A much more comfortable temperature awaited me on the golf course this morning and there wasn't any frost on my windscreen to clear off either.
Arrived just after 6:30am today, because i tried going a new way, but took two wrong turns - oops! So once i arrived at Royal Canberra the boys had all gone their separate ways and were already making a start on their designated tasks.
So i kindo f had to play catch-up, but it ended up working out well for me. It was nice to chat with a few of the blokes i met last Friday and meet a couple of new members of the team as well.
Here is a collection of photographs from today.
D.
Okay, so after Belinda taking some time to review the collection of images (thanks again) from my first time shooting at Royal Canberra it was suggested i should try get in close on my next visit to gain a stronger interaction / connection with the subjects themselves with the addition of their environment in the background - thanks to a wide angle lens.
So, I am booked in tomorrow again at 6am with the boys and have only my 10-22mm and 50mm lenses packed this time, not the 70-200mm lens i borrowed last time. This should be fun, because i enjoy the challenge of limiting myself to only one lens as it makes me re-think my approach, my angles and my composition and teaches me to think differently about what i am trying to achieve as a whole. Lets hope it all comes together for me tomorrow ay.
In relation to this, i feel that because i managed to build a fairly solid first impression with the boys last week and gave them time to talk about themselves etc they should hopefully now feel comfortable with me getting up in their face a bit more tomorrow with my wide.
Weather forecast is for a 5º morning tomorrow, a much more inviting temperature than last Friday's -3º that i managed to push through. Considering all of the above, i do hope it is a productive morning that puts me in a good mood for tomorrow night's wet-darkroom class.
D.
4/5/2012
Today was the day...
After a patient wait to commence my documentary assignment (Life of a greenskeeper) the time had come for me to make a start.
The time was 6am and i was at the gate ready for someone to let me in. The temperature was -3º and i had more layers of clothes on than ever before but was still ready to start shooting.
By 6:30am, all the boys had arrived and were ready to be given their chores for the day. Once Michael their manager had given out the orders the place was like a disturbed ant nest. The boys were here there and everywhere, the rattle and puff of two-stroke engines filled the silence that was a freezing April morning in Canberra, but the energy given off by the workers got me going and i began to forget about the temperature somewhat.
The next challenge was to set myself up on one of the spare electric golf buggies (poor-mans Toyota Prius) and try keep up with them as they each ventured off to commence work.
Once the sun began to rose the day became absolutely beautiful, all that you could ask for. Still had to keep my gloves on though so my hands would continue to have some feeling :)
The boys were great to work with. We shared a few yarns, bad jokes, thoughts about society and the 10/10 days mother nature was putting on for us. Not to mention the odd hot-air balloon in the distance.
I had an absolutely brilliant day, was quite worn out by 3pm, but felt happy with the bonds i had built with the blokes i was photographing and the images i had come away with ready for revision in class on Manday. I really hope i receive good feedback on the shots i took.
They are a little out-of-order as to how i took them, but here is a sample of what i achieved on Friday whilst at The Royal Canberra Golf Club.
D.
Eleven Questions
1. What is the maximum lens aperture?
The limit to how wide a lens can be opened is called the maximum aperture. It is indicated on the front, outer edge of a lens (1:1.4) What does this 1:1.4 indicate?
Ratio = Maximum diameter : lens focal length.
(e.g. if focal length is 50mm with a maximum aperture of 1.4, the aperture diameter is 35.7mm) and for every 1mm of aperture diameter there is 1.4mm of focal length.
2. If a 50mm lens has an aperture diameter of 25mm what f stop is it set to?
umm f/2 . . . ?
3. What is a lens aberration? and why do they exist?
Lens aberration is wavelengths of light not focusing at the same point.
4. What is spherical aberration? and how can it be reduced?
Spherical aberration fails to bring light to a single focus point. Stopping down your aperture can reduce this affect.
5. What are chromatic aberrations?
Chromatic aberrations happen when light passes through a solid (glass lens) and its individual colours are dispersed at slightly different focus points.
6. What do these lenses do?
a) achromatic.
b) apochromatic.
c) superachromatic.
7. What is coma?
Coma is an off-axis spherical aberration that creates a cone shaped point. It is a phenomenon where the diagonal light rays do not focus on one point of the image surface. Stopping down can reduce this slightly.
8. What is astigmatism?
This happens when off-axis aberration causes vertical and horizontal lines to be focused at two different planes.
9. What is distortion? and geometric distortion?
There are two main types of distortion found in lenses. Pin-cusion and Barrel distortion.
Geometric distortion occurs when things at the edge of a field of view are 'stretched' to fit (display) on a flat film plane.
10. What is curvature of field?
Curvature of field happens when trying to focus on a flat image on a flat film plane. The result gives a blurred outer edge when focus is set to the centre and visa-versa. I t is commonly seen when enlarging a photograph.
11. What is a sweet spot on your lens?
Most lenses have one. It refers to the aperture range that produces the sharpest image. Normal rule of thumb is two stops from maximum aperture (e.g. maximum of f/2.8 - sweet spot of f/5.6).
D.
