Painting With Light 2.0

This was another photo I took using painting with light techniques. When I took this I was just starting the assignment and was still learning how to do painting with light. I was just experimenting with spelling words in the air and I really like Harry Potter, so this was the final result :)

Painting With Light

Out of all the assignments we've done so far this year, painting with light has definitely been my favourite. There is a lot of really cool stuff you can do to manipulate the light and make super cool designs or exposures. I had lots of fun trying out different things. Here are some of the pictures I took: All are taken with a Nikon D3100 DSLR and a 18.55mm lens.

When I was taking these photos I was playing around with the idea of making light ugly. Since it's usually used to make things prettier and more pleasant, I wanted to experiment and change it up a bit. To do this I used a flashlight to create an image of someone being hanged (which is not a very nice thing) and someone vomiting into a garbage can. Very lovely. I first painted the subject with white light to illuminate their bodies, and then I ran into the picture behind them (while getting someone to hold down bulb) and drew in designs with the red flashlight. Both were shot with an aperture of f25 and the shutter speed set to bulb.

When shooting this next set of pictures I experiment with painting with light onto the same subject in several different positions. I wanted to be able to document movement across the photo, because I think that has the potential to look super cool.

To shoot the first picture I used an aperture of f25 and a shutter speed of 20 seconds. I had Jenna stand straight up and shone white light on her for 5 seconds, painting light over her entire body. I then turned the light, got her to bend over so her body was on a slant (like she was falling), and shone the light on her for 5 more seconds. I then turned the light off again and then got her to lean against the counter, shining the light on her for a final time. The final product was a photo that documented her in the process of falling over. For the second picture I used the same method, but I got Jenna to stand at the back of the room and take a couple steps forward and to the left each time, making it look like there are a bunch of clones of her standing  in line. Overall, I think the results are super cool :)

Proper Studio Lighting

I really like the way that this assignment turned out. My original intent was to capture a feeling of grace and serenity by taking pictures of Jenna with soft, gentle lighting. All the pictures were taken with a Nikon D3100 camera with a 18-55mm lens, and for the first picture I used an aperture of 4.5 and a shutter speed of 1/50. To shoot this photo I used the softbox as a main to illuminate the entire picture, another smaller light as a fill light shining on the left side of her face, and a reflector on the right side of her face to reflect the fill light back onto her, eliminating some of the shadows and adding light to her face. I like Jenna's serene expression and the way that the right side of her face is cast in gentle shadows, making it look peaceful and not too harsh or dark. I also really like the semi-profile angle. To shoot the second photo I had an aperture of 3.5 and a shutter speed of 1/60. I used just one light, and it was a softbox shining on the left side of her face. I really like that most of her face is in shadows, and the filtered light of the softbox subtly illuminates her face just a little bit. The overall softness of the picture gives off a very calm vibe. The The last photo was shot with an aperture of 7.1 and a shutter speed of 1/6. I positioned the main light 45 degrees away from her face and used a hair light directly behind her to add more depth to the photo. I love the way it makes her hair look; she stands out from the bland background and almost glows. Overall, I really enjoyed the first studio lighting assignment and I am happy with the results. 

My Name in Shapes

I really enjoyed this project and thought it was a great way to start off the digital photography portion of the course. I wanted to get a combination of both organic nature-y shapes and man made shapes to spell out my name, so I took pictures of stuff that I found outside, like trees and leaves, as well as pictures of objects like bikes and payphones. Once I took all my pictures I uploaded all of them and used photoshop to adjust the brightness or contrast and to change all the pictures to black and white. Finally, I added a border to each picture to make them stand out from each other and make it easier to read. Overall, I am happy with the result, except for the "r" in Stuart which didn't really turn out too well because of the lack of contrast. Other than that though, I like the way it turned out and I think it looks pretty cool.