Projects 32 & 33 - Primary and Secondary Colours

Ok so I have been reshooting some flower photos for my colour wheel for these 2 projects. I know that the brief isn't to produce a colour wheel by the way, but as I'm no longer submitting this for assessment I am having a bit of fun along the way!

I used a 105mm macro lens to isolate the flowers, but didn't use extension tubes as I was shooting outside and it was a bit breezy.

Yellow - daffodils are everywhere and that includes in my garden!




This was the cameras auto exposure which came in at 1/250 f4. I was happy with the yellow but still tried an alternative exposure




This was shot on manual 1/250 f5.6 and is too underexposed. So in this instance I am happy to use the camera's auto exposure.

Violet - I have clumps of these pretty flowers dotted around the garden. No idea what they are - probably turn out to be weeds! But they are a nice colour...




The camera's auto exposure gave a reading of 1/800 f7.1. I considered dropping the ISO, but as the projects are about the effect of exposure on colour, I went with it... The colour in this image is quite light, but I over exposed slightly to see what happened on the next one




Manual setting 1/800 f6.3. Still a definite colour, which surprised me as I thought it would be more bleached out, but obviously over-exposed




Manual 1/800 f8. Much truer to the colour and more detail in the petals as a result I think.




Manual 1/800 f9. Again slightly darker, as you would expect by under-exposing on the camera's auto exposure setting. I think this is the most accurate colour match to the flower.




Manual 1/800 f10. Too under-exposed.

Green - tulip leaf




Auto exposure 1/500 f6.3. This is quite an accurate representation of the leaf colour but I tried under-exposing again a couple of times




Manual 1/500 f7.1 and




Manual 1/500 f8. I think the slight under-exposure of the second shot gives the best and most accurate green. I need to refer to the colour wheel to see how accurately this and the violet match.

Blue - bluebells again. Initially I shot them from the front, but the colour of the bells is still too violet. But I noticed that the top of the bell was a definite blue, so I positioned myself behind the bluebells and shot from there.




Auto exposure of 1/500 f5.6. See what I mean about the top of the bell being blue even though the bell is violet? Never noticed that before. The blue is quite bleached out in this one so I under-exposed again




Manual 1/500 f6.3 and




Manual 1/500 f7.1. This is the one which I think gives the best blue, although it has more shadows. I think the overall impression of the shot is "blue"

So I need to look at putting together my new colour wheel to see where I now have gaps. Back shortly...

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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.