V. and I started to attend a photo course, mainly focused on studio photography. The first three lessons was about lighting. I had to opportunity to work in a studio once or twice, but I never adjusted the light myself — it was made by the assistant provided by the studio. Here we were able to learn everything for the basics; how to choose the main light, its direction, how to add more light sources. We also learned how to decorate the background.
Unfortunately, after these really logical and thorough explanations, we had relatively little time to put our own ideas into practice. We were divided into two groups, five or six people in each, and the group had twenty to thirty minutes to make photos of the model. This meant that usually we could rearrange the flashes only twice, and we made all our photos under the same conditions. So, after discussing what kind of lights we want to use, our imagination was limited to the composition and the instruction of the model(s). However, I am quite satisfied with two of my pictures. Not because I think they are terrifying shots: I am just glad that I was able to understand the point of this three courses. (Some girls, for example, obviously missed this point, and instead of focusing on the lights, they played star fashion photographers, styling the models’ hair for minutes, and putting them into ridiculous poses.)
On that photo, the main light was set up by myself. The hard light (coming through a cell grid) is coming from the left. The model is turning away from the light, putting most of her face into shadow. The hard lights emphasize the texture of her pullover. I sat her to the back of the chair, which made the pose much more feminine — however, I cut the composition just below her waist, so (hopefully) it’s not vulgar at all. The light at the background is coming just the opposite side as the main light, making the contrast much more definite.
On this picture we were running out of time, so I did not have the opportunity to change anything in the lighting (and for the record: they are far too soft for me). All I could do is to arrange the models. With this composition, I tried to put some stress on the differences between the two models. At first they kept smiling — it was a hard time convincing them to take on a bit more serious expression.
1 Comment
April 5, 2008 at 6:35 pm
[...] there is very little time for actual practice at the photo course we attend, we have decided with V. to rent a studio and see what we can do on [...]