Assignment 2 Project 3: Modification of a High Key Image

In general, my tutor’s feedback regarding the two high key and two low key images of birds that I had submitted for Project 3 of my second assignment was positive. The most dynamic image of the set was a high key study of juvenile whooper swans landing (Image 1 below; presented here with a narrow black border). Whilst I was generally happy with the outcome of my post-production work I was a little unhappy with the ordering of the swans: the one in the middle, which is already skimming the surface of the water with its feet, should really be “leading the way” at the front! Also, despite the “letterbox” cropping, the photograph does not give the birds quite enough space to move into.

Image 1

My tutor pointed out that, with such a simple background, it would have been fairly easy to re-position the swans in the required order. The only issue that I have with this is that I like to record natural events as truthfully as possible and, although I am not averse to removing distracting objects that do not affect the natural history story presented in the image, changing the order of the birds is not something I would consider if I was presenting this image in competition or using it for commercial purposes. However, since neither of these considerations applies here…….

The image was edited in “Photoshop Elements 8”, using the Clone Stamp tool to remove the left hand swan and then to replace it by moving the central swan over to the left hand side of the image. The resultant image (featuring two swans, with a large central gap between them) was saved. The first image was re-opened. This time the central swan was removed using the Clone Stamp tool and the left hand swan was moved into the centre of the frame. The resultant image was pasted over the first modified image to create a separate (top) layer. The section to the left of the (new) central swan was erased to reveal the “skimming” swan and the resultant image was flattened. Finally, the few strands of remaining vegetation (top right of Image 1) were erased to give a cleaner image (Image 2), featuring the new, improved line-up of swans.

Image 2

Finally, I made two further modifications. Firstly I slightly extended the background to the left of the swans, to give them more space to fly/swim into, cropping off an equivalent area on the right of the image. Then, I reversed the image horizontally so that the action was taking place from left to right. This is the direction that my gaze naturally tends to follow when I am “reading” an image, perhaps because I also read from left to right, and produces what for me is a more natural looking image. The whole process, from starting with the original image to producing the final image (Image 3), took just 20 minutes.

Image 3

Conclusions and Key Learning Points

Whilst Image 3 is “manufactured” it does provide a fluent, ordered illustration of some of the stages of swans landing and reads smoothly as a simple “action” story as the eye moves from left to right. The resultant sequence is now more aesthetically pleasing, although it could be argued that it loses some of the tension of the original.

Learning Points:

·         When a “good” image has been produced it is worthwhile thinking about whether and, if so, how it can be made even better during post-production.

·         High key images offer more potential for modification of the type shown above than do those images that have been produced and/or processed using a standard exposure.

·   In creatively modifying an image in post-production, the balances between aesthetics, tension and photographic truth are critical considerations.

Tutor Feedback on Project 3 (Assignment 2)

Project 3: “Experiments in Key”: Tutor Feedback

You seem to have investigated this topic area quite well. There are some good project based images here that evidence the nature and level of your understanding. The work undertaken demonstrates that you have the appropriate levels of technique and application to utilise these “key” elements where you wish to in future projects. There is a competent realisation of your ideas that are well printed and presented.

Comment on the individual images:

High Key 1: Swans landing. The sequential nature of the image is indeed broken but there are a lot more elements to this image in terms of key that make it worthwhile. You are shooting into the light and the shadow areas still have good tone. He commented that, given the high key nature of the image, it would be relatively easy to alter the sequence of swans using “Photoshop”. I have investigated this: see my separate post.

High Key 2: Herring Gulls. He felt that the image would have looked better with a square crop and that it was not sharp. I suspect that the lack of sharpness may have been partly due to loss of detail in the birds’ plumage during the conversion to high key, but I need to keep a close eye on getting my subjects completely in focus, because the issue of “lack of sharpness” has been raised elsewhere.

Low Key 1: Great Crested Grebe. My tutor commented that it’s a good image, I like it and the water on the back is nice and crisp. However, he noted also that at this level perhaps it’s a little safe – perhaps too safe you need to be doing a little more rather than such a simple image showing low key. To develop yourself you need to strive for the type of excitement – or mystery etc. that high or low key can deliver. I have taken this point on board: some of my other images that were not selected for the assignment were action shots with more excitement, but I was unhappy with their composition or there were technical flaws. However, in retrospect perhaps I should have replaced the “safer” images with these.

Low Key 2: Mute Swan. There were similar comments here as for the other low key image. However, in addition my tutor commented on lack of detail in the bird’s plumage. I have studied the print closely and struggle to find areas of plumage that are not sharp. However, despite this being a low key image some of the plumage is rather bright, so perhaps this is a case of too much contrast and some “blown” highlights. Either way, I clearly need to put extra effort into ensuring that my images are sharp when they need to be. It is, however, reassuring to note that this is a successful set that shows the required lighting, contrast and brightness used in a suitable aesthetic manner.

Assignment 2 Post 1 My Submission (1) Introduction and Project 3

Assignment 2 Introduction

Following discussion with my tutor the assignment will consist of the following components:

·         Project 3: “Experiments in Key”

·         Project 5: “An Impartial View”

·         Project 8: “The Decisive Moment”

The  discussion documents and images for the three projects are presented in three separate posts, starting in this post with Project 3.

Project 3: “Experiments in Key”: Assignment Work

This project calls for the student to produce two distinctly high-key images and two distinctly low-key images, all in black and white.

Because I had agreed with my tutor that all the assignment work should relate directly to the major project (on our deliberate practice of feeding wild birds, and why we do this) I decided to concentrate on images of wild birds and, in particular, water birds that were either attracted to food provided for them by ourselves, or simply present in the areas where birds were fed. Preliminary research involved conducting internet searches, looking for and at high key and low key images of birds and looking for inspiration, appropriate images and subject matter in the many natural history books (including “Wildlife Photographer of the Year” and the “British Wildlife Photography Awards” series) that I possess. Practice involved several visits to lakes and ponds where wild birds are fed, together with the field trips that I carried out in search of images for other project work.

Workflow

I concentrated on photographing birds (e.g. coots, tufted ducks and swans) that were predominantly “monochrome” (either black or white, or a mixture of the two) and looking for lighting conditions (e.g. back-lighting for silhouettes in high key images or dark backgrounds in low sun for low key images) that would be appropriate for the production of suitable images. The work was carried out in March and April 2014 and 50+ “candidate” colour images were produced.

The Raw images were downloaded onto the computer and checked for flaws. Those that were deemed of suitable quality were initially edited using Nikon “View NX2” software, converted into 8-bit “Tiff” files and then converted into black and white using “Photoshop Elements 8”, with the colour (red, green and blue) and contrast sliders being used to produce an effective image. The images were then lightened (for high key images) or darkened (for low key images), using “Levels” (to adjust the histogram) and the brightness, shadows/highlights and contrast settings, to produce the final images.

This process was carried out on around 25 images, from which the very difficult process of selecting two high key and two low key images for submission was carried out: the selected images are described below.

High Key Image 1: “Whooper Swans Landing”

High Key Image 1; Nikon D7000 with 70-300mm zoom; ISO 500, 1/1000s, f/7.1

The photograph was taken mid-afternoon in early March 2014 as three young whooper swans landed a few hundred metres from the main hide at WWT Welney, Norfolk. The swans are fed here every day during the winter time and many whooper swans arrive from the neighbouring fields in order to take advantage of free hand-outs. I was here to photograph the feeding of the swans, but this photograph was one of several that I took of swans landing, in the hope (not realised) that I could produce a sequence for Project 8: “The Decisive Moment”. The middle swan has just touched down, whilst the others are about to. Ideally, I would have preferred the leading swan to have touched down first and for it to be a little closer to the other two (see later post) but I would have had to have cropped the image in “letterbox” style anyway, in order to capture the direction of the birds’ movement and to eliminate messy vegetation at the top and bottom of the screen. Because this image was cropped and subsequently printed in “letterbox” style I have put a thin, black border around it in order to indicate its dimensions.

The photograph was taken more or less into the sun, as can be seen from the birds’ shadows. I saw the potential for producing a high key image, but wanted to retain some detail in the birds’ bodies and to retain some “realism” in the image. Image 1 represents a compromise, but I wonder whether I should have lightened the image further, at the expense of detail. Apart from the birds and their shadows, some detail on the surface of the water and a small number of selected pieces of vegetation at the top right hand corner of the image (a few more items of vegetation were cloned out) are all that can be seen.

 High Key Image 2: “Herring Gull Pair”

High Key Image 2; Nikon D7000 with 70-300mm lens; ISO 500, 1/200s, f/18

These gulls were photographed on a Scarborough beach in early April 2014, on a day of low cloud and mist, whilst I was looking for images for Project 5: “An Impartial View”, which features herring gulls. I was attracted by the symmetry of the gulls’ positioning and the reflections of both sets of tail feathers in the little channel of water in front of them. In post-processing I struggled to decide whether to crop in “portrait” mode, to concentrate mainly on the gulls and their reflections, or in “landscape” mode and, if the latter, whether to place the gulls centrally or to one side. Eventually I chose the symmetrical, “landscape” crop, including a reasonable amount of the smooth, featureless sand on either side of the gulls.

Because the conditions were misty and overcast, converting to black and white made little difference to the appearance of the image. Lightening in post-production to produce a high key image resulted in loss of detail in the sand, whilst the detail in the birds’ wings and tails was maintained. Further lightening of High Key Image 2 as shown caused a loss of resolution between the birds’ heads and the surrounding sand.

Low Key Image 1: “Great Crested Grebe”

Low Key Image 1; Nikon D7000 with 70-300mm lens; ISO 500, 1/500s, f/4.8

The grebe was photographed in Hyde Park, London, in mid-April, whilst I was looking for images for this and other projects. I noticed that a pair of great crested grebes had taken up residence close to a road bridge over the Long Water. Being accustomed to seeing people walking around the lake, these grebes were very confiding and allowed me to photograph them from just a few feet away. I was hoping to get a sequence of the pair displaying for Project 8: “The Decisive Moment”, but failed in this regard despite spending hours watching them. The grebes regularly swam or dived under one of the arches of the bridge and I was therefore able to capture a number of low key images, including Low Key Image 1, with the birds illuminated only by low light coming through from one or both sides of the arch. Because the birds were moving (sometimes at high speeds) I was forced to use a relatively high shutter speed and, on occasion, a high ISO rating. Consequently, this and the other images of the grebes were naturally under-exposed by up to three stops.

In post-production I made adjustments to the image to ensure that the details of the bird’s plumage were clear, despite the muted light, and that there was a little detail (including that of the bird’s reflection) in the water, whilst the bird’s surroundings were rendered essentially black. A few unwanted small items of debris, which were illuminated by the light, were cloned out. I believe that this image works well in colour, as well as black and white, when the orange hues on the bird’s face and neck stand out.

Low Key Image 2: Mute Swan

Low Key Image 2; Nikon D7000 with 70-300mm lens; ISO 640, 1/250s, f/4.5

Mute swans are normally associated with high key images, when the uniform paleness of their plumage can be used to good effect. However, when I made an evening visit to a park in St. Albans in mid-April 2014 I was very attracted to the sight of this swan feeding quietly amongst vegetation in deep shade along a stream. The evening sun was illuminating its plumage, resulting in a sharply defined white profile against an inky black background. The bird was feeding under the surface, occasionally raising its head, when a stream of water would run off from the tip of its bill. To capture motion I was using a fast shutter speed, which resulted in natural under-exposure of around two stops (I was photographing in shutter priority). As a consequence, plenty of detail was visible in the bird’s plumage. I took over 50 photographs of the bird as it fed, with it side-on, front-on and with a diagonal posture. In some exposures the water can be seen dropping from its bill.

Choosing exposures to convert to low key images proved to be very difficult: I liked them all! However, I eventually chose this simple side profile image to use for the project. The image required little post-production work; however, I did darken the shadows slightly to emphasise the subtleties of the feathering. I also ensured that the bird’s bill, the only significant coloured feature in the image, was rendered in a different shade of grey to the rest of the bird’s plumage and that the bulk of the bird’s reflection in the water was clearly visible, to provide a counterpoint to the elegance of its shape.

Conclusions

I expected to find that it would be easier to produce high key images of birds (of which there are many examples in the literature and on the internet) than low key images. In fact the reverse was true, although I was hampered by the lack of snow and ice in early 2014, when this work was carried out (always useful for producing clean, light backgrounds), as well as the misty conditions that are helpful for producing “ethereal” high key images.

This project highlighted for me the importance of lighting and contrast for producing dramatic and/or atmospheric effects. In turn, these effects can be used to emphasise aspects of the characters of the subjects. It is also interesting to note that some subjects (here, swans) can be portrayed in both low key and high key images.

Whilst the high key images worked well and generally looked better in black and white some of the low key images (in particular low key Image 1 of the grebe) actually looked better (in my opinion) in colour.