Thursday 11 August 2011

Exercise 41 Concentrating Light

What: The main brief of this exercise was to make a covering for a light which would concentrate the light onto just part of a scene.
Where: Inside the house with the outside light blocked by blackout curtains.
When: During the evening.
How: I first of all set up a studio flash and a rudimentary snoot to control the light but I found that the amount of light was still a little too much. So I then used a non diffused small standard camera flash head with a couple of A4 white paper sheets taped around the head. I then set the flash on top of a light stand and pointed the whole thing down towards my subject.
I then used a large piece of black card on the other side of my subject as a black flag as I did not want any light to be reflected back onto her.

Concentrating Light 1

D80,Aperture f/32, Shutter Speed 1/180 sec, ISO 100, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Centre Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Hand held, 18-55mm lens

DSC_0096

I like the way that the light just falls off and that only the top of her head and her shoulders are light by the flash. I also like the small shadows on her face as it helps to define the relief and shape.

Concentrating Light 2

D80,Aperture f/11, Shutter Speed 1/125 sec, ISO 125, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Centre Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Hand held, 18-55mm lens

DSC_0098

Moving the flash up slightly meant that the light was now being cast over her head and that only the top of her head would be light up. Here I was trying to replicate the portrait and fashion lighting of the 1930s and 1940s which is such an influence on me.


Concentrating Light 3

D80,Aperture f/13, Shutter Speed 1/125 sec, ISO 125, 55mm (35mm equivalent 82mm),Centre Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Hand held, 18-55mm lens

DSC_0102

Here I pointed the flash head down and forward as I wanted to drop her face into shadow. I wanted to see if I could just concentrate the light in front of her and try to silhouette her face.

Concentrating Light 4

D80,Aperture f/13, Shutter Speed 1/125 sec, ISO 125, 52mm (35mm equivalent 78mm),Centre Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Hand held, 18-55mm lens

DSC_0107

Keeping the light in the same position, I had her turn her face and move into the light, so that it passed over her face leaving her body unlight and in shadow. I am happy with this image as it has the effect that I was looking for, just concentrating the light enough so that only part of her face was light.

Concentrating Light 5 -  Monochrome with a Red Filter

D80,Aperture f/13, Shutter Speed 1/125 sec, ISO 125, 52mm (35mm equivalent 78mm),Centre Weight Metering Mode, Flash White Balance, Hand held, 18-55mm lens

DSC_0107 Monochrome - red Filter

Here I added a high contrast red filter and shot in black and white. The filter helped to diffuse the light and to bring out her eyes and the relief of her hair. It also helped to redefine the contrast of the image and created nice dark shadows.

I was pleased with this exercise as I really wanted to see if I could replicate the lighting style of images which fascinate me. I was happy to see that using a snoot allowed me to concentrate the light right down to almost pinpoint accuracy and that it can be used to project a beam of light onto the subject.

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