Final

 For my final piece, I felt like experimenting with the Harris Shutter effect some more would help me capture movement while also adding some interest to my photos.

I wanted to capture movement of water, as I felt that it created some interesting effects when combined with the Harris Shutter effect. I went to Shrewsbury, where there is a range of water bodies, including rivers, lakes, and water features.

 

 
This piece is one I feel was the most successful. The desaturated colours of the stone, marble and foliage contrast well with the bright colours of the Harris Shutter effect on the water fountains. There is a slight mis-registration of the blue channel, which I found difficult to remove, which makes the image slightly out of focus with a blue 'shadow' (most easily seen on the statue's right side), but I feel that overall it does not detract too much from the final shot. I then added Levels and Saturation adjustment layers in order to really make the darks and lights contrast, without messing with the colours too much.

 

 

Water is an ideal subject for the Harris Shutter effect as the ripples and splashes interact with each other to create an interesting rainbow of colours. I feel that this piece works well, but there is a little too much going on. It may have been more successful without the fountains, just capturing small ripples on the water with the plants in the background, creating a surreal effect to an otherwise normal landscape shot.

 

 

I tried something different by looking at the Harris Shutter effect when used on moving people. This was a little more difficult, as I did not have a tripod with me, and had been compensating by using walls and benches, but there were none in this location. I felt like this area would be ideal for a shot, due to the contrast between the movement of the people running and playing, and those sitting down relaxing. I took three shots in quick succession, attempting to keep as steady a hand as possible. This took many attempts in multiple different angles, but I quite like this final shot. In the closer views you can see some of the mis-registration of the shots.

To improve these pieces I should have used a tripod, and a remove shutter control, to reduce unwanted camera movement.

 
 

Space Photography Experiemnt

 

While experimenting at night with light painting, I also took some photographs of the moon using a telescope with a camera mount. I wanted to create a time lapse image of the moon at different phases to show the movement of the natural satellite around the earth, but this would have taken a long time, and I had this idea quite late into the year. Another issue with this idea is that the days were growing longer, so there was less time at which the moon was showing and I would be able to photograph it.

 

 

It was incredibly hard to get a decent shot, as any tiny movement would blur the image, because of the magnification lens and long exposure. Another difficulty was that due to the movement of the moon, I had to constantly realign the telescope so that it had the moon in shot. This was very time consuming, and took time away from being able to focus on getting good shots.

I used three different magnification levels, but the closer I got, the more blurred and difficult to keep in focus the shots got. If I were to continue with my lunar phases idea, I would stay on the lowest level of magnification in order to get the clearest shots.

While a lot of the shots looked as if they were in focus, and look in focus when in thumbnail mode, they are actually very blurred. This shows the necessity for a remote shutter control and perhaps another support to keep the lens even more stable.

Birds

With my focus on movement and dynamism, I attempted to capture the movement of birds, a symbol of freedom. Birds were a difficult subject, as they are very timid and move quickly, so I had to stay in the same place for a long time in order for them to relax around me.

I used a Canon 400D with a macro lens to take these photos. The macro lens was very useful in getting close up images with a low aperture while being a fair distance away from the subjects.










I could have done with waiting for a bit longer, in order to get more successful shots. Despite this, I like the two shots above that I feel were successful.

Harold Edgerton

Harold Edgerton specialised in fast shutter speed photography. His work is known for using strobe lighting in order to capture movement in 'burst' like frames. 

Below are some examples of his work:

 

I used ink dripped into water, with a camera using a fast shutter speed, in order to capture the movement of the ink. Unfortunately the lens was not focused properly, so I did not capture the detail of the ink. I also used a very low ISO, which did not help me with getting a clear shot, as the weather conditions for outdoor shooting were not perfect. I would like to try this experiment again in a well lit area with a higher ISO.

 

 

 

 

Eric Staller

Eric Staller takes photos using shutter speeds of between 1 minute to 5 minutes. He often uses sparklers to create his light painting photographs, which he takes at night so the light is captured at its clearest.

Below are some examples of his work:

 

To achieve my own light paintings, I set up a camera on a tripod, so that there would be no unwanted motion blur, and used a 30 second exposure time. From there I lit a sparkler, and walked or ran around, creating patterns as I went. As it was dark, it was quite difficult to tell if the shot would be in focus or not, makings some of my shots unsuccessful. Also, I did not calculate the sparkler's life to be so short, and I had very few with me. If I were to repeat this experiment, I would use more sparklers, and maybe use some other life sources, such as a torch or flame.

 

 

 

 

 

Eadweard Muybridge

Eadwaeard Muybridge was a black and white photographer, who used sequential images combined with fast shutter speed in order to capture movement.

Below are some examples of his work:

Shinichi Maruyama

Shinichi Maruyama is a photographer who takes photos using a very fast shutter speed, isolating movement. This, combined with his colour choice and framing of his shots, gives his photos an almost painted feel.

Below are some examples of his work:

Maruyama creates his photos from his 'Nude' series using multiple shots of a person moving, layered on top of each other, to create one smooth movement, making the silky effect that his photographs have. This effect is perfect for capturing movement in a still image.

To get this photograph, I mounted my camera on a tripod and found an interesting shot of the sky. I then held down the shutter release button in order to put the camera into continuous shooting mode. I took around 3 photos per second, and each image is made of between 20 - 40 photographs, layered on top of each other.

To make the final image, I made a layer of each photograph, then changed the layer modes of all the layers to 'Lighten'. This made the layers interact to create an overlap, without messing with the colours or saturation too much. 

I then adjusted the levels, saturation, and contrast, to create a nice, vivid sky shot.

I liked this effect, especially how it looks in the top image. To improve on my shot, I would try to take photos during a sunset or sunrise, or of a more interesting sky.