TAOP - Light - Exercise: The lighting angle

Using four layers of parchment paper held on to a lamp with an elastic band to diffuse the light.. I've used a Christmas teddy bear as the subject, its fur should enable the different lighting positions to good effect. I've converted the images to mono so that colour is not a distraction when viewing the changes caused by light position. I half imagined when creating these images the best image being used in a sales brochure so the final product would help focus my mind on how these images could be used commercially

Image 1 - Light Straight on

Lighting is sufficiently diffused by facing straight onto the subject can leave the image a little flat.

Image 2 - Light level from right slightly in front

I think I may have the light a bit too close but the right side can be seen as lit more than front and the left. However the lighting angle is helping to give more shape to the subject in the image.

Image 3 - Light level from left slightly in front

The same as image 2 in fact my light positioning is slightly better and good contrast between left and right sides is created including light drop off across the front of the subject. Again I think the light is a bit close and too strong but the image can be clearly seen as a 3D subject

Image 4 - Light above and in front

The subject is perhaps not light enough at the front and shadows are created below the light source, this may not be very flattering for a human subject for a portrait but is still a creative affect to be remembered. 

Image 5 - Light from directly above

Similar to image 4 above but slightly deeper shadows

Image 6 - Light from above and left

The light angle in this image has brought out a lot of contrast of shape across the face of the bear and given stronger edges on the left when compared to the right

Image 7 - Light from above and right

As image 6. The folds of the bear's jumper are different on the left than on the right and the light highlights this, in fact it even appears as if the bear has a bit of a belly :D

Image 8 - Light from slightly behind and left

The light angle in this image has created edge lighting and the fur on the bears face have texture is more evident

Image 9 - Light from behind and left

The subject has the left edges further defined than image 8 above

Image 10 - Light from further behind and left

The bear is not lit from the front and its difficult completely pick out the subject the the lighting around the head on the left side of the bears is better defined by the edge lighting

Image 11 - Light from side and left but further away from subject

 

Unfortunately I couldn't get my set up correct to have light fully from behind to create a silhouette  Instead If used light from above slightly in front and from the side but I've moved the light slightly further away Remembering the inverse square law I moved the light source further away.

This image is the best in my opinion in terms of soft lighting and creating "form", a 3D feel to the image, hence I've made this larger. In addition the light has also revealed well the texture of the bear. The softer lighting is created by moving the light source away from the subject which perhaps was a bit strong even though was diffused.

The inverse square law which is defined as “any physical law stating that some physical quantity or strength is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source of that physical quantity.”

I think this image below best describes this as in words alone it can be difficult to grasp

Exercise Learnings

a) having a single light source and different positions to the subject can create different qualities of the subject. 

b) light diffusion can create softer light

c) distance from the subject can soften the light

d) distance from the subject can give a better spread of light

e) closeness to the subject can give better isolation of subject elements

f) images can be given a 3D feel and have form with good use of light as opposed to flat images

g) Multiple light sources will no doubt require much greater understand and thought

h) a simple exercise but one that has left me with a lot to think about and absorb


 

TAOP - Exercise Softening the light

The purpose of this exercise is to use a naked overhead tungsten light on a still life object and then use a translucent material to soften the light.

I've used an orchid as my subject with a black background and a large aperture/small depth of field to isolate the subject. All images used are jpegs with no post processing

Image 1

This image has no artificial light



Image 2

This image has full artificial light from right hand side. Strong shadows can be seen on the left of the stamen


Image 3

This image has 1 sheet of parchment paper over the lamp. This image is better lit than the natural light in image 1 and has a softer shadow using the translucent paper than image 2


Image 3

This image has 2 sheets of parchment paper and the shadow is seen softer again, the white of the paper is now also more reflected on the subject


Image 4

This image has 4 sheets of parchment paper and the shadow appears eliminated but overall the light appears better with softer shadows than all the images. Had a used the raw files I would also have adjusted the white balance to correct the colour of the orchid which is white, and not the off white that appears in the image

Exercise Learnings

a) direct light whether natural or naked light can be harsh and can cause strong shadows. In some instances that can be used to good effect but for this subject softer shadows are preferred

b) different levels of diffusion will affect the final image and can be used to soften shadows and importantly soften the light; this would be especially important for portraits

c) the type of diffusion material can colour the light; again this can be used for effect if required

d) the flower to the right without its stem visible looks unsupported and unnaturally appears to be floating. I will remember this in future still life images I create

e) Shadow can be used to create depth for an image and avoid it looking flat. In image 4 there is just the right level of shadow and so for this reason it in my opinion is the best of the 4 images

TAOP - Light - Outdoors at Night

Holding post - to follow......

TAOP - Light - Exercise Tungsten and Fluorescent Lighting

At the beginning of this exercise we are asked to find  a room fairly brightly lit by tungsten lamps and to wait until just after sunset. The exercise asks us to switch the lights off, allow time for our eyes to adjust to the light from outside standing close to a window and then turn back on the rooms light.

We are asked to judge what colour the light is and see if the light becomes less coloured after a minute or so. Performing this "test" I notice the light in the room appears very warm, an almost orangey colour. And yes, after a few minutes my eyes seemed to adjust to this and the light in the room becomes more used to the colour I normally experience walking in and out of the room  during an evening.

Doing some quick research on the Internet I find the following about tungsten light:

 - colour temperature is measured in degrees kelvin (I recall this from my old school days). I know from previous exercises that this is not the temperature of the light emitted but is the distribution of energy in the lights visible spectrum

 - a tungsten light bulb is created by running an electric current through a tungsten filament. The filament then glows and light is produced

 - From previous exercise I know that different kind of light can be balanced in different ways. To balance tungsten light to make it appear like daylight a blue correction gel can be used. This may be very important in flash photography. If you want to balance light to appear like tungsten you would use an orange gel

 - tungsten has a colour temperature of 3200 degrees kelvin

Exercise 1

Compose a photograph in a room where light outside is at dusk and appear level.

For this exercise I've used the same RAW file image  and have adjusted each one using white balance. I've taken the images at close to 9 pm in the evening in the middle of June

I did have to boost the ISO so I could get a faster shutter speed so I could avoid camera shake. I could tell from the slow shutter and shutter speed set by the camera I would have camera shake. Looking at the resulting image on the camera screen also confirmed this, as did the histogram, I was already using the widest aperture I could of f/8 for my ultra wide angle lens. I would also add that there are 6 ceiling mounted tungsten lights each around about 50 watts

Image 1a

This image has the white balance set to as shot. The light bulbs can be seen to appear to be giving out white light but the effect in the room is one of warming. I think this was the colour my eyes originally saw when first switching on the lights before they adjusted

Image 1b

This image has the white balance set to daylight and when making the adjustment I could see the image taking a warmer, more orangey change compared to the one above

Image 1c

White balance set to tungsten. Wow - What a big change. This certainly wasn't the colour or should I saw temperature of light my eyes saw but is much more realistic to the light I would normally see in this room before I have switched on the lights

Image 1d

White balance set to auto is very similar to the one above where the white balance is set to tungsten

Exercise 2

For this exercise I have taken an image in two rooms, both lit by types of fluorescent lamps or bulbs and applied to each of the RAW images an auto setting and a fluorescent white balance setting.

Image 2a

Again I've boosted the ISO so I get a fast enough shutter speed to avoid any camera shake and I've left the image with the as shot  white balance. This very close to what I saw with my eyes. The fluorescent bulbs give out a very warm yellow colour. The walls look yellow where as they are really a cream colour as can be seen below with the white balance adjusted.


Image 2b

This is the same image as above except I've adjusted the RAW file white balance to the fluorescent setting. There is a big difference between the un-adjusted image above (2a) and this image (2b) in that this image does not appear to have the yellow colour cast and the scene much more natural looking.

Image 2c

The auto adjustment in this instance appears to have darkened the image which is in contrast to how the auto white balance setting changed the result in image 2f below


Image 2d

A common theme again with the ISO set to around 850 prevent camera shake in the dim conditions. This image has the white balance set to as shot. The warming yellow of the light bulb can be seen clearly colouring the bright white ceiling and walls

Image 2e

Using the Fluorescent white balance adjustment the true colour of the room can be seen and the yellow warm cast of the fluorescent light appears to be removed. 

Image 2f

However with the auto adjustment the colours seem even cleaner and without colour of the bulb light.

Its noticeable that this is almost having the opposite effect of using the cloudy white balance option which adds a warming colour cast to the image

Setting the white balance to Auto in most cases appears to make the correct adjustment e.g. is very similar to setting the white balance to make the specific adjustment understood to be required by the photographer. However image 2c appears to be instance where Auto doesn't quite make the correct change...at least in my opinion.

Stock Library Success

Most likely for vanity reasons and for the chance that someone might like to buy one of my images I joined 2 stock libraries and had some images accepted.

For those that have tried and/or succeeded you will know that as an amateur photographer is challenging enough to a) to just get accepted as a submitter and b) to actually get any images accepted.

It was never going to be about money it was always going to be about the sense of achievement if this happened.

Well at the end of last week it did, my very first sale of an image via stock library and it makes me feel good. I believe my photography in terms of knowledge and execution is slowing growing. This is great stepping stone and helps encourage me

This was the image:

I'm hoping I get to see where it is being used