The first few weeks of this semester have been hectic, to say the least. But if one thing is certain, it's that I am absolutely loving Lighting! We've only had a couple of assignments so my work is still pretty rough technically, but overall I have seen myself vastly improve in the way I assess and then use lighting.
The first assignment we were given was one that involved peppers. Skeptical at first about how this would help with lighting, I quickly realized how valuable this study of light was. The peppers above are sitting on my desk chair and are lit by my lamp (left) and a flashlight with a filter (right).
After the ambient light picture of peppers, we were told to light our peppers with a strobe. Our class worked in groups; my partner, Brook Joyner, and I bounced ideas (and light) off of each other and eventually came up with several different scenes that we really liked. This was one, aptly dubbed "Hotline Bling Pepper" by the class.
Our third assignment was an ambient light and strobe picture of our roommates. My roommate, Helen Gibson, graciously allowed me to photograph her throughout the week. My idea was to juxtapose the warm light of our room with the cool light of the outside just after dusk. Although strobe wasn't used, I was quite pleased with the result.
While my strobe pictures from this week were a bit disappointing, I really liked the ones in which I used ambient light. Lighting has helped me problem solve in difficult lighting situations. For example, in this picture I asked Helen to incline her head towards a street lamp to get rid of the odd shadows on her face that occurred when she was looking straight ahead.
While I am not pleased with the composition of this photo, the fill flash is right where I want it; proof that I still have a ways to go but am starting to get the hang of it.
I was very pleased with this photo. Between the God rays in the background and the key light on him, I was very excited about the execution of this photo.