Intro To Photography - Week 9

by Unknown - October 06, 2016

30/9/2016

ITP

Leanne Faye

Exercise Studio Lighting

Lecture:

Today's lecture started off with a short lecture on studio lighting. We learned the different lighting that is used in a studio. Before we start our studio exercise, Mr. Vinod taught us how to clean the studio and keep it clean before leaving. We had to clean the studio because the people that used it the previous time did not keep it clean before they leave. So after cleaning, we set up the lightings and I was the first model to pose.

Exercise instructions

Exercise Studio Lighting (not graded)

Period Portrait.

Identify a period picture within the years of 1940 to early 1960s. Choose a picture that you are able to reenact or recreate. Prepare and plan your outfit, make-up and hair for the shoot. Try to achieve the same or similar result as your reference. Edit your picture in photoshop and update the picture to your Facebook profile. Document the process in your reflection on your e-portfolio blog.

When you post the lighting exercise shot that you took of another person, along side the shot must be the example. You also have to post your picture which someone else took of you.

After that you are to include 5 shots that you attempted throughout the week for your theme based project. Not uploading 5 shots every week will result in minus marks for the ePortfolio, which is 20%.

You "have to" post your attempt of your series of 5 "every week"! from here on end.

Exercise Studio Lighting (not graded)

Theme-based shots

Option 1:

Option 2:

Screenshots:

Feedback:

Please number and write down the technical specs for the images uploaded. The isolation shots are interesting BUT they presently seem to lack some kind of continuity but at the same time it does have continuity... I think the best option now would be to continue to capture these kinds of images and lets see where it leads you. The second option looked interesting with the old signage shot - you must shoot that with a big aperture, so that you get it very clear and sharp, then it will look good. But you also need to work on a series that is similar, presently the other architectural facades/ textures do not go a long with the signage one.

Reflection

Experience

I was the model for today's exercise which was shot by Kaymun, my course mate. All my course mates also helped with the lighting by holding reflectors and the light boom. It wasn't easy to maintain a pose for a long period of time. It was really scary because the light boom holding the light is exactly on top of me. My course mates also helped me with my hair and try to help me achieve the look as close as possible. For my theme-based shots, most of them are shot outdoors. I brought my camera with me everywhere I go and shot some of the shots. Some are also taken on campus. I also edited the pictures using Photoshop.

Observation

I observed that it is not easy to use studio lighting because the lights are heavy and some lights when you switch off, we could not use it for 15 minutes. A studio shoot requires a team otherwise it will not happen. I learned that it is not easy to maintain a studio so we as students have to make an effort to keep everything in place.

Findings

During the lecture, Mr. Vinod explain some slides. I learned the different types of light and its function. Main light is the most important light because it illuminates a major portion of the image. Fill light is to illuminate the dark side to reduce intensity of shadows. Rim light gives a form or structure to create a silhouette around the subject mater. Hair light illuminates and gives textures to the hair. Background light illuminates the background area of a set. This exercise was a fun experience. I understand that it is really important for the whole team of work together and we also struggled a bit to get the lighting correct but fortunately we managed to get it right after numerous attempts. For the theme-based shots, Mr. Vinod asked us to do research and produce pictures from the topic so that we understand the intellectual and reflect about what other photographers did. Narrow down the area of the topic and be more precise about the topic.