This assignment seems easy – pick a place and capture it five different times. However, I quickly realized that to make a ‘great picture’, I needed either a place or object that had some color, or artificial light or natural light to enhance or make color to give it more interest. Otherwise the picture would be boring without those elements. I also found that the direction or relation of the sun to the object caused problems as well. I recognized that the place or object had to be free from shadow, from the rising of the sun in the east and again as it set from the west. For me, this was the problem. I scouted out so many places, but quickly found that the spot would look great as the sun rose, but by sundown the object or place was in shadow. And being in the city, my choices seemed limited for some reason, for I am one who loves to take landscape or architectural photography. I quickly found this to be somewhat difficult, because of the tree and shadow factor and without the time to go find a great landscape spot. So, I choice the Stephen’s Lake area, thinking that although the color would be somewhat limited (differing shades of green), the area had enough space that the sun would illume all parts of my spot and the sunlight would bring color to the water. Also, the bridge and landing area had some good shape and form that could bring interest as well. Hopefully, throughout the day, folks would be out and about enjoying the park and would make it into my picture. A little less boring indeed!
Luckily for me, Wednesday morning produced some amazing fog on the lake as the sun rose. As it did, the light really brought forth streaks and color across the area. It was a cold and breathtaking morning, but lovely pics. No one came out until after the sun rose, but they made it into my picture.
As I approached how to meter early morning, I knew I needed a fairly high ISO. I then opened up as far as my lens would go (F3.5), metered the sky and then adjusted my shutter speed to what my meter said. I then recomposed my picture toward the lake. Because I wanted a story telling view, i.e. great depth-of-field, I set my lens to F16. Since I stopped the lens down so many stops (after metering the sky), I had to do the same with my shutter speed. I needed to increase my exposure time by an equal number of stops. I set my camera on a timer and took the picture. Although I got many pictures with adequate detail and lighting, I liked the darker pictures, because I wanted the focus to be on the fog and not so much on the lake or grassy detail.
The midday pics are fairly boring. What do you expect with lots of green and the same shades of colored water and grass. But as the sun began to set, its warm tone brought out color again upon the water.
I liked how this assignment really made me look at the direction of light. It helped me stay aware of the direction of the sun. Also, after exploring the city of Columbia, I had a better idea of what areas were lit and shaded at various times of the day. I also got more familiar with my camera controls – seeing the differences that one stop can make, and the differing degrees of creativity it brings to each picture.
I think I need to learn to keep looking at all sides of an area to get the best picture, to not just settle. However, I felt because I had limited amounts of time in that 30-minute magic hour that to keep looking for the perfect shot was not as possible. But I reminded myself that there is always the next morning to come back and shoot again at a different angle, and perhaps find a better shot. I did use different lenses, and increased and decreased my tripod for differing views as well. But I realized that I had too many different angles to chose from and this created an editing nightmare, as I want out again in those 3-hour increments. But it did give me lots of possible choices and it helped me understand my camera more. I still see the necessity to keep using the creative brain – to find the creative picture and not just the perfect exposure.
