Sunday, February 14, 2010

*Messing with the lights.

Our first assignment for JRN 521 was to experiment with dynamic lighting.
The first thing I decided to do with this project was shoot indoors without my bounce flash. Ever since I got my strobe a year and a half ago, we've spent too much time together. I decided it was time to remember how to shoot indoors using the light that was available to me and nothing else.
So, I went to the U Cup and found Catheryn Currell, a graduate student who is working on her dissertation in psychology. She was at the U Cup to meet some friends to work on homework. I found her before her friends arrived and asked if she would be my subject for a few minutes. She is shown here, writing down some notes for her dissertation.
For this photo, I pulled my F-stop down to 4.5, set my shutter speed at 60 and threw the ISO all the way up to 1600. I love how the light hits her on the side, grabs a little bit of her face and isn't too extreme on the rest of the picture.

The second thing I was really excited to do with this project was doing something outdoors at night. I rarely do this, so I knew it would be a good time to try things out. For my final project, I have been envisioning something that was dressy, outside and dark. I met Melany Desrochers downtown Saturday night to try this out. We did a shoot with a lightpole, which is what I had been wanting to try. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it, but it's pretty darn close...We'll have to try it again when it's not so f-ing cold out! Here's what I came up with:
This, too, pulled the F-stop down as low as I could get it (3.5), shutter speed 20 and ISO 1600. It really is a treat shooting with zero light, even though my eyes say, "Hey, this will work." Crazy how the camera doesn't believe me... :) I love how the light is on her face and leg, but too harsh anywhere else. That's why I chose the lamp post, it's directional!
But I will definitely be re-doing this photo when the weather gets a little more cooperative. Good for now though.

2 comments:

  1. I like your second photo better, it almost looks like you may be able to use it for your fashion portfolio. But I don't know much about fashion photography so maybe not. I like the highlights and the warm feeling the photo gives.

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  2. nice lighting on both photos. yeah id agree with Krista. i think i do like the second one better

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