DPP - Part 2 DR Digital Image Qualities - Exercise 2 - Highlight Clipping

DPP - Digital Image Qualities - Exercise 2 - Highlight Clipping

I thought before I started I'd refresh my memory what full and 1/3 aperture stops. Its not that I don't necessarily know this, its that I sometimes confuse my self.

I've attached a table which should help remind me in the future:

The aperture of a lens is circle which allows the light to enter. The area of this circle, from my school days, is measured as Pi Rsquared where Pi = 22/7 and R = the radius of the circle. 

From an aperture perspective the difference of double the amount of light let in by the aperture is 1 full stop. In the exercise I use below I use apertures starting at f/11 increasing to f/4 which is actually 2.92 stops differences, clearly for photography some rounding is used :D

Starting at 1.4, if you double this then there are 2 stops between each e.g.f/1.4; f/ 2.8, f/5.6,  f/11, f/22 with a full stop between them at f/2, f/4, f/8, f/16, f/32.  There - that was fun!

This is shown in the table above with 1/3 stops

Anyway, back to the exercise. The purpose of this exercise is to find a contrasty scene and to discover the effects of highlight clipping and I would think to understand how increasing exposure reduces the detail captured

I've switched to manual mode on my camera from the Aperture priority I would normally take images at. I've started at f/.11 and played with the shutter speed until I can find the right shutter speed that just starts show blinkies (highlights starting to over expose).

This started at 1/25 when at f/11 and I've then opened up the aperture taking subsequent images at increasing full f/stops of F/8, f/5.6 and f/4. Because I'm in manual mode and not aperture priority increasing the aperture will increase the over exposure for each increasing f/stop

In this set of images:

Bottom Right = f/11

Bottom Left = f/8

Top Right = f/5.6

Top Left = f/4.0

The image bottom right was taken just as the sky started to over expose but the cloud structure and detail is clearly visible. As the aperture increases in the set of images above:

a) the detail of the cloud can be seen to reduce until it has been lost completely

b) the difference between white and light colours reduces until there is no border between the whiter colours

c) On the horizon of the sky where it borders the trees there appears to be a slight purple colour fringing

d) All the colours in the image have started to desaturate

Interestingly the green conifer in the most overexpose image top left is starting to display detail that is not visible image bottom right right. This is the same for the block paving.

Interestingly the image bottom right exposed at the point when my camera just started showing blinkies, when opened in camera in CS6 it doesn't show any blinkies until I increase the exposure 1 & 1/3 stops. I would assume that my raw converter in CS6 to be the more accurate.

I've detailed below the RAW convertor showing the over exposed element for the image top left which has been over exposed 3 full stops from bottom right:

Looking at the borders of the horizon and the fir trees its clear to see where this colour fringing occurs and why - its at thee point where the is significant contrast differences.

Using the raw converter decreasing the exposure 2 & 1/3 stops removes the highlight warning above.

Reducing the exposure 3 full stops, in theory replicating the image bottom right has not been able to recover the detail that is showing in the image bottom right within the sky.

As an experiment I've combined all 4 images into a HDR image using photomatix:

In terms of contrast detail, the image above combining all 4 images now contains the maximum detail present in all 4 images and what is determined, arguably, the best exposure of all key elements e.g. the detail in the fir tree in the least exposed image was not visible, but was in the most over exposed image.

Exercise Learnings:

a) Using blinkies in camera in conjunction with a histogram can help the photograph identify the point where over exposure is starting to happen and perhaps where detail may be lost that can not be recovered.

b) In manual mode decreasing aperture in say 1/3 stops will be one method reducing over exposure though in most instances I personally shoot in aperture mode so I would reduce exposure using say 1/3 stops. This would effectively increase shutter speed by 1/3 of a stop

c) More detail can be recovered from over exposure than under exposure so to err on the side the ideal exposure is just before the camera screen shows the blinkies as seen above detail can be recovered from under expose elements of the image. Again as proven above the camera appears, well mine anyway, that the camera blinkies errs on the side of caution which is a good thing.

d) Combining multiple exposed images can result in a better exposed image as the camera sensor is not as sensitive to be able to capture a wide range of contrast. This is likely the biggest reason why there is some disappointment in photographers not being able to capture the same image contrast as seen by the human eye. However in the HDR image above this can cause some colours to appear different. The car above is actually silver and not the grey shown. This may then lead to other post processing changes to be required subject to the image desired

Richard Mosse - IR work

My tutor suggested I look the IR work of Richard Mosse from his website:

http://www.richardmosse.com/

During 2012 Richard and some colleagues infiltrated an armed rebel group in the Eastern Congo in a war zone, to use his words "plagued by frequent ambushes, massacres and systematic sexual violence".

The resulting imagery is film and images shot on 16mm infra-red film resulting in images in what is quoted as being in a "disorientating psychedelic palette".

The result in the main is that foliage is represented in a "psychedelic" pink and given the brutal violence that takes place in this area I cannot help but think that the pink colours within his images represent blood stained land where this violence takes place:
http://www.richardmosse.com/works/infra/#5

Mosse is quoted as attempting to rethink war photography. The IR film that has been used is said to have a primary use to help identify camouflage which I take to mean the hidden armed rebel groups, or perhaps just identify hidden areas and individuals when used by nations who have this type of technology. When viewed in this IR format the camouflage of clothes that normally blend in with jungle type foliage and now more easily identifiable. In this example though the soldier is a dummy its easier to pick out the soldiers clothes against the pink foliage background:
http://www.richardmosse.com/works/infra/#7

Most or all of this violence is hidden from the modern world who either choose not to look or perhaps have become accustomed to the violence that takes place outside of the safe havens most of us live in.

I believe that in using this IR film to image a war zone he gives viewers are chance to see through different eyes, indeed a different media, that gives a focus to this location.

One of the reasons I enjoy IR photography is that it allows imagery to be displayed in a way that the human eye does not see in. Indeed so of the IR post processing such as channel swapping attempts to bring back elements such as blue skies to help the viewer relate the images taken by an IR camera to the images their eyes might normally see. This has not been done

I don't know what type of IR film Mosse has used but it it does not appear to have the same effect that the 665nm internal IR filter I use e.g. in Mosse's images the individuals skin, hair eyes etc remain unchanged but against a background of pink foliage and possible some different colour rendering of clothes. Images I take give a porcelain type of effect to skin, perhaps even a look of marble where skin blemishes are no longer visible, perhaps showing the inner depth of the skin surrounding people's bodies. For example:
http://www.richardmosse.com/works/infra/#4
Perhaps it shows the apparent external untouched people living within the shocking activities that go on around them but is unable to show the inner thoughts and feelings they have

In the following image this appears isolated from the "pink" foliage and perhaps the image suggests it as a safe haven from the horrors that exist around it or something just untouched so far:
http://www.richardmosse.com/works/infra/#8

In this image within the mist the psychedelic pinks are muted and perhaps suggest the horrors have yet to begin either by or against this small group of people:
http://www.richardmosse.com/works/infra/#9

This image of General Fervrier whilst perhaps intended by the subject to be an intimidating pse instead with pink and purple colours appears perhaps camp and in image in western eyes that would not have been welcomed I don't think by the subject in his eyes:
http://www.richardmosse.com/works/infra/#12

I think perhaps that this is my favourite of the landscape images, perhaps because the pink colours are more muted or less dominant or simply that the horrors within the land cannot be seen:
http://www.richardmosse.com/works/infra/#21
Where as in this image the poor boy has suffered some unimaginable horror:
http://www.richardmosse.com/works/infra/#3

This final image that I wish to comment on is aptly named "Nowhere to Run" and given that around 5.4 million people have died in the Eastern Congo and for many of them, they did indeed have no where to run.

Its a very interesting concept to use infra-red photography utilising the psychedelic pink colours and given that this is termed "a search for more adequate ways to represent a forgotten African tragedy" and use "arts potential to represent narrative that is so painful that they exist beyond language" I think Mosse has succeeded. The images do stand out and bring attention to the images that perhaps the world's population has either got immune to or is easy to ignore - its much more difficult to this with the style of imagery Mosse has chosen to use.

Whilst I would think that reportage photography should not be subject to the post processing techniques that perhaps advertising and modelling are, using infrared in this way for me maintains the accuracy and true to life images one would expect, its simply the medium used much like mono film has been used in the past in the reportage photography seen in many other war zones. This has given me the aspirations to at least consider where I could do this also with me infra-red work.

Cyrill Harnischmacher - A small review of his book "Digital Infrared Photography"

Cyrill Harnischmacher  

In DPP Assignment 1 I mentioned that I had been studying one of Cyrill's books called "Digital Infrared Photography".

There are very few good digital infra-red red books available which was what initially drew me to Cyrill's work.

Cyrill is a German photographer who lives and works in South Germany. He won a prestigious Fotobuch award with his first book "Low Budget Shooting".  I've not got a copy of this book but I feel this could be a good read because it gives suggestive ideas of how to build studio and lighting equipment on a low budget. Photography can be an expensive past time with as a hobby or if making a career from it. 

Cyril is primarily a studio photographer by profession but has an interest in nature and infra-red photography and also close-up photography which again is another area I have interest in.

The following is a link to a review of his book, Digital Infrared Photography:
http://blogcritics.org/book-review-digital-infrared-photography-by/

Here are some of Crill's images:
http://www.fotocommunity.de/fotograf/cyrill-harnischmacher/fotos/30880

Its very surprising that for an accomplished professional photographer there is very little photographic images by Cyrill available on the Internet in fact I wasn't able to find any IR images of his at all with the exception of a few I found already in his book. Whilst I found his book very helpful and interesting I feel that there is more information that I require, more inspiration and high quality images that I'd like to see not only to develop ideas but to have a bar set so that the quality of these images can be something I can aspire to.

I had intended to study and perform a review of his work but I just can't find anything not in his book on the Internet despite intensive searching

Cyrill's book "Digital Infrared Photography" is arguably the best digital IR photography book available but was published in 2008

Unfortunately there appears to be a big gap in the IR photography market. Whilst there may not be a big demand for IR images from a professional perspective from an interest and hobbyist perspective I strongly feel there is a big gap to be filled. As mentioned in my assignment 1 submission for DPP perhaps this could be something that I may aspire to either in a book format to bring IR photography more up to date in the digital photography world or as sets of images.

He details some good information on the theory behind IR and the advantages and disadvantages of the types of optimisation of infrared digital cameras. He explains well the different types of filters and some of the images within his book are identical aside from the different filters used so that the reader can see the differences the filters create.

There is some good detail around the digital processing of IR images and there is also some good detail around optimising IR images with layers and creating IR images with good tonal range.

I found I learnt quite a lot from this book but it does feel as if he could have gone further with his techniques. Of course the reader is also armed with enough information to take this forward.

Whilst there are images contained within his book I feel that there aren't enough to satisfy my desire to see some really good and stunning images, perhaps this is not what he sought out to do. Additionally there are no links to his website, which I cannot find, nor links to his IR work not contained within the book.

This will be a book I refer to as part of my OR processing and for some inspiration around IR images and capability but from an image perspective I really wanted more to wow me and to give my something to aspire to.

Infrared is definitely something I will continue to to progress and develop skills in and I will continue to use IR work as part of my degree. In this respect I will need to become more creative in my work. I currently use a Nikon D80 which an internal 665nm filter, this allows me to use colour in my IR work as well as mono

For anyone interested in IR photography processing as a beginner or are developing an interest here is a good site to have a look at:

http://miirimage.blogspot.co.uk/p/digital-infrared-photography-tutorial.html

I am member of several IR groups on Flickr whicc I regularly review the images to discover additional ideas, styles and types of images. I also contribute to these groups and many of IR images will be found here:

Infrared
http://www.flickr.com/groups/infraredphotography/

Converted Digital Infrared
http://www.flickr.com/groups/lifepixel/

Nikon D80 Infrared:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/nikond80infrared/

IR World:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/56536992@N00/