Exercise 4.2: Artificial Light

Capture ‘the beauty of artificial light’ in a short sequence of shots (‘beauty’ is, of course, a subjective term). The correct white balance setting will be important; this can get tricky – but interesting – if there are mixed light sources of different colour temperatures in the same shot. You can shoot indoors or outside and the light can be ambient or handheld flash.

Add the sequence to your learning log. In your notes try to describe the difference in the quality of light from the daylight shots in Exercise 4.1.

Simplicity. In the case of the images in this exercise I see simplicity being the key quality in artificial light that is less evident in natural light. That is to say natural light is likely to be much more complex. This is I think to be expected as natural light contains elements from the full visible spectrum whereas artificial light has only a limited slice through the spectrum. This is not always the case of course since the artificial light can take on a myriad of different colours and heats ( neon, tungsten etc ) however in the case of the images below, I have used a single source of light in an otherwise dark background to bring simplicity and strength of detail to the images.

Assignment 4 tutor review changes

Following the review by my tutor for my reworked assignment 4 I have reconsidered one of the images in readiness for my submission for formal assessment.

Upon reflection, the image is ‘busy’ and this does detract from the core theme of light. I was somewhat restricted given my own spin on the theme – Helsinki Gold. I don’t live in Helsinki and have no way really to take any more images from that city. I was therefore left with selecting a different image from the contact sheet which would be more appropriate for the series.

I chose 2 images which had both been on the shortlist for the original selection for assignment 4 and one made the actual series itself

The rejected image, more about the scene than light itself.

Replacement Option 1: This image made the original submission, it fits the gold theme well. It is a strong abstract image and would be a good final image for the reworked series.

Replacement Option 2: This image just failed to make the original submission, it fits the gold theme. It fits well in the series as a natural progression in gold and would replace directly the rejected image as image 6 in the series. It is quite similar to image 5 however and so perhaps works against the series where otherwise the images are all different. That said I really like the atmosphere it generates.

On reflection, I will include Option 2 in the final submission for assessment. This is perhaps a personal preference but ultimately that has to be part of the selection process.

What did I learn from this?

It is important to understand and address the brief, consider both the words and the intent behind what is being asked. On this assignment, reworking the entire thing and again revisiting the images selected for final submission I have been guilty of not paying enough attention to this aspect.

Assignment 4 : Languages of light – reworked

The Brief

Revisit one of the exercises on daylight, artificial light or controlled light from Part Four (Ex 4.1, Ex 4.2 or Ex 4.3) and develop it into a formal assignment submission. The submission requirement for this assignment is a set of between six and ten high-quality photographic prints.There are many ways to edit and the most valuable one is probably to show your work to friends, family and your OCA peers for feedback – you are guaranteed to discover something new in your work. Another tip is to pin the work up on the wall and live with a for a few days. ‘A Quick Guide to Editing Your Photo Series using Stickies’ on the IPO (Invisible Photographer Asia) website, but bear in mind that this is not a narrative assignment – you’re not required to produce a story.
EDITING 101 – A Quick Guide to Editing Your Photo Series using Stickies

Assessment of photography in any context is an assessment of images and accompanying words so please Include a written analysis of your work outlining:

how you have developed the assignment from the original exercise in Part 4
which practitioners you’ve looked at for inspiration and how their work has influenced you
your technical approach and any particular techniques you incorporated
the strengths and weaknesses of particular photographs and your project as a whole (self-
assessment)

Conclude your notes with a personal reflection on how you’ve developed the exercise in order to meet the descriptors of the Creativity criteria. Write 500–1,000 words.

Background

Layered, complex and mysterious…

This is a reworking of assignment 4 after feedback from my tutor confirmed a suspected problem I had with the original submission and how it addressed the brief. In short the original submission was orthogonal to the brief at best. Shame, I really enjoyed creating the series, but in truth I was quite aware of the issue from the outset. Rather than identify a single element of light to concentrate on I attempted to investigate further on a wide spectrum of the complexity of light. In this reworking I focus in on artificial light and how this can be used to create atmospheric photographs.

Whilst going through the assignments and exercises in EYV I am learning many things about photography of course but also many things about myself. For instance I am finding out about my approach to the assignments; the inspirations and ideas for my assignments tend to come in an iterative and chaotic process of, part considered thought and part emergent ideas from the photographs I am taking. Considering my work during write up then is in part stratification and clarification of this cyclic process. There are in truth many thoughts and ideas I have during this process, some of which survive and galvanise into the rationale for the assignments, some die early and others linger in the background supporting the assignments but never having the strength to be promoted to inclusion in my write ups. For this re-work I have not taken any new shots. I have revisited the contact sheet and more importantly reconsidered the process I went through, the inspiration I used and the ideas i had along the way. Searching through this I could have chosen any of the aspects investigated in part 4 since all were fascinating to me ( hence my desire to stay broad and cover all aspects ) I have though chosen to concentrate on artificial light and how this can bring interest, drama and ambiguity to an image.

Four influences were strongest here –

Although not apparent in many of the photographs in this submission, the work of Brassai and his shots of Paris had a big influence throughout. In particular I picked up on Brassai’s use of light to help bring forth a narrative – see entry Brassai’s use of light to strengthen composition from my learning log

Sato Shintaro work in neon street scenes in the blue hour I found very busy and exciting much like the city he photographs. I have been lucky enough to visit Tokyo and feel the energy from these images. This is in no small way powered by the copious neon light. This series has some similarities in that many of the shots are street scenes illuminated by artificial light, Helsinki however is much more relaxed and laid back than Tokyo and I hope this comes across in the series.

The work of Rut Blees’ night time images of London producing an ethereal gold wash across the city streets. The title of my series is Helsinki Gold but it was not the gold I took as inspiration it was the idea that a single colour can be pre-eminent. This was interesting to me during this series, that the colour happens to be gold was an emergent property of my investigations however.

Finally, inspiration from Lisa Barnard, The Canary and the hammer (Stein, 2019). This helped support the idea that a set of apparently disconnected images can come together successfully under a clear rationale.

Rationale

The series is a journey through the streets of Helsinki on a near midsummer midweek evening. It had actually been Finland day the day before which may explain to some extent the relative quiet of the scenes here as everyone was recovering from the previous days festivities but in truth the impression I got from the city was one of relaxation and simplicity – Helsinki is comfortable in it’s own skin. The journey begins just as the city is entering it’s blue hour and ends in darkness ( not so dark this far north in the middle of June ). As The light of the day recedes the influence of the street lights take on an ever increasing impact on the images created and the series at it’s heart aims to reflect this simple suggestion. I often feel there is an ambiguity in streets under artificial light. Everything seems more close more here and right now but at the same time there is an undercurrent of the world being not quite what it seems, ambiguous. Sometimes exciting and sometimes even dangerous but always more interesting. The impression of the shopfront (4) and the club window (7) during day time are tame and bland compared to these same scenes under dark and bathed in artificial illumination. The images of light on the street (1) and reflected lights on the building opposite (2) again suggest a world enhanced and more complex which is not apparent during the reality of daylight. Spaces (3) and faces (5) are also rendered with more intrigue and drama than their straightforward daylight equivalents. In the rooms of our evenings, light adds atmosphere and a touch of other world to our environments (6)

Technical

The series was shot entirely in manual mode which I am finding much more satisfying than my default which is to shoot in Aperture priority. I typically use histogram to select the correct exposure and find that this methods frees me up to select the correct exposure for the subject with ease.

As the light was fading and exposure time was increasing I increased ISO but only a little, i used a small tripod where necessary but a few shots of around 1/6s were taken handheld leaning against a post to aid stability.

Strengths and weaknesses

I think the series as a whole works as a response to the brief with focus on artificial light and and also as a representation of the ideas I had in mind whilst creating it. However none of the images I think are particularly strong or stand up particularly well on their own.

The strongest individual image in my view is (1) lights on street, strong lines and composition and a clear introduction to the series.

Image (3) Stockman is the image I would like to have been better than it turned out, focus is a bit soft ( handheld ), I don’t think this detracts from the image per-se but it is not what I intended for this. I also think it works better in a low contrast monochrome but that of course would not fit with the series. I did consider the series in monochrome, this can be seen in the sequencing shot, rejected as the clarity of single colour is lost.

Given time I would progress the series across all composition types in the series; street, shop/club fronts, people, reflected light, lights themselves. As the series expands across all elements the central theme of Helsinki in Gold would be strengthened. This could also be taken out of Helsinki, Edinburgh for me feels more silver than gold which is a project worth pursuing as a counterpoint to Helsinki Gold.

Creativity

I believe there is evidence of invention and creativity to bring together a coherent series of images under a single clear rationale (gold), from an apparently disconnected set. Imagination & invention also in some of the images, notably the lights super-imposed on reflection of building (2) and the slightly abstract lights on wall (6)

Presentation

Considering sequence and presentation for the series. This series would be best presented as a sequence of individual framed images in perhaps a gallery setting. The sequence is chosen as a progression in throught the evening as the artificial light becomes more pronounced and gold becomes increasingly the subject of the the images.

For the process of sequencing I printed all shortlisted images and used a wall board to position the images until I had settled on my favoured sequence.

Photoshop was used to create a vision of the art gallery setting with each image framed and hung in the intended sequence.

The series

Helsinki Gold

1

ƒ/5.0 47.0 mm SS1/20 ISO200

2

ƒ/4.5 49.0 mm SS1/60 ISO200

3

ƒ/9.0 70.0 mm SS1/6 ISO200

4

ƒ/4.5 50.0 mm SS1/40 ISO400

5

ƒ/5.6 70.0 mm SS1/10 ISO400

6

ƒ/3.5 31.0 mm SS1/10 ISO400

7

ƒ/4.5 50.0 mm SS1/5 ISO400

Assignment 4: Languages of light

The Brief

EDITING 101 – A Quick Guide to Editing Your Photo Series using Stickies

Assessment of photography in any context is an assessment of images and accompanying words so please Include a written analysis of your work outlining:

how you have developed the assignment from the original exercise in Part 4
which practitioners you’ve looked at for inspiration and how their work has influenced you
your technical approach and any particular techniques you incorporated
the strengths and weaknesses of particular photographs and your project as a whole (self-
assessment)

Conclude your notes with a personal reflection on how you’ve developed the exercise in order to meet the descriptors of the Creativity criteria. Write 500–1,000 words.

Background

Layered, complex and mysterious…

From the opening statement in the first project in part 4, the seed of inspiration for my submission germinated. I wanted to address and investigate the complexity and mystery in light and the myriad ways it can influence photography. The different levels and dimensions of impact are what I hope to express in some small way in the photographs I submit here for assignment 4.

To achieve this I have not concentrated on any particular aspect of light as was progressed through the projects and exercises in part 4 but instead have attempted to investigate a number of aspects in a sort of journey through the dimensions and levels of influence and impact. This journey progresses through ;

Light with incidental or subliminal influence on an image
Light brings forth and aids a narrative
Light as a means to express a mood or feeling
Light bringing strength and depth to the subject
Light taking centre stage as colour and form in abstract images
Light dominates as colour

The journey is an arc taking the viewer from light having minimal impact to light being all powerful, with a variety of aspects along the way as the images first building in subjectivity and then move progressively towards abstract as the use of light attains more power and influence on the images

I took inspiration from a visit to Helsinki art gallery and the work of Lars Gunner Lordstrom & Yves Klein, their use of bold colours and strong lines in their abstract images. This can be seen in the transition to the more abstract images in the later photographs in this series. Finally, inspiration from Lisa Barnard, The Canary and the hammer (Stein, 2019). This helped support the idea that a set of apparently disconnected images can come together successfully under a clear rationale.

Submission

I submit 9 photographs for this assignment covering what I see as an infinitesimally thin and broken slice through the huge multi-faceted spectrum of light and it’s relationship to photography. I found this part of EYV and this assignment in particular fascinating and found myself looking at the world and my work in many different ways as I searched for and discovered new ways to view light and how this affects my vision and the photographs I take.

Light with incidental or subliminal influence on an image

The journey begins with how light can be almost incidental or subliminal in its effect on a photograph. Of course this can’t be true as without light we have no photograph at all, but, other than to bring the picture into being light can have a minimal impact on the image produced. This I see in shot 1 – Incidental Nudity. In this shot I did actually use a small flash which has helped to produce the minimal shadow that is apparent, otherwise the room is lit with natural light.

Light brings forth and aids a narrative

Through the use of light to help suggest or add strength to a narrative. Shot 2 – Time to play & shot 3 – Speed of the light of loneliness. In both cases natural daylight and shadow are used to aid the narrative in each photograph. Inspiration here comes from Brassai and his shots of Paris in the 1930s, although Brassai typically took shots under artificial light, what I took as inspiration is his ability to very subtly use light to bring his stories to life, highlighting what is important to the narrative.

Light as a means to express a mood or feeling

The journey continues with the use of light to visualise a mood or feeling as this overtakes any narrative at play. Shot 4 – Let us play together & shot 5 Let there be death and roses. In these images I switch to night shots and artificial light. The streets in a city at night are a mood of expectation and anticipation, of some excitement, danger perhaps. Even the daytime norm under darkness becomes intriguing. In this case the city is Helsinki on a midsummer night.

Light bringing strength and depth to the subject

From here my journey through light, removes all notion of narrative and attempts to see how light can be used on still life to bring depth and strength to the image. Shot 6 And the roses are strong. Artificial light from a hand held flash is placed directly in front in an otherwise completely dark environment. This produces a clarity and strength for the image.

Light taking centre stage as colour and form in abstract images

Continuing the journey, the use of light becomes ever stronger, taking more and more a dominant position in the photographs. The shots start to become abstract as light and colour in their own right take centre stage. Shot 7 – Wall Lights & shot 8 – False dawn. Both shots taken in natural daylight.

Light dominates as colour

The journey ends with light ( colour ) being completely dominant and the one and only subject of the final photograph. Shot 9 – All about the light.

Technical

All shots were taken in manual mode. I am finding this much more intuitive and satisfying that aperture priority which is my normal mode of choice or shutter priority which i used extensively in part 3 of EYV. I typically use the histogram along with electronic viewfinder in the camera ( Sony a7 II ) to decide on the correct exposure. Given the nature of photographs in this series, many of the shots have an unbalanced histogram.

Two of the abstract shots benefitted from a manipulation of S-Curve in post processing, other than that and some cropping all photographs are unchanged from the RAW image captured by the camera.

I used an off camera hand held flash for two of the shots where artificial light was required to enhance the image. The night shots were taken with slow shutter speed so a small tripod was used to ensure a sharp image.

For shot 6 the vase of roses were placed in a totally dark room with the only light from the off camera flash. I set focus using auto-focus with lights on and then moved to manual focus to retain this setting and experimented on exposure with the lights off until i achieved the image here.

All other settings were selected individually appropriate for each shot, therefore there is no consistency in aperture or focal length.

Strengths and weaknesses

1 strength – good use of depth of field and colour palette

1 weakness – composition, I would be happier if the top of the pile of books was in the frame

2 strength – good composition and exposure

2 weakness – not convinced the point of this shot would be clear without the write up

3 strength – strong narrative content

3 weakness – I would have preferred a tighter frame to the subject

4 strength – good composition and exposure, interesting

4 weakness – as with 2, not convinced the point of this shot would be clear without the write up

5 strength – interesting and engaging image

5 weakness – composition is a little flat and square

6 strength – strong image with lovely colours, exactly what i wanted to get

7 strength – clear and strong abstract image

8 strength – creative light flare, good resolution so would work well as a large image

8 weakness – as with 2, not convinced the point of this shot would be clear without the write up

9 strength – strong abstract image

9 weakness – I would have preferred a wider frame so more pattern could be included. This was not possible. That said I could create the effect I wanted in photoshop.

Creativity

Creativity was not foremost in my mind whilst creating this assignment, that said I think the abstract images created from everyday scenes shows a reasonable level of creativity. And the roses are strong is technically creative I think and successful in my opinion. The other shots I think are more serendipity and opportunism that creative. Overall I think the series and it’s narrative arc through aspects of light is itself creative.

The Sequence

The sequence of photographs is presented in photo-book format :-

1 – Incidental Nudity

ƒ/4.0 33.0 mm SS 1/15 ISO200
Off camera flash

2 – Time to play

ƒƒ/7.1 46.0 mm SS 1/200 ISO 100

3 – Speed of the light of loneliness

ƒ/5.6 70.0 mm SS 1/500 ISO 100

4 – Let us play together

ƒ/4.5 50.0 mm SS 1/40 ISO 400

Tripod

5 – Let there be death and roses

ƒ/4.5 50.0 mm SS 1/5 ISO 400

Tripod

6 – And the roses are strong

ƒ/16.0 45.0 mm SS 1.6 ISO 50
Off camera flash, tripod

7 – Wall lights

ƒ/7.1 70.0 mm SS 1/250 ISO 200

8 – False dawn

ƒ/16.0 70.0 mm SS 1/6400 ISO 100

9 – All about the light

ƒ/5.6 70.0 mm SS 1/8 ISO 100

Tripod

Bibliography

1000 words. 2019. Lisa Barnard The Canary & The Hammer Essay by Lisa Stein. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.1000wordsmag.com/lisa-barnard/. [Accessed 17 June 2019].

Exercise 4.4: Personal Voice

The brief

Exercise 4.4: Personal Voice

Make a Google Images search for ‘landscape’, ‘portrait’, or any ordinary subject such as ‘apple’ or ‘sunset’. Add a screengrab of a representative page to your learning log and note down the similarities you find between the images.

Now take a number of your own photographs of the same subject, paying special attention to the ‘Creativity’ criteria at the end of Part One. You might like to make the subject appear ‘incidental’, for instance by using focus or framing. Or you might begin with the observation of Ernst Haas, or the ‘camera vision’ of Bill Brandt. Or if you’re feeling bold you might forget about your camera completely and think about the tricky question of originality in a different way – http://penelopeumbrico.net/index.php/project/suns/

Add a final image to your learning log, together with a selection of preparatory shots. In your notes describe how your photograph or representation differs from your Google Images source images of the same subject.

Google image search on ‘pear trees’

In the results of the search for Pear Trees, there are two clear styles of presentation;

Close up of fully ripe pears hanging on the trees, generally in full daylight providing a documentary style representation of ripe pears.
Landscape shot showing the full pear tree or trees, again typically in full daylight and generally in full blossom.

As a new way to consider the idea of pear tree, I shot in low ambient light with artificial light from directly and a short distance in front. The image is shot with open aperture to bring the central leaves and fruit into view and fade the rest of the tree into the background. The tree is neither in bloom nor the fruit ripe placing the leaves as the main attraction and subject. With the artificial light ( serendipitous raindrops ) on the leaves there is an ultra-real feel, colour and detail are very strong.

Google search on ‘cherry trees’

In the results of the search for Cherry Trees, there are two clear styles of presentation;

Close up of fully ripe cherries hanging on the trees, generally in full daylight providing a documentary of the cherries.
Landscape shot showing the full cherry tree or trees, again typically in full daylight and generally in full blossom.

The google search for both pear and cherry tree provide almost exactly the same results in terms of style of representation.

As a new way to consider the idea of cherry tree, again the shot is at night and this time with the light from below. Again the tree is neither in bloom nor the fruit ripe and so the leaves again take centre stage. In this case I think the ultra-real feel to the image is less so but replaced with a kind of other worldly look ( light from below is perhaps not so common )

Brassai’s use of light to strengthen composition

Extract from the interview in American Suburb X. [2011]

T.R-J: What for you is the relationship between composition and subject matter?

B: There are two things: I think that there are photographers who compose very well but who have no understanding of life or human things. There are others who have much human understanding but no feeling for form. I feel that it is important to have both because one must convey a living thing with strong composition. Form can be many things in photography. Photography has nothing to do with painting, but even so there is a frame in which the photograph must be composed. Photography has one leg in painting and one leg in life but the two things must be combined. I like well composed pictures: I don’t like disorder in a photograph. Photography in the beginning began by imitating painting and then there was a revolution in different countries. Stieglitz in the United States and Emerson in England, and Atget in France. They all tried to do something different, they didn’t want photography to be taken for painting but wanted something especially for photography.

Brassai likes ‘well composed pictures’. With respect to part 4, I consider how Brassai uses light to create good composition. Generally speaking Brassai compositions appear simple and strong, there is not much complexity to distract the observer.

In Prostitute in the Quartier Italie, Paris, 1932, Brassai further uses light and shadow to to emphasise what is important in the image to bring forward the message he has. The subject is well lit, but only partially. The street where she operates and lampost where she may linger between encounters are also lit well, everything else is allowed to fall into shadow to some degree.Perhaps Brassai is commenting on the subjects shady occupation; Prostitution is right here in front of us, always has been and everywhere, but we prefer to keep this out of the limelight, shaded from our sensibilities.

Bibliography

American Suburb X. 2011. Tony Ray-Jones Interviews Brassai” Pt. I (1970). [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.americansuburbx.com/2011/08/interview-brassai-with-tony-ray-jones.html. [Accessed 2 June 2019].

Exercise 4.3: Egg or stone (continued)

A further set of photographs for exercise 4.3, this time taken outside in low light conditions and using a single light source. My aim here is to use similar techniques for this exercise but to try to find some aesthetic qualities from the subject in the light source. This i am finding interesting and a possible avenue for assignment 4.

In these shots there is a definite attention quality from the light source. As all surrounding areas are dark, where the light falls is brought into the viewers attention immediately and unmistakably. Where the green from the leaves is brought to life by the light, the green appears to be very green.

The raindrops are an added bonus.

Leaves and fruit in the rain

Light source from below

Light source front right

Light source front below

Light source above

Exercise 4.3: Egg or stone

The Brief

Use a combination of quality, contrast, direction and colour to light an object in order to
reveal its form. For this exercise, we recommend that you choose a natural or organic object
such as an egg or stone rather than a man-made object. Man-made or cultural artefacts
can be fascinating to light but they’re already authored to some degree, which requires
interpretation by the photographer; this exercise is just about controlling the light to reveal
form.
You don’t need a studio light for this exercise; a desk lamp or even window light will be fine,
although a camera flash that you can use remotely is a useful tool. The only proviso is that
you can control the way the light falls on the subject.
Take some time to set up the shot. If you’re shooting an egg, you should think about
emptying it first so that it will stand up. This is really a topic for advanced students at Level
3 but you may get some help from Google. The background for your subject will be crucial.
For a smallish object, you can tape a large sheet of paper or card to the wall as an ‘infinity
curve’ which you can mask off from the main light source by pieces of card. You don’t need
to use a curve if you can manage the ‘horizon line’ effectively – the line where the surface
meets background. Taking a high viewpoint will make the surface the background, in which
case the surface you choose will be important to the shot.
Exposure times will be much longer than you’re used to (unless you’re using flash) and
metering and focusing will be challenging. The key to success is to keep it simple. The
important thing is to aim for four or five unique shots – either change the viewpoint, the
subject or the lighting for each shot.
Add the sequence to your learning log. Draw a simple lighting diagram for each of your
shots showing the position of the camera, the subject and the direction of the key light and
fill. Don’t labour the diagrams; quick sketches with notes will be just as useful as perfect
graphics.

The subject

Neither an egg nor a stone, I chose to photograph a pineapple. My aim being to have an organic object with a lot of inherent form and complexity which I hoped to bring out with various artificial light, direction, colour etc

The set up

Ambient light low, so at this time of year shots were taken between 10pm.. 11pm

The pineapple was placed within a light tent with either a white background sheet or black, to introduce change in contrast within the environment.

I used two light sources:-

Ring flash ( used in light mode ), sometimes attached to the camera, other times hand held at various angles to the subject.
1. 1. No mask, producing a pure white light
  2. white mask, produces a cooler white light
Spot light, placed at angles around the subject or again at times hand held to introduce height to the angle. Warm white light

Technical

I used tripod to ensure a constant composition and started by creating the composition aiming to set the subject in the centre of the image with some room to see any shadows which will be formed by the lights, using zoom to set the focal length for the composition.
With camera set in fully manual mode and room lights on I used the camera’s auto focus function to focus on the subject and once set moved to manual focus mode and left alone. This ensured I had good focus for all shots and did not need to use auto-focus in low light conditions ( the sony A7R2 is known to be quite poor in this respect )
Given i was using a tripod, slow shutter speed was not an issue and i could choose aperture, shutter speed and ISO freely for a good exposure.
I found that i did not need to change this once it was set as the artificial lights used provided a fairly constant level across all the shots.

f11, ISO 50, Focal length 36mm, SS 0.4s (typical)

White balance 5500 (typical)

1: Masked Ring light, above slightly right.

2: Spotlight, Left (in light tent).

3: Masked Ring light, on camera.

4: Unmasked Ring light, above subject.

5: Spotlight, above slightly behind.

6: Masked Ring light, above right.

Spotlight, above left.

7: Unmasked Ring light, directly above.

Spotlight in front

8: Spotlight, in front.

9: Spotlight, left ( outside of light tent ).

10: Unmasked Ring light, above slightly in front.

11: Spotlight, above right.

Conclusions

It can be seen across all images above the variety of detail available in the pineapple which is either enhanced and brought out by certain lights sources and at certain angles. For instance:-

In 11 with warm light from the spotlight the full orange colour across all of the segments in the pineapple become evident, in contrast to 1 with cooler light and white background there is far less orange colour from the pineapple.

The perceived size of the pineapple can be influenced by the light source, compare 8 and 9. 8 appears larger given all of the front of the pineapple is in full light, whereass with 9 the right hand side of the pineapple is in shadow.

Depth and clarity of detail between 5 and 7. In 5 with the light above but slightly behind the detail in the segments on the front of the pineapple are flat and lacking in depth or contrast and detail. With the addition of full light in front the full detail of the pineapple becomes clear.

Exercise 4.1 Daylight Quality continued

Thoughts on morning/evening light and the ‘golden’ quality compared with mid day light which I think has more of a ‘white’ quality. What I mean by ‘white’ quality is that the light is more neutral and has does not have an alternating effect on the reflected colours. In this way ‘white’ light is more true light and so I understand the view of Eugene Atget and the photographs he took in his earlier work.

I suspect that the air itself is the root of the difference in quality of light between morning/evening and mid day, or rather the amount of air. Air is not a vacuum, it is actually full of stuff; water particles, dust etc. Therefore light is reflected, refracted and diffracted through all this ‘stuff’. This softens and diffuses light and more so for blue than red. Different colours of light have different wavelengths which refract and diffract differently and effects blue more than red during golden hour.

As much as soft and gold has an impact on the quality of light, so too does the increased shadow created by the lower angle of the sun. The following shots are all taken fairly early in the morning and show how shadow can have a profound impact on the look and feel of a photograph as well adding interest in some cases.

I have found shooting in manual on this exercise that the exposure meter on the camera was not a great way to achieve a good exposure. An exposure which is true to the image as i see it at the time. Much more successful is to use the histogram and aim to have a balance of tones that matches the scene in question. This feels exactly how you should set your exposure, much more natural and intuitive than using the camera’s auto function to decide the correct exposure. One other indication that this is true is when loading the images above into lightroom for post processing. My normal workflow is to apply auto-tone to each image, i noticed that for the above images the auto-tone have very little effect. I infer from this that the images were very close to best case exposure and tone already. This may of course be more to do with the relatively low levels of dynamic range. I will keep an eye on this and see if using histogram in manual to set exposure tends to result in a more accurate and correct exposure more often. All of the images here are untouched by lightroom and shot in RAW.

Exercise 4.1: Daylight Quality

Considering the ‘quality’ of light between the two images below. The first in direct sunlight, the second with cloud cover.

The most obvious thing I note is the absence of shadow in the cloud cover images.

The strength of direct sunlight can overwhelm the eye in what I think of as a kind of bleach effect, whereas with diffused light the image is far easier to understand. The subtle contrasts of the tree bark come through for instance, these are all but lost in the glare of direct sunlight.

With the shots below again considering direct sunlight in comparison with more diffused light under cloud cover, in this case there is a clear difference in vibrancy and depth of colour found in the sunlit picture over the cloud lit picture. In this case the brighter image is more positive and optimistic.

Technical point: In taking these shots I used the histogram to guide my exposure rather than the the camera indication of 0EV. I aimed to have a good balance across the histogram between Low, mid and High tones.