Simple Made Interesting

Introduction.

How can you be interesting in a ditch of chalk? In this blog post I show how the most basic of images can be made more interesting.

Recently I was shooting at the beginning of the installation of some renewable energy.

I travelled down to the Sussex Downs where I was faced with a challenge.

How to make the simple interesting?

The Simple Can Be Interesting.

The installation in the Sussex Downs was at the stage of digging some ditches and laying the pipes.

That is the subject matter for this blog.

Simple Made Interesting – Part I.

The subject matter for this shoot is, basically, a ditch, with yards and yards of piping laid within it.

In this first image I have shot the tubing as circles, lying in the ditch, and moving away from the camera.

The viewer is drawn into the image, through the use of a leading line of the ditch, becoming a blur in the distance.

Sussex Downs Dig – by Arwyn Bailey

Simple Made Interesting – Part II.

As this ditch is, just that, a ditch, I wished to emphasise how big this dig is.

In previous blogs I have shown how lying on one’s back can produce a different perspective in photography.

But, on this occasion I am lying down, on my front.

The focal point is set on the pipes closer to me.

The aperture is as wide as it can be, creating a shallow depth of field.

The pipes and the ditch are soon out of focus.

Sussex Downs Dig – by Arwyn Bailey

Controlling The Sky.

By shooting low down, and controlling the aperture, and understanding how the light triangle of settings work, on a camera, we end up with a perfectly exposed image.

I am deploying one piece of kit that is not so obvious.

The day is dull, but, it is full of white cloud.

What is the sun doing?

It is being diffused through the cloud, but, it is also bouncing around on the clouds like. crazy.

By using what is known as a graduating filter on the front of the camera, the white bright sky is reduced. The light entering the camera and therefore the sensor is reduced, markedly.

The image is far from being over exposed.

A little editing, and voila, the photograph has an added value of being correctly shot and produced.

Simple Made Interesting – Part III.

On the day of this shoot there was little  being done, apart from the digging.

Despite this being a pretty common activity it was a great opportunity to grab some great shots of these machines in action.

Sussex Downs Dig – by Arwyn Bailey

Motion

With so many shots there is action going on in front. of my eyes.

By understanding how to use shutter speeds, a second factor of the light triangle, one can control how much blur there is within a shot.

In this shot, above, the shutter speed is set to allow for some blur on the soil being released from the shovel of the digger.

But, I am also using a smaller shutter to make the cabin of the digger to be blurred.

For me, the shovel bucket of the digger is the focal point, along with the soil.

There is a slight amount of motion blur on the bucket shovel thing, as well as some particles of soil flying out from the shovel bucket (or whatever it is called), delivering some motion to the image.

Understanding the camera settings, and the conditions is key to grabbing this shot.

PS: I am also using a Grad Filter to reduce the level of light entering into the camera and hitting the sensor in the top of the image.

Simple Made Interesting – Part IV.

This site is quite big.

I wished to show the size of this site to the viewer.

A panoramic shot was called for.

Sussex Downs Dig  – by Arwyn Bailey

Panoramic.

In order to achieve this image, I am using some professional kit additions.

Firstly a tripod. I am using a tripod with an inbuilt spirit level.

This ensures that the entire image is level, despite being on a hillock and gradient.

I am then utilising a great lens, known as a Tilt-Shift lens.

With this lens i am able to take a shot to the left, and a series of other shots across a flat plane.  rather than moving in a semi circular manner to take different shots. I am shooting a series of five shots across a flat plane.

I am also using a grad filter again, to reduce the white light hitting the sensor.

My focal point is in the distance, with a mid range aperture setting of f8 to bring most of the image into focus.

I have then stitched the image together within Lightroom.

Being Technical.

The Smartphone device has created a democracy and accessibility to imagery.

However, such a modern device has not (yet) negated the need for experience and creativity, and skill.

Shooting these buildings was challenging to my creative juices, but, they reflect the nature of each piece of architecture.

Likewise, within business, there are occasions when your own mobile device will suffice, but, on other occasions a professional is required to produce the images that will create a lasting impression, and gain traction fro you and your business.

Get in Touch.

The services that I provide, to you, provides you with media that is impactful and designed to create a response.

Tapping into my experience starts by you contacting me via my contact page by clicking here for a no obligation conversation.

Also, you can learn more about me by viewing my YouTube Channel that can be found by clicking here.

You can review the services that I offer to you, within a safe environment during this COVID-19 situation.

Start planning your own marketing endeavours with me.

Lord Pennington-Bailey, Arwyn, of Hougun Manor.