Assignment 4 : Applying lighting techniques

The purpose of this assignment was to apply different lighting techniques to bring out particular physical properties of the same object. I chose a small Janet Leach 'pot' as the subject for my photographs - small enough to allow me to move around and be able to take photographs from different angles and in different kinds of lighting. I also decided to use primarily photographic lighting as this proved to be the most challenging aspect of Part Four for me. In one photograph though, I chose to use natural lighting i.e. P412. The photographs are intended to show certain qualities  of the Janet Leach pot i.e. shape, form, texture and colour and were all shot with a Canon EOS 500D using a tripod.

Shape



P408: f9 @ 1/8  ISO 100  55mm  WB - tungsten




Looking for a silhouette to show the shape of the subject I placed a soft box behind the pot but found the diffused light though bigger than the pot was too bright ..when toned down by another diffuser placed in front of the soft box, a silhouette became more viable. I chose the tungsten white balance as I wanted a bluish tinge to help create a dark grey silhouette in P408.





P409: f5.6 @ 1/5  ISO 100  -0.7exp.  37mm  AWB

For the second illustration of 'shape', I wanted to find a way of presenting the shape of the subject by showing the complete outline of the pot which had not been achievable in P408.This meant introducing more light but not so much that the detail and texture of the pot became overly visible. To achieve this I placed a soft box at 45 degrees behind and above the subject part masked by a second diffuser.

Form





P410: f5.6 @ 1 sec  ISO 200  -0.7exp.  31mm AWB

For the above image (P410), I wanted to accentuate the form of the pot with some shadow and found that placing a desk lamp below and in front of the pot to the left of the camera achieved this. I like the way the circular ridges around the neck are highlighted by shadow which gives a three dimensional effect. The strong shadow running upwards across the bottom of the pot from left to right also gives a sense of 'roundness'.  




P411: f10 @ 1/6 ISO 100 0exp. 33mm WB - tungsten

This second image illustrating 'form' does convey a good sense of the volume of the subject. The shadows are relatively subtle but clear enough to show the dimensions and circular ridges of the pot which was lit from the left side using a soft box almost level with the subject.


Texture





P412: f5.6 @1/500  ISO 100  0exp.  41mm WB - daylight

I took some time to achieve the level of fine detail set against the terracotta backgroundshown above  in P412. The main  problem was getting the pot lit from the side to highlight the stone detail without getting the light shining back from the glaze surrounding this detail. Using photographic lighting in a variety of ways really did not seem to reduce the 'glare' sufficiently so I took the pot out into full sunlight mid afternoon to see what would happen with side lighting coming from natural light. The end result uses sunlight coming directly from the left of the camera i.e. at 90 degrees. I set the white balance to daylight to bring out the colour. There is still some light reflected but much less than before and the level of texture detail is what I was looking for.



P413: f16 @ 2 sec  ISO 100  0exp.  47mm WB - daylight

Again achieving the detail of these potter's marks without light shining on the surface of the pot to distract the eye was difficult. P413 was taken with the help of a diffuser in front of a soft box using a diffused daylight lamp placed opposite the pot and at right angles to the camera. 

Colour



P414: f5.6 @ 1/2 sec  ISO 100  -0.7exp.  42mm AWB

In P414 I wanted to bring out the rich shades of terracotta that I could see in the subject.  Having tried lighting the pot from in front of the subject, I achieved a better effect reducing the element of light shining back at the camera from the pottery surface through lighting from below using a desk lamp and bringing some additional light from behind from a soft box ( with a daylight lamp) behind a diffuser.I also darkened the exposure by 0.7.  I'm pleased with the richness of colour ..just what I wanted to arrive at.  



P415:f5.6 @ 1/5sec  ISO 100  0 exp.  180mm  WB - daylight

With the above image ( P415 ) I was looking to bring out the colour of the markings  on the inside of the lip and neck of the pot as these were so different from the rest of the subject. This proved more of a challenge than I expected  ( perhaps the hardest photograph to get right in this assignment ).. as I needed to reduce the amount of shadow within the inside of the neck without over exposing the rest of the image. I also needed to be able to focus clearly on that part of the subject which risked the rest of the subject being out of focus. I chose to use the macro setting on a telephoto lens and a remote controller to achieve the detail inside the neck. I set the white balance to daylight as I thought this would enhance the colour and placed a soft box opposite the neck opening  and another behind the base of the pot slightly higher and angled down by 45 degrees. This produced the above image which captures the colour of the green markings well though the focus is a little offset by a slight reflection of light which try as I might I could not remove.

In addition :




P416: f4 @ 1/5 sec ISO 100 +0.7exp. 28mm WB - daylight

I like the blend of shades in the above image and the edge lighting achieved by lighting behind the subject in a darkened room with the light of a desk lamp at the same height of the pot and shining through a backdrop and diffuser behind the backdrop. It gives a good sense of shape.. 






P417: f5.6 @ 1/5sec  ISO 400  0exp.  38mm  WB - daylight

In P417, I returned to defining the shape of the subject again, this time using a Mathmos table lamp placed behind the pot. I moved the camera around before deciding that taking a photograph  from an angle created an image where the light from the lamp and the lit shape of the lamp worked together to reinforce the shape of the subject. The colour comes from the lamp itself which changes colour and at the time of taking the image was actually light purple in colour. I settled on the daylight setting for the white balance to bring out the colour better than the auto or tungsten.





Preparation for Assignment 4

I decided to use photographic lighting primarily for this assignment as this area of light had proved the hardest part of this last section of the course. I experimented with a number of different objects having decided to go for a small object that I could easily move around using photo soft boxes and reflectors as well as positioning and lighting to bring out shape and form.I also used a variety of backgrounds, camera white balance settings and a matmos light trying to get an idea of what might work for me. Reading round the subject I found 'Light - Science and Magic ' by Hunter, Biver and Fuqua helpful. Eventually I chose a Janet Leach pot that we had at home attracted by its shape and potential for texture and colour.

Outdoors at night

I chose to look locally for subjects for this exercise including Portsmouth city centre, the M27 and nearby Cosham. My intention was to explore the variety of lighting effects and colour found in artificial light. I used a tripod for most of the shots but not  P371,P372, P376 and tried out  a variety of settings before achieving the following images.

P365: f5.6 @ 3.2sec  ISO100  55mm WB - daylight 

P366: f3.5 @ 1/30  ISO 1600  21mm  WB- daylight

P367: f3.5 @ 0.6  ISO 100  +1.7exp. 24mm AWB 

P368: f5 @ 1/3sec  ISO100  37mm  WB- daylight

P369: f4 @ 1.3   ISO200  25mm   AWB

P370: f4.5  @ 3.2sec  ISO100  34mm  WB- daylight

 

P371:  f3.5 @ 1/6  ISO 100  + 1.7exp.  18mm  WB - daylight



P372 : f3.5 @ 1 sec ISO 100 22mm WB -  daylight



 

P373 :f29 @ 1/3  -1.3exp.  ISO 3200  34mm AWB

P374: f22 @1/3  -1.3exp.  ISO 3200  18mm

P375: f3.5  @ 1/160  ISO 1600  +1.7exp.  4mm  AWB 

P376: f4 @ 1/60  ISO 1600  15mm  AWB



P376a: f36 @ 1/3  -1.3exp. ISO3200   55mm  AWB



Apart from the challenge of finding shop windows that were brightly lit, I found images reflected in the window glass posed a problem in some cases which sometimes could be resolved by changing the angle of the camera. Back lit screens in bus shelters and in one shop ( see below ) also proved a challenge as in finding an exposure setting to reveal the image on the screen resulted in loss of detail in the dark foreground and back ground. This is fine if you do not want that contextual setting as in P376. I tried a variety of settings but as the image below shows did not 'crack' the problem. Interestingly, the reflected image of the screen on the left produced a better exposed image presumably because there was less light to cause over exposure.

P376b : f20 @ 1/6   -1.3exp.  ISO 3200  24mm



Foto8 Summershow 2012

I went to see  Foro8 Summershow 2012 last month and have been mulling over what I saw there..159 images covering a wide range of material which was almost too many images to deal with in one go. While part of me was responding unconsciously to the visual image - subject matter, colour, composition etc. as I would usually expect, I also found myself looking critically at the pictures in respect of wondering how the photograph was taken i.e. the technical side of things which I guess comes from the ongoing attempt to develop my technical photographic skills.

Anyone visiting the exhibition is invited to choose the three photographs hat they liked the best  - seems that I did not choose the actual winner of the Best in Show Award  ( No 137 untitled from a series 'Blue,see' looking at the institutionalised lives of boys  by Titus Simoens, a photographer working in Belgium). While remembered the image disturbing me on the day, I was admittedly a little puzzled as to why it won above others in the show.So I was pleased to see a piece on this photograph by Jose on the 6 August edition of the OCA Art's blog. His interpretation of the image made more sense of the photograph and has encouraged me to take more time to 'read' an image to see if reflection  achieves a different or similar response to the first 'look'.

Google Street View Photographers

Came across a very interesting article in the Observer's New Review section ( 15.7.12 ) by Geoff Dyer about artists using Google Street View  to create provocative work. I had never heard about the work of Michael Wolff, Doug Rickard and Jon Rafman and this struck me as an unusual but somehow an obvious take on street photography, a genre that really interests me. Michael Wolff entered work taken from Google Street View in every category of the World Press Photo awards achieving a honourable mention in the Daily Life category for photographing,cropping and blowing up images from Google's Street View.  Looking at his website ( http://www.photomichaelwolf.com ), I was intrigued by his use of Google..in some respects the voyeurism opens up a very 'naked' view of street life...no one is aware of the Google camera driving past. The quality of the finished images ( blurred and meshed ) also lend to the anonymity ..it is a very striking way of exploring street photography. His Street View Portraits  are a curious selection of faces that are really colour and texture which I can respond to at that level but which leave me slightly unsatisfied and wanting to know and see / read more in each image. However, It was his telephoto images in 'The Transparent City' ( 2007)  that really drew my attention. Locally we do not have that many tall urban buildings of the kind that have sprung up in Chicago but the few we have are eyecatching visually in their night time appearance. More so in down town Chicago which is the area Wolf  chose to concentrate on when invited to capture the significant construction the city had undergone. This was the first body of his work to address an American city and it is very exciting...beautiful , structured and pattern photographs capturing urban design and those who live there. Again there is an element of voyeurism as the occupants of these buildings are oblivious of the camera lens but some how it doesn't feel that intrusive and lends a significant human quality to the images.

Tungsten and fluorescent lighting

Part 1

This exercise explored the differences between daylight and tungsten  lighting. I stood        close to the  window inside a room just after sunset  when there was a little daylight left  and looked out for about one minute.Turning back to look at the room light,it appeared darker .As my eyes adjusted, the light seemed to become lighter. Turning back to the daylight outside, this now appeared to be a darker colour.

Measuring the light level in different parts of the room, I found the reading close to a reading lamp to be 1/8 @  F8 and in the darkest corner it came out at 1/6. At full aperture ( F4 ) the shutter speed came out as 0"4 not sufficient for hand - held shooting unless unlike myself you had a very steady hand.

I then composed a photograph in which both the interior lit by a tungsten light and the exterior at dusk were both visible. Three images were taken with the white balance set to Auto, then daylight and finally to tungsten. The differences between the images were as follows:  

Auto white balance





P356: f4 @ 1/3  ISO 800  18mm

Daylight



P357: f5 @ 1/3  ISO 800  18mm

Tungsten

P358 : f3.5 @ 1/3  ISO 800  18mm



The above images show quite a difference. Interestingly, the tungsten setting brings an image quite close to the AWB but a degree lighter with a bluish tinge. As expected the daylight setting produces a much yellower  interior but darker outside.

Part 2

For this part of the project, I took photographs of two different interiors, a tube station  and inside a train carriage at night. Each interior was shot first using the white balance set to auto and then to fluorescent. 

P359: f3.5 @ 1/60  ISO 1600 4mm AWB

P360: f3.2 @ 1/60  ISO 1600 4mm

P361: f3.5 @ 1/60  ISO 1600 4mm  AWB

P362: f3.5  @ 1/60  ISO 1600  4mm





Looking at the above four images, I think none are very satisfactory in respect of colour representation either from how the scene actually  looks now but also how I remember it ( given that this could quite likely be different to the actual reality).

Shiny surfaces

This exercise looked at dealing with the challenge of photographing objects with surfaces that reflect brightly - a problem that I've experienced on a number of occasions previously but not worked how to achieve a decent result. I chose a brass lid placed on the floor to photograph and set up a tripod and a light positioned close to the camera. I took a couple of photographs for reference:

P401:  f36 @ 1/3sec  ISO 3200  55mm - side light

P402: f36 @ 1/3sec  ISO 3200  55mm - overhead light

I then created a cone out of tracing paper and fixed the tapering end around the lens of the camera. The difference that this made to the resulting photographs was significant:

P403: f5.6 @ 1/3sec  ISO 3200  55mm

The cone did reduce the reflection significantly but to my mind the lid became flatter and lost some interest so I experimented further by moving the position and angle of the light to see if this added anything to the image:

P404 : f36 @ 1/3sec  ISO 3200  55mm  +  side light

P405:  f36 @ 1/sec  ISO 3200  55mm + light in front 

In P405 above the lighting revealed some texture which I quite liked.

P406: f36 @ 1/3sec  ISO 3200  55mm + light in front @ 45 degree angle 

P407: f36 @ 1/3sec  ISO 3200 + light above at 45 degree andle down from the left

In P406 and P407, the lighting is more intrusive..in P406 it reveals some texture on the handle and some shadow whereas in P406 the glare from the light source distracts..

Contrast and shadow fill

Again the idea here is to experiment with a still life with the light to the left at the level of the object and at right angles to the camera's view to see the impact of different approaches on contrast and shadow fill.The light and the camera remained unchanged throughout the series of photographs. The images are in order of contrast :




P395: f5.6 @ 1/6 ISO 100 24mm

In the above image ( P395), the shiny side of the foil replaced the dull version and produced the greatest difference.



P397 : f5.6 @ 1/6 ISO 100 24mm

Lastly, for the final image taken , ( P397 ), I crumpled the shiny foil, then smoothed it out and place it against the reflector






P394: f5.6 @ 1/8 ISO 100 24mm

For P394 above I covered the white reflector with some foil ( the dull surface facing the object



P393: f5.6 @ 1/5 ISO 100 24mm

The white reflector was moved half way towards the object in P393



P392: f5.6 @ 1/4sec ISO 100 24mm

In P392 above a white reflector has been placed three feet away from the object on the side opposite to the light and facing it.



P391: f5.6 @ 1/6sec ISO 100 24mm with a diffuser




P390 : f5.6 @ 1 sec  ISO 100 24mm without a diffuser










With a diffuser

Without a diffuser





The lighting angle

The following images are the results of experimenting with using a single diffusing light from different directions.

P379: f5.6 @1/10   ISO 100 30mm

P379 was lit from the side with the light at the same height of the object.

P380: f5.6 @ 1/8  ISO 100  30mm - lit from the front

P381: f5.6 @ 1/6  ISO 100  30mm

The diffused light here was placed behind the object on the left at 45 degrees.

P382: f5.6 @ 1/20  ISO 100   30mm

In P382 the lighting was placed directly behind aimed at the subject

P383: f5.6 @ 1/10  ISO 100  30mm - lit from the right side

For the following images the diffused light was raised so that it pointed down at an angle of 45 degrees.

P384:  f5.6 @ 1/8  ISO 100   30mm - lit from the right  side

P385: f5.6 @  1/13  ISO 100  30mm

P385 was lit from the front with light next to the camera just to the right.

P386 : f5.6 @ 1/6  ISO 100   30mm

In  P386, the light was placed ahead of the camera to the side at a 45 degree angle to the object.The last three images were taken with the diffused light suspended overhead pointing down.

P387: f5.6  @ 1/20  ISO 100  30mm - lit overhead but behind

P388:  f5.6  @ 1/10  ISO 100  30mm

P388 is lit overhead from slightly in front of the camera.

P389: f5.6 @ 1/4  ISO  30mm - lit overhead 

 Looking at the last three images, P388 seems to give the best 3-dimensional effect. And looking back at all of the images taken, I think that I prefer P386  as the lighting gives a good sense of the form of the object, the material and colour...a more atmospheric image.