Light: images of the effect of light and an 'instrument for light-writing'...

These are some random but 'light-related' images. First off, here are five pictures of an Ensign box camera I came across recently. I can't explain why, but box cameras are, for me, one of the most significant symbols of photography. I remember using one back in the early 1970s and being entranced by the fact that the instrument actually worked!

I love the look of items such as this, which in some way explains what the following photographs are about. 

Why clouds all of a sudden...? Well, sometimes we can get bogged down in all the small details of taking pictures for such and such an exercise that we forget to simply look... This sky was above me on Bank Holiday Monday and I thought: 'That is the work of light...!'

It must be obvious by now that I am a bit obsessed with rainbows! We were visiting friends the other day when the afternoon sun shone through a glass ornament in their kitchen and started painting rainbows on the walls and floor. I know they are not rainbows in the strictest sense, but indulge me.

I was a bit slow with the first photograph and missed the unalloyed image of the spectrum, but at least I had a go...

In the second image, the sun was working its light-magic on the kitchen floor tiles.

These two photographs just seemed to encapsulate what we read in the course guide about how we actually see colour. I posted them in the largest format so that it is possible to lose ourselves in the shape, form, colour and texture of the flowers.

And as for this guy - not only does the camera love him, but he automatically smiles and slips into 'cheeky charmer' mode whenever a lens is pointed in his direction. 

I like the contrast and the way the light picks out the form of his face. Yes - the highlight on the right is too bright, but when I have learned more about  my Aperture editing software I shall be able to fix things like this.

Assignment 4: Applying lighting techniques: provisional photo selection.

For this project - 'applying lighting techniques '- I believe it's definitely going to be based down at Avebury stone circle. I had previously considered the town of Great Yarmouth and a visiting circus but these two subjects would deserve the more apposite treatment of the 'documentary' approach.

I am planning to go down during the half term holiday, weather permitting, in time for sunrise sometime just before 5.00am. Even if the weather is overcast, some serious work could be done.

My mentor Tracey has loaned me some great photographs she took of Avebury some time ago. They will be a real inspiration!

These photographs are a provisional selection. Eight images - either from these photos or others taken at the stone circle, will have to be chosen for the 'finale'.

I had an email-discussion with my tutor Matthew Winterlich about whether Avebury should be classed as a single object - as per the the course requirements - or it was, in fact, many objects. He very astutely left me to mull this one over... Rightly or wrongly, I decided to treat the stone circle as one object.

Shape

Form

Colour

Texture

Exercises: shiny surfaces

While I grasped the concept underlying this exercise, I did not execute it very well. I had been using a flimsy form of tracing paper for the diffuser exercise and it was not suitable for this experiment. But I pressed ahead and I can see some changes in the way the surfaces reflect light with and without the conical cover.

Exercise: contrast and shadow fill

With this exercise I was definitely stepping further into the unknown! Reflecting surfaces - what next? I had always associated such techniques with the work of 'real' photographers, whose ranks I am not yet fit to join... But it was great fun and I would like to experiment much more.

With no reflecting surface.

With white card

With smooth silver foil.

With crumpled silver foil.

Exercise: the lighting angle

This exercise brought back memories of exploring photography in school a few years ago. I was working with students with low self efficacy and was trying to change this with the power of positive self regard through portrait photography. I knew what I was hoping to achieve but only had a vague idea of how to achieve it. I had seen some photographs where a strong light lit the face from one side and the subject was placed against a dark background. I knew nothing of lighting angles, diffusers and a whole lot of stuff I have yet to learn. I was lacking in knowledge but was sincere in my aim of wanting to have those students see themselves in a better light.

This exercise has really started me learning, thinking and reflecting on the business of lighting a subject in a number of different ways and in a number of different moods.

When I look at these images, I am minded of all things 'theatre lighting' and the illusions such equipment tries to create. By the use of cropping and excluding external references to size and context, a child looking at these pictures could be persuaded of their veracity. And not just children...!

From the right.

From the left.

From the left at 45 degrees. 

(Honestly, I have tried to place this image in the 'central' position, but it refuses to play along. I guess Blogger is trying to show me who is boss...!)

From the right

From above.

From in front.

From the left at 45 degrees.

From left at 45 degrees

From in front at 45 degrees.

From above at 45 degrees

From above

Exercise: softening the light

I had to enlarge these three images to their maximum size to see if the experiment had worked... And it did! The sharpness of the markings on the central stone become gradually softer with each exposure.

No diffuser

Diffuser applied

Diffuser and tracing paper applied

The same effect is visible here, as above. The changes, through use of a diffuser, are subtle but discernible. 

(There is a 'back story' to the half house brick in this photo... When I was five - some fifty three years ago - we were on holiday in Pwllheli in North Wales. My brother and I 'helped' two construction workers in the building of a low wall to prevent cars driving onto the dunes. We had a great time with these two amiable characters! In the late 1980's I fetched up there one evening, to see, in my car headlights, that the wall, though still there, had fallen down. I nipped out and pinched the brick you can see in this picture. I had reached back in time and, in so doing, reached back into my past and found that the memory was real and not a dream...)

No diffuser.

Diffuser applied.

                                                                 

Diffuser and tracing paper applied.