Project 2

Dates:

Prelim: Monday, 11/16

Final: Wednesday, 12/2

Create a body of work that explores the human form in some way. These can be portraits, abstractions of the body, nudes, theatrical, conceptual, or other. Work toward a cohesive group of images that are aesthetically and conceptually related. Plan to submit between 5-7 final images, in print form as well as digital (jpegs 1200).

Create most appropriate studio lighting design to support your images. 

Proposals should be 1 page, referencing the work of two established artists as inspiration

Work will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Original, inspiring, and creative idea/vision/approach
• Quality of lighting design
• Quality of photographic design
• Technical (camera, lighting, file management, etc.)
• Deliverables (prints, files, etc.)
• Growth of the project over the course of the assignment

Proposals, prelim and final critiques will be graded.

Portrait Exercise #1

Due: 10/28

The first portrait project explores how size, quality and placement of the key light can affect the rendering of the face. This is one of the most important concepts of portrait lighting design. Please read pages 193-206 for further discussion and visual examples.

Take your time with it. Correct exposure, appropriate f-stop, focus are all important.

Create portfolio worthy portraits that explore the following:

• Fairly tight framing that features head and shoulders, without cutting them off.
• Low-key background with well-considered spot. Hint: create adequate distance between subject and background material so that wrinkles are not sharp
• Thoughtful styling...put in some planning with outfits, hair, accessories and go for it. Move beyond silly mug shots. 
• Use of single light source, no fill light. Reflector encouraged.

For each of the following, create both high and low contrast examples, positioning the key light as necessary. Explore how the use of a reflector can be important

1. Explore 45/45 lighting, sometimes known as Rembrandt, achieving what is referred to in the book as the "key triangle."
2. Short Lighting
3. Broad Lighting
4. Front lighting
5. Side lighting
6. Beauty lighting

Project 1

Proposal Due: 10/5, in class. Be prepared to discuss.
Preliminary critique: Monday, October 12th
Final Critique: Wednesday, October 21st

Write a 1-page proposal for a still life project. Your proposal should consist of:

• An overall idea or concept for your images...reflect on some themes or ideas you hope to communicate.
• A description of the subjects that will express these ideas
• A description of the background
• Any particulars regarding the set-up of the still life that you are considering that come to mind (e.g. need to build a stand to prop up objects, or create a GOBO for a certain effect)
• A brief description of at least two still life examples, by well-known, established photographers (choose two different artists) that serve to inspire the set-up and/or lighting design of your project. These examples should be properly referenced. Start with examples from the class blog.
• 1 page

Plan for several shooting sessions outside of class. Reserve studio time well in advance.

Over the course of the project you will be shooting many variations. Keep all of these, planning to turn them in. Create 5-7 strong finished images. Print all, letter size for critique. The strongest image will be printed full size to at least 16" x 20". Shoot RAW and focus carefully to ensure that the image will hold up through enlargement.

Assignment 6: Glass

Referring to class demo and the textbook, create expressive explorations of white-field/dark-line glass and dark-field/white-line glass. Be selective with glass choices, arrangement and lighting design to create something exciting. For this exercise, stick to transparent glass objects only.

Examples:

white field/black line

black field/white line

Assignment 5, Metal, Family of Angles

Work with the family of angles and the two lighting configurations to explore both Table-Top (flat) and 3-D examples. Be selective with materials, arrangement and lighting position to produce an expressive statement.

Assignment 4

For 9/14 (Monday)

Two plane still-life with horizon and two light sources

Goals to explore with your shooting:

• Gain understanding of how to balance intensities of main light and background light
• Incident versus reflective meter readings
• Explore background brightness
• Active versus passive background
• Quality and placement of horizon line
• Still life building and composition

Reveal this exploration in your images.

Assignment 3a&3b

top

front

side with fill

back/side with fill

45/45 with fill

45/45with fill and controlled background spill

Seamless sweep background:

The first still life exercise explored the use of a single plane table-top design. In other words, we were shooting from above, down onto the subject and the table. There was not a horizon line or a separate background plane (such as a wall)

The second design will be, technically, a two plane still life. It will have a table surface and a wall surface, perpendicular to it. However, the transition between these two planes will be moderated through the use of a sweep. As a result, there will be no visible horizon line. Instead we will have a gradual transition between the two planes. This set-up is useful, also, for exploring the use of light fall-off to create the illusion of depth, especially with the use of top-light. It is a "classic," and versatile set-up for photographing things like products, art objects, in a way that is clean, neutral, and perhaps a bit formal.

Exploring light direction:

Orientation of light direction to the subject can affect how that subject appears, in a major way. For your subject, explore the effect of the following light directions. Please use lower contrast light for this assignment, but optimize as you see fit. A soft box is recommended. Meter every time the light is moved.

• Top*
• Front
• Side
• Side/back
• 45/45
• 45/45 with controlled background spill

Variations: For each, shoot with and without fill

*Top light

The top-light design can be used to effectively illuminate many subjects with a good sense of volume. It is a fairly passive lighting design that calls little attention to itself, allowing the subject to be revealed in a faithful way. 

However, this elegant design has another great advantage...it can be used to create a gradient background, through the use of light fall-off. This can lend a sense of formal polish to the photography of objects. While it generally has more commercial application...it can also be used creatively. See chapter 5 in the book.

Due dates:

3a, shooting (in groups) due by end of class 9/2

3b, individual creative exploration due 9/9, beginning of class.