Shots from class!

**Angela** · 18-10-2006, 23:11

I had my evening class tonight and we were learning how to use light meters with the tutor's softbox and barndoor (is that right!?) lighting. We all had to take it in turns but whilst the others were having their go, I shot a few of these in the low ambient light. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out given the conditions!

Comments welcome as usual!

lolyton · 18-10-2006, 23:22

If you are referring to a light with flaps on the front then barndoors is right!
The shots are good, i consider hands as the same as a portrait of a person, you can often tell more from a persons hand than you can from their face. I would however say they may be lacking a little in contrast though.

**Dabhand16** · 18-10-2006, 23:22

Nice work, Angela. I like the fist in the face, I mean the fist and the face best.

***Steve*** · 19-10-2006, 10:44

Working with subtle lighting is very challenging and while the main aim is to prevent hot areas and light your subject to emphasise a certain attribute or achieve an overall look, it doesn’t always have to be at the loss of contrast and all the other composition rules still apply.

Your first shot is really well lit, however the gentleman’s white shirt is forming the top third of the background and as white is obviously lighter than black it attracts the attention away from the clenched fist. An all black background (as in the second hands shot) would have worked really well on this and as a subtle lighting shot it would have been very well executed and shot. I think you got the DOF spot on though.

The second hands shot has cropped a little of the subjects left hand while still having space on the left of the frame, it also seems to have the focal point just below the thumb when I think that it probably would have been better to bring that closer to the fingers. Also there is a little lighting hotspot on the top of the hand.

The face portrait is very good, just a little lacking in contrast but otherwise you should be happy with that one

Did you consider cropping in slightly tighter to remove all of the ear or maybe allowing a little more to have it all in?

Nobody said that photography was going to be easy and as you introduce new areas (in this case lighting) it is easy to overlook the other skills and techniques that you have already learned. Composition, focus, dof are all as essential as the lighting/exposure and neglecting any one of these can make the difference between a shot working or not. Just like many others I regularly cock up on one or more of these skills and still have a long path to get down before I will be contented.

You’ll know that you have made it when you do everything instinctively and it is not actually an exercise to take a shot.

**Angela** · 19-10-2006, 10:55

Thanks for your comments guys.

You're right Steve, it isn't easy and I'm not yet at a stage where everything comes naturally. That takes times and a few months is not enough....I think I'm still snapping and relying on one out of a dozen shots to come out right rather than taking a bit more time to think things through. That's the lazy way and a habit I need to get out of.

I will try to see if I can get the fist onto a black background in PSP and see how that works, although I do think you are right. The reason the light was good enough there was because it was reflecting off his white t shirt!

Second hand does lack composition...for some reason, what I think I'm seeing isn't always what turns up on the shot. Plus, as I wasn't in charge of the "model" at that point, I had to shoot what I could when I could!

The face is as shot on the left (lacking thought about composition again!!) so I would need to crop the ear out. I'll give that a go later as well.

***Steve*** · 19-10-2006, 11:12

I have to add that the really important bit about this exercise is not actually getting it right in class (although that would do your ego a world of good) but being able to look over your work afterwards and spot the mistakes, then be able to identify how to correct them for next time. If you can do that (and from your above reply it seems you can

) then you are making huge steps forward and it really is just a matter of time before your photography will become something special.

HTH

**Angela** · 19-10-2006, 21:27

OK, I've had a play with the face and adjusted the contrast. It's quite a lot darker but I think I like the effect! I've also cropped out the ear and not cropped to the right at all.

P-E · 19-10-2006, 21:33

Yes I like your edit on the face Angela.

***Steve*** · 19-10-2006, 21:43

Thats a great improvement!!!

The gradient is just a touch to severe going to black though.

**Dabhand16** · 19-10-2006, 21:46

Much better, Angela. Like it lots.

**Angela** · 19-10-2006, 21:59

Thank you!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve

The gradient is just a touch to severe going to black though.

Do you mean on the right side of the photo? I haven't done anything to that at all, that is just as a result of altering the brightness and contrast and the shadows/midtones/highlights. I suspect it is the barndoor light shining on the wall behind.

IanHoughton · 20-10-2006, 14:46

Can i ask how you went about setting up these shots, in particular the face ??

What background, lighting was used ?

**Angela** · 20-10-2006, 15:05

Ian, I was at my photography evening class and our tutor had brought along a softbox and barndoor lighting. The softbox was connected up to everone's camera in turn so we could all have a go with using a light meter. The background was a basic grey classroom cupboard!

These particular shots were taken during someone else's turn and I was just shooting with the light from those lights, without the light meter and without my camera attached to the softbox. The "model" was sitting on a table with the softbox to his left and the barndoor light to his right. I was sitting on the floor next to the barndoor light.

it was a very informal thing!