Lighting Day 5

The fifth lighting workshop was really really fun for me. I love getting specific instructions and knowing exactly what I'm supposed to do. It also gave us a chance to try a bunch of different things, and since this entire time, I've been waiting to get a chance to really get to shoot some photographs, I was super happy to do so. The biggest dilemma Matt and I had was finding a way to photograph the cafeteria for an article about dangerous spills on the floor when there was no spill on the floor. Then we saw a bucket and a mop and figured out how to shoot that, and I was pretty impressed with myself for thinking of it. It's like solving a puzzle. I also really liked shooting the art workshop; people look really interesting when they're working on sculptures. I enjoyed the variety. Even shooting the ceiling was fun.

Lighting Day 4

Friday, we started to learn how to use whatever light available to take a good photo rather than lights we can control. It's the same concept, using exactly what you have. What you have is just different. I like the idea that it is possible to get a photo in ANY location. I thought about it, and this is going to be the most useful to me considering that I will not have a mobile light source or any other equipment when taking most of the photos I will take in my lifetime. I was a little overwhelmed by all of the variables that affect the best way for a portrait to be taken. The shape of the person's face, their eyes, basically every other feature they have, the background, the light, anything interesting that's around. Then there's all of the different things on the camera to adjust and in the layout to adjust to make it all work together. I definitely want a lot more practice with it.

Lighting Day 3

Today, none of our equipment was up to par. We didn't have a camera, so we used a video camera. Our lights were weak. Our reflector was just a big white board. We didn't have a "gobo," so we hung a board and a jacket from hangers. The only real piece of equipment we did have was a round reflector, and it was all old and flimsy. And it couldn't have been cooler when we got a decent photo out of it! It was a great way to get an idea of the difference between what we as people see and what the camera sees. We saw a big old blanket being held up behind a model with hangers balancing on poles all around her, but the camera sees just her face with a dark background. I like the control that we had, and how easy it was to attain with whatever resources we had at hand.

Lighting Day 2

The most important thing I'll probably have gotten out of the second day of the workshop is knowing what F stop and shutter speed do and how to use them. I never thought of a camera as a brain so much as I did on Friday. It's not exactly like a human brain, but it is like a brain! It does far more things than I realized it could. You have to know how to work with it and also how to trick it because, like human brains, they can be fooled! They are intended to be tricked. Having known nothing about cameras before, I was happy to learn some of the basics and try to put them into practice.

Lighting Day 1

I found the basic lighting stuff we learned today remarkably interesting. I've seen a million lights in my lifetime, but it turned out I didn't really know a thing about them. Just the technical stuff like how to make a light harsher or softer and that quantity of light doesn't make a difference really interested me. It was amazing how dramatically lights affect a picture. Later, I was sitting in my living room and looking up at the chandelier, and I started to wonder why a light fixture would be designed to be so stationary when placement and arrangement of how a light is set up could give a room so many different personalities or feelings. What also interested me was how each technique and each principle could be explained with what the sun does. Photography, and especially lighting in photography, is just like what I always say about poetry. It mimics nature; the best poem represents something just as it is, staying as close to nature as possible, and a good photograph does the same. I don't mean the best photographs are of birds in trees; I hope I'm explaining this well. Anyway, I'm genuinely excited for the next workshop!