on the right the specific adjustments requested in this exercise:  brightening the face and eyes, as well as adding a bit more color (through saturation) of the eyes.

DPP: Exercise 19: Correction

I am awaiting return of prints to do proper feedback assessment from Assignment 2.  My tutors says they are in the mail and that I shouldn't feel constrained to move on to exercises in part four.  

Moving on then.

DPP: Exercise 18: Colors into Tones 2

This exercise is a continuation of the previous, creating monochrome effects through the manipulation of color channels.  The brief calls for the use of particular types of photos from which we may choose one.  I settled on what seems the most enigmatic:

A landscape in which you emphasize the depth by strengthening the visual effect of haze.

I tried googling key words from this sentence but nothing particular to what we are doing here turned up.  I take it to mean that in an image with a considerable amount of cloudy sky, we can use the color channels to create more dramatic clouds, thereby emphasizing depth.

A confluence of events led today to taking a photo of the Burj Khalifa on a cloudy day and - voila! - exercise completed.

On the right is the processed color image.  A b&w copy of this is immediately after, followed by a copy in which the blue channel has been increased, and WB shifted slightly toward blue.

DPP: Exercise 17: Colors into Tones 1

The brief for this exercise calls for manipulating the tones of a black and white image.  The image in question should have strong contrasting colors, such as this one with red and green.  A b&w control was then produced and copies of this were manipulated to demonstrate how colors-as-tones can be exercised.    

DPP: Exercise 16: Strength of Interpretation

The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate the range of interpretive possibilities with the removal of color.  Essentially, a greater range of tone is available in monochrome.  This can be seen in the image collection here.  The original exposure is above and is followed below by low and high key treatments, both in color and black and white.  

DPP: Exercise 15: Black and White

The brief for this assignment class for the production of a black-and-white image.  Technically, this is not difficult to do, either in-camera or afterwards on the computer.  With the Nikon D5100, I selected RAW+Fine image capture, and set the jpg capture to b&w.  While I had to compose in color, I was able to view the monochrome b&w on the camera LCD.  

DPP: Exercise 14: Interpretative Processing

The purpose of this exercise is to experiment with interpretations of a photographic image through the tools provided in processing software.  My program of choice is Lightroom and included here are photos of recent vintage that were shot and processed before arriving at this exercise.  I display them here as evidence that I understand the intention of the exercise.

DPP: Exercise13: Managing Color

For this exercise, you should find two or three images that have what you judge to be a significant color case, as the main purpose of the exercise it to 'correct' it.

DPP: Exercise12: Managing Tone

This exercise seems intended for those just beginning to work with image processing software. It requires taking any image, preferably one in need of processing, and performing adjustments to exposure, brightness, contrast, and white balance.

The image I have used here was taken during my work for assignment two.  I had just stepped into the street and was checking the settings on my camera when I saw a young father with his two daughters, one in each hand.  As we walked toward each other, I made eye contact and held up my camera.  He smiled and nodded and when I went down on one knee he paused for a moment, the camera shutter released, and he began moving again.  I able able to take one more image of the girls, with the father cut off at the waist, and then our encounter was over.

DPP: Exercise 10: White Balance

The purpose of this exercise is to examine the effects of the camera's white balance settings under several lighting conditions.  The first set was shot in ares pictured above, the afternoon sun off to the right, the camera pointed at the area in direct sunlight in the red circle.  The arrow points to a shaded spot just out of frame where a second series was taken.

DPP: Exercise 9: Scene Dynamic Range

This exercise is a continuation of the last, but requiring five scenes in a variety of settings and ranges.  Here is the first.  I will add more as the week progresses.   The image was captured in P mode with matrix metering and wide-area auto-focus.  The camera was then set to spot metering and single focus, and meter readings taken at each of the spots indicated with an exposure setting.  The image shows a middling dynamic range, with 3.3 stops between the darkest and lightest elements.