ASSIGNMENT 4 - Applying lighting techniques.

Outline: Draw together the different lighting techniques you have been studying and apply them to one subject. Use your knowlede of lighting to bring out particular physical properties of the same object.
Produce eight photographs of your chosen subject using different kinds of lighting. Aim to show the following qualities:

• Shape
• Form
• Texture
• Colour

I have an idea of a subject for this assignment. My mother has a beautiful vase with a unique design and I am considering using that for my subject. Although the shape is pretty much standard 'vase', I will strive to bring out the qualities to the best of my ability using all available lighting.


Shape

38mm F4 1/3 ISO 200 WB Shade

I have used a single diffused lamp directly behind the subject to create a silhouette to enhance the shape of the subject. I also rolled up black card and placed around the lamp to create a 'spotlight' effect. I dropped the exposure -2stops to make the subject appear darker and, as with most of the other images, this was taken with centre weighted average. With a low camera placement, I think the shape is portrayed well.

64mm F5 1/20 ISO 1600 WB Tungsten

I decided on a different angle again here to include the rounded shape as well as the vase shape. I used an overhead tungsten light with the camera also viewing the subject from above. With the lighting and camera above, no shadows are created on the subject and the perfect circle is shown.

Form

66mm F7.1 1/800 ISO 100 WB Daylight

I chose a side and slightly higher camera angle to highlight the depth of the subject. I thought using a mirror would be fun too as this shows the subject from the back as well, giving a 360 degree view. This was taken in the shade in the mid afternoon on a sunny day. I dropped the exposure by -2/3 just to darken any lighter spots, mainly in the reflection in the mirror.

56mm F11 1/100 ISO 100 WB Daylight

I placed the subject infront of the sun, with the sun out of frame, on a sunny day to create a shadowed effect on the underside of the subject but to light the rim of the vase. I think that a low angle of view creates more depth with perspective. I felt this image worked better in black and white as it enhanced the shadow on the body of the subject and made the image more dynamic.

Texture

90mm F5.6 1/40 ISO 200  WB Shade

I used a single lamp to the side of the subject for this image and the angle of view to the front but ever so slightly to the side. I wanted to enhance the broken glass texture and edited the image to black and white to take the focus away from the colour of the glass and more on the texture of the glass. Again, I dropped the exposure by -2 stops to enhance the shadows created and reduce the glints of light on the glass.

90mm F5.6 1/60 ISO 400 WB Auto

The subject was lit by the cameras built in flash unit. I angled the camera to look down on the subject to highlight the three different textures here. The rim of the vase and lid, the lid itself and the small glass ball on the top of the lid. Again, the image has been edited to black and white to focus on the texture and not the colour.

Colour

79mm F6.3 1/3 ISO 200 WB Auto

The vase is very vibrant and I wanted to enhance the beautiful colours. I was careful here not to have any light reflection on the glass so that only the colours of the vase are visible and are not washed out to make them look white. The light source was a single light slightly to the left hand side of the camera, with the camera pointed head on.

86mm F5.6 1/400 ISO 100 WB Daylight

I used the mirror again here to show the colour through the reflection in the glass as well as on the vase itself. As the sun was high and shining directly on the subject, the angle of view is slightly off to the side to avoid shadows or reflections of myself in the mirror. With the blue reflection of the sky and the daylight white balance setting, the image has a very blue tinge to it but I think this works well to highlight the blue glass in the vase.

80mm F5.6 1/60 ISO 400 WB Auto -2stop exp

I took this image at night in a dark room. I had set my lens to manual focus but happened to use the cameras built in flash without focussing the lens. This was the outcome. Whereas, at first glance, it looked completely unusable but then I thought how fantastic the flash had highlighted the colours as coloured spots and thought I would add the image as an extra.

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Tutor feedback

Overall Comments

Thank you for sending me the link to assignment 4. It is a challenging assignment and I think your photographs not only show that you understand the lighting techniques but also show experimentation and creativity.

Assessment potential (after Assignments 1 and 4)

I understand your aim is to go for the Photography  Degree and that you plan to submit your work for assessment at the end of this course. From the work you have shown in this assignment, providing you commit yourself to the course, I believe you have the potential to succeed at assessment.  In order to meet all the assessment criteria, there are certain areas you will need to focus on, which I will outline in my feedback.    

Feedback on assignment

Shape

The photograph for shape has a real presence. You have used the lighting to make the vase look really strong and the viewpoint is interesting making it appear bigger in stature. I think this image looks great, I like the inclusion of the light behind the vase which gives almost a moonlike feel to the image. The background material also works very well in adding depth in the image.

I think that the second image is slightly less successful, it does show the shape but there are other elements such as colour and pattern shown here also so this makes shape appear to be less of a focus and on looking at this image it wouldn’t be the first thing that you think of as the subject. Also the composition seems a little bottom heavy.

Form

This images works well to show form, the mirror seems to emphasise the sense of it being a three dimensional object. I always think a good way to tell if an image shows form well is if you almost feel like you could pick up the object out of the image and I think that you have achieved this here. The angle of viewpoint in this image and the depth of the field make it a more interesting composition.

The second image doesn’t feel so much that it shows form nevertheless I like the idea of the image, particularly again the viewpoint and the fact that you have not felt the need to show the whole of the object.

Texture

The texture of the crackled glass comes across very well in these images, I like the fact that you have gone in really close to fill the frame with these almost abstract textures. Changing it to black and white was a good idea to really focus on textures and nothing else.

Colour

This first image is full of colour, It really shows a different quality to the vase to any of the images before and is a nice surprise to see how vibrant the vase is!  Very well lit to avoid reflections or glare and an excellent, simple composition.

The second is also successful, I like the angle of view and the slight distortion and blurring of the reflection against the real vase. Being out of focus seems to emphasise the colours even more.

This third image is a really happy accident, The colours appear gemlike and sparkly as these coloured dots, a beautiful image.

Learning Logs/Critical essays

Your learning log documents all of the exercises very thoroughly.

Pointers for the next assignment

Try to put everything in place that you have learned so far. I look forward to seeing your final piece of work.

Tutor name: Celena Beech

Date 25.8.11