In this blog post, I will be discussing the camera skills that my group and I experimented with using a DLSR Camera that we will use for our main task. I will be talking about Depth of Field, White balance and exposure and how these can be manipulated in order to create a specific mood for our main task.
Experimenting with Depth of Field
Depth of Field, in photography, is the distance between the nearest and the furthest objects giving a focused image.
Depth-of-field is controlled by your aperture. A very shallow depth-of-field requires a wide aperture like f/2.8 or wider. To achieve a very deep depth-of-field, you need an aperture setting of f/16 or smaller.
Depth-of-field is controlled by your aperture. A very shallow depth-of-field requires a wide aperture like f/2.8 or wider. To achieve a very deep depth-of-field, you need an aperture setting of f/16 or smaller.
We experimented with depth of field by using autofocus and manual focus on the DSLR. Firstly, we experimented with autofocus on the camera and found it quite hard to get the specific image we wanted. Even though autofocus is good for adjusting to the right settings, we did not find this very useful as we struggled to create the image we intended to create. However, as for manual focus, this was more useful as it allowed us to adjust the focus to our likings and create the image we wanted to create. This method was easier as it gave us more freedom to experiment with the camera.
Experimenting with Colour/White Balance
White Balance is the colour balance on a digital camera.
The quality of a light source is measured by colour temperature and is based on the ratio of the amount of blue light to the amount of red light however, the green light is ignored. It is measured in the degree Kelvin (K). A light with higher colour temperature (larger Kelvin value) has "more" blue lights than a light with lower colour temperature (smaller Kelvin value). A cooler (warmer) light has a higher (lower) colour temperature.
White Balance Off, Indoor Mode OnThis is an example of no white balance and simply a tungsten/orange tint in the image. The lower the color temperature, the more yellow to red the light creating tungsten light. This is useful for psychological thrillers as it brings out the oranges and reds in images/films to highlight the key elements of psychological thriller (blood, fear, danger, etc). |
Colour Balance and Depth of Field in Psychological Thriller
Some psychological thrillers use shallow depth of field for effect - either to pay close attention to detail or to highlight something important. This allows the audience to focus on the important aspects of a specific scene which is very effective. Also, using shallow depth of field blocks out all of the irrelevant objects in the field of the camera. This also allows the audience to pay close attention to specific detail and never miss the important parts. There are a few examples of the use of shallow depth of field above.
Psychological thrillers use white balance (which has hints of blue to create a cool effect). This can be used to show that the scene is dull and 'unhappy' and there is no hint of 'happiness' in the scene. It can also be used to enhance a scene for example, if it is raining or if there is snow in a scene, the use of colour balance will make it look more prominent and exaggerated - creating a moody and dull feel. However, colour balance does not have to be used. Some psychological thrillers use hints of tungsten lighting to give the scene an orange/red effect. This is useful in psychological thrillers as it brings out the typical colours of psychological thrillers - red, orange, yellow and brown - also connoting 'danger'. 'blood' and 'death'.
Psychological thrillers use white balance (which has hints of blue to create a cool effect). This can be used to show that the scene is dull and 'unhappy' and there is no hint of 'happiness' in the scene. It can also be used to enhance a scene for example, if it is raining or if there is snow in a scene, the use of colour balance will make it look more prominent and exaggerated - creating a moody and dull feel. However, colour balance does not have to be used. Some psychological thrillers use hints of tungsten lighting to give the scene an orange/red effect. This is useful in psychological thrillers as it brings out the typical colours of psychological thrillers - red, orange, yellow and brown - also connoting 'danger'. 'blood' and 'death'.
Here are all of our pictures we took on an DSLR Camera: