Digital Photography and Imaging

Week 11 | 1 - 22 November 2021

LECTURE

This week, we were focused on Digital Photography. Mr.Fauzi were introduced us about the basic knowledge of it, such as exposure setting, lens perspective and the differences between DSLR and smartphone.

Exposure

In photography, exposure is the amount of light which reaches your camera sensor or film.

The main parts of the camera:

Camera Body: Shutter, Image Sensor, LCD Screen

Camera Lens: Aperture / Iris

The camera body is a light proof box.

Fig 1.1 Main parts of the camera (from lectures slides)

1. IRIS

2. SHUTTERSPEED

3. ISO

* There are only two camera settings that affect the actual “luminous exposure” of an image: shutter speed and aperture. The third setting, camera ISO, also affects the brightness of your photos.

Fig 1.2 Exposure Triangle (from lectures slides)

1. IRIS: Iris/Aperture is control the flow of light entering the lens. It is measured by f-stop, indicated by sequence of f-number: f/1, f/1.4, f/2 , f/2.8, f/ 4, f/ 5.6, f/ 8, f/ 11, f/ 16, f/22 , f/32. The lower the f-number, the larger the lens opening.

Fig 1.3 IRIS / Aperture (from lectures slides)

2. SHUTTER: The shutter is a small plastic sheet that opens and closes to allow light onto the film or prevent light from reaching the film. Shutter speed is measured in seconds: 1/1000 s,1/500 s,1/250 s,1/125s,1/60 s,1/30 s,1/15 s,1/8 s,1/4 s,1/2 s,1 s, 2 s, 3 s…

Fig 1.4 Shutter Speed (from lectures slides)

3. ISO: Originally referred to the sensitivity of film—it's "light gathering" ability. For digital photography, ISO refers to the sensitivity—the signal gain—of the camera's sensor. The common ISO camera settings are: 100, 200, 400, 640, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400…. The lower the number of ISO the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain.

Fig 1.5 ISO (from lectures slides)

Lens Perspective

1. FOCAL LENGTH: Focal length is the measurement (in millimetres) from the optical centre of a camera lens to the camera’s sensor.

Fig 1.6 Focus Length (from lectures slides)

2. DEPTH OF FIELD: The smaller the aperture you use, the greater the depth of field.

Fig 1.7 Depth of Field (from lectures slides)

3. WIDE ANGLE LENSES: Wide angle lenses are ideal for fitting a large area into your frame. It is useful for landscape photography or street photography. With wide angle lenses, almost everything is in focus, unless your subject is very close to the lens.

Fig 1.8 Wide Angle Lenses (from lectures slides)

4. STANDARD LENSES: Standard lens offer a fairly accurate representation of what the human eye sees, both in terms of visual angle and perspective.

Fig 1.9 Standard Lenses (from lectures slides)

5. TELE LENSES: Tele lenses are great for isolating a subject that is far away. It allow you to photograph subjects from a distance thanks to their magnification.

Fig 1.10 Tele Lenses (from lectures slides)

DSLR vs SMARTPHONE

PRO: Familiar with device, Good Quality, Easy to Learn

CON: Still limited, Good but not great, Non-Ergonomic Shape

Smartphones vs Cameras = Convenience vs Quality

- DSLR cameras are designed to capture images. Phones are designed to carry out a multitude of functions.

- Phone cameras are very limited by size. The size of the lens and the size of that captures the photos. Entry-level DSLR have much larger lenses and sensors than mobile phones do.

PRACTICAL

Week 11

Part1 : Idea Development

Biography about Myself

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Shu Huan, I was born and raised in Malaysia. I am an indoor person who loves movies and music. At the same time, I also enjoy the freshness that travel brings to me. I hope that when I am financially independent, I can explore the places and things I like with my favourite people without any worries.

What is your passion?

I enjoy having a relaxing time with some music at home no matter it is just me alone or with my favourite person. That is the best way for me to relax my body and brain. But due to the pressure from assignment, I barely have quality relaxing time recently. Music may bring us emotion and put us into the scenario.

What's motivate you to achieve your dream?

Life of freedom, and the person that i love.

How do you want to visualise your dream into an art work?

I would like to play around with colours with a simple looks. The main object in the work would be a hand holding a smartphone which plays a song with a music player. And the person in the music player will listen the song with an earphone.

Statement about My Work

Tell us about your work.

I would like to do a modern or simple looks poster with surrealism style. The picture of myself may in black and white or less colour, to represent what we think about ourselves (when we think we were unfortunate), and the flowers represent those pleasant and little happiness in our life.

What is the concept behind it?

I want to combine music and life in a work. I think that if there is a song for a life, every different life will be a different song. People with different experiences and different personalities will compose different songs. When we feel down and unfortunate, we should calm down and listen to our song, listen to those little bright things that happened in our life.

What is the message you want people to understand it?

Every individual is an independent and unique existence, and every existence will have its own meaning. We write our own songs and at the same time we admire others'. But don’t forget to listen to your life. Your strengths, your luck and everything you have.

What is your motto/quote?

Those little bright things in your life.

Mood Board (reference)