Steal Like an Artist - Part 1

I have chosen a selection of photos to do. Although they're all of different objects they're all visually similar and have lots of colour in them, which I want in my photos.

 I love this photo because it's such a simple idea and yet it looks very smart. I like the different sweet colours and how they change from the top to the bottom.

They've used different colour sweets and two coke bottles to take this picture, it's very simply lit and it appears to have been taken on a chair.

This photo has a christmas tone to it as there are fairy lights in it. It also has a piano which reflects the light. The scene is quite dark on the right hand side but is lit up by the fairy lights on the left.

In this photo there is paint exploding onto the shiny floor. I think to achieve this effect you would have to put paint in water balloons and drop them, then put the camera on a fast shutter speed so you can capture the paints movement. 

This photo doesn't have the same colours in the other photos and it's more bold, as it uses neon colours. I love the contrast of the blue face and the bright orange and green. 

This photo is, again, very simple. I like it because it has such bright colours against the Autumn floor. 

Light Painting

In this lesson we did light painting, which is when you can draw in the air using a torch and it is captured on camera. This is achieved by putting the camera on a low shutter speed so it captures the light.

For this spherical effect we put the torch on a string and swung it around. We had a point on the floor which the light had to be over at all times, and then we moved around it to create a light sphere. We experimented with this and try to make, what looks like, a tornado.

Here we tried to make a light igloo. We put the torch on the end of a ruler and had a point on the floor where the ruler had to stay, and the other torch end was moved around to make an igloo. This was quite hard as we only had 30 seconds to do this, as that was the maximum shutter speed.

Here we began to experiment more and I covered myself with fairy lights and moved around for 30 seconds, it came out very colourful and I'm pleased with the results.

Let there be light!

 Today we experimented with light and shadows. We started by using a plant to create a shadow in the background. This can make the background look more interesting than just having a plain wall.

We then used a cloth with spider web patterns and covered the light with it. It then printed (in shadow) across my face.

After the cloth we then used the bin to create this pattern. We had to hold the bin in front of the light so it printed on the subjects face.

 

After creating shadows we then used light gels, which is a transparent piece of plastic which you put over the light to make a colour. We discovered the colour comes out more when the subject has a darker skin tone.

We then experimented with two lights and two different colours to create this effect.

We then combined shadows and different colours.

Soft/Hard Lighting

We explored different types of lighting. 

Hard lighting: When the light has no filters and it's just the naked bulb, there's a greater contrast between light and dark.

Soft Lighting: When the light has a soft box, there's less contrast between light and dark.

These photos were taken using the clam shell lighting. This is when you have a soft box and a reflector on the subject. The reflector has a white side and a shiny side, we used the shiny side. The clam shell technique is a feminine lighting as it's soft, it evens out the skin and is very flattering.


ISO: 100 Shutter Speed: 1/50 Aperture: F5.6 (For all)

For this photo we used the naked bulb so the lighting was hard. We didn't use a reflector for this one which created a shadow across the subjects face. This is typically a masculine technique as the contrast between light and dark is greater.

ISO: 100 Shutter Speed: 1/30 Aperture: F5.6

This is the rim technique where you get the subject to stand in front of a naked bulb, then the light goes around their head. It's used to separate the foreground and background.

ISO: 1600 Shutter Speed: 1/25 Aperture: F4