This first exercise in part 3 of the coursework, Colour, is about controlling the strength of colour. The course manual says that there are three qualities that define a colour - hue, saturation and brightness. We are advised that we have to develop the skill of recognising colours and being able to describe and compose them accurately. Understanding the colour wheel and the concept of primary colours and the relationships between colours is crucial.
We are asked to control the strength of colour and take five photographs of an object with a strong definitive colour and fill the viewfinder frame with it. We have to find the average exposure setting and then take a sequence of photographs differently exposed from light to dark by changing the aperture half a stop at a time.
I have chosen a pillar box red letterbox at the end of my road. It's a bit faded and needs a repaint but it will suffice! The five images are below. The correct exposure indicated by my Sekonic light meter in incident light reading mode is 1/100 @ f5.6. So the series of exposures range as follows - f4, f4.5, f5.6 (the correct exposure), f6.3 and f8. We are asked to view the five images together and assess what difference there is between them in terms of colour, apart from the fact that the five vary from over-exposure to under-exposure.
I opened the correctly exposed image in Photoshop and used the hue, saturation and brightness sliders to examine the effects. Hue changed the colour. Saturation increased or decreased the richness of the red colour. Brightness lightened or darkened the image. My conclusion is that the difference caused by under and over-exposure is Brightness. This exercise has already got me thinking more about colour. I have used some of the lighting and colour sliders in Photoshop before but this exercise has extended my understanding and future potential use of them.
We are asked to control the strength of colour and take five photographs of an object with a strong definitive colour and fill the viewfinder frame with it. We have to find the average exposure setting and then take a sequence of photographs differently exposed from light to dark by changing the aperture half a stop at a time.
I have chosen a pillar box red letterbox at the end of my road. It's a bit faded and needs a repaint but it will suffice! The five images are below. The correct exposure indicated by my Sekonic light meter in incident light reading mode is 1/100 @ f5.6. So the series of exposures range as follows - f4, f4.5, f5.6 (the correct exposure), f6.3 and f8. We are asked to view the five images together and assess what difference there is between them in terms of colour, apart from the fact that the five vary from over-exposure to under-exposure.
I opened the correctly exposed image in Photoshop and used the hue, saturation and brightness sliders to examine the effects. Hue changed the colour. Saturation increased or decreased the richness of the red colour. Brightness lightened or darkened the image. My conclusion is that the difference caused by under and over-exposure is Brightness. This exercise has already got me thinking more about colour. I have used some of the lighting and colour sliders in Photoshop before but this exercise has extended my understanding and future potential use of them.