FCC Workshop: Sensor Cleaning DIY
Before any cleaning
This week FCC held a sensor cleaning workshop (for the brave), here’s a shot before any cleaning started. You can do this by setting to the smallest aperture (F22 in this case) and shooting against a pure white back drop.
After using blower
I used a blower on the sensor which provided some improvements as seen in this image.
After fluid wipe of sensor
But for those really fixed dirt particles a sensor wipe was required.
T189 - Digital Photography Course (10)
Week Ten - Submitting your ECA
Finally after weeks following submission the result of assessment for the ECA panel has arrived. The student site gives you an update and a score a couple of weeks before you receive a letter with some feedback (very little) on the panel. Mainly words of positive encouragement and praise, but also why you may have lost points. I scored 90 losing points because my written submission exceeded the word limit (I didn’t know there was one).
Overall the course was fine to do through the Spring, but I don’t think you need to do this if you’re well familiar with the art of photagraphy already.
Welcome Back Evening & 10’s Competition
Todays session centered on an an array of opening club tasks that include preparation of work for club competition, subscription fee payments etc. But, most interesting was the rundown of last seasons 10’s competition. 85 images were voted to the last 10 before again selecting the final 3rd, 2nd and 1st place. Basil our chair managed to pick up first place with a superb steam train scene (that I’ll link to once uploaded). Well done…who me, well I came in the last 10 with Encounter
A Shooting Expedition
Hi, I finally managed to go away for the Summer and indeed I never saw rain for my time away. This is quite unusual for a British holiday ask any one. But before that to other photographers and myself went out to a local pond for a walk around Fleet Pond which has a lot of history as well as being a conservation area. I’m still yet to process my images and seek out a picture, but I can recommend these sort of places for all sorts of genre.
T189 - Digital Photography Course (9)
Week Nine - Sharing a panel of ten images and preparing for the ECA
I spent the week (liar! a couple of days) preparing for the ECA panel submission. This means selecting images and writing them up based on the material that has been studied for the past few weeks. I’m not sure just how proper/correct they expect you to be with the write-up. Reading around at other blogs, they seem to be a little forgiving if you’ve not used the terms in the same way as you’ve studied. 60% of the ECA is based on the photographs submitted, so if you have an attractive submission theres no reason not to believe you won’t pass, but you should submit a write-up anyway. The OU even insist that at the very least you should select and submit the required 10 images.
I’ll submit what I’ve done this week (and post also). It will be good to be getting on with some home projects that I have in mind as an alternative.
T189 - Digital Photography Course (8)
Week Eight - Critiquing and creativity
o What have you learnt?
o Commenting on and critiquing images
o Creative image making
Week eight was clearly designed to ‘making you see’ after looking at images (both your own and others). There’s a focus on light and the different types of light that fall on objects. This light can alter the feel to an image tremendously and you should be well aware of this. Session 8 tries to give a sense of all the variuos genres of photography and what techniques are normally akin to each. It’s a sample to guide you on to perhaps a field of photography that you’d care to undertake later.
Even before starting the next session I get a feeling that I’ve reached the end of the course, but the beginning of the art of photgraphy.
T189 - Digital Photography Course (7)
Week Seven - Innovation in photographic imaging
o Technology and technique
o Composing an image to control its meaning
o Experimental photography
o Genre-established aesthetics
o Pop culture and post-modernism
o Visual culture and digital aesthetics
Painted by Light
Actually, this sections has very little to do with a camera, but more with ART! Once the technicalities are understood then you’ll almost want to explore. This is predominately what session 7 is all about. The historical presentation is very small for what has been gained by the greats of old and given to us today. But there’s plenty of resources that you can use to explore the art of photography for yourself.
T189 - Digital Photography Course (6)
Week Six - Printing and projecting your photos
o Display tecnologies
o Projection
o Printing technologies
o How long will my photos last
o Subtractive colour systems
o More printing
o Colour problems
o Adjusting your monitor
o Colour management
As the list above suggests this sessions was mainly concerned with the output of your work. Not just printing, but also displaying using modern methods we have available at the moment (e.g. display monitors). Getting you colour correct and as intended was the focus of the session that included quite technical detail on ‘gamut’ and ‘gamma’ (wow). This is one of those lessons you need to do than just be told what it’s about.
A superb section if you’re thinking on buying a printer or the likes, you’ll be better informed and you’ll have the ability to really baffle the sales clerk!
At about this time, I’m thinking I should be working towards the final submittal ECA panel. Reading ahead I know there’s a write-up to go with the panel so I think starting early is prudent. These sessions are based on a week at a time (generally) but as each differs it’s all too easy to just leave for the following week.
T189 - Digital Photography Course (5)
Week Five - Undertsanding and using colour
o Let there be light
o Sensing colour: eye versus camera
o Sensors in the camera
o Colour perception: eye and brain together
o Composing colour photographs
o Colour in digital images
o Composing colour images
o Framing colour images
o Using Elements to adjust colour in digital images
o Exploiting the artist’s colour palette
There’re some odd activities in this session for example …using your camera to take a picture of your TV remote control beam, strange! But more interesting is this section is about the main ingredient to photography, YOU! There’s a colour (blind) test for you to try out. I did it four times before I was considered of ‘normal’ vision (lol). Then there’s a colour mixing activity where you move sliders to alter the colour on one side of a shape to match the other side, only using RED, BLUE and GREEN. More understanding on how your digital camera determines and records colour is explored and explained. Actually this section loaded with lots of enjoyment, but only if you participate in the activities and have that ability and willingness to learn.
...complementary colours...
I’m starting to slip behind now with my own schedule but I’m still on course.
T189 - Digital Photography Course (4)
Week Four - Focus and depth of field
o How lenses help gather and focus light
o What do we mean by focus
o Field of view and magnification
o Effective focal length and camera shake
o Optical and digital zoom
o Focal length and perspective
o Controlling depth of field
o Rescuing a poorly focussed image
o Putting it all together - some tips for better images
Session 4 brings in some calculator work for you. Well it’s simple arithmetic so you don’t have to go out and get a calculator. It brings together the relationship between the lens, type of lens and the camera sensor (or film) and types of sensors. A description of what ‘focus’ means is presented in terms of what the lens is doing to light entering in at one end before reaching the other.
One thing it does not tell you is how a camera automatically determines that focus is needed and then adjusts accordingly, which I think is quite important, but that could be another module.
Some rules emerged out of this learning and they are true from all photography and have some value in remembering when creating your images.
Rule 1: Depth of field decreases as focal length increases, and increases as focal length decreases (assuming object distance and aperture are constant)
Rule 2: Depth of field increases as object distance increases, and decreases as object distance decreases (assuming that focal length and aperture remain unchanged)
Rule 3: Depth of field decreases as aperture increases, and increases as aperture decreases (assuming that focal length and object distance remain the same)
- Use a wide or ultra wide angle lens (Rule 1).
- Focus efficiently (an extension of Rule 2 – see below).
- Use smaller apertures (Rule 3).
- Use the longest lens you have available (Rule 1).
- Get as close to your subject as possible (Rule 2).
- Use wide apertures (Rule 3)
...DOF left and near...
...DOF right and far...