Reflection on Camera Framing and GV’s

In the session, we paired up and was told that we had to go showcase the skills learned from the previous sessions. We both had to frame different angled shots and had to do an interview each.

Some of my shots I felt where fairly strong. I just didn’t get enough angles. We were asked to shoot each shot for 10 seconds each. This is incredibly important when editing. As i’m in a wheelchair, I personally found it challenging. this is because if I used a tripod my chair would knock the leg of the tripod. I also couldn’t get close enough to operate the camera. I ended up doing the task handheld. This wouldn’t be good enough quality if required in the field of work as the camera doesn’t stay static. The images where over exposed and didn’t come out as planned. However, if an image is darker then you can lighten it up. But if an image is too exposed than the detail in the image maybe lost.

These are a few of my shots

This is a shot of how I would interview. I used depth of field to blur the background out

General View – Of subject writing

General View – different angle of subject writing

General View – Trying to pull focus on from the tree and the subject

 

Reflection on Interviewing Camera Framing

When filming an interview it is incredibly important to consider the rule of thirds. The subject should be on one of the third lines. and the eye level should sit around the third line. This gives allowances for looking space and head room. Interviews can look awkward if the subject is placed central.

In the image below it shows how a camera should be set up for a interview

This is a good example to some extent however, if I was to reframe this shot I would allow more head room above the subjects head. Saying that I still think this would work. Where the looking room is, is the direction I would ask to guy to turn slightly and speak towards. This would allow the subject to talk across the shot and not out of shot. Titles could be used in the negative space to add more details.

 

Reflection on Court Snatch

In todays session we had a practical that require us to capture images of a defendant who was entering court. For reasons we couldn’t actually go down to courts and take real images of defendants so we set up a fake shoot out side of HSAD.

Before we went out to do the shoot i made sure the camera settings were properly set up. This meant i had to go into the menu, making sure the image quality was set to large and changed it from raw to a JPEG setting.

When actually doing the shoot it didn’t go exactly to plan. The images were pure white, this was because the shutter speed was open to long meaning lots of light got into the images. To avoid this happening again i will take a few shots before the subject arrived – more preparation time. This would minimalise the chances of this happening. I was disappointed with the results, however from this i know understand how important preparation is and how camera set ups have an effect on the overall project. Everybody has bad days, this was definitely mine.

These where the bad images

Better example

This image was taken by Danielle Hayes in our group

This was a good example from a member of the group. If my shutter speed was faster it would have caught something similar to this. The defendant appears to be hiding his face at the side where more photographers were at. this could symbolise that he is ashamed and mot wanting face shots. Because we where at the alternative side this allowed, the photographer to capture the face profile. The defendant has his head down which could imply he is guilty. I believe Danielle’s image was the best of the day as it had the subject mainly in focus and not the background. Also the image shows interest as other photographers appear to be wanting a good shot.

Reflection -Aperture and Angle of View

In today’s session, as a group we discussed the importance of aperture and how the angles in which we take an image can change the whole tone, distance and professionalism of the image. Aperture is a massive part of the exposure calculation, when taking my own images I will have to consider this as it will have a great impact on whether the image is of a high professional quality. With the aperture restricting the amount of light entering the lens and image can become over exposed or under exposed. For my images, I have to make sure I have the right light balance as it changes the appearance of an image. Today, I learnt that the F.stop number refers to thickness of the black shutters within the camera which is there to blocking out certain amounts of light. As the aperture gets smaller there will be more depth, When the hole if restricted the light gets more focused. This means that as a practitioner I can decide what I want in focus and get rid of distractions if you want.

in these images i change the F.stop to create and develop different scenarios. in the first image on the left the camera focuses more on the right hand side hedge. The rest of the image seems much more in the distance and became blurry. The camera settings was set up on F3.2 and the image on the right is all in focus which doesn’t draw the eye into a specify point in the image, this looks much more basic and not as interesting. this image was taken at F8.

This image was taken by me

This image was taken by me

Angle of View, Occurs when using different lenses or the zoom feature. From participating in the practical I noticed when I used a wide angle lens with an aperture of f.stop 5.6, the subject can become distorted and will make things look further away than they are. The internal parts of the lens change the angle of the light being captured. The angle of the light when taking my own images is important as I can manipulate the surrounding area and make things appear further away or closer the the lens. to show my understanding i had experimented whist out and about. See the images below

This image was taken by me

this image was taken by me

In the image on the left it is a lot you can see a lot more background, the pole seems further away and the ducks near the pond. By changing the angle of view it makes the image on the right appear much more sharper in the face and makes the background appear closer to my subject. I personal like this technique as you can create an illusion to the viewer and they would be no of the wiser. it also helps to take something not so good into focusing much more on the main focus point and not on the background as much. another really good example was the images below, these was taken when we were doing the practical, however our tutor David took these to give a few of us in the group more of an insight into the impact and change it can have on an image. i personally prefer the image on the right as the face doesn’t appear as elongated and there is less background seen within the image and appears much closer to what it actually was. Also i believe it has more appeal as it is much more pleasant to look at as the subject is much sharper.

This image was taken by David our tutor

This image was taken by David our tutor

Reflection- Camera Angle

In a recent session, we looked at the different types of camera angles that can be used when filming something. It means that you could capture a subject showing different aspects to highlight, importance. When creating anything using footage it is important as an editor to change up the shots frequently as the audience will get bored and lose interest. We also looked at how different angles can convey specific things and can create a different emotion.

Some of the shots we looked at as a group was:

• Wide shot or establishing shot
• Full shot
• Mid shot
• Close-ups: straight on, side on
• Extreme close-up
• Dutch shot – creates unease
• Lower angle shot – convey superiority
• High angle – viewer in control
• Pan shot
• Cut in
• Over the head – looking at something
• Tilt
• Dolly zoom
• Over shoulder
• POV shots (point of view)
• Aerial shots

Rule of thirds is another compositional technique seen within a lot of photography it is where the image is divided into a 3 x 3 grid hypothetically. If I was to interview someone and wanted to use the technique then ideally, the subject should be positioned on the 3^rd line.

When looking at the ‘Golden ratio’ I thought it was really intriguing as it is just a hidden swirl within an image. This swirl line draws your eye in to a certain place within the image generally where the action is or the focal point within the image. I found that some of the images we looked at made me feel uneasy as people manipulate and change the position of the ‘Golden rule’. This can be done intentionally. Learning about the ‘Golden rule’ will help me as a practitioner of my own work. Especially, when thinking about the composition of an image or piece of footage. I could use this technique to draw the viewers eye in or make a sense a little unsettling. This will only work in some cases.

Lighting is incredibly important with any filming or photography as it can under light or over light and area or subject. We were introduced to the 3-point lighting of an area or subject. This was nothing new to me as I had to use this technique on my previous course. The light sources should be:

• One behind the subject at an angle
• One in front of the subject at an angle
• One on a 45° angle to highlight

The session was really useful as it reminded me of the key things and reminded me of my own knowledge and refreshed the memory also reminded me how i can use all these techniques when later doing projects and assignments. All in order to get the best out of what i can do.