Evaluation of Light task

This was the first task we were set, and as such, I approached it with a certain sense of trepidation. Wanting to get it right, I considered a number of different subjects, but none of them would, in my opinion, offer an interesting photograph at all times of the day. I therefore finally settled on the local church, which I knew was picturesque and would be illuminated at night.

Given that this was our first task, I decided on a relatively simple equipment set-up. I had my camera, the standard 18-135mm lens and a tripod for the night shots. Given the large range of focal lengths the lens provided, I feel it was the right choice, as it allowed me to selectively zoom in and therefore minimise the unwanted objects in the frame. Although I didn't need it for the majority of the photographs, the tripod was a necessity for the night-time shot, as the long exposure would have been all but impossible to achieve by just holding the camera. I also decided to use the cameras timer function to minimise the level of movement.

Although I'm relatively satisfied with the choice of the church as the subject, I do feel that there were a number of issues, which given more time, might have been handled better: Due to the position of the church, (with the river to the left and a newly built house on the right) I had a limited choice of places to position the camera, and this had a negative effect on the overall composition. For the morning and afternoon shots, I wanted to capture the different directions of sunlight and how they would affect the overall tone of the picture, but unfortunately was foiled by the poor weather conditions. Because of the limited angles available to me, I also struggled, when it came to setting up the night shot. The inclusion of a street light, coupled with the long exposure, meant that some elements of the picture were overexposed.

Despite the problems I encountered, I do feel that there were a number of things in the composition that worked well. The inclusion of a section of the river, helps to provide some foreground interest and by offsetting the church, I was able to provide a glimpse of the surrounding area, thus adding context to the building.