The basics of three light studio lighting

here are a collection of images which we took as a group to demonstrate the effect that the 3 main studio lights have.

just the main light

the main light and the fill light

the main light, the fill light and the back light

hair light (usually light is placed above and slightly behind the subject and aimed at the hair)

hair light (usually light is placed above and slightly behind the subject and aimed at the hair)

Add caption

the rim light is placed behind the subject and aimed at the back of the head

high key lighting

this lighting i created by using shoot through umbrellas and using high leveles of light which gives the backdrop a pristine white look.

low key lighting

The 4 positions of light

1. Rembrandt lighting

We took this image to try and demonstrate rembrandt lighting. This lighting is higher than the head and well around the left side, but still in front of the sitter. The shadow to the right of the face can be reduced by using a reflector.

2. Hollywood lighting.

This set up is created by pushing the main light futher around the side. The light is then about 90 ° from the camera, the fill light has not moved at all.

3. Butterfly lighting

The light is high and infront of the subject creating shadows beneath the chin and cheekbones. It is named due to the butterfly shadow under the nose.

 4. Side lighting

                   

In side lighting, the light is placed to either side, giving strong contrast on the shadow side.

Broad lighting

In broad lighting, the side of the face turned to the camera is lit.

Short lighting

In short lighting the side of the face turned away from the camera is lit.

Studio lighting

For this task we were given the below equipment to work with.

The items used to control the lighting in the studio which i have shown above are;

White reflective card

Black card

Gold/silver reflective disc

Diffuser

Black paper - snoot

Tungsten light, stand and dish

Tripod

Light table

Cannon 550D


The aims of these tasks were to help our undertanding of using light within a studio working with still life objective.

This image shows the bottle with only the tungsten light acting on it.

 

The image to the left shows us using a black card to observe the differences between using white, black and no card.

In the  image on the right we have introduced a white card. You can see from this image that the white card reduces the shadow on the side of the bottle by adding light from its relection as well as making the bottle brighter.

In the image to the left we have made a snoot to direct the beam of light onto the bottle.

This image is very dark, due to the concentration of light into one beam.

To make the image on the left brighter we used used the same snoot but added a white piece of card to reflect more light onto the bottle and make the image brighter.












The image below shows us using a gold reflector. This reflector added gold light onto the left side of the bottle and gives the bottle a golden tint.

 

The image to the right we created by using a snoot to direct light to one spot within the image.

 no reflector                                                                                                gold reflecor

The above image which we took demonstrates perfectly the differences when the image has a reflector is added to it.

DOF edit

I took this picture to try and demonstrate depth of field, but it seemed to be over exposed which I only noted once i uploaded the image to my laptop so I had no real choice but to attempt to edit it.

This is the orginal image.

f/5.6

320 sec

IOS 400

This is the image once I had edited the levels using photoshop. But the leaves are still over exposed.

 I then cropped my edited image so that the image is focused on the wasp rather than the flowers.

Experimenting with different light sources and their position

The following images were taken to demonstrate the effect of position of light in a dark room.

These images we took as a group, they were taken in a dark room using hand held lights. These images demonstrate how the positioning of light can affect the shadows you create and which part of your subject is lit. By experimenting with different coloured light sources we were able to see the different effects which were created.

Experimenting with shutter speed

Group work

Working within small groups using a high shutter speed we set out to record trails of light left when taking a picture in a dark room, this is also know as panting with light.

f/5  5 sec

IOS 320

f/5  5sec

IOS 320

The above images we taken to capture trails of light. We continued with our experments by taking images that used a flash to capture brief seconds of movement within the image to create many effects.

f/9  5 sec

f/9   5sec

IOS 200

f/9   5sec

IOS 200

f/9  5 sec

IOS 200

f/9    8 sec

IOS

200

 f/9   8sec

IOS 200

f/9   8 sec

IOS 200

f/9  8 sec

IOS 200

Assignment 3: foreground v's background

After joining the University of Salford I was given the assignment to experiment with aperture settings using a digital SLR loaned from the university. The camera which I borrowed was a Nikon D90. I have consequently produced a number of images using this camera, experimenting with my aperture settings and learning the relationship between aperture and shutter speed.

f/5.6  1/100

f/5.6   1/200

 IOS 400

f/5.6  1/125

IOS 400

f/5.6 1/125

IOS 400

f/5.6  1/100

IOS 400

f/5.6  1/160

IOS 400

f/5.6  1/250

IOS 400

f/5.6  1/60

IOS 400

f/5.6  1/160

IOS 400

f/8 1/640

IOS 400

1/160  f/4.5  IOS 800

f/5.0   1/60  IOS 500

1/60  f/5.0  IOS 500

From the images that I have taken so far I have begun to understand how to create an image with a shallow debth of field. From these images I now understand the importance of depth of field within an image.  That the depth of field can be created by controlling your aperture setting to get the desired effect. A shallow depth of field means that the view is drawn to one part of the image as it is more in focus than the rest of the image. Therefore you can control which part of your image the viewer is drawn to and therfore which part of the image you wish to point out to the viewer as the main focal point.