Exercise 1 Part 1

4-6 photographs which are deliberately darker than average and say why in your notes.

1. I took this a couple of weeks ago (not with this exercise in mind) but I really like it - but maybe that is because my kids are in it!  I've already posted it on this blog in a reflection  post so I hope it's ok to post it here too.  I deliberately under exposed the shadows to make the most of the light coming in on the older son's body.  I like the mood with the dark shadows.  I think I was certainly influenced by this image by Stewart Weir who was my tutor when I did an online course with the Photography Institute last year and who is doing a little bit of mentoring with me now to get my site looking better etc. I think Stewart's image is incredibly poignant and touching and the exposure contributes to that sense.

2. I love working in moody dark days where the sun only peaks through now and again and when there is a lot of cloud about.  The cloud acts as a brilliant giant diffuser and this day was like that.  I enjoy exposing to make the most of the clouds when there is light and shadow in them too.  I liked the reflections on the surface of the water and knew I'd be converting the images I took.  I published another one on Flickr but preferred this one as it's sharper and the dark areas cleaner.  

3. It was a very windy day and as I was driving to the park I kept seeing these amazing swirls of leaves which I wanted to photograph but when I got there this little patch was all that came my way. Anyway, I took two photographs and this was the better of them.  The trees in the back are very underexposed so that they become just darkness which contrasts with the tiny highlighted specks of leaves flying about.  I like the contrast and made more of it in Lightroom.  It's a deliberately dark image - like in Snow White in the forest when she's running away from something frightening - she doesn't know what though.

 4. I often walk along here and it's such a weird place.  It's next to the municipal dump and I wish I could go in to get a better frame but it's blocked and no-one is allowed in.  I knew I wanted to do a high key image of this place.  It's so bleak and desolate right next to a bunch of very expensive development.  I remember about a year and a half ago following a tutorial with Amateur Photographer and Martin Evening which showed you how to process a high key image and I think I pretty much followed that here - if I remember correctly.  His image was of a petrol station taken with a wide angle lens from a low position.  Maybe I should have thought more about my position here but I was very limited and had to take the lens hood off and stick my camera through some gates!

I will try to get another high key image or two to add here.  I tend to underexpose and take dark photos I think for myself although not when I'm doing portraits mostly.