strobist assignment - lighting 102
i made the decision to focus more on my photography. in a sense, i’m going back to basics, i signed up for the new york institute of photography course, and i’m also going back through the strobists lighting 102 series.
the first assignment in the lighting 102 series deals with the position (angle) of light, and how light coming from different angles reveals the subject. you can see the shots on my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kettlepot/sets/72157603996062227/.
i popped by target after work today and picked up my subject; a $0.97 hot wheels car. my gear consisted of the camera, flash, macro rings, and a table top tripod, all packed in my fancy laptop + camera bag that i take on my trips now. my studio? the marriott courtyard in new jersey. i decided to make the most of this trip to keep my momentum going, or at least my intention of having momentum.
the execution was pretty straight forward. i put the car on the upside down plastic tray that was in the room. there were two tables in the room, and their heights allowed me to put the tray on two cups on one table and have the camera on the tripod on the other table. i wound up having to hand-hold the flash, and of course the batteries for my remote died so i used the timer to allow myself to get in place with the flash prior to the capture. i took the first shot with with the flash above the car, and set the camera for 320/f10. the aperture gave me enough of the car in focus to suite my needs. so, the first shot was above the car. the next shot was of the car just off center front of the car (right next to the camera). then i went around the car in 45 degree increments.
it was interesting to look at the pictures. i had an idea of what would happen with the flash in the different places. i had a few drawing classes that talked about shadows and how light hits objects. but during those classes, it wasn’t much more than “if the light is on the left and the object is in the center, the shadow should fall to the right”. that part of it held true in this exercise, as well. but the interesting part to me was more about what the light did to the subject, not the shadows. in hindsight, the results i see make sense… when the flash was at the 45 front left angle to the car, light hit more of the surface of the angled car…the geometry works.
hopefully this is a good start to appreciating more of what light can do for me and my subjects.