Lesson 14 Stop Action

We used the HiViz SK2 Sound Trigger to set off the flash when the balloon popped.

This image used the Profoto 1200 set on 1/2 power with a flash duration of 1/700 of a second.



These images with shot with the Vivatar 283 on minimum power with a flash duration of 1/10,000 of a second.

Production Photos by Melody Melamed

Assignment 14

Execute the photograph we discussed and make a final sketch of the lighting scheme and post them together on your blog.

Lesson 13 Polarized Light

Use of Polarization on a Cheap Pastry


Use of Polarization on a Person

Production Stills by Dave Brown

Assignment 13

1. Photograph something or someone with the Ellipsoidal spot light, the Kodak Pola-Screen and the 77mm circular polarizing camera filter. Post 2 images side by side showing the effect of polarization and non polarization.

2. Post a photograph that you like the lighting and that you wish to emulate. Sketch out how you think it was lit. You can use this file to make your sketch:
http://www.diyphotography.net/lighting-diagrams

Lessson 12 Night Photography

Brassai
https://www.google.com/search?q=Brassai&hl=en&rlz=1T4ADFA_enUS432US433&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=_fXMTvOHLIP00gGHnIlM&ved=0CFAQsAQ&biw=1195&bih=846

Michael Kenna
http://www.michaelkenna.net/


Frank Relle
http://www.frankrelle.com/gallery2011a/index.html

Chris Callis


Assignment 11 Night Photography
Go outside between dusk and dawn using whatever existing light is available recognizing its color and mood, make a photograph that is surprising by what it reveals.

Lesson 11 Still Life

The photograph on the left was made by sitting the bottle on our light table which was lit underneath with a small soft box. From behind and at the background curve another small soft box used. A matt silver reflector was placed above and to the front of the bottle to light the top of the wooden plug. By placing the bottle on a black piece of foam core and another piece used for a background, we were able to create another version with a black ground and background. The expose was increased by a full stop.


The pencil sharpener with lit with a single small soft box to the left and was set on a 4x8 sheet piece of grey Formica that was placed on top of the light box set up.


The four images I used as layers to achieve the final image above. The upper left image was out of alignment and I used Edit Auto-Align in photoshop to get it to work. I changed the shape of the black reflection in top right image by masking out the sharp edge and replace it with the image from the top left.


Production Stills by Phillip Mansfield


Assignment 10 Shiny Metal and Glass

Photograph a Shiny Metal object and define its shape and characteristics by use of it reflective
qualities.

Photograph a glass object and define its shape and characteristics by using its transparency.

Assignment 10 Light Painting

Light Painting with Continuous Light

Multiple Capture Layered in Photoshop

Production Stills by Jessica Azizi

Relay Mode Pages from Pocket Wizard Catalog

We learned how to remotely trigger the 5D MII by using a special cable called the Canon N3 to mini phone by connecting the N3 side to the Canon's remote control terminal and the mini side to the Pocket Wizard II's camera port. By setting another Pocket Wizard Plus II to the same channel as the one attached to the camera, the camera shutter can be released by the remote Pocket Wizard Plus II when you press the test button. For light painting with a continuous light source, we set the camera at a long exposure (20 secs) and trip the shutter remotely when ready to start painting. The room has to be dark enough that it doesn't pick up any stray light during the long exposure. The f stop and ISO are determined by trial and error. With practice a rhythm will develop your painting skills.

The set up of the Pocket Wizard Plus II's for light painting using a flash, is an extension of the continuous light setup. This time we put the camera's Pocket Wizard Plus II in the hot shoe of the camera. The cabling remains the same. We need a third Pocket Wizard Plus II to be attached to a Canon 580EXII (this is the only Canon flash with a pc connection) using a pc to mini cable. The pc end is inserted into the flash's pc terminal and the mini end is plugged into the 3rd Pocket Wizard Plus II's flash terminal. The 3rd Wizard has to be set on a channel that is one number higher than the other two Wizards. The 580EXII is set on manual and the power is set my trial and error. The four factors determining the exposure for each time we flash are subject to flash distance, f-stop, ISO and power setting on the flash. Now we have the 580EXII and 3rd Pocket Wizard Plus II in one hand and the remote camera firing Pocket Wizard Plus II in the other. As we point the flash where we intend the light to land, we push the test button on the 1st Wizard and it trips the shutter and then automatically uses the pocket wizard mounded in the camera's hot shoe to sync with the flash that is set on the next higher numbered channel. The subject needs to remain perfectly still and then as many captures from as many positions of light as needed. In Lightroom, the captures are selected while in Library Mode, right click on one of the selected images, "edit in" and go to bottom of the list to "open as layers in photoshop". Once in photoshop you can use lighten in the blending modes on each layer to have all the lights turned on. Now it is time to make decisions as to how you work with each of the lights. Have fun and be brilliant.

Assignment 9 Light Painting.

Make a photograph using flash as a
painting tool.2.
Make a photograph using a continuous light source as a
painting too.
Plan what you want to achieve with light painting. The
lighting scheme should be hard to achieve conventionally.

Assignment 9 Dedicated Flash

Santa Con 2010


Halloween 2011 85mm f1.2 @1/15 ISO 1600

Test of the Dedicated Flash

Various Forms of Light Modification


Production Stills by Jessica Bandy

Assignment 9 Dedicated Flash Canon System

Use direct flash on camera Priority setting
Use direct flash off camera Priority setting
Use flash fill Aperture Priority
Use flash with modifier (Bounce card, bank or ceiling) Priority setting.

Layout your best result from each of the 4 techniques, write down your camera settings for each photograph and post as a single entry.

Lesson 8 Outdoor Flash

Assignment 8 Outdoor flash

1. Make a portrait where the person’s face and the background are the same exposure.
2. Make a portrait where the person’s face is exposed one stop under and the background is normally exposed.

3. Make a portrait where the person’s face is normally exposed and the background is one stop under.

4. Make a portrait where the person’s face is normally exposed and the background is two stops under.

All four should be photographed in exactly the same place and the strobe does not have to be adjusted once it is set.

This is a test for your reference and should be laid out accordingly.

Print your f stop and shutter speed.

Subject should be 3 stops darker than background.

Lesson 7 Strobe and Tungsten

The photograph above is an example of how I used strobe and tungsten in my work in the 1980's

The background was lit with tungsten or an HMI light and the subject was lit with a strobe with and and 40 degree egg crate. The camera set to flash color balance. The 1st step was to figure out an exposure for the strobe set at the fastest sync speed of 1/160. The continuous light on the background is measured to match the f/stop established by the strobe. The use of the shutter speed/f-stop slider helps to visualize the exposure relationships. Care was taken to keep the lights confined to their intended targets and a capture of each light was made separately to confirm its purity

Production Stills by Heidi Zito

Assignment 7

Photograph a person with just the strobe light.

Photograph a person with just the tungsten light on.

Photograph a person using strobe on the person and tungsten
on the background. Try some with motion.


Photograph a person with tungsten on the person and strobe
on the background. Try some with motion

Lesson 6 Size Matters

Assignment 6
Take two portraits of a person one with a large 21" Beauty Dish and one with the Octabank and get the same results by using the placement of the subject, the light and the background. Look at results from class demonstration for ideas.

Examples of different light with the surface of the light 5' from the subject.


Examples of diffent sized lights at various distances where the light appears to be the same size as each other from the subjects point of view.

Here are some images to help you understand what I was talking when I described the large light I was using with 8 heads. You can only see 6 heads because the bi-tube head is hidden in the center of the rig. It is a 10" Jumbrella by my friend Gary Regester. http://www.plumeltd.com/jumbrella.htm I made the rig to hold the 7 lights by bolting together various parts I ordered from http://www.mcmaster.com/ The light was place 20' from the subjects and I stood right in front of the light. It gave an even, shadowless light and the fall off to the background was minimal.

Production stills by Heidi Zito

Lesson 5 Strobe

Assignment 5
Photo 1

Using one strobe with a bank, light a person against a white background so that their face has a highlight and shadow side. The background should appear darker on the highlight side and the lighter on the shadow side.


Photo 2
Using one strobe with a bank, light a person against a white background so that their face is evenly lit and the background is black.

Production Stills by Sally Bozzuto

Lesson 4 Using 3 Lights

Examples of MultiLight Approach

3 Light Demonstation with Break Down

Photographs by Phillip Mansfield

Assignment 4 Three Lights
Using classic Rembrandt lights (45 to side 45 up) create a portrait with key (150 watt bulb), fill (75 watt bulb) and backlight (special spotlight bulb or 75 watt bulb).. Check blog under Lesson 4 to see how it should be laid out.

Using three lights invent your own formula.
Post one separate finished photograph for this one


Ratio A Fill Light B Key Light
8:1 4 stops over B 4 stops under A
4:1 2 stops over B 2 stops under A
3:1 1 1/2 stop over B 1 1/2 stops under A
2:1 1 stop over B 1 stop under A
1:1 Even Even
1:2 1 stop under B 1 stop over A
1:3 1 1/2 stop under B 1 1/2 stop over A
1:4 2 stops under B 2 stops over A
1:8 4 stops under B 4 stops over A

Lesson 3 Direction of Light and Using One Light

Diffusion Demonstation

What happens when a point source (like the sun or our Halogen Bulb) falls on a solid white sphere:
1. A highlight is created
2. A cast shadow is created
3. A core is created in the transition of the highlight and the shadow
4. A cast shadow is created
5. A specular or incident highlight is created with the highlight (it is the direct reflection of the light source)



The cube is tilted to reveal 3 sides equally. When a point source (our Halogen bulb) is placed over and as close to the camera lens as possible, all three sides reflect equally. When the light is moved to the left and up, the 3 sides reflect light in unequal ways and appear as 3 different values

Examples of portraits using one light

Production Stills by David Brown

Assignment 3: Use the 250 watt halogen bulb in the Laws of Light Kit. Make a portrait by selecting a quality of light to communicate an emotion that you feel about a person. Make an additional portrait that reflects the opposite feeling you have about the person. Explain in writing the laws of light that were at work in each portrait.

Lesson 2 Angle of Incidence and Straight Line

Using pool as an example of angle of incidence = angle of reflection.

An illustration of how a rough or matt surface effects the angle of reflection.

How a parabolic reflector works.



Light travels in a straight line we used a camera obscura to illustrate the law.

The larger the whole the less sharp the image is.

Demonstation of Light traveling in a straight line.

Production Stills by Gemma Lopez

Assignment 2: Light Travels in a Straight Line, the Angle of Incident Equals the Reflection and the Inverse Square Law

In one photograph using one light source clearly demonstrate the 3 laws of light at work. Include the light source in the photograph. The subject is the light. Think of it as more of a physics project than a photograph. Use a dodging tool to prevent the light from flaring the lens. Not a picture of a light stands, clamps, a framed mirror etc.

This is an example of what the assignment could look like. I do see a clamp. Ooops!