Unit 41 - Undertake the Photographic Assignment.

1.1
For the photography assignment, we were commissioned by SCCB to produce a series of images for use in marketing content. There was a requirement to show the resources available to potential new students, in particular the performance area and the music facilities. Having discussed the type of images required there was a need for detail shots, contextual shots, and images that portrayed a range of technology, equipment and software.

1.2
I selected to shoot digitally, as there was a time constraint on the delivery of the images. Being able to observe the images immediately on the camera display allowed for any minor adjustments needed to exposure and composition. Shooting digitally allows for a much higher sensitivity in low-light areas such as the music studios, where lighting is very low. Shooting RAW files allows for maximum flexibility for output too.

1.3
Shooting RAW files also allows maximum flexibility as this is just pure data captured by the camera's sensor. Once converted by Adobe RAW converter, the images can be output to any of the following file formats: PSD, DNG, TIFF (16 & 8-bit), high-resolution JPEG or JPEG optimised for the web. A PSD file is flexible for editing in Photoshop and allows Alpha Channels. TIFFs are graphics files and can be compressed or uncompressed as well as contain Alpha Channels. JPEGs are flexible as the allow use on the web due to small file sizes, but can also print fine detail at full resolution. DNG files are for future proofing and archiving.

1.4
In the menu system of the Canon 650D, there is the option to select SRGB or Adobe 1998 as a Colour Space. I chose to use Adobe 1998 Colour Space, as this has a much wider Colour Gamut than SRGB, which is a web colour gamut space. For shooting, I chose to use RAW and large JPEG, which enabled me to have a backup as well as allow for maximum flexibility in post-production. As most of the images were shot in an indoor environment, I selected an ISO speed of 800, fairly slow shutter speeds such as 1/20th and 1/10th of a second, and for my apertures I used a combination of wide (f3.5, f5.6) for the close-up detail shots and small (f16, f22) for the wide-angle and contextual shots. I selected these apertures as I wanted to manipulate the depth of field according to my subject.

1.5
The requirement of the original brief was both detailed and contextual shots, so i opted to shoot the detailed shots in the auditorium (microphones, amps and drum kits) and in the studios (Mixing desks, sound booths, speakers). For composition i applied the rule of thirds, perspective and leading lines. For lighting in the studio I used Ellinchrom constant lighting, placed either side of the mixing console, and a single light in the sound booth.