Variety with a Low Sun

  For this exercise I have chosen this thistle type plant that I found growing in a field, the location was fairly open so I knew that I would be able to keep shooting until the sun was almost completely set. I felt that the shape of the seed heads would be good to show the effects of back and edge lighting.

Frontal Lighting

  As you can see from the picture above the low sun gives a nice warm tone to the image, but the head on fall of the light makes the picture appear quite flat, there are very few shadows to help form the shape of the plant.

Side Lighting

  The side lighting in the picture above is better, it has helped to separate the plant from the dark background and has shown the form of the stalks, although the seed heads still look a bit flat, they do not have any real roundness.

Back Lighting

  With the sun hidden behind the body of the plant I have achieved a very strong silhouette of the subject which relies totally on shape with no sense of form at all. Also by placing the bottom of the plant against a dark background I have produced a good rim light.

Edge Lighting

  The edge lighting was quite difficult to achieve because I could not move the plant and I wanted to show the effect against a dark background. I think the final effect is pretty successful, this type of lighting has separated the plant from the background and has given substantial form to the whole plant. As the sun was at this point almost set, there are no hard shadows and the low angle of the light has shown some of the translucence in the leaves.
  I really enjoyed this exercise, even though it did mean rolling on the ground in some fairly questionable substances, and it has taught me some valuable skills that I hope to use again in the very near future.