Assignment 4 : Applying lighting techniques

Here are my photographs for this lighting assignment.  I have learnt a lot from this section, it was quite involved and I feel it was very informative.  I am reading 'Light Science & Magic'  by Fil Hunter,  I have referred to numerous sections, but will attempt to read it properly...

I wasn't keen on my 'Blue Peter' make shift light and reflectors - I am one who likes to have all the right equipment.  On a previous course I did some studio work with all the proper equipment and I produced some really good pictures of one of my fellow students.  I am sure I would enjoy lighting more if I did have the correct lights etc.. but hopefully that will come.

My photographs are not all of the same subject as specified, but I hope that doesn't matter too much. I have taken them under the following headings.

SHAPE

The sun was very low here, and it shows the silhouetted shape of the subject making the detail hard to see, but highlighting the outline.

This also shows 'shape', although the detail is slightly more visible the outline shape is more dominant. The low sunlight here sparkles on the sea.

FORM

The way the sun catches the body on both of these pictures, the shadows show the form giving them a 3 dimensional look.


TEXTURE

This picture was taken in full sun which highlighted the colours of the hair, showing the texture, the sun also highlights the skin and lips giving them a glow.  I had taken another example of this shot in shadow and the hair lost all life and looked dull, dense and uninteresting.

Here there is texture to both Hannahs hair and the dogs coat, again in the daylight, there are shadows to Hannahs face and if I had wanted to remove those I could have used my flash to fill the shadows. I quite like the picture as it is - that may be wrong.


COLOUR

This was taken in full sun with the subject facing the sun.  I think my favourite pictures are taken in the sun, but maybe that will change, however I also feel that colour is shown at its best on a bright sunny day.  Here the clothes colour is strong.

This final shot is taken indoors with a flash,  it shows both skin colours and clothes colour well, especially against the dark background.

Exercise : Shiny surfaces

Now this wasn't my favourite exercise, me and the tracing paper were getting rather tangled.  I think I have learnt what I was supposed to and have a couple of shots to use, however I had loads which were unusable, ha ha .... oh well keep trying.

Exercise : Concentrating the light

Here I have made a funnel around the light and directed it at one of the camels.  I have taken another photo without the funnel just to show the comparison.


WITH FUNNEL

WITHOUT

Exercise: Contrast and shadow fill

Here I have completed all the requested tasks and am happy with the results, which were better once on the computer.  When I was taking them I couldn't see much change on the camera or when looking through the  viewfinder, which was a little frustrating - I wasn't sure at the time if any of my efforts were making the slightest difference..  I think I would have enjoyed this more if i had all the 'gear', I'm not too good with foil and cardboard...

AUTO AND FLASH

WITH LIGHT

WITH DIFFUSER

WITH WHITE CARD

WHITE CARD IN CLOSER TO OBJECT

DULL SIDE OF FOIL

FLAT FOIL WITH SHINY SIDE OUT

CRUMPLED FOIL

Exercise : The lighting angle

With a little help from an obliging family member, who helped me with the light positioning, I have produced these pictures. It again was a bit makeshift, but I was pleased with most of the results.

AUTO WITH FLASH

NO LIGHT

LIGHT TO FRONT 

LIGHT FROM SIDE

LIGHT FROM BEHIND AND TO THE SIDE

THE LIGHT FROM BEHIND

LIGHT 45 DEGREE ABOVE 2 TO FRONT AND 2 TO REAR

OVERHEAD

OVERHEAD AND TO FRONT

OVERHEAD AND TO REAR

Exercise: Softening the light

As I am not very good at making these things, I purchased a fairly cheap soft box. It was all a bit make shift, but hopefully I produced what was required of me.

Lit by direct light 

With Soft Box

In the first picture the shadows are harsh in the front of the bundle on the back.  Also on the face and down the neck to the knees, also the colours are softer in the second picture.

Exercise : Outdoors at night

Well this threw up a few problems for me, I had ideas of the shots I wanted to take and then the camera didn't behave quite as I had expected.  The slow shutter speeds proved I definitely needed my tripod to avoid camera shake.  How you see the light effects, is not how they reproduce in the shot.  So, I have a number of night time shots, some I'm pleased with, others not so, and I will tackle this subject again and try to produce better pictures and learn more from my experience.