Red Bus Productions

Below is my photo essay which I made. I went out a few times to Southampton and Eastleigh with a Canon 450D still camera. As I took the camera out more and got used to it, the easier and better my photo's became. I took out release forms in case someone stopped me, and wanted to know what I was doing. Although this problem didn't occur I was prepared to ask them for their signature as a proof of permission to have their photographs uploaded onto the website.

The following files have helped me for my photo essay and understanding the Canon 450D Still Camera. The 450D visual guide helped me and I often referred to it for more details and ways to get a certain image they way I wanted it. For example, I often looked back at the standard ISO settings to get the best colour in for daylight and night shoots.

The Raw Processing file below has also happened as it shows what to do and how to do it in order to get a certain look to the image. I used this quite a bit when editing my photographs and it helped a lot.

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I liked this photograph because I was able to capture the motion of the cyclist by a slower shutter speed. When I saw that this cyclist I wanted to capture him in full motion and so I was able to position myself in such a place that I was able to capture the event as it happens; a key to the decisive moment. The shutter speed I used was 1/60th.

The problem I felt I had with this photograph was the brightness and exposure levels as it is clear that this is over-exposed. When setting the camera up I did not think about the exposure as I decreased the shutter speed. When decreasing the shutter speed I opened up the exposure which therefore increased and I did not have enough time to change anything else to make the photograph better as the cyclist was coming in fast and I wanted to capture him in full motion.

In Photoshop I took the Raw format of the image and edited it. The first thing I did was adjust the brightness level as it was too bright. While turning down the brightness I also adjusted the contrast because both of these functions collaborate with each other to come out with the best looking image possible. It is said that in order to have the best affect with the brightness and contrast levels, that the contrast should either 10 levels above or below the brightness level, which is what I did. The Brightness level was set to -55 while the contrast was at -45.

The next and only other thing I did to this image was change the exposure level. I set the exposure level to -0.03 and the gamma correction to 0.69. I thought this wold help make this picture look better, which in my opinion it did achieve.

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I took this image from a low angle view to capture everything I wanted to. The statue is the main focus, but I also wanted to get the background of the tree's and the sky. I like this picture because on the angle it is placed it looks like the statue is or was powerful in their own way at one time. This photograph is all about authority, and power.

The shutter speed I used for this photograph was 1/60, while the aperture number was F10. I was hoping to capture a possible movement of the trees in the background, however on the day I was unable to achieve this because there was very little wind.

I also like the way the right side juxtaposes with the left in the background. The right side of the tree's are much lighter than the dark left side of them. This was not intentionally but I do like the end result of this photograph.

I thought for this image it could work well as an old black and white photo. Similar to the style of Henri-Cartier Bresson who took black and white photographs.

Firstly I made the photograph a black and white one, by adjusting the levels. The following are the levels in which I made this picture, Reds 25, Yellows 0, Greens 25, Aquas 50, Blues 50, and Magnetas 50.

Secondly I adjusted the Vibrance and Saturation to -10 (Vibrance) and -5 (Saturation). I did this because the after changing the levels above to make this photo black and white, the photo was a little too dark for what I was going for. The Vibrance and Saturation made it lighter and making the photo more effective and more to my taste.

The last thing I did to was adjust the levels of RGB. More specifically I made the levels of these darker. With all of these three things working together I think I was able to make this picture an effective black and white photo, which is the USP of this photo I was going for.

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Unfortunately, here is another photograph which was over-exposed. Once again because I wanted to capture the motion of these two people I was unable to adjust my camera in time to get a good photograph which is not over or under exposed as well as capturing the motion. I will have to edit this in photoshop in raw editing, because of the over exposure.

As, I have stated I wanted to show the decisive moment within this image, and I did that by slowing down the shutter speed to 1/60th. The motion within the subjects in the photograph are clearly shown by the slight blurriness of the cyclists.

The rule of thirds is featured within the photograph and it was intentionally placed as I timed the photograph right in order to feature the cyclists on the right side of the photo as oppose to the centre or the left. They become the first point location whereas the left side and the tree's and bench in the background become the second.

Since this picture was over-exposed the first thing I did was change the exposure levels. I set the exposure to -0.38, the offset to -0.653, and the gamma correction to 0.80. This made the image better in terms of the exposure and colour of it, however more was needed.

The second thing I did was added a layer of tone curves to the photograph. I customised the curves, and did not focus on one colour of them, I customised the RGB curves. I set the output at 16 and the input at 50.

The last thing I thought was necessary to add to the photograph was to change the overall levels of the photograph. The output levels were set to 16 and 255 as I thought this would be a great finishing touch to the image.

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I was able to place the cyclist and the blue bus on the right side and thus adjusting it to the rule of thirds. I wanted to do this as I thought it would make a good photograph to see the bus and the cyclist meet in the same location. They become the first location and the second location becomes directly in front of the audience in the form of the store, Fabric Land.

A pretty long depth of field was use for this photograph, as the audience can see. It's quite a distance from the pavement to the actual bus and cyclist. This means that a larger aperture number was used in order to achieve this.

For this image I wanted to do something simple yet creative. I only did one thing and applied it to a few different things within the photograph. I wanted to have a specific colour be very eye-catching. i chose to use the colour balance in order to achieve this. I chose to have the colour yellow stand out from the store, Fabric Land as well as the number plates on the cars within the photograph. I used the magnetic lasso tool in order to capture and target the exact places I wanted the yellow to come through.

I set the yellows at -80 for the midtones while the shadows were at 0 and the highlights at -73. This enabled me to get the colour and the overall look of the image that I was hoping to achieve.

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This photograph was taken just as I was about to get on the train to go back home from southampton. I thought it would make a good photo to capture this woman getting off the train. This is in a decisive moment with a shutter speed of 1/60th used in order to capture this.

The first point of focus for this image is the woman herself trying to get her luggage off the train. The next point location the audience lean towards is the train then off to the people who are in the foreground waiting patiently.

This image gives out an emotional content to the subject (woman getting luggage off the train). The audience should sympathise with this woman as we have all been in her situation before where we have tried to get luggage off a train, or a plane and have struggled with no one offering to help.

The first thing I did to this image was add a photo filter over top of the photograph. I added the cooling filter to make it look like it was later in the day than it actually was. This photo filter is quite a small change to the image but it is one that I think works well.

The next and last thing I added to this photo was vibrance and saturation. The vibrance was set to 29 while the saturation was at 62. I think this added technique along with the photo filter has complimented each other and created a whole new photograph in itself.

This photo was taken in Eastleigh, and I was experimenting with depth of field here. It was my first day of taking the Canon 450D out, and was slowly getting used to it.

I like this photo because it shows a long depth of field and has vehicles in the background of the photo which are not the main focus yet still play an important part of the image.

We know that this image includes elements of the decisive moment based on the blurriness of the vehicles. The shutter speed used here was about 1/60th. This was because I did want to show an element of the decisive moment. It is not completely staged however I did wait a little while for the vehicles to reach a close enough section to take this image in order to have a bigger impact.

The first point location is the foreground and first pillar of the railing. The first location pulls away focus from the rest of the image mainly the background. The second point location is the car in the background which is shown getting closer.

This photo was taken in Southampton on my third day shooting with the Canon. I was therefore more adjusted and more use to using the camera.

Although, this photo was not staged I did wait to get this photo in the rule of thirds. I saw that this man was walking and I positioned myself and the camera in such a position that I was able to get him positioned on the left side of the photo where the right side had a bit of free space.

I was able to capture this man in the decisive moment. He was walking past the camera when this photo was taking, therefore I was able to capture his movement and by using a slower shutter speed at 1/60th I was able to show his movement much clearer than if I used faster shutter speed.

The one thing I like about this photo is the juxtaposition of the two people within. The one in the foreground is blurry and seems to be moving faster while the one in the background is clear and in no hurry.

This photograph features the four points of acceptable balance for the point one location. The two people within this photograph shows them in the middle of the photograph within the four points.

The first point location in which the audience are immediately attracted is the person in the foreground where the person is somewhat blurry. The second is then the person in the background who is crossing the street.

A high horizon tends to mean that the background is the focus of attention within a photography, and vice versa a low horizon means the foreground is the focus of attention. Here the horizon line is place just over the centre line which gives us a more foreground attention convention as the bird flying is the main focus within the photograph.

I used a shutter speed of 1/60th in order to capture the flight and movement of the pigeon which is what I wanted the photograph to target. I positioned myself in such a position to not only capture the pigeon in flight but I was also able to adapt it's positioning in the photo into the rule of thirds. The pigeon is off to the left a bit and the right side has a bit of free space before the entrance of a man. This is the USP I was trying to distinguish within the photo and I was able to successful achieve it.

The main thing I wanted to achieve in this photo, like with the one above was a clear rule of thirds. I anticipated the arrival of this man as I saw him walking down that little road. I also wanted to capture him right between the two tree's as you can see he is. I think this just makes the photograph look aesthetically pleasing.

I was able to generate a longer depth of field and this is shown by the length of the shot itself as you can see along the tree's to the road where there seems to be traffic. As well as that, we can see that this man is moving by using shutter speed of 1/60th I was able to distinguish this.

Although not a huge connection or serious connection, the audience do connect with this photo, specifically the man running within the photo. Audience's know about running late or trying to cross the street before on-coming traffic comes. Even though it is not an important connection with the subject it is a connection nonetheless.

A slower shutter speed was used to capture an element of the decisive moment. The shutter speed was set to 1/30th in order to capture the full movement of the person within the photograph. I used this shutter speed specifically because I felt it would be able to capture the movement's of the subjects, foreground and background, much more clearer.

The first point location is the focus of the photograph which is the person running across the street. The second point location is the people in the background who have been juxtaposed to the man running; they are in no rush.

This photograph include the rule of thirds as the man stepping onto the ledge is on the right side of the photograph while traffic is driving in the background. The rule of thirds is a typical rule for photography as well as documentary film-making to make the image more appealing and interesting.

The shutter speed that was used was 1/30th as it shows clearly a decisive movement as the man's leg is blurry. This shows his speed of movement in relation to the shutter speed of the camera.

As this is my only night-time I shoot I had to adjust the camera settings a bit here. The ISO setting in particular had to be adjusted from 100/200 where it is used and ideal for day-time sunny shoots, to 1600 where it is ideal for night-time shoots. I was able to find this out on the Canon 450D Visual Guide which was provided on the Learning Network.

A slower shutter speed was used in this photo. It was not 1/60th nor was it 1/30th, like my other photographs.