Final Project: Natural Light

For my final photography project, I decided to document natural light through the Observer approach. My goal for this project was to capture something in its environment with natural light illuminating it. This topic is fairly vague which really allowed me to photograph a variety of different things as an observer for a diverse selection of photos as a result. There are also many different types of natural light. For example, direct sunlight is a very harsh and dominant version of natural light whereas the light on a cloudy day is very soft. Due to the lack of sunshine over the past week, I didn't have many opportunities to take pictures in this form of light. However, I did get some great pictures in a subdued and delicate natural light. After researching the different types of natural light and how to shoot in them, I learned that shade and overcast sunlight (which is what I was working with the majority of the time) was great for portraits. This is because in a soft light, there are no harsh shadows that can often take away from the details on a persons face (Natural Light in Photography). Knowing this information, I decided to take some pictures of my friend and sister to take advantage of the flattering light. I also learned that soft light is great for photographing plants because the subtle textures stand out more (Gibson). Therefore I decided to focus primarily on people and wildlife as my subjects to get the most out of this type of light. I'm really happy with the results of this photography project because I feel like the light in each picture is visually pleasing.

Works Cited

Gibson, Andrew. "The Complete Beginner's Guide to Natural Light." Photo & Video Envato Tuts+.
      Envato Pty Ltd, 27 June 2012. Web. 09 May 2017.

"Natural Light in Photography." Making the Most of Natural Light in Photography. Cambridge in
      Colour, n.d. Web. 08 May 2017.

Portraits

This portrait of Maya has a butterfly lighting pattern. There was only one light used in the picture and it was put high up looking down on the subject. This is very clearly contrasty light since the shadows on her face are very dark and distinct. These shadows contrast with the part of her face that is lit.

This portrait of Nic is butterfly light again. I really love this lighting and the effect it has on the subject. There was only one light used to create butterfly lighting and it was high up looking down on the subject. Just like before, this is contrasty light since there is a lot of definition in the shadows are very dark.

This is another protrait of Maya however this time it is shot in split lighting. Again, there is only one light being used, but this time it is put directly on her left and lowered to be at the same height as her face. This creates a bit of a light pattern on the background in the area where the light is coming from. The lighting is very contrasty as Maya's shadowed half of the face is almost completely black whereas the opposite side is completely lit up.

This is a portrait of my friend Lyndsay. She loves to paint so I decided to photographe her in the art store where she gets some of her supplies. Lyndsay expresses herself through art which is why I believe that taking her picture in front of a bunch of paint tubes reflects who she is very well. She can be shy however when it comes to showing people her artwork. Therefore, I told her to look down in the picture because I wanted to capture this part of her personality.

Here is another portrait of Lyndsay. I decided to take her picture in front of a bunch of vegetables because she is vegan. Being vegan is a huge commitment for her and it controls many aspects of her life. Thus, I think that this is a good background because it captures a part of her identity.

This is a portrait of my sister Katie. All of our lives, we have lived in the same house, on the same street. Neither of us know anything different which is why this place is so important to her. I put the picture in black and white because I wanted to put an emphasis on the past. She is looking down as if reflecting on the countless memories she has created on this street. Every house, every tree, every crack in the sidewalk holds a memory. In addition, I used the rule of thirds to show a bit more of the background without taking your attention away from the subject. I believe this protrait captures a big part of who my sister is as a person.

Motion Studies- Assignment 3

Freeze motion:
This way of capturing motion makes the image feel more captivating than a normal picture since you see the movement of the water droplette in a still image. This picture was achieved with a lot of patience. I had a shutter speed of 1/500 since the water droplette kept looking blurry in the picture with anything slower. It was hard to capture this because it was a cloudy day and bright situations are preferable for freeze motion. This being said, I was able to get a good picture through trial and error.

Blur Motion:

This way of capturing motion makes the image feel more lively and energetic since the blurriness of the umbrella gives you the impression of its movement. I achieved this picture with a shutter speed of 1/8. I had to use such a slow s.p. because the blur motion of the umbrella was not appearing with one that was much faster.

Ghosting:

I achieved this ghosting image by using a shutter speed of 13 seconds. Staying still in the image was a little bit difficult since I was sitting on a swivel chair. I put the image in black and white because I found it added a ghostly feel to the image in addition to the subject (me) being see-through.

Ghosting pt. 2:

I liked ghosting because it is so unique and different from what I have always done in photography. I really love the effect it gives to the subject in photographs. I achieved this image by using a shutter speed of 10 seconds. In the image, one person is standing behind another while they move there arms back and forth up and down. This gives a very interesting effect.

Seeing Light- Assignment 2

Window Light:

-       - I liked working with window light because it gave the subject a naturally beautiful glow. It was very flattering light to shoot with.

-      -  I liked the results I got from this light since there weren’t really any challenges with it.

     Window Light Redo - Portrait of Katie 

Backlit Light:

-       - In order for the picture to be backlit, I made sure that the light behind my subject wasn’t too bright or else the camera would have focused on the background too much. I turned off all the lights in the bathroom and shot only using the natural light coming from behind my subject.

Diffused Light:

-       - The light source in this picture is soft daylight since it was taken outside on a cloudy day.

-       - We know that this is diffused light because there is a very large light source as well as there is a lot of detail in the image. There are also no highlights or shadows which proves the image is shot in diffused light.

-       - This lighting gives a bit of a dull look to the scene, which gives a calm feel to the photo.

Contrasty Light:

-      -  The light source in this picture is the sun.

-       - We know that this is contrasty light because there is the presence of highlights and shadows in this   picture, unlike diffused light.

-      -  This lighting has a dynamic look and feel, as there are highlights and shadows that give a 3D aspect to the image.