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