Change of Pace

My advanced photo class started off with a two part assignment to get us thinking about light and how it's used in photography. We're talking a lot about the direction, intensity and qualities of light, and how you identify what kind of light was used just by looking at the photos that result.
Part one had us picking a couple of images taken by other photographers to shoot on a light stand for us to talk about later in class. One had to use light to create a particular emotion and the other had to present a bit of a challenge to the viewer in terms of determining how exactly it had been lit.

Two young girls in their finest Easter outfits run and play after Easter morning services at a local United Methodist Church. Photographer: Bryan Moss, www.lifeincorydon.com

I'm not sure "nostalgia" is really an emotion, but I think that's the idea that comes across most clearly in this one. Its washed out, monochromatic tones give it an old fashioned look and the bare hint of color, combined with the harsh contrast that hides a lot of detail in darkness, allows the viewer to fill-in-the-blanks with their own memories of childhood and children.
The downside of all that darkness of course is the fact that every speck of dust on the photostand glass is lit up and highlighted for all the world to see. I was one of the first students to use the studio last week and I saw yesterday that a classmate of mine had the brilliant insight to bring a bottle of Windex with him to avoid just this sort of spottiness. Live and learn.
It also occurred to me that the little girls are running, so maybe it's not all that out of place on this blog after all.

Josephine Baker photographed by George Hoyningen-Huene, 1929

Copystand photo number two is one from the archives of Vanity Fair. I don't think it will prove to be too, too much of a challenge to figure out the lighting on this one, but it looks complicated so it least it should provide some grist for conversation. I'm guessing it probably involves barn doors on spot lights and maybe a bit of backlighting.

When it came to the photographs that I took for this assignment, I attacked the project with a vengeance, shooting up a storm of different subjects in a variety of different lighting situations. It wasn't until last night though that I realized with a shock that I'd taken every single photo on the AUTO white balance of my camera when were were explicitly told to shoot the whole "roll" on the tungsten setting. It's beside the fact that I really, really thought I HAD changed the settings, but regardless of whether I dreamt that or my finger slipped on the tiny button or I somehow activated a reset function....the fact remained that I had to scramble to do the whole assignment over again by noon the next day. I didn't have a whole 24-hours of lighting options to work with obviously, but hopefully what I was able to come up with will satisfy all the parties with grading powers. At any rate, I'll pay more attention next time when I notice that my photos aren't nearly as blue as I would've expected them to be at twilight on the tungsten setting. Included here are the photo I'll turn in as an example of a mixed lighting situation (fluorescent, incandescent, daylight) and one from my first take on AUTO WB, just because I like it and really wish I knew what it would look like if I'd shot it on tungsten. (These last two shots are actually wider than the blog will allow for, so you have to click on them to see the full image.)

Broadway Diner waitresses Tammy Aitken and Deidra Pratt discuss Deidra's first overnight shift at the restaurant in Columbia, MO, February 3, 2009. Both women worked at the 63 Diner which closed in April 2008.

Jay Starks shares a meal with Sarah McDannold at the Tin Can Tavern in Columbia, Mo, February 2, 2009.

So sad, the grad school monster had gone and gobbled up my grand running aspirations once again. I'm really hoping that's a temporary thing though and I'll get back on the workout wagon before too long. I've got grand aspirations to be able to do a real pull-up by the end of the semester and while my arms are getting pretty intimidating, I think I still have a ways to go on that.

Meanwhile, another photo project is under my belt, this time a studio portrait of a classmate using a couple of lighting scenarios. This was all very new to me, but a lot of fun getting a first taste of how the professionals use lights to make people look good. I felt pretty good about how it went right after the shoot, but after a few days I started spotting all sorts of little flaws and distracting shadows that should have been dealt with reflectors and fill lights.
Main pic: Nikon D700 and 70-200mm f/2.8L Lens @ 82mm. Exposed 1/125 sec. @ f/19, ISO 200

Missouri native John Schreiber came home to study photojournalism, but a curious nature and a restless spirit make him eager to wander further afield every chance he gets. Here he trades his usual pose behind the camera to pose for a portrait at the University of Missouri, Friday, February 13, 2009.
After the fact I had a couple of ideas that might have personalized the photo a bit more, including playing more with the blue gelled spots on the backdrop in the jumping pictures to make it look more like he was flying through a puffy-clouded sky or somehow gobo-ing the softbox key light to make the reflection in his eye the shape of a jet plane. Or maybe propped the scene a little more...something with his passport in his pocket or something maybe?

I remind myself that it's all a learning process and like I said, it was fun, so I'd like to practice some more on friends on family while I have access to real studio equipment. Below is the lighting set up I used for the largest image which is the one I turned in for the assignment. It wasn't necessarily my personal favorite, but I think it was probably the best lit of the bunch.The photos my classmate took of me are over on his website, johnschreiber.wordpress.com. Sadly, my arm muscles don't look nearly as massive as I thought they were.

The next lighting challenge for us will be photographing shiny things, like metal and (my favorite) glass. Too bad I tossed that crazy disco trophy I won in the media races a couple of summers ago...

So I'd pretty much forgotten that I'd volunteered to be an alternate photographer for the newspaper here when I got a call from the photo editor on duty that due to a bunch of sick shooters, they were looking for someone to do an environmental portrait of a local music producer for their magazine. I made a quick panicked call to Jack for a morale-boosting pep talk, then called them back and said I'd do it.

I was supposed to shoot this producer dude interacting with musicians, but then it turned out that they were recording in one building and his sound board was in another. I had the brilliant idea to photograph him at his computer so that you could see the recording studio through the the windows in front of him. Unfortunately, if I set the camera so that there was enough light in the room, the windows glowed like the apocalypse was going on outside. And if I switched things up so that the red walls of the studio showed up clearly, the room turned into a dark, amorphous cave.

Eventually we'll learn how to balance light in Advanced Techniques, but for now I was on my own. I'm glad I didn't know ahead of time that I'd be so out of my depth technically, but as it was I just started playing around with my flash (an SB-800 for photo geeks) using a diffuser and bouncing the light off of a piece of white cardboard I had rubber-banded to the strobe. I got a few shots where the light on my subject was way too bright and made him look slightly irradiated, but for the most part I think I dealt with the situation pretty effectively.

In the end, I don't think the magazine people will end up using that particular photo anyway since I did wind up catching a few decent shots of the fellow interacting with the musicians he was recording after all, but it was good practice nonetheless and hopefully I'll experience a tad less performance anxiety next time I'm called upon to go shoot something for publication. Every new situation works to boost my confidence as a photographer, so I guess it's just a matter of patience and trusting that I really am learning and growing here.