DEVELOP

The [DEVELOP] Project for July


For 2013 we're got a challenge to set you each month, something to get your teeth into to help you [DEVELOP] your photography skills. Some of them might be familiar concepts to you others we hope you'll never even have heard of, but by tackling them we hope you'll try out something you wouldn't have done otherwise. 

This is one challenge for the summer holidays. It's a bit more time consuming and a lot more experimental. This one is better with team work. Up for the challenge? Our friend Jess put together this guide to Camera Obscura...


A camera obscura is a really easy and mind blowing experiment to try on a bright day. It’s like a big pinhole camera but the camera is a room in your house. They are simply created by blacking out a room on a sunny day, cutting a small hole in the window covering and boom, the outside world will be dancing, walking and flying all over your walls... but upside down.
In 5th Century China they were known as a ‘locked treasure room’ which I think is a very romantic notion and likely to get anyone intrigued and Leonardo Da Vinci had a bit of a dabble too. So you should just do it already.


Here is what you need to do:

Materials:
Thick black-out plastic to cover window/s.
 I advise garden centres / DIY stores but try and check availability first! Pond lining can be used and if it lets through light don’t worry get twice the amount of the size of your window and double it up.
Scissors.
Tape - ideally duct tape but parcel or masking tape will work.
Things to experiment with: 
Mirror.
Magnifying glass.
Someone’s reading glasses.
Round photographic light reflector.
White card.
Anything else to hand that might reflect, focus, warp or be projected onto!



The Ideal Room:
A plain white walled room.
As little furniture and wall decoration as possible.
Big window with lots of light on a bright day.
View from the window is diverse with a mixture of movement and colour. If you can include ground level you can get in on the action too.
Making a camera obscura:
1. Choose your room.
2. Black out the window/s in the room with black plastic and tape into place.
3. Cut a small round hole in the plastic in the middle of the window. Try a hole 3cm across to begin with.
4. This hole can be made bigger and even moved by taping up the hole and cutting it again somewhere else.
5. Turn off any lights and close the doors so it is as dark as possible.
6. Wait for your eyes to adjust to the light.



Our camera obscura worked pretty well. It wasn’t amazingly bold and focused on the walls of the room but we could make out the trees and their leaves blowing around. It wasn’t strong enough to capture with a camera but our eyes could clearly make it out.
We began to experiment by holding up card in front of the hole and we could see the outside world with all of its colours and movements projected on to the card.  Holding a mirror in front of the hole and reflecting the projection onto the ceiling worked really well too. We also used a round photographic reflector held in front of the hole which is where we had the best results and were able to take some pretty good photos and video. Maybe a white bed sheet held up taut in front of the hole would also act as a good screen or tracing paper could work too. It is worth a go experimenting with anything you can find. Enjoy!

Thanks you Jess for putting this all together for us, and thanks to Jack and Sam for helping her pull it off. Jess makes some pretty and interesting things which you can find on her blog: Use Your Hands To Make You Happy (you should check it out). 

Don't forget, to join in with the project follow along in this Facebook group or use #developproject on instagram and twitter. 

The Longest Day



Right... today is the longest day of the year, though I'm not sure it counts if is grey and cloudy! Anyway, if you're looking for a way to mark the day you should join in with this month's solargraphy [DEVELOP] Challenge. 

To spur you on we did a two week tester to see if these things really do work. And it did! We don't have a south facing window, but we pointed it as south as we could. It sat there for two fairly grey weeks on our bedroom windowsill in a bizarre arrangement propped up on some novels from Malc's Nanny and held in place with lots of masking tape.

Here's the original, if you're interested. You can actually see quite a bit before you scan and digitally enhance the image. 



We've been chucking these little fellows at anyone we can persuade to take one recently, so hopefully there are lots of people joining in the waiting and wondering game. While you wait why not send us in a snapshot of your little camera wherever it ended up... like this sprite can which is now loving life in Lewisham. 


Don't forget you can read all about the challenge right here.

the [DEVLOP] Project for June

Solorgraphy examples from Original Hamsters, Boris Pophristov Photography, Atrabiliario. 

For 2013 we're got a challenge to set you each month, something to get your teeth into to help you [DEVELOP] your photography skills. Some of them might be familiar concepts to you others we hope you'll never even have heard of, but by tackling them we hope you'll try out something you wouldn't have done otherwise. 

This month's challenge isn't so much using a camera as making one. Solargraphy uses a little DIY pinhole camera to record the line of the sun on a single photograph. June is the perfect time to make a start on this project, because the sun will be at its highest point in the sky on the longest day of the year (21st June), so you'll capture a great shape. You can leave the camera to take its photograph for any length of time between 1 day and 6 months. Half a year sounds like the most exciting option and as a bonus it'll be ready just in time for Christmas!






Our friends Charlie-Rose & Joe joined us to give it a go. Charlie's blogged about it over here. She wrote this about her plans for their Sprite can camera:

As we are fast approaching Midsummer, and therefore the longest day, we've decided that this will be the ideal time to fix the camera into position. Joe and I  have a sheltered garden/courtyard area so we have decided to fix our camera to the trellis on our porch in a hope to produce a photo with the old brick factories underneath and the line of the sun, traced over the course of the next 6 months, above. 
I'll let you know how it goes.

Its really easy, probably the only thing you'd need to buy is photographic paper.


This is the basic idea:
-Find a cylindrical container.
-Pierce a pinhole in one side (if you're using something hard to pierce neatly, cut a larger hole and use tinfoil to seal it, then pierce that)
-Go into dimly lit room.


-Open up the cylinder (use a tin opener) and place a piece of photographic paper inside with the working side facing the centre of the  container. You can cut a template to ensure you get the paper the right size.
-Tape the cylinder back together so that no light can get inside. Make sure you put a small piece of tape over the hole until the camera is secured in place.
-Attach the camera firmly to a stable surface outside pointing south (angle it up if needs be to see the full height of the sun).
-Remove the tape covering the pin hole.
-WAIT
-Reseal the hole and bring inside
-The final step is to scan the paper. No chemicals are needed! In a dim room quickly stick it in your scanner and without a preview scan, scan it at 400 -600 dpi. Use some editing software to invert the image and tweak the colours.

You're done! Stick the picture in a blacked out box to keep it from being destroyed by light. Remember to come back and share your pictures with us! Send us your "in progress" pictures too, so we can see where you put your cameras up.

There are loads of examples and guides online. This one is easy to follow. And this video is thorough, but so simple.


Don't forget, to join in with the project follow along in this Facebook group or use #developproject on instagram and twitter. 

Re-Awakening Lea Village


We decided to combine our [DEVELOP] meet up with Re-Awakening Lea Village, an event run by a really cool charity called Reel Access who help kids make videos. The idea was to re-awaken some the community spirit in a small area of east Birmingham called Lea Village through traditional amusements like Morris dancing and Punch & Judy shows. Here's a little flavour of the project. We met up with a few of our friends and hung out in the sunshine. Oh... and took a few pictures (Credit to Nicoleta  who contributed some of these beauties).

Burning House


His: Tiamo hand coffee grinder, The Oxford Book of Madrigals, Biffy Clyro The Vertigo of Bliss, the party elephant, Monty the Mouse, our Moroccan teapot and our Ukelele. 


Hers: A picture of us from 2004, wedding ring, engagement ring, Dad's wedding ring and a family ring from my 18th Birthday, the note Malc used to propose to me, house keys to my mums, Duck, our family's sound machine, our scrapbook from Australia and my favourite handmade cushion.

May's [DEVELOP] Challenge

Clayton Bond, Via
For 2013 we're got a challenge to set you each month, something to get your teeth into to help you [DEVELOP] your photography skills. Some of them might be familiar concepts to you others we hope you'll never even have heard of, but by tackling them we hope you'll try out something you wouldn't have done otherwise. 

This month's challenge shouldn't require to much planning. Just imagine this: you're sat at home and someone shouts,
" Quick there's a fire, we need to get out, the house is burning down! "
What do you grab as you leave the building?

Firstly remember it's just a game! Then gather up all the things you'd save and take a photo. That's this month's challenge.

We based this on theburninghouse.com which is a fascinating collection of people's "what I'd grab" photos. They see the photos as a one question interview, what does your photo say about you. You should check the site out, but maybe wait until you've chosen your own items, so you do it your own way.

And why not go ahead and submit your photos to the project, if you have a close look you might spot one you recognise!



Don't forget, to join in with the project follow along in this Facebook group or use #developproject on instagram and twitter. 

[DEVELOP] Project meet up!

May's [DEVELOP] challenge will be up tomorrow (in time for the weekend!), but before that we'd like to announce our first meet up! #superexcited

25th May from 3.30 pm

We're going to be meeting in Birmingham city centre for some group photo challenges. We can offer each other loads of tips and tricks. We can grab a bite to eat and get to see each others faces. If you're interested in coming drop us an email or Facebook inbox message and we'll send you the details.

Most of our participants are Birmingham based, but if you fancy travelling in to meet up pop us a note and we can help you with directions and suggest somewhere to stay. If its too far why not give us a shout, maybe next time we can plan something nearer to you!

Can't wait to meet you!

April's [DEVELOP] Challenge


For 2013 we're got a challenge to set you each month, something to get your teeth into to help you [DEVELOP] your photography skills. Some of them might be familiar concepts to you others we hope you'll never even have heard of, but by tackling them we hope you'll try out something you wouldn't have done otherwise. 

OK so its a bit intimidating and there always seems more to learn but it will improve your photos hugely if you tackle this one little thing... This month we challenge you to befriend your flash.

It doesn't matter what level of photography you're at, usually there's a flash connected to your camera (even on most camera phones). So let's see if we can each get one step better at using it. Below are some hints and tips, but mostly we'd just encourage you to try out whatever flash you've got. Play around see what changes with any options you've got. See what distance it covers and what effect it has.

DIY Hints and Tips: (increasing from basic cameras to more complex)

For Every Flash: 

For extra fun
*Slave  flash: this requires a purchase, but ebay has slave flashes for less than £10. If you've never heard of one, a slave flash is a simple flash that is triggered by another flash going off, they don't need any wires which makes them simple to combine with your camera. And you can sneak them anywhere, which gives some fun lighting options e.g put the slave in the middle of a circle of people and photograph them from outside the circle to get a séance-like effect. Or slide the slave flash onto a dance floor for some backlighting. [Note: If you've got a separate flash from your DSLR you might have a slave flash option, there'll be an on/off button marked "slave" or "s")

Phone Cameras:

There's not a huge amount of scope with the tiny LED flash, but you can still diffuse it for a less harsh glow, just tape a tiny piece of paper over the flash. Play around with tissue paper to get look you want. Or try a little piece of coloured sweet wrapper (the clear ones like on Cadbury's Roses) for a coloured filter.

Bonus: you can also use your phone's camera for other weird uses like the heart rate tracker for android,  or iphone, which checks your pulse in your finger. It works best with the camera flash turned on.

Pop up Flash

* Diffuse the flash
You can make a more fancy diffuser for a pop up flash using a plastic milk bottle, just cut and shape it to fit over your flash. The principles are the same as with using tissue paper on a phone camera (and tissue would work on a pop up as well if you can't get your hands on a milk bottle).

*Bouncing flash
Using something to reflect the light onto your subject can help to even out the results you get from a fixed flash. It's a simple as getting a piece of white paper (or better still tin foil) and positioning it to the side of your subject. This will bounce the flash back onto your item and make the light more even. This same idea can be great if you're working outside with strong sunlight, use a reflector to bounce light back into the shadowed areas of your picture if you don't want them to be totally in the dark.

DSLR (detachable flash)

Well now the fun really begins. Chances are if you bought an off camera flash separately you understand some of what it can do, or at least you've heard of the features listed.

*Bouncing flash
The simplist of flash tricks, available with any seperate flash- turn it sideways or backwards to make use of a nearby pale-coloured wall or ceiling. This will ease the direct harshness of firing the flash straight at your subject and give a much nicer result.

*DIY modifications
Use and elastic band to attach a piece of white card to your flash to bounce it in the direction of your subject. This is especially useful if you don't have a wall to bounce off. It will spread the light, reducing the distinction between the area the flash hits and the area it doesn't. When you use this indoors it has the added benefit of throwing light at your subject in two directions, directed forwards from the card and bounced off the wall.

If you add a black piece of card to your collection, you'll be able to make the most of another effect. When bouncing the flash, position the card on the side of your flash pointing directly towards your subject, this will cut some more of the harsh direct light.

*TTL + Exposure Compensation = an Easier Life
TTL (through the lens) is a monitoring mode many flashes have that monitors the light coming through the lens and alters the flash output accordingly. Learning how best to combine TTL and exposure compensation will allow you to spend a lot less time guessing in flash manual mode. I'm still learning this, so I'll leave any further explanation to this article. 

*Show Shutter Speed
Experiment in you camera's manual mode to combine a slow shutter speed with flash. This'll let you make the most of the ambient light available. If you take the speed down around 40/1 or as slow as 15/1 and use your flash on its TTL setting (which is basically the flash auto setting, but cleverly monitored by your camera) you can freeze your subjects whilst allowing more of the background lighting and motion to be captured.

*Switching to a high-speed sync
If your flash has the option, switching high sync on will be really useful for using flash to fill in when working outdoors. Basically it allows you to access shutter speeds faster than the standard flash 250/1. So if the ambient background light is rather bright, and your chosen ISO and aperture would combine with flash to overexpose your picture high-speed sync could save the day!


Mostly guys have a play around! If you'd like to try out some kit that you don't have come and have a go with some of ours! We'll be announcing a date for a [DEVELOP] gathering in May soon (excited!). Or if you can't make it, you could think about booking us for a lesson, or we could even have a little facetime chat. Get in touch!

Don't forget, to join in with the project follow along in this facebook group or use #developproject on instagram and twitter. And there's a flickr group (which could do with more members!)

March's [DEVELOP] Challenge

For 2013 we're got a challenge to set you each month, something to get your teeth into to help you [DEVELOP] your photography skills. Some of them might be familiar concepts to you others we hope you'll never even have heard of, but by tackling them we hope you'll try out something you wouldn't have done otherwise. 

A few people have noticed that this challenge comes pretty late in the month- sorry if you've been eagerly waiting by your laptop ready to spring into action! Well what can I say, we've been busy. I'm guessing you might have been too. So here's a challenge deliberately designed to be quick to complete! And hey! this is a bank holiday weekend so hopefully you've got a bit of spare time to get your camera out for fun.

This months challenge theme is QUICK. You've got until the end of Monday the 1st to send in your entries and we'll pick out a winner. I don't think there's a prize, just the satisfaction of winning, but I might change my mind!

Take the theme where you want: photos with a fast shutter speed; things that move fast; the quickest photo you can take, edit and upload; or even something SOOC (straight out of camera) totally unedited.

I wonder what you'll get up to... 3,2,1... GO!

Get involved by joining our Facebook group and using #developproject on instagram.

February's [DEVELOP] Challenge

For 2013 we're got a challenge to set you each month, something to get your teeth into to help you [DEVELOP] your photography skills. Some of them might be familiar concepts to you others we hope you'll never even have heard of, but by tackling them we hope you'll try out something you wouldn't have done otherwise. This month we're going all documentary.

Two of my least favourite questions in photography sometimes are "What should I photograph?" and "What shall I do with the pictures now?". So this month I thought I'd challenge you to use your photos to document something and find somewhere to publish them. Here's a few projects you might be inspired by...

What to photograph:
Back to the Future is such a cool project by Irina Werning where people go back and recreate old photos. Check out the amount of effort they go to with costume and location! This could be loads of fun to have a go at, excuse for a reunion even. Check out the project here.
Street portrait from this site 

Street Portrait- Feeling brave? Looking for a bit of a kick. Make a portrait of a stranger. Cold calling for a street photo score. There's a helpful guide here. 

A Photo Interview - produce a document of a person by photographing them on location and interviewing them. It could be anyone you like, but I reckon the older the better. Combine the text and images to capture a snapshot of life at that moment.

from this site
Make your own 6 Word Story-  Perhaps you haven't got the time/patience/inclination to interview someone that closely. This one might be for you. Tell a 6 word story, combine it with a supporting image (you don't even need to use a camera if you don't want to!). See some 6 word stories here.

Where to publish:
*500 px- particularly suited to story sets of photos this is a premier photo uploading site with high standards for "aspiring and pro photographers". Put your best stuff up here and be inspired! Would be a  great place for your street portraits.

*Flickr Groups- Flickr is a great site to host your photos, many of the challenges we're setting will fit into flickr groups that already exist. For starters stick all your [DEVELOP] pictures in our group. And check out these groups for Street Portraits and 6 word stories. (Last month's challenges also fit into Multiple Exposure and Harris Shutter Groups)

*Instagram: is a quick photo sharing network for smartphone users. Make connections with other phonographers and use #developproject to connect your documentary photos for this months challenge! Would work really well for your 6 word story. (try out the instanote app to add text to your instagram pictures). And you can follow our contributions @LOS_HENDOS.

*Write a blog post- submit one to us! We'd really love to feature some of your photo interviews. Email it over to mustardyellowphotography [at] gmail.com


Get involved by joining our Facebook group and using #developproject on instagram.

January's [DEVELOP] Challenge


And now for the first of our [DEVELOP] photography challenges for 2013! For our first month we've picked out four challenges based around combining multiple exposures. (Read the introduction to the project here).

-Multiple Exposure
1940s Multiple Exposure American Ballet Theater ballerina Alicia Alonso executing a pas de bourree. Photo taken by Gjon Mili, 1944. Source here. 
At its very basic multiple exposure is simply two photos on top of each other. In the good old days of film this was the result of shooting the same roll of film twice.

Digitally this result can be achieved either in camera (check your manual to see if you can do it) or in post processing by layering multiple images on top of each other.

-Pattern Layer
I love these double exposures done in camera by Christoffer Relander. Source here.
A beautiful use of double exposure, which is really popular at the moment is this combination of texture and portrait. The one above is done in camera (on a Nikon D700) only adjusting the contrast and tones afterwards. Isn't it cool how the texture compliments the face?

-Harris Shutter
A photo we captured on New Year's Day near Leicester Square

Harris Shutter is like a colour split version of multiple exposure. In it three photos are combined each with a different colour. The result is that moving objects are seen in one colour and stationary areas of the photo show up in full colour.

To do this you'll need to shoot a string of three photos (moving the camera as little as possible between shots). To create the colours you can use colour filters on your lens if you have them. Or follow our instructions below to get the effect digitally:

Open your three images in photoshop (or another program- Malc's got a post coming up on free software option).

Pick your first image, select the channels window and make all the channels invisible except the red channel. Your picture will now be black and white. On the layers window click the half moon icon at the bottom to create a new adjustment layer and select 'solid colour'. Change the red 'R' value to 255, the 'G' and 'B' values both to 0. With the new red layer selected change the blending mode to 'Multiply' from the drop down list at the top of the window. Now flatten the image.

Choose your second image and repeat the above steps, this time isolating the green channel and setting 'G' to 255.

Next repeat on your third image but this time set blue.

Paste all of your images into the same file as separate layers. Change the blending option on the top two layers to 'multiply'. Ensure the contents of all three photos are aligned, then flatten and save!

-A Multi
Fancy working with someone else on this one? Make a friend and pair up your images! A multi person multi exposure.

You could agree a theme each shoot a set number of images and then combine them digitally. If you've not found a friend to work with why not post your image on our Facebook event and see who has a picture to add to yours.

Or if you want to go for a more authentic photographic experience: whip out a 35mm film camera, shoot all the frames in a film and rewind it, leaving the end of the film poking out of the canister. Pass it on to a friend so they can shoot over the same film a second time. Then have it developed (its a good idea to warn the technician that the film is an experimental double exposure so they know what to expect as they develop it).


Make sure you share your results with us! 


(By the way, there wont be 4 challenges each month- we're just taking it as it comes so sometimes there'll be lots of projects to try out and other months just one thing to really get stuck into.)



Introducing [DEVELOP]

For 2013 we're got a challenge to set you each month, something to get your teeth into to help you [DEVELOP] your photography skills. Some of them might be familiar concepts to you others we hope you'll never even have heard of, but by tackling them we hope you'll try out something you wouldn't have done otherwise.

This is a project for anyone who wants to get better at photography whether or not you've ever thought of yourself as a photographer before. We've got challenges for people who own a DSLR or a simple point and shoot. Some of the challenges use old-school film and some require no camera at all.

If you want to commit to the project you can join each challenge on our Facebook page through the monthly event and upload your contributions. Or if you're not on Facebook send us an email. We'll see how it goes, but we're hoping to give out certificates at the end of the year for all those who get stuck in!

So first things first... introduce yourselves. What's your name, how old are you and where are you living? What do you spend most of your time doing? And what do you love to photograph? Is there anything you want to [DEVELOP] this year in your photography?