Saturday, 14 February 2015

COMUN 2015- PHOTOGRAPHER


Practice Debates 1,2 &3

For COMUN 2015, I have taken up the duty of photography. Photography has been one of passions as it helps me capture moments with one click. It also prepares me for my journey in the design field, as Fashion Photography is a vital part of design.

The First Practice debate- 17th January

At first I had a few problems with adjusting the shutter speed, aperture and ISO of the camera to get perfect action shots of the delegates speaking. I had to take several shots of the same person to choose one that is perfectly still and exposed. I continued taking several shots until I could manage to get one shot of one person with the right shutter speed, aperture and ISO.
However, I still faced several difficulties, as many of the committee rooms were dim lighted, which made it difficult to capture a picture with the right lighting. For these rooms I had to increase the ISO to 1600, lower the shutter speed to 15 and bring the aperture between 5.6 and 8.
F- 5.6      S- 1/10   


In other committees the lighting and size of the room made it easier to take close up action shot. For these committees I had to decrease the ISO to 500 and 800, depending on the side the light is coming from.
F- 5.6      S- 1/50    ISO - 400   


F- 5.6      S- 1/50    ISO - 400   


The Second Practice debate- 31st January
During the second Practice debate I was more comfortable with using the camera on manual mode as I had become more aware of the require Aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings. I used the same technique as last time. I had to take multiple shots of the same person in order to get a perfect shot.

F- 5.6      S- 1/30    ISO - 800   
On this image I added vignette to the borders. This helped me to highlight the centre of the image which is the delegate speaking. 


F- 14      S- 1/20    ISO - 400   

The Third Practice debate- 14th February
In the third practice debate, I no longer had to take multiple shots to get a perfect image. I could control the aperture, shutter speed and ISO properly, which helped me to attain one good shot with one click. The first two practice debates had given me sufficient practice and experience in order to control the setting in Manual mode.

I got great shots from the darker lit rooms, as I changed the F-stop according to my position in the room. Slowing down the shutter speed allowed more light in  making the image brighter, and lowering the aperture helped to make the image less grainy. As it was a dark room I raised the ISO to 1250, and sometimes alternated to 1600 depending on my position in the room.



F- 5.6      S- 1/20    ISO - 3200



 F- 5.6      S- 1/20    ISO - 3200 




F- 5.6      S- 1/50    ISO - 1600 




F- 5.6      S- 1/25    ISO - 1250 
What were the difficulties I faced?
As it was a debate conference, I was limited to certain factors. Some of these were the position of photography. Moving around too much can distract the delegate, so I had to take picture from a place that would not distract the delegates and also help me take good shots of the delegate speaking. This also prohibited me from moving to another place to get a good shot as quick as possible.
The lighting of the various committees varied. GA4 was in the auditorium, so it was difficult to fix the lighting and get clear shots of the delegates whereas Security Council and UNPC were in smaller well lit rooms making it easier to take better pictures of the delegates.
The size of the committee also made a difference to the pictures, as the background of a delegate picture has more people in it. This causes a problem with the focus and contrast of the photographs.
Lastly, spending 8 hours taking pictures and adjusting the setting of a camera was what I found the most difficult. I got frustrated at several instances one of them being a delegate complaining about a picture being too close. However, I did not let this affect me and instead tried my best to take the best and most appropriate shots of committee and delegates. I feel that the practice debates helped to prepare me for the actual days of debates at the end of the month, and gave me good practice at taking pictures in different lighted rooms. 












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