Here is the orginal example of a photograph taken on an HTC xda, taken at St Bee’s Cumbria shocking image quality.

And here is my attempt to create something more appealing using Adobe lightroom, hopefully I will learn and not be lazy in the future so I don’t miss so many golden opportunites.

Assignment 3 Buildings in Use

For assignment 3 I photographed six buildings which people interact with. I wanted to show not just a whole building but also areas or even a small space within. I found whilst framing a subject that, deciding on what elements of composition could be kept and what could be lost, quite challenging. Choosing the correct lens and focal length to frame the subject was very important especially, on the indoor photographs. Another technical problem I came across indoors was getting a correct exposure, I found highlights were often getting clipped due to limitations of digital capture this could have been solved by the use some form of HDR(high dynamic range rendering) software.

The garden nursery supplies plants for gardeners and landscaper gardeners. The outside of building is where established plants can be easily viewed, selected and hopefully sold. Inside the building there are a number of rooms including a potting shed and a covered area for relaxation. The potting shed is where seedlings are potted before getting transferred to the outside. Inside the potting shed the large work bench is not only lit by artificial lighting  and a large skylight directly above ensures that this work area is well illuminated for most of the year. The employer has thoughtfully provided a relaxation area where employees and clients can relax. The way the nursery has been laid out has created a warm and welcoming feeling and also where the outside building seems to blend in with the environment. I wanted to photograph several areas to reflect the settings and environment of the business. I settled on an outdoor area, the potting shed and a relaxation area. I used a standard focal length lens to photograph these areas.

The Art gallery is a small local business. Space has been carefully utilized so that paintings and exhibits can be shown at their best to the visitors of the gallery. The front room is uncluttered and light which allows people to view the paintings in space and without obstruction. The Gallery also has a court yard garden and a small office. The enclosed garden shows sculptures; again the space is used so that is easy for people to view the exhibits whilst having easy access to the rest of the gallery. The day to day running of the gallery takes place in a small office. The art gallery was a particularly small area to photograph, I wanted the whole gallery to be in the frame rather than a part of it. To accomplish this I used a 16mm fisheye lens, barrel distortion was later removed in Adobe lightroom except for the office shot where I felt the distortion added to the composition. The garden was photographed using a 24mm lens. To provide additional illumination in some of the darker areas of the gallery I used a wireless triggered speedlite mounted on a small tripod, this had to be very carefully positioned to prevent very bright spots appearing on glass surfaces of the picture frames.

The squash court of a large community centre is no more than a large room with nothing in it accept a door and viewing gallery. Everything is painted white accept the wooden flooring and court markings. In these photographs I wanted to show the squash court in its entirety and a small part of it. I choose several view points to photograph this area looking from the rear wall facing the door and spectator gallery, a shot from the door looking at the main wall and the court markings from where a server would stand. The subject of the third shot would probably be unidentifiable without the other 2 photographs.

The church has been the focal point of communities for hundreds of years, the church in the photograph has a belfry. The bell is rung to signify the time, for special events such as weddings and funerals, or especially in old days to sound a civil defense or fire alarm. Over the years this church has been added to from side chapels to newer chairs. I choose to photograph the belfry which is probably the most identifiable part of a church, also I choose to photograph inside the church first a row of pews in front of a stained glass window and altar, then a close up of a row of new chairs which seemed out of character with the rest of the church in fact there is nothing to suggest those chairs in the photograph are in a church they could easily be in a school or hotel.

Empty new office space has been deliberately left empty by the landlords and is part of a marketing suite. The white walls and uncovered floors create a very bright and spacious area. There is a small meeting room on the ground floor the green partitions and chairs add an additional interest to the otherwise empty surroundings. The space has being effectively used to demonstrate to potential tenants how light and spacious the office .is. It would be interesting to revisit this space when occupied, and how it would look with all the clutter of a normal office. I wanted to emphasize the space and lightness of this space so I used a wide angle lens; the reflexions of the lights in floor appear to make room look bigger than it actually is. I liked the appearance of the stairs with their wooden panels; I wanted to capture the grain of the wood panelling and geometric lines of the steps to do this I stood at the top of the stairs looking down using a standard focal length lens.  A technical issue encountered required me to be very selective from where I photographed from to prevent my reflection appearing on one of the many shiny surfaces i.e. I used a pillar to mask my reflection in the windows opposite in one of my photographs.

The swimming pool is part of leisure complex on a holiday park.. The pool is less than 20m in length and is naturally lit by large windows that surround most of the room. There are glass sliding doors which provide access to a sun lounger area.  The changing rooms by the pool are clean and functional if a little dull. The swimming pool works as a space for a number of reasons, it easy to access, bright ,clean and well maintained. I choose several areas to photograph to capture the function of the swimming pool. The changing rooms with a lone persons clothes hanging up. The swimming pool itself, to make this photograph more interesting I photographed a plant in close-up with a wide aperture to throw the swimming pool in the background out of focus. To show both the pool and the outdoor patio area I decided to photograph the partly opened doors to the pool area using the reflection in the glass doors to show reflected patio and sun loungers. To create an appealing photo of the patio and sun loungers I photographed their reflections in partly opened sliding doors that lead to the pool area.

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In early July I visited and took photographs of Ennerdale Water which is the most westerly lake in the Lake District national park in Cumbria, northern England. It is a glacial lake, with a maximum depth of only 45 metres (150 ft), and measures between 700 and 1,500 metres (1/2 mile to a mile) wide and 3.9 kilometres (2½ miles) long, making it one of the smaller lakes in the Park. It is close to the port of Whitehaven, the town of Cleator Moor, and also the village of Cleator. The lake is owned by United Utilities and is both a reservoir, serving over 30,000 customers daily, and a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its lake shore habitats.

Ennerdale Water is used by hikers, tourists and cyclists, but not as heavily as other lakes in the National Park, and thus it has not been spoiled by construction, activity on the lake or any other trappings of intensive tourism. The small village of Ennerdale Bridge lies to the west of the lake. Containing little more than a shop, two pubs and a few houses, it is a typical small Cumbrian village.

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Here are a small selection of the photographs that I took this year at the regatta.

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Having now photographed several sporting events I have found that the techniques I use while covering an event are different to the ones I use while taking landscapes and portrait photos.

 Normally while taking set photographs I have time to think about the subject and compose the image. With the sporting events it seems speed is a key element. I shot over 1600 images in the space of 3 hours during this triathlon! 

My skills for this kind of photography are evolving with each event that I cover.

 My current event checklist is:

1. Get some background information of the event/sport being covered.
2. Location; how far and how long will it take to get there
3. Double check gear – make sure I have appropriate lenses, spare batteries and memory cards
4. Arrive at venue with plenty of time to spare to find best vantage points and meet with organisers etc.
5. Use a monopod where ever possible to reduce camera shake and backache.
6. Camera settings. Make sure that shutter speed and focus mode are set accordingly.
7. Periodically check photos are OK, i.e. no wonky horizons or out of focus.
8. After the event – backup photos
9. Process images.

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One of my usual routes includes sports fields close to my home.  Initially I intended these photos to be used as part of an assignment for the OCA course, but after discussion with tutor it was decided that the images didn’t really meet the criteria of the assignment.

Even though these photographs will not be used in an assignment, I am learning the value of always carrying a camera on me at all times – so if I miss that killer shot I can’t use the excuse of not having a camera.

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The images seemed a bit flat so as an experiment I modified one of the images in Adobe lightroom to add a bit of drama. The last photograph in the sequence is the modified image.  I have made the template available for download by clicking here. [download id="1"]

Click on thumbnail to see larger image

click on a thumbnail to see a larger image

click on thumbnail to see larger image