ambient lighting

Wedding (ambient)

January 07, 2018 in Ambient

I was quite excited to shoot this wedding. Though i've shot weddings before this was my first opportunity with an entirely new kit from my last wedding. I had lenses which with low aperture values and a camera with better ISO handling meaning I could shoot more with ambient light.

ISO400    f2.8    1/60    70mm — ISO400 f2.8 1/60 70mm

Starting the day at the Bride's house, I found everyone was in the kitchen. The kitchen was light and airy with huge french door letting in a lot of light, with the white walls allowing the light to bounce all around the room and keep it's natural daylight colour.

Here, the bride and her granddaughter have their backs to the french doors (the light source) which you can see from the directional lighting hitting their head and shoulders.

However, thanks to the light coloured walls there was enough light in the room to light them with a reasonable ISO and have the directional light act as a nice rim light.

Original

Edited

Due to the being the only uncluttered place available a lot of portraits were taken against the french doors. However this means people are being back lit which would typically result in silhouetting of the subject.

However, I metered for the subject's face, this resulted in her being a bit washed out however thanks to the light walls again, there was enough light to ensure she was not silhouetted.

I then, in post, reduced the highlights slight, added some contrast which gives her back the warmer skin tone present on the day.

ISO400    f/2.8    1/60sec   62mm — ISO400 f/2.8 1/60sec 62mm

I also experimented a little with detail shots and light. When it came to the wedding dress it was interested to see how the light acted when shot through the lace with different layers of fabric.

This image is also backlit, however as the material is translucent rather than being silhouetted or washed how it is instead lit up with each new layer of lace diffusing and slight decreasing the exposure thereby adding depth and form.

The white wall to the right is also reflecting light from the window onto the dress helping balancing the light.

ISO400    f/2.8    1/100    55mm — ISO400 f/2.8 1/100 55mm

Further into the day, at the wedding venue, I was presented with a grand manor house which presented very different light to that in the Bride's house.

In this image, taken while the Bride was talking to the registrars, hard sunlight is streaming in from the south facing windows. The bride is positioned in front of a wall, simply being lit by the reflected light within the room and very slightly by the indoor room light present out of frame. Her bridesmaid behind is being narrowly lit from the windows due to standing on a slightly different plane to the bride while her broad shit is being lit by the ambient reflected light around the room along with the indoor lighting in the room chandeliers.

Here I find the focal point and light to work well with each other. The aim when capturing this image was to highlight the emotion and expression the bridesmaid is conveying with the bride in focus to add context. Typically, I would have the bridesmaid in focus, however I find as the bridesmaid is a few tenth stops brighter than the bride and is highlighted with the rim lighting of the window light, that this is enough to keep the bridesmaid as a primary subject along with the bride.

ISO100    f/2.8    1/320sec    40mm — ISO100 f/2.8 1/320sec 40mm

Something I still need to develop with my portraits is paying careful attention to detail in composition.

In this portrait of the Bride and Groom, I now see that their placement in relation to the 2 bushes at the bottom of the frame is not even and symmetrical. This may be emphasised by the brides dress trailing behind too but I feel if I asked the bride to take 2 small steps forward, compositionally this would make a better photo.

Lighting in this picture I find to be nice and soft thanks to the misty weather of the day and that the sun was low enough throughout the day, thanks to the time of year to provide a directional light that still ass contrast, shape and depth to the image.

ISO400    f/2.8    1/250    70mm — ISO400 f/2.8 1/250 70mm

Here is my favourite image of the day taken in ambient light. The bride and groom at stood in a woodland area. The light from the open sky infront of them is spilling onto the floor and is highlighted by the vignette caused by the lens making it look like a pool of light which I think enhances the tone. I exposed for the brides back which seems to be a middle value in exposure between the darker areas in the grooms clothing to the bright sky they're being backlit by. I've lot detail in the grooms jacket, however i've preserved the more important detail in the brides dress while allowing for a lovely rim light to surround them.

Are the background is in an open environment, it's brighter than where the Bride and Groom are standing, for me this works really well in the image as it reflects of story of newly weddings taking steps into a bright future but metaphorically and quite literally. You can also see the couple's dog highlighted thanks to his white coat waiting at the top of the steps, though not an important part of the image I thought it would make a nice picture for the couple personally to have their pet waiting for them in the story the picture conveys.

Click here to see a gallery of all my images from the day

Josh Glennon Shoot

January 07, 2018 in Lighting, Ambient

Throughout my time on the course I've been told by several members of staff, that to make it and be the best, I've got to step-up, put in the time and effort and push myself further than just what the rest of my cohort are doing.

The biggest problem I've found in photographing people is they are friends or people who are generally not used to being in front of the camera. People would smile for their pose in a candid or snapshot fashion or wouldn't pose at all. Helpful in learning about light and technical side of things but often left me feeling unsatisfied with images due to the subject being photographed.

I also know the importance of making contacts within the industry and, being a student often gives you a pass and a chance at things I would otherwise have to pay for.
Due to these reasons I took it upon myself to contact Tyne Tees Models. A north-east based modelling agency to ask if it was at all possible to photograph their models in return for the images (Time for files) along with a link to my website to act as a portfolio. They accepted and said I could have access to new faces and models that needed testing.

I knew I wanted to photograph men this was due do several reasons; The first is that I find men easier to photograph, though they are often less comfortable in front of the camera, I find men need less work in regards to posing and styling to look 'cool' within an image. I also have a preconception that when photographing females models there tends to be an emphasis on beauty. I wanted simple and relaxed images that portrayed metropolitan guys with an air of confidence about them but that where also more commercial in style and less 'instagram'.

I was nervous going into the shoot, I have never worked directly with models in the past and was thrown even more out of my comfort zone by being told the models all preferred to be shot in Newcastle. I struggle with anxiety, particularly with places I don't know, people I don't know and travelling, so simply getting there produced problems for me. I asked if I could bring an 'assistant' to help hold reflectors and equipment, which was true but also it meant a friend that would ease my anxieties.

Luckily, we had recently been on a trip to Newcastle and while there I noticed several places that would make for an interesting place to photograph. I found the places on Google Maps and used the street view function to screenshot the places for easy reference on my phone and confirmed time and place to meet Josh.

I made sure to arrive early and I walked the planned route in reverse to make sure there were no issues like closed roads or building work. Unfortunately the shoot was taking place on a Sunday which is market day at the Quay side. This meant more people than usual in the area.

I took a few test shots in the location I was in, The Baltic, of my assistant so I could get a feel of how the images where going to look. I started with my 24-70 f/2.8 lens which would allow my different focal length and a wide aperture to through the background out of focus.

Josh arrived and shooting began.
To begin with we a posed with issues from hard light outlined here.

This is amongst the first images I took of Josh. Instantly I was happy with how comfortable and natural Josh looks in the image. He has very sculpted features which catches the light well and he's styled close enough to my brief.

One thing I noted was although the background was nice and out of focus, particularly thanks to the distance from Josh, I wanted to really isolate Josh from everything and make the background as creamy as possible when I wanted to, know i wouldnt always have this level of distance from the background.

Knowing the capabilities of the 35mm f1.4 lens I own, I soon switched. Knowing it may not be as ideal for close up shots, but also that I would be more inclined to take mid/full-length shots of Josh later in the day.

ISO 100    f/2.8    1/250sec    70mm — ISO 100 f/2.8 1/250sec 70mm

ISO 100    f/1.4    1/400sec    35mm — ISO 100 f/1.4 1/400sec 35mm

I positioned Josh in against this wall in the open shade to have soft directional light hit his face. The light is soft enough to reduce flaws in his skin but the directional light is enough to still add interesting shadows highlighting his features. The wide angle of the 35mm meant I get to get fairly close to Josh to get this shot but allowed me to get in the background of the baltic being directly lit by the sun.

Here, I've used a prism against the lens to refract the light hitting the lens this creates what looks like a light leak or double exposure. What we're seeing is what was at a 60 degree angle from the cameras point of view. The wide aperture helping to blur were the refraction meets the actual image.

Also, on Josh's face, you can see that there is a very subtle warmer tone the the left of his face. I had asked my assistant to angle a reflector towards Josh. Though he was stood in open shade it was enough to very subtly add that hint of directional warm light.

With this image, I used a reflector to cast some warm like onto Josh's face creating a loop lighting effect.

This is enhanced his jawline and given his cheek bones definition. You can also the golden light being cast onto the slightly reflective surface of the billboard which serves to separate the dark side of this head from a dark background.

In this image of Josh, it's golden hour and the sun it setting just slightly to camera left. You can see he being side lit.

I had to be careful as when shooting into the sun, even indirectly, can produce lens flares, which my lens hood helped to shade the front element. However after seeing this shot, I decided to remove my lens hood and shoot from a lower angle.

This would make Josh seem taller due to perspective, and it would also allow the sun to hit the front element of the lens directly.

ISO 100   f/1.4    1/1000    35mm — ISO 100 f/1.4 1/1000 35mm

ISO 100   f/1.4    1/640    35mm — ISO 100 f/1.4 1/640 35mm

The result is a flare which I think, due to it's central placement adds intrigue to the image. Josh is a little washed out because of the flare but I think that adds to the ambiance of the photograph.

Unfortunately due to the different angle we now see background distractions like a road sign that Josh's body was covering when shot at eye level. However I don't think this detracts from the overall image making it one of my favourites of the day.

The lighting conditions did prove difficult at times.

For example the above image, being back lit, meant my camera's built-in meter would at times read the background. I tend to shoot with spot metering and, as I was utilising focus recomposition a lot in this shoot, I found myself forgetting I had already metered for Josh's face and quickly flicking the dials on the camera to change expose for the new incorrect exposure when my focus point would move during recomposition.

Resulting in images like this.

Before even taking this picture I knew the under lighting wasn't going to work. However, Josh himself expressed interest and I was intrigued to see if the colour would help alleviate the unflattering and creepy feel under-lighting gives.

It didn't. We're used to seeing parallel or top-down due to always seeing things lit from above thanks to the sun.

It gives off a macabre look that can definitely work in certain situations when that is the intention, however luminous teal underlighting creates a sort of juxtaposition that simply doesn't create a flarrting image.

Throughout this shoot I found myself actively looking for places with interesting light more so than I usually would. I wasn't just looking for well lit places with soft lighting I was looking at how like reflected off the environment and how the colours of the scene could add to the image.

Here, the sun had just set so daylight had a very blue tone to it. I saw that under a bridge that had very warm orange lighting which I thought would contrast well. Particularly with Josh himself as he has ginger hair and is wear a lot of blue.

The colour of light and styling seems to mesh perfectly so I positioned Josh under the light but far enough away it would only cast a rim lighting which you can see wraps around his back hitting the top of his head and his arm to the left. The light hitting his face come from the opening of the tunnel under the bridge.

I sat off centre to Josh and asked him to look straight down the lens causing a directional light creating a very near rembrandt triangle which I was pleased that I noticed on the day itself as opposed to being a lucky mistake, making this one of my favourite images of the shoot.

In this picture, we were simply walking by and I noticed the setting sun streaming through.
I stood Josh just against the wall of the bridge support where light was hitting and it creating a beautiful rim like making him pop from the background.
Though it seemed dark in person, I was able to see enough light and how it was hitting Josh's face asking him to face the camera creating a directional light which emphasises his bone structure due to directional light give form, depth and shape resulting in my favourite image of the shoot.

Selected images

Click here to see all the images of the day

Ambient Still Life

January 07, 2018 in Ambient

Having never really shot still life or product shots in the past, I was eager to get in some practice. With this shoot, I'm using a north facing window as my key light. I tend to associate still life and product photography with highly controllable studio lights so was interested in how this shoot would go with ambient light only. The advantage of still life photography is the subject will only move if you move it, with ambient light, this means you can draw out your shutter speed to let in more light as the intensity of the light cannot always be controlled.

Going into this shoot I knew I wanted to rely on an interesting set and props as I would be restricted with light both due to using ambient and lack of experience. With it being autumn/winter time I thought connotations of the season would work well with warming colours of fires and and comfort and indulgence being key to the theme. I chose to photograph alcohol, characteristic with the time of year and the glass bottles would result in some lighting challenges and interest.

I began with building the set up one step at a time.

Not worrying too much about exposure at first, I arrange my primary products first and took a frame adjusting each time to try and find the best composition.

I noticed immediately that the light wasn't directly hitting the front of the bottle, the most important part of the image.

I then noticed, due the tripod i was using, a light a portable one, shooting at 1/8 second due to the lighting conditions produced camera wobble as the tripod was not steady enough. And I opted for a more heavy duty and robust tripod. Changing composition each frame and then adding decoration.

Once I was satisfied with my set design, I decided to work on exposure. I wanted a dark background and for the Jack Daniels bottle to be clear and well lit.

From the first image above you can see the background is too light and the small logo of a bee which is gold foil is over exposed. I remedied this by softening the light with a scrim which changes the exposure slightly and allows the bee to stand out without being blown out. I then make slight changes to the expose in 3rd stop increments until i achieved the desired exposure. However with a new exposure to compensate for the bee logo and make the background darker, the side of the bottle is not thrown into a dark shadow.

Adding a gold reflector, to warm the light and fitting in with the desired theme, I changed the angle until achieving the desired effect of adding shape to the bottle,filling in the shadows and, as a bonus, casting a nice warm reflection onto the copper muddler.

ISO 100    f/8     1/3    70mm — ISO 100 f/8 1/3 70mm

Here is my final image.
The light from the window is being diffused to help blown out highlights while a golden reflector is filling in shadows and giving the picture ambiance and the feel there may be a fire to sit by off to camera left.

The set dressing matches the warm colour tones and a cozy winter feel. Post processing involved toning the image given it a warmer and almost oaky feel to it. I've also darkened the background slightly with a brush adjustment underexposing a bit more and cropping to ensure a straight image.

Changing subject, I also shot a prosecco bottle scene with grapes. I wanted the same winter warming feel and tones of decadence and indulgence. I began with building the set.

I liked the final image here, however as we've not places a skrim over the window yet there are quite hard and sharp lines where the light transitions to shadow.

The bottle is also casting a shadow onto the chopping board and the light falloff from the window causes the left side of the grapes to be slightly underexposed.

You can see very obvious and clear reflections you couldn't before due to the glasswares design and both bottle and glass having a round, tapered shape.

In this image I've jumped straight to the set-up I had previously with the Jack Daniels set. I've diffused the window and added the reflector to provide a side light which casts an interesting shine on the bottle and helps with the light fall off with the grapes.

The skrim has helped someone with the reflections however you can now see the curved glass is still reflecting everything within the room.

I sort out advice from Holly on the issue, we tried experimenting with several different ways of rearranging the scrim material, doubling it up and moving it closer to and further from the window.

However, the issue remained and, though a north facing wall was used, the sun was setting and we lost light before solving the problem.

Here is what I feel is the best image of the day.

The reflections remain and I noticed a fingerprint is present on the bottle. I do overall like the image, the tone and theme fit my plan and I learned a lot about how controlling ambient light can be difficult for particularly when photographing reflective surfaces.

I posted this image on social media along with my final Jack Daniels image and received advice from Richy Leeson regarding the shadows. He suggesting placing the scrim from backdrop to camera to wrap around the glass.

I didn't have the studio time, but asked to use the studio alongside someone else and quickly was able to try this out and capture the following image the next day.

The result, after polishing the glassware, is a less distracting reflection however there wasn't enough scrim material to completely surround the set to remove all of them. By this time also, the decorations had been handled so much they look messy and uneven. However I feel if shooting this again, I would be more successful.

Here's a link to a gallery to see all the images regarding this shoot: https://adobe.ly/2ECr0OX

Ambient Lighting

January 07, 2018 in Lighting

Ambient Light refers to light already present in the scene, it can may usually refer to the natural light of the outdoors but can also refer to overhead artificial lighting indoors, or any light source the photographer typically has little control of or had not added to the scene.

Exposing for ambient light is completely done in camera due to having no control over the ambient light. Though the light can be modified which might affect exposure, exposing for the scene is done using a light meter, typically built-in, and then changing settings in camera to suit.

North facing windows and walls are really useful photographically as throughout the day you’re mostly going to see an even, none direct light regardless of where the sun is in the sky.
This is due to the way the Sun rises and sets, from east to west and due to being in the northern hemisphere, the sun moves through the sky further to the south as opposed to directly overhead.

As the sun light hits the surround area, the light will be reflected onto the subject, either through a window or directly. Due to the sun not directly lighting the subject the whole area becomes the light source.
This produces a very large and even light source regardless of the time of day.

This portrait of Katie was taken using a North facing wall directly behind camera.

The windows along with the reflected light shining through are acting as a giant light source creating a soft flat lighting on Katie.
Even under her jaw you can see slight shadows but they are very faint due to being filled in from the light.

Her face is free of any shadows and she is evenly light across the entire frame. This lighting will have remained very much the same throughout the day as the position of the sun, until sunset, would have had very little affect, hence the benefit of a north facing window.

In contrast, on this south facing wall you can see very direction lighting coming from camera right, the shadows, though softend from a cloudy day are contrasty and are only being filled in from the wall reflecting some light back onto Katie.

The difference within the shot give of 2 very different looks but where taken just an hour apart simply from how the ambient light was being used. The light here will also change throughout the day, the direction of the sun would have lead to a front facing light as opposed to side lighting Katie.

Arguably I would say this image is more interesting due to the directional light.

However, it is of course possible to create directional light with North facing windows; In this photo of Nicola, we have light coming from a windows the right side of her face.

Here Nicola is broad lit with the narrow side of her face in shadow, though the shadow is still reasonably lit due to the room being well lit thanks to the large window. The directional light creates interest in the picture.

The problem I had with this image was composition. Distracting background elements make the image look cluttered but Nicola is well lit, the white walls are reflecting enough light to fill the narrow shaded side of her face enough to still retain detail will creating depth and shape.

Here, again we have very directional light coming from a north facing wall. This time however, the room it was shot is was very large providing little for light to reflect off to fill in shadows. This could be remedied in post production with sensors in the modern day being able to capture more dynamic range, however it would result in loss of quality and would most likely take more time.

The fix was to simply add a reflector parallel to the window and tilted slighted toward camera to ensure light was not spilled on the backdrop and to create a small rim/back light on the bottle. In this instance, I used a gold reflection as opposed to white/silver this was to create a warmer light, as though from a fire or incandescent light. Using white/silver would have reflected the 5000k daylight, which would've worked however I wanted to play with a mix of white balance within the image.