A week on....

...and no further forward.

I had hoped to get to the beach today where I planned to take photos of some nice yellow sand, and then whatever colourful things I could find along the way.  This would have helped me build up a nice library of colour photos I could use in the future.  But the weather was very grey and cloudy when I got up, and it's only just lifted really, and my son needed something doing in town.  So I am hoping to get out that way tomorrow if the weather is a bit better.

I also have my eye on a new lens, a 70-200 L IS USM jobbie.  I have been saving for a new camera body, but this one seems to be ok now after its little hiccup the other week, and I think that I really ought to put the money towards a good lens.  So while I was in town today I checked my balance and I'm really really close to having enough money :-)  I just want to make absolutely sure that this is the lens I want (I'm fairly certain it is, having read all the reviews) before I commit my money.

Project 31 - Analysing a Colour

For this project I have to find and record individual colours.  This will be an on-going project and I will keep adding to this post continually. 

Green

This first photo was taken in Rotorua, New Zealand where the light quality is superb and colours are much more vivid.  There appears to be thousands of variations of a single colour.  I said when we lived there that there were more shades of green that I'd ever thought possible.

                       

By comparison this is a photo of the grass in my back garden in England.  Still some variation in colour, but not much !

Blue

Again taken in New Zealand at Hataitai, Wellington.  The blue sky and water in the harbour gives the image a relaxed feel.

Purple

This is detail from a Michaelmas daisy.  It shows a lighter shade of purple, more lilac with definite blue tones.

Yellow

This is a yellow chrysanthemem which shows various shades of yellow, caused both by light and shadow, and also the colouring of the petals.

Hooray

Well the photo uploader seems to be working better than it did last week, so I'll press on.

Dentist first tho.....

Project 30 - Colour Control (manually operated cameras)

For this project I had to find an object of a strong definite colour and photograph it with the cameras automated exposure setting. Then I had to take the same photo over and under exposing it.

I initially wanted to photograph a bright red dress I have, but the folds of the material meant that there were always shadows and variations in colour on the photos. So instead I chose to photograph a blue chair back.

This is the image taken on my camera's auto exposure setting. 1/125 sec f6.3

This was taken at 1/125 sec f5.6.

1/125 sec f5

1/125 sec f7.1



1/125 sec f8

By over-exposing the blue becomes lighter, and by under-exposing it becomes darker and stronger.

I have 2 black Labradors and I have found I have a problem getting their true colour in a picture if I use the camera's auto-exposure.

 

This was taken using the camera's auto-exposure setting.  It was 1/15 sec at f7.1.  The dog was lying on a dark brown couch under a window and the whole image has been lightened by the camera's auto setting.

This one was taken on fully manual at 1/15 sec f9.  By under-exposing the image slightly, the dog's fur is a truer black, but is still lightened by the sunlight from the window, and it isn't so dark that detail is lost.

I think that this project is so very useful, and has reminded me to use the manual settings on the camera more than my usual Av mode.