Assignment 4 Three Light Portrait

Using classic Rembrandt lights (45 to side 45 up) create a portrait with key (150 watt bulb), fill (75 watt bulb) and backlight (special spotlight bulb or 75 watt bulb).. Use an EV  between 1.5 and 3. Check the class blog under Lesson 4 to see how it should be laid out.

Using three lights invent your own formula.
Post one separate finished photograph for this one

Lesson 4 Three Light Portraits

Inspirational Portraits

Amazing site of Broadway Photographs

Hurrell's Fleetwood Mac Images from 1980

How to layout the 1st part of the assignment

How to use the Sekonic L-358 to calculate EV diffence between the Key and Fill lights:

1.  Read the Key light 

2.  Press the Memory Button

3.  Press the ΔEV Button

4.  Read the Fill light while keeping the Measuring Button Pressed

Assignment 3 One Light Portraits

Using the 250 watt halogen bulb in the equipment closet, make a portrait by selecting a quality and direction of light to communicate an emotion that you feel about a person.  Make an additional portrait that reflects the opposite feeling you have about the person.  Explain in writing the laws of light that were at work in each portrait.

Lesson 3 Refraction, Diffusion, Direction of Light and Using One Light

More on Rosco's Website



Five things that happen when light falls on a form.

In class results

Light just above the camera lens

Light moved up and to the Left

The Fresnel Lens

One Light Portraits

Production Stills

Lesson 2 Angle of Incidence and Straight Line

Using pool as an example of angle of incidence = angle of reflection.

An illustration of how a rough or matt surface effects the angle of reflection.

Examples of different surfaces reflecting a beam of light.

How a parabolic reflector works.



Light travels in a straight line we used a camera obscura to illustrate the law.

The larger the whole the less sharp the image is.

Our experiment with different size light sources and a 5" hole.

Assignment 2 Demonstrate the 3 Laws of Light in One Photograph

In one photograph using one light source clearly demonstrate the 3 laws of light at work. Include the light source in the photograph. The subject is the light. Think of it as more of a physics project than a photograph. Use a dodging tool (I didn't explain this in class but think of a darkroom dodging tool as a gobo or flag) to prevent the light from flaring the lens.  Try to crop out any ridging you might use and make the image about the light.

Assignment 1 Inverse Square Law

1. Using 3 identical 4x5 grey cards set 1 foot apart, overlapping slightly and placed at a 45 degree angle from the camera angle. Make 4 photographs of the cards with the light 2 feet, 4 feet, 8 feet, 16 feet and 32 feet from the middle card. Use an incident meter on the middle card to give the correct exposure. The middle card should have the same value on each photograph.


2. Use 3 4x5 cards a black card in front, a grey card in the middle and a white card in the back. Using the same single point source make all 3 cards appear to be the same value. You can move the cards and the light source until it works.

Lesson 1 Inverse Square Law

The inverse square law states that the intensity of the light from a point source diminishes inversely to the square of the distance.  I=1/d²  Here is a better illustration that what I drew on the white board.

 

 



 

 

 

 



Here is what the results of shoot should looklike with the middle grey card adjusted in Lightroom and tweaked in photoshop to look the same.  You can see the Front card gets darker in relation to the Middle card as the light is moved further away and the Back card gets lighter as the light is moved further away.

 



 

Here is an example of the results of adjusting the distances of the black, white and grey cards.



 

Setup a Blog for this Class

Create a blog on bogger using your google account and use the simple template.

Send the url for your blog to ccs@nyc.rr.com by next Monday. 

Syllabus

Instructor: Chris Callis

The Laws of Light and How to Break Them

Fall 2013

Wednesday 10:00am-12:50pm and 3-5:50pm

Location: SVA MFA Photo Studio 

Who should take this class: 

Anyone interested in learning photographic lighting.  No prior knowledge of lighting is required. 

Class Description:

This course is an opportunity to learn the laws of light and to gain an appreciation of how important an understanding of light is to a photographer’s process. The class will begin with an exploration of the physics of light in order to explain its behavior. The weekly sessions and assignments will teach the student how to approach every lighting experience with confidence.  The purpose is to master these concepts and to ensure effective application of this knowledge. The ability to problem solve is a crucial element when faced with challenging lighting situations and without this understanding it is very difficult to move beyond obvious limitations. The ultimate goal is to be able to apply these concepts and then to see all the possibilities. 

Assignments:

Each week there will be a demonstration and a class exercise that will end with a weekly assignment. There will be a total of thirteen weekly assignments and one final project.

Each student will post their weekly assignments on their lighting blog along with a sketch and brief explanation of their results. 

Grading:

A commitment from the students is expected. Being on time, prepared with homework and ready to learn are requirements.  Active participation during the demonstrations is also required.  The student’s aesthetic approach to lighting along with the blog presentation are factors in grading.  

Schedule:

Lesson  1:   Inverse Square Law

Lesson  2:   Angle of Incident, Light Travels in a Straight Line

Lesson  3:   One Light Source

Lesson  4:   Three Light Source

Lesson  5:   One Strobe

Lesson  6:   Size Matters

Lesson  7:   Strobe and Continuous Light

Lesson  8:   Hand Flash

Lesson  9:   Outdoor Flash

Lesson 10:  Light Painting

Lesson 11:  Shiny Metal and Glass

Lesson 12:  Night Photography

Lesson 13:  Stop Action

Lesson 14:  Bring in a lighting problem to solve

Lesson 15:  Review final assignment