Studio lighting techniques

We spent the afternoon learning new ways to modify light in the studio to get different outcomes to still life shots. By using the same object for all of the techniques I was able to compare the outcomes for each therefore gaining the ability to choose the ones I thought turned out the best and why.

This was taken with direct unmodified light. I like how this light highlights all of the corners on the trophy and creates a vast amount of relfection on the sides. I like the smooth background but dislike the deep shadow on the right because it takes focus away from the subject and drags the eye off to the side. I don't like how this lighting highlights the finger marks and smudges on the object.

The light in this photo was diffused through a screen. The light is obviously less harsh and the lines on the object look more crisp. I like this lighting technique because it gives the photo a sharper, cleaner look. Even though the trophy could have done with a bit of a polish, this lighting technique doesn't reveal as many finger marks as the direct unmodified light.

For this photo I used a light which was diffused through a screen as well as the same light being bounced off a reflective white surface. Diffusing the light allows for a soft effect to occur and mixing that with the light reflecting off a white surface gave the photo an overall pale, smooth look. I'm not too keen on the result of this lighting technique, I think its quite bland even though the angles in the object create different tones, it just doesn't seem enough to make it look interesting.

The light coming from the left is being diffused by a screen as well as being reflected off a black surface on the right. I like the darkness gathering on the top right and bottom of the trophy because it makes the subject stand out from the smooth toned background.

For this photo I used a screen to diffuse the light and used the gold side of a reflector disk. I like this photo, I think the warm tint from the reflecting gold disk works really well with the soft diffused light. The angles of the trophy have captured the light in a way in which it's reflected onto the floor in a 'sun ray' manner which I think goes well with the slightly golden colour of the whole image.

In this photo I used the same technique as the image above but used the silver side of the reflector disk rather than the gold. The cold colours which were created with the silver reflective disk go well with the shape of the object, They come together to form an icey, wintery effect.

I learnt a lot in this session about how changing one little thing can make a huge difference to the end result. Out of all of the techniques I used my favourite results are the images I took using the diffused light and reflector disk because the light wasn't too harsh or too dull, the cold and warm tints to both of the photos had an interesting look and the reflection from the reflector disk gave the background patches of light rather than it be bland.

Outside

It was a lovely sunny day, perfect for finding things that are usually not seen while wondering around. I headed over to the near by car park and found lots of interesting objects highlighted by the beautiful weather!

The white fluffy clouds in the photo on the left balance the picture from the bottom heavyness and the subtile lines in the sky compliment the linear effect on the building front made by the windows. The use of pale sky on the photo to the right takes no attention away from the detailed bottom half of the image. The focus is on the buildings in the centre after the eye is dragged along the descending lines on the car park floor.



There were lots of different things on the floor of the car park, things that we wouldn't normally see if we weren't intending on finding them in the first place. I liked how there were a variety of different terrain, this allowed me to capture different textures, tone and colour in each shot.

 

 



The patchy white lines in the sky of this photo break up the smoothness of the blue which compliments the rough peeled back paint on the wall towards the bottom of the image. Lines are the repeat pattern in this photo, they keep the image together rather than it be split into the three bold sections of colour shown beneath the lines.