Assignment 4: Light.
Each time I submit an assignment I say how difficult it has been and part four, Light, hasn't been any different. In some ways I would have been disappointed had it been easy, after all, it's the best way to learn new skills.
The exercises were not too difficult despite there being a lot of them to get through. I explored many different lighting conditions and could see the affect each one had, for some I had to set up a still-life, something I have had very little experience with. Nevertheless at the end of each one I felt I had learned something new.
The results when a photograph taken by a doorway, one half showing the inside of a room lit by tungsten lamps, the other half outdoors in daylight, were quite surprising. I knew the effect tungsten lights had on an image, but not to the degree shown by the resulting images. The most rewarding were those taken in the rain and on dull days, something I had avoided doing in the past. I can now see how good photographs taken in these conditions can be; in fact some pictures would only be successful with overcast light also colours appear much richer. The aim of the assignment is to show the qualities of a subject by means of lighting. At first, conveying the shape, form, texture and colour by the way something was lit, gave me some difficulty. I knew for example that to convey the roughness of tree bark, side lighting was needed; obviously I had to make use of the knowledge gained whilst doing the exercises.
I did some research on the Internet and came across a YouTube video by an American photographer, Joe Edelman, he demonstrates what happens when a single light is moved around an egg, I realised it's similarity with the exercise The Lighting Angle. I know now that an egg would have been a much better subject than the old camera I had used. With this in mind and thinking about the exercise Variety with a Low Sun, I wanted to use daylight for part of the assignment. Unfortunately sunshine has been in short supply recently whereas cloud and rain have been plentiful, and because of time constraints I decided that the pictures would have to be taken indoors. Deciding that flash and tungsten lights would be best, I began.
My tutor Clive said "keep it simple" and suggested a subject about the size of a savoy cabbage, so I thought what about a cauliflower. It has green leaves, for colour and lots of texture, unfortunately most of the images looked flat and uninteresting. I had made the mistake if taking the photographs on an overcast day in my conservatory, perfect for even lighting but useless for the effects that were required also I had not made use of a black reflector which would have controlled some of the light. I did have a brief period of sunshine, so quickly set up outside, but without too much success; I've included a few of the pictures as an example also a photograph of the home-made equipment used to modify the light from my flash gun and the three tungsten lamps.
After the early failures I moved everything into my garage where the images below were taken, and hoped for more success. Also at this point I decided on a change of subject, I saw in a shop window some artwork featuring stiletto heeled shoes, it was the shape made by the high heels, a triangle that caught my attention. Fortunately a friend of my wife's had what I was looking for; this would be my new subject. The first four images were taken with a single flash gun; for the remainder I used up to three small tungsten lamps. The light was modified with a snoot and a diffuser made from tissue paper. Tinfoil, white card and a black reflector helped to redirect the light; I've identified what was used alongside each image. The black shoes were possibly not the best subject to chose, however they did have a blue artificial flower on the toe for some colour, also they were suede so had texture. Their main asset as a subject to photograph was the heels which gave them a great shape when viewed from a low angle.
I was becoming aware that the photographs I had taken would not fit the requirements of the assignment; I felt they were very uninteresting. I returned to the Internet for inspiration and looked at the blogs of other students. One had photographed a loaf of bread in various lighting conditions. Another photographer used a wine glass, with what I assumed, contained coloured water,the lighting on that one was very professional. The subjects they used were everyday objects, the magic ingredient was the lighting, and this was where I felt I probably had been going wrong.
I wondered if the local library might hold the answers to my problem, I had borrowed books when I was doing the exercises, Lighting by Chris Bucher and Lighting for Photographers by Roger Hicks, along with others. They were very informative but didn't really inspire me. I then found a book by Michael Freeman, Light and Lighting. Being aware that the course was based on his books I hoped this would be of help. I had seen in the course book ideas for home-made diffusers and snoots, using black card so I made some and adapted the lights that were around the home.
Conclusion.
Part four, Light has taken more work than any of the others, that's a good thing of course because it has challenged me. Light should have been easy to understand along with it's use in photography, I now know different, managing and controlling it's effects are skills that must be learned. Some of which are a lot clearer now, the most surprising was how using a black reflector can help lift an image. My early attempts at the assignment would certainly have benefited from using them.
The course has helped me improve, firstly my powers of observation when looking through the viewfinder then with composition (elements of design) followed by colour and possibly the most important, light. I now take note of things in print, on television and in films when they make a connection with something I am doing or have done during the course. There was a programme on BBC 2 called Great Railway Journeys. Michael Portillo made a journey by train from London, visiting many places throughout Europe. He uses a Bradshaw's guide book from the Victorian era; one of the places he visits is Cap d'Antibes. The Impressionist Claude Monet was one of the famous artists who have painted there. Portillo goes the the spot where Monet painted one of his works "Antibes seen from La Salis". He meets the British artist Mitch Waite who shows him a roughly rendered painting of Antibes, although it has all the detail, there is something missing. The area is well known for having golden sunlight, so the artist shows how, by simply adding highlights to the painting with a few brush strokes it can be lifted from being flat and lifeless. My photographs cannot be compared to a Monet painting but the importance of the correct lighting is now a lot clearer to me.
Returning to the assignment, even though I used the correct white balance setting on the camera, flash for the pictures when flash was used and tungsten white balance for the tungsten lights, some of the images still have a colour cast. I had read that an orange cast was to be expected with incandescent light; however this might change depending on the wattage of the lights. The lamps I used were all desk lamps fitted with 60 watt spot light bulbs. My home-made light modifiers constructed from black card and tissue paper for the diffusers could have had an effect on the light, this may be the explanation for some of the colour differences when using flash. It would have been possible to have corrected the images in Photoshop; I did not think this was the point of the exercise. I found that the two most useful pieces of equipment were a black card reflector and the diffusers. The photographs taken when using a diffuser appear to have so much detail, perfect when texture and detail are the important part of the image.
To conclude, light has been a difficult and at times very frustrating subject to comprehend but one that has been very rewarding. I will never understand it like Claude Monet did but at least I have some new ideas to explore, which will I'm sure improve my photography.
