I visited the exhibition of our photographs at Swadlincote Civic Centre  today. Below are some images from there.

Part of the poster explaining the exhibition.

Two photographs on display.

One of my images - unfortunately full of glare.

The second image, also full of glare.

The photographs were displayed in the entrance foyer, up the stairs and on the first floor landing. It is far from apparent from my poor flash photography, but the  lighting was quite subdued, and this for me highlighted how important lighting is for an exhibition. Colours appeared muted, and the black and white photos were often difficult to see. Positioning and lighting within a room are very important when displaying an image in any setting; for an image that is treasured the use of anti-reflective glass is expensive but probably worth while.

Nuthatch photograph: Comparison to one by Steve Young

I shall compare my chosen image with one produced by Steve Young.

Below is Steve's image

f/5.6; ISO 200; 1/100 second; Taken using Nikon D2X; Sigma 300 - 800 mm lens (at 750 mm)


The image below is mine.

f/5.5; ISO 400; 1/80 second; focal length 142mm

So how do they compare?
Composition: Thee cropping of my image mirrors Steve's. His image is superior in that the bird is on a natural tree trunk scenario compared to my man made feeder. My image has the advantage of the bird having a peanut in its beak.
Focusing: without comapring both images in the same media (computer or large print) it is dissficult to be sure, but I think Steve's focusibng on the eye is more accurate than mine.
Background: Steve's is a uniform green whilst mine shows other trees in the background. i believe the fact that these branches are parallel to the bird enhance the image; possibly the brightness at the centre bottom detracts. I see no problem with my photo in this area.
Lighting: Steve's photo is obviously taken in bright sunlight which enhance the colours of the bird. Mine was taken in duller light, and additionally the bird is in a duller winter plummage. For me this is no problem. I want to take photos representing the truth - this was early winter, the bird was immature with imperfect colouring - hey it was gorgeous!!
Cropping: I obviously don't know how much steve's image was cropped or enhanced, but mine was quite severly cropped. This will limit its ability to be printed in a large format, and ideally the focus of the shot would have been narrower to make the bird larger.

Conclusion: Steve's image is probably technically superior; however my image compares favourably and will remain a favourite of mine.

211: Presentation methods

Presentation Methods.

The traditional method to present photographic images is individual prints. Immediately you are presented with several questions:

·         Print size – 5 x 3 inches, 6 x 4 inches, 10 x 8 inches, 16 x 12 inches, A4, A3. The choice is endless.

·         Matt or Gloss

·         Print yourself, use local shops, use the internet

·         If you print yourself – which printer do you use?

·         How do you know the colour printed will be true to your original image?

In order to answer these questions one major issue must be considered. What is the purpose of the images?

My purpose is to produce a portfolio of images which will be a memento of my garden when I move home. For this purpose I shall produce many images which will vary in quality over a long period of time. A format such as a book would be ideal for this – easily portable, easily available at all times, flexible in the amount it can contain.

In the medium term and for the purpose of this module 10 images have been produced – insufficient for a book. The photographs could be printed individually and displayed in a binder – portable, but overlapping and duplicating the final aim of a book. With 2 or 3 further images a calendar could be produced – a subtle enhancement of the print, enabling the photographs to be viewed and appreciated daily. The 10 images could alternatively be printed and displayed on the walls of my home – but there are problems with this choice. My home does not have much spare wall space and the cost of prints and frames may be prohibitive.

For the purpose of this module I shall explain how I can produce a simple wall calendar using my own images. (See separate blog). This I shall compare with the production of these images for an exhibition.

211: Images for Presentation: Task 1a

Theme: Images of the garden and wildlife at Church Farm.

The following 10 images have been selected to be presented. The images are from the garden of Church Farm which is the theme of Task 1a.

These images have been chosen to be printed as a slimline calendar - one per month. Since their size will be approximately 4" x 3" I can choose images that have been highly cropped or taken using a high ISO setting. Low pixelation and graininess will not be a major issue.

Ideally for a calendar the image would reflect the month portrayed , but since these photos were taken over a 16 week period this is not possible. However the images I have chosen are I believe varied in content and style.

The photo of the nuthatch will be on the front cover which needs to be in the portrait style. The rest are all in landscape style. The final images may be further cropped by the printers to 'fit' the calendar, so there is a risk that the composition may be subtly altered. By checking hte size of the final image I can recrop my images to that size to ensure that the cropping is of my chosing - not just random. For example if the pigeon image is cropped evenly all round the tail might be lost - spoiling the image.

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For a calendar 13 images are required : 1 front cover and 12 months, so 3 further images are required. These would be:

This last image has neither been cropped, nor enhanced within Photoshop. I enclose it as a representative image of the whole of Church Farm, which I feel should be present in the calendar.

A look back at images taken in September

Whilst checking through all the images I have taken so far for the City and Guilds Photography Course I reviewed the images taken in September at the beginning of the course. I believe some of them are worthy of reconsideration.

These below were taken on September 25th and those of the honeysuckle, especially the close up images with raindrops are perhaps better than I realised at the time!

On September 29th I took several photographs at dawn. Some I have displayed in an earlier blog, but again upon reflection I should have included this image. The colours are magnificent; the circle of the flower heads mirrors that of the web; the background is fascinating - out of focus yet with a texture of its own. The 2 circles also have contrasting textures - coarse, dry flowerheads and delicate, wispy webs.

Both these images will in fact be included in my final folio, with the reasons being explained in separate blogs .

Comparison of Printers

In this blog I shall compare the printer I use at home to the printer at Burton College.

At home I have a Kodak ESP Series 3200 printer.

This printer will print, copy and scan. It's main purpose is to print home documents (letters etc...) easily and cheaply, and to scan images. This it does, but its quality is not brilliant. It would not be suitable to use to print quality photographic images, except to give a draft quality example of an image. It has 2 cartridges for ink - black and colour (containing cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks). It cannot be calibrated; it cost about £70

Burton College uses a HP Photosmart Pro B9180 Photo Printer. Details are given below. It is designed for one purpose alone -printing photos. It has 8 individual ink cartridges - cyan, magenta, yellow and black plus 4 others to give a wide variety of colour production. It can be calibrated to the monitor and costs about £500.

When I investigated 'Ptofessional Business Printers' on the internet the cost moved into the thousands of pounds, or even 'We will arrange to telephone you with a quote'. I assume that professional photographers must either have their own high quality printers, or have a contract with printers with precise quality contracts. The number of inks available increases with printer price, as I presume the quality control and monitoring of colour features do as well.

For myself, it seems unlikely that I will print my own photographs in the foreseeable future (if ever) - but will use on line printers initially recommended by trusted photographers.

Attracting birds and squirrels to the garden

All the food I use to attract birds in the garden is packed by ChapelWood. This is a well known company with high production standards, recommended by the RSPB. Orders can be placed on line, or through local garden centres.

I use 4 products:

Peanuts:
I use these in my feeders, hanging feeder and also on the ground. In this way I attract a wide variety of birds, including tits, finches, robins, sparrows, pigeons, magpies, crows, nuthatches and woodpeckers - plus regular grey squirrels.

Suet balls
These are used in specialist feeders, the log feeder and also added to the hanging feeder. These balls can be made at home - a mixture of nuts, seeds and suet, but I prefer to use manufactured suet balls.

Premium Bird seed
This includes sunflower and niger seeds, corn, barley and wheat. I place them on the hanging feeder, the ground and in special seed feeders. A variety of birds are attracted, with niger seeds being especially popular with finches. Chaffinches and bullfinches seem to prefer feeding on the ground. Pheasants and partridges seem partial to this mixture when it is on the ground.

Robin Seed

Some seed mixtures are designed to attract certain species of birds. I use this seed especially on the hanging feeder and on the ground. This mixture contains dried mealworm, pinhead oatmeal and kibbled peanuts.