samedi 27 novembre 2004

Sequence... Time of Day Take the same shot every hour We're experiencing noticeably shorter days in the northern hemisphere as the Fall turns to Winter. Whilst many photographers think their shooting opportunities are also shorter there's one big advantage that the shorter days offer... the opportunity to shoot from dawn through to dusk without having to change your routine to completely unsociable hours. Here in central France during late November the first light in a clear sky can be seen around 7:30 am... and it's almost dark by 5:30 pm although today's sunrise and sunset times are actually 8:20 am and 5:00 pm. However, your eyes can see an increasing level of light in the sky at least half an hour before sunrise and your camera will be able to also. The same goes for sunset... there's plenty of afterglow (see my dusk image of the Chateau Azay-le-Rideau) in the sky well after the sun drops down below the horizon. This set of four images of a close neighbours house in mid-Wales were from a sequence of twenty taken at one hour intervals between 4 am and 11 pm one wonderful long, lazy day a few summers ago. This is what I mean by the current shorter days being (usually) more sociable... I could have achieved perhaps the same effect this month (except for the yellow flowers) from half the number of shots between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm... although I probably wouldn't have enjoyed myself so much perhaps even though the company would have been just as entertaining. Whatever time of year you choose to do such a sequence you have to ensure that the sun will sweep around your subject and present it in an interesting way. You'll probably have observed the general effects of light and shadow at the chosen scene by being familiar with it. Why am I assuming your familiarity with the subject? Because you'll be going back there every hour or so to reposition your tripod mounted camera in exactly the same spot and pointing it in exactly the same direction. The chances are you won't be doing this trying exercise in a strange or hostile location the first few times... so I'll assume you'll be photographing your own house, or a neighbour's, to start with. With the subject I chose here I knew that George and Reg, my dear neighbours, who've now been together for almost sixty years, would not re-stack the newly delivered wood in their barn... nor park their car in front of the garden wall... and that they would oblige by switching on the house lights at dusk... and that they would ask "Jones the Post" not to park his mail-van on the spot I'd chosen for the camera viewpoint... and that I'd get a nice cup of tea and a piece of home-baked cake now and again. It was, in a number of respects, a perfect location! I used a spare Nikon F2 camera body that could be left on a tripod all day without disturbing it... the 28mm PC Nikkor lens had it's settings taped to make sure there were no alterations to the focus or amount of "shift" I had dialled into the lens to keep the perspective of the house aligned correctly... and I pressed three small stones into the roadside verge so that I could reposition the tripod very accurately every hour throughout the day. I also took brief notes with details of time each shot was taken, exposures and what the exact centre of the focusing screen was pointing at... there's always the possibility of not remembering centre on the exact target just once in a repeated sequence of up to twenty shots... and it could be the best one of the entire shoot but out of alignment and unusable! The images chosen here were taken after dawn at 6:00 am showing the best light on the pile of firewood... and at 10:00 am in the morning with the house frontage looking it's best in full sun. Later at 4:00 in the afternoon when the sun had moved around and the front of the house was just in shadow... ending with the final usable shot at 10:00 pm as night was fast falling. There were several other usable shots showing subtle differences in the light and shade... but it is enough to show only four for the idea and effect to be seen and understood. There are a number of other ideas worth exploring with longer photographic sequences including the seasons of the year... but I'll describe that particularly challenging photo-theme in my blog in a few days time. 9:28:43 PM    comment []