Camera Techniques

ARD502 Locked Off Assignment Experimentation #1

Posted on by Ell Roberts

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I’ve been working on this assignment which is part of one of my modules called The Message; which involves using a technique called Locked Off. For this, I set the shutter speed on my SLR camera to 2″ and the aperture to its highest. ISO was also set to 100. This is one of the images I took whilst experimenting with this concept.

ARD502 Camera Techniques that can be used in Advertising Assignment

Posted on by Ell Roberts

Produce a portolfio of work that consists of three images for locked off camera, and three for the panning camera. The images must be of high enough quality to be printed at A2.

The camera is exceptionally good at freezing motion by using a fast shutter speed. Its also capable of creating beautiful and surreal images when recording movement using a slow shutter speed.

Technique 1: the locked off camera, requires a tripod, a very slow shutter speed (in seconds), lowest ISO and probably your highest f stop to control the exposure. By locking off the camera on the tripod, (everything tight and secure so that the camera stays absolutely still), anything not moving within the frame will remain rock solid while anything moving will blur. This balance between still and blur is the essence of the image and their positioning in the frame is crucial.

Technique 2: the panning camera, is hand held and panned with the moving subject during the exposure. This time the shutter speed is a little faster, (between a half and 2 seconds). The panning movement has to be practiced as you won’t see the image during the exposure with an SLR or DSLR. This is because when the mirror flips up to let onto the film or sensor, it disrupts the angle of reflection to the viewfinder and also blocks the light path to viewfinder. The resultant image should be a reasonably sharp subject against a very blurred background, but subject matter can be subjective. For example, a most energetic and enigmatic recorded photograph was of a trotting pony which was barely recognizable except as an exciting whirl of hooves, tail and name.

Assessment Rquirements: Assessment will be based on the completion of a sequence that

  • Communicates a message in a creative way.
  • Considers the relationship between what is being communicated and target audience/viewer.
  • Explores narrative or non-narrative process in a cultural media.

This assignment will form part of a portfolio of  work which will be formatively assessed at the end of the assignment and summatively assessed at the end of the module.