OCA – Digital Photographic Practice
Project 2: Digital Image Qualities – Exercise 6: Highlight Clipping
The purpose of this exercise was to find a scene which has a wide range of brightness and with
good contrast. Five photographs are to be taken, with an increase to the aperture or shutter speed
on each subsequent photograph. These are then to be compared side by side to view the highlight
areas.
I used a series of photographs taken at ‘Truckfest 2011’ which was held at the East of England
Showground on Sunday 1st May 2011. The equipment chosen was a Nikon D300 camera, with
an 18-200mm Nikon lens, shooting in aperture priority mode.
The series of photographs taken and the screen prints showing the highlights are as follows.
Photograph 1
The first photograph was taken with an aperture of f8 and shows the outside section of the main
doors to the indoor arena. The highlight clipping below on the RAW convertor shows a small
amount of visual information lost.
*Screenprint will not work on blogger*
Photograph 2
The second photograph has a small increase in lost information shown by the highlighted clipped
areas in red. The blue sky has not lost too much colour cast yet, but the blue side of the lorry has
started to lose its deeper blue colour. This particular photograph was taken with an aperture of f7.1
*Screenprint will not work on blogger*
Photograph 3
This third photograph taken with an aperture of f6.3 is now showing an increase in lost details
and a visible increase in the colour cast on the fringe of the persons in the foreground.
*Screenprint will not work on blogger*
Photograph 4
The lady in the foreground now shows a visible break between nearly white and total white
around the fringe. The right hand edge of her cardigan and the bottom of the skirt has now
merged into one form. The sky is also showing an increase in lost area detail.
*Screenprint will not work on blogger*
Photograph 5
On the fifth photograph taken with an aperture of f5, the loss of detail has increased dramatically
and the colour has become washed out.
*Screenprint will not work on blogger*
Photograph 5 – Raw recovery
The photograph above has been opened again in a RAW convertor and the recovery slider
increased to 100%. This has brought some of the lost data back with the RAW image.
During this exercise I have learnt how to use the highlight clipping option not only on my home
computer, but also in camera on my Nikon D300. This has improved my understanding of how
the highlight appearance is so important to keep the data within the image, particularly for printing.
Photograph 2 – ISO 141
Photograph 8 – ISO 1100
Photograph 12 – ISO 4500
Photograph 13 – ISO 6400
During this exercise I have set up my equipment as stated and covered the whole
range of my cameras ISO settings from 100 to 6400. As you can see from the
enlarged photographs attached, the ISO 100 looks sharp and clean with no noise
evident within the image. At ISO 560 there is no real further degrading to the detail
within the image, but then at ISO 3200 you can start to see the increased noise
visible within different parts of the image. The final photograph taken at ISO 6400
above shows a large amount of noise across the image, including the white walls and
chairs.
OCA – Digital Photographic Practice
Project 2: Digital Image Qualities – Exercise 7: Your Tolerance for Noise
The purpose of this exercise was to find a picture that fulfilled two main criteria,
- Daylight indoors
- A combination of sharp and texture less areas
I used a series of photographs taken within my own kitchen area at home.
There is a white wall with a window next to this letting in daylight and some sharp
detail of a magazine on a white table, fruit bowl and vase with dried flowers.
There is a white wall with a window next to this letting in daylight and some sharp
detail of a magazine on a white table, fruit bowl and vase with dried flowers.
The equipment chosen was a Nikon D300 camera, with an 18-200mm Nikon lens,
shooting in aperture priority mode and using a manfrotto tripod.
shooting in aperture priority mode and using a manfrotto tripod.
The series of photographs taken covered all the ISO ranges from 100 to 6400.
Photograph 1 – ISO 100
Photograph 2 – ISO 141
Photograph 3 – ISO 200
Photograph 4 – ISO 280
Photograph 5 – ISO 400
Photograph 6 – ISO 560
Photograph 7 – ISO 800
Photograph 8 – ISO 1100
Photograph 9 – ISO 1600
Photograph 10 – ISO 2200
Photograph 11 – ISO 3200
Photograph 12 – ISO 4500
Photograph 13 – ISO 6400
During this exercise I have set up my equipment as stated and covered the whole
range of my cameras ISO settings from 100 to 6400. As you can see from the
enlarged photographs attached, the ISO 100 looks sharp and clean with no noise
evident within the image. At ISO 560 there is no real further degrading to the detail
within the image, but then at ISO 3200 you can start to see the increased noise
visible within different parts of the image. The final photograph taken at ISO 6400
above shows a large amount of noise across the image, including the white walls and
chairs.
I have learnt that knowing when the noise levels affect the details within an image is
when you have gone too far in increasing the ISO and this then affects the overall
quality of the image taken.
when you have gone too far in increasing the ISO and this then affects the overall
quality of the image taken.
