Outdoors at Night

  The aim of this exercise is to take a series of photographs at night to show the variety of effects available.

  This was one of the suggestions made in the instructions for the exercise, this exposure shows the light trails in isolation, it does not show the surroundings, so there is no context to show what they are. So I increased the exposure time so that the twilight sky showed itself.

Light Trails Longer Exposure

 Now that you can see the horizon it gives you some idea of what you are looking at.Also whilst on the subject of roads, on a long drive back from Bristol I experimented with the lights of the cars through the windscreen, needless to say my wife was driving, I used a high ISO to freeze the movement and used multi exposure to overlay the lights and make some more abstract images.

Traffic on the M25, Five Exposures

  For the image above I kept the camera on one plane so that the diagonal strings of lights as the cars negotiate the bend draw your eye across the picture.For the second of these images I took both vertical and horizontal frames.

Traffic on the M25, Five Exposures

  This picture is my own personal favourite of the two, I like the way the strong vertical lines draws your eye up the picture to the bold cross light. Overall it has quite a painterly effect and is most obviously influenced by the multi exposure images of New York at night taken by Ernst Haas.

China Palace

  Next I took my camera out onto the streets, and using a high ISO again I tried to see what I could find hand held. This is my local Chinese takeaway, which is a subject I have often thought of photographing before because of the mirrored counter front and strong geometric pattern made by the black and white tiles.

China Palace

Shiny Surfaces

  The object of this exercise is to see how the use of a light diffusing material can help when photographing objects with highly reflective surfaces. The first image shows the ice crusher I am using with no diffusion material, which shows just how much of its surroundings are shown on its surface.

No Diffusion

  As you can see because of its domed shape the object acts like a fisheye lens and shows a full 180 degrees of its surroundings. It could be used as a self portrait of the photographer, but it is not much use as a picture of the object.
  The next stage was to form a cone of a light diffusing that fitted around the lens of the camera and opened out to the ground to envelope the object, without appearing in shot. I decided to use grease proof paper as it was the nearest thing I could find to the tracing paper stated in the exercise instructions. Because the object is quite large I had to staple sheets of the paper together, therefore I did not end up with a seamless finish.

Diffused Natural Light

   As you can see this is a huge improvement over the first image, this was taken using the natural light from the large window to the right, therefore the object is slightly brighter on that side. Also you can still see the camera lens poking through the centre of the paper.
   Next I added some photographic flash light to the image to see if I could balance the light from the window.

Flash Next to  Lens

  Firstly I placed the flash above next to the lens, this has given a most unsatisfactory result, you can see there is a very bright highlight right next to the lens. So then I moved the flash 30 cm from the lens.

Flash 30cm from Lens

  This is slightly better, but the light coverage is not very even and there is still a hot spot.

Flash 1 Metre from Side

  Here I have moved the flash to 1 metre from the side of the light tent, towards the bottom. Now the light has become much more diffuse because the light from the flash is wider because of the extra distance, so it hits more of the diffusing material, therefore the light, in effect, becomes larger.
  Next I moved the flash 2 metres away to see whether the light would become more even.

Flash 2 Metres from Side

  As you can see the effect of moving the light the extra metre is minimal, the light is slightly softer, but no more  even.

1 Metre Above the Camera

  The image above was made with the flash held 1 metre above the camera and I think with a slight movement to the left to balance the window light this could be the way to go. The only concern I have is the amount of fall off in light towards the edges of the object and also how would you hide the camera lens.
  To try to disguise the lens I have next turned the object on its side so that the reflection of the lens fall on the edge of the lid, which hides it quite well.

Light Bounced Off Ceiling

   Also for this image I have bounced the light off of the ceiling to give a more even light, the only problem left is that the edges of the object are not defined, they have been lost in the black background.

Concentrating Light

  I have fitted a snoot to my flash head to concentrate the light into a narrow beam, I then used it to take a self portrait. Although the picture was taken in daylight, because I have used a small aperture only the flash light has shown in the final image.

Self Portrait, Snooted head

  As you can see by using such narrow beam of light a highly atmospheric effect it achieved, the light has to be very carefully positioned because it is so narrow, and quite low powered.I found it best to use the light to pick out the edges and texture of the subject by angling it from above and behind, this has produced a strong chiaroscuro effect.

Contrast & Shadow Fill

  I have set up a very simple still life for this exercise to see the effects of diffusion and different types of reflectors  as a fill light. The first image is taken without any diffusion or fill light.

No Diffusion or Fill

   As you can there are deep hard shadows and quite hard highlights, although I still quite like the image, it reminds me of a still life by Andre Kertesz. The hard shadows give the picture a certain amount of dynamism.

Diffused

  The picture above has a diffuser over the light, and as you can see the shadows are much lighter and softer. The highlights are just as bright, but they are softer edged. The contrast across the vase is quite strong, so I am now going to place a reflector opposite the light to produce some fill light.
  To start I am using a plain white card, 1 metre away from the subject.

White Card, 1 Metre

  As you can see the reflector has had very little effect, the side of the vase has been lightened ever so slightly. For the next example I have moved the same white reflector closer, to 0.5 metre from the subject.

White Reflector, 0.5 metre

  Moving the reflector closer has had more of an effect, the side of the vase is lightened significantly and evenly. Also the shadows under the objects have been lightened, so the contrast across the whole image has been lessened.
  Next I have covered the card with the dull side of a sheet of tin foil.

Tin Foil, Dull Side

  As you can see the tin foil has created a hard highlight on the shadow side of the vase. This is because the silver foil will produce a direct reflection of the light, whereas the previous white card reflector will always produce diffuse reflections ( Hunter,F.Biver,S.Fuqua,P, 2007 ). I find the hard highlight distracting and I do not think it suits this particular picture.
  Now I have turned the foil over so that the shinier side is facing the subject.

Foil Shiny Side

  As you would expect this has produced an even harder and brighter highlight.For the final version of the picture I have crumpled the foil and then flattened it out again.

Crumpled Foil

  This has produced an almost identical effect to the white reflector at 0.5 metre, this is because by crumpling the foil we have made it reflect the light in many directions, thereby making it a diffuse reflector.
  This exercise shows that reflectors are very useful as fill lights, but you have to be careful to match the reflector to the subject. For this subject I found that a diffuse reflector suited the subject best because all of the objects have a matt finish, so a hard highlight does not look right.

  Ref; Hunter,F,Biver,S,Fuqua,P,2007, Light, Science & Magic,Elsevier,Oxford.

The Lighting Angle

  I have chosen a small figurine for this exercise because has lots of folds and small details, which should show the effects of the changes in lighting angle well. The first four photographs are taken with the light at the same level as the subject.

Light In Front

  The light is hitting the front of the subject and shows the outline of the figure very well, but there is very little modelling.

Side Light

   The side light shows the folds on the front of the figure very well, but the contrast across the width is too great and the detail is lost on the side away from the light.

Light Side & Behind

   This side and rear light gives a nice edge light, but there is no detail on the front of the figure. It does bring out the texture of the linen really well

Light Directly Behind

  The light behind the figure shows the outline with a complete silhouette.
  The next four images are taken with the light angled down at 45 degrees and follow the same pattern as the first four.

Front Light, 45 Degrees

   This shows the outline really well and has slightly more texture than the straight ahead version.

Side Light, 45 Degrees

  This lighting shows the form of the subject very well, the contrast across the figure is not too great, it could just do with a little fill light on the left side. Overall the figure has good texture and outline.

Side Light, Rear 45 Degrees

   This image has a nice side light with some light spilling onto the front of the figure, the dark side of the subject is lost in the background.

Rear Light, 45 Degrees

  This is not a complete silhouette because some light is bouncing up from the cloth, and there are some interesting highlights around the edges of the figure.

Light Directly Above

  This image has a nice balance of detail and outline, although some of the shadows are a bit dark and the light is fading towards the bottom.

Above and Slightly Behind

  This image has a nice outline at the top with a small amount of detail on the hands and arms.

Above and In front 

  This picture with the light above and in front has a lovely balance of out line and detail, the contrast is nicely controlled, this type of lighting is widely used in fashion and beauty photography as it is very flattering if you are young with good bone structure.
  There are two images here which show good form and outline, the first is the one directly above and the second is the side lit, 45 degree version, but I do feel the second needs some fill light on the left to reduce the contrast.

Softening the Light

  This is a straight forward exercise to see how diffusing the light used when taking a photograph affects the image. I used a flash head with a reflector and then with a soft box, this meant that the first light is a small hard light and the second is a large soft light.

No Diffusion

   The above image has no diffusion and it is evident that the shadows are very hard edged and very dark with a complete loss of any detail. The garlic has lost any texture on its right side and there is a hard highlight on the inside of the bowl, and on the red onion. These two factors together mean that this picture has a very high contrast.

Diffused

  This is the diffused version, and apart from a dark triangle between the red onion and the bowl, the shadows are much softer edged and are lighter, managing to retain their detail. The highlights are also softer edged and not suffering from any burn out, the image generally has lower contrast than the undiffused version, but it still has a full range of tones.
  In the still life used the diffused version is obviously better, but that that does not mean that it will suit all applications, you must still choose the correct lighting for each subject.

Cloudy Weather & Rain pt 2

  All of the following pictures were taken under the sort of flat cloudy skies that are so common in Britain for much of the time.

Red Rose

  As you can see the first image is a close up of a red rose, the soft even light of the clouded over sun has the effect of a giant soft box, the lack of strong contrast allows you to see deep into the flower and the low light level has increased the saturation of the red. The only problem with this image us that because of the low light level I had to increase the camera ISO level and still have the aperture quite wide, therefore the effect is softer than I would have liked.
 

Ivy

 In the picture of Ivy above, once again it is evident that the soft even light has allowed for a high level of detail, even in the shadow areas. There is also no glare on the leaves, which is a common fault with plant shots taken in sunny conditions, the texture of the leaves is fully formed.

Green Tomatoes

  Obviously the tomatoes above have a very glossy surface, but the clouded light has proved perfect for allowing enough shine to add form to the tomatoes and show that they are glossy without burnt out highlights. This light has also allowed a high level of detail to be shown in the hairy plant stems. Overall the light has helped to produce quite a sensuous picture.

Anenome

  The only problem with cloudy days is that they also tend to be windy, therefore capturing delicate images such the Anemone above, blowing about on the end of its stem can be trying. But I think the results speak for themselves, this light is perfect for this type low contrast subject as you get very light shadows which compliment the delicate curves of the petals.
   This exercise has proved that for a lot of subjects, where you do not want to include any of the sky, cloudy days can provide the perfect light, although the low light levels can be a problem, especially if the subject has any movement.
  If it is sunny you can try to achieve the same effect by putting a diffuser between your subject and the sun, as long as your subject is small enough or you can get a big enough diffuser.