CONTROLLED & MIXED LIGHTING (WORKSHOP)

Today i attend Andy's Friday workshop - controlled and mixed lighting. below are the pictures taken with Andy and the type of lighting used.

CAMERA SETTINGS:

• ISO 800
• WHITE BALANCE: Tungsten
• APERTURE: Aperture priority

taken with tungsten lighting

tungsten lighting but futher away from model

tungsten and floresent lighting

tungsten and floresent lighting and a flag backlight to stop lens flare.

tungsten with daylight above

side and backlight (backlight has no cover)

side and backlight, backlight with no cover - flagged to stop lens flare.

as above but also with floresent lighting under models face to create catch light in the eyes.

white balance is now set on day light.

with tungsten lighting the dimmer the light the warmer the tone.

below are some more pictures with different setup using tungsen, floresent and daylight lighting.

whilst taking part in the workshop i found out how changing the light sources or even the white balance on your camera can effect the image and mood (cold or warm), i also learnt about catch-lights in the eyes and how creating these with reflectors of the actually light source can make the model seem more "alive" and add to a portrait.

LENS CONTROL WORKSHOP

today i attended John's lens control workshop.

Focal length is how far away subject is to the sensor, within the lenses there are elements which are for colour and tonal balance.

FIXED LENS - elements within housing are fixed and don't move.

ZOOM LENS - elements within housing move to zoom in and out.


Typical focal lengths are:-

• 15mm, 24mm, 28mm are wide focal lengths


• 35mm, 50mm, 85mm are standard focal lengths


• 135mm, 200mm are telephoto focal lengths


• 400mm, 800mm are extreme telephoto focal lengths

standard (same perspective) lens for a DSLR is a 28mm. we exaggerate perspective if we move from a standard to a telephoto lens.

WIDE ANGLE LENS

• more coverage


• exaggerate perspective

TELEPHOTO LENS

• subject closer


• flatten perspective


• less coverage

*Telephoto lenses are best for portrait photography*

wide angle lenses are typically used for landscape.

*WHEN USING A TRIPOD THE IMAGE STABILISER ON CAMERA SHOULD BE TURNED OFF*

135mm lens with soft focus connector is very good for portraits, portraits should also be shot using a shallow depth of field.

depth of field website - http://www.dofmaster.com/

SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD - F2.8, F4, F5.6,

DEEP DEPTH OF FIELD - F11, F16, F22

Aperture (F number) controls depth of field and intensity of light.

depth of field is distributed 1/3 towards the camera and 2/3 away from the camera.

EXPOSURE WORKSHOP

Today i attended John's exposure workshop, which was to help us learn about camera exposure and how it effects the pictures we take.



Exposure - amount of light received by the sensor.



There are 3 main things to consider when taking a picture these are

• ISO (film speed)


• TIME (shutter speed)


• INTENSITY (aperture)

ISO - International Standers Organisation. film speed, sensitivity of sensor control how fast or how slow it records information.

example - f8 @ 1/125 iso 50 is slower film speed, f8 @ 1/125 iso 1600 is a faster film speed.

ISO's 25, 50, 1oo are slow film speeds, usually higher definition (rich with lots of detail).

ISO's 200, 400 are medium film speeds used for more general use (200 ISO is usually the optimum film speed for a digital camera).

ISO's 800, 1600 are fast film speeds with lower defination (corse and grainy)

How fast of slow light is absorbed, landscape photographers tend to use slower film speeds while sports photographers would use a faster film speed.

ISO CONTROLS -

• SPEED SAND SENSOR (light absorbtion)


• AMOUNT OF DEFINITION (levels)

INTENSITY - APERTURE

F2.8 F4 F5.6 F8 F11 F16 F22

At F2.8 the aperture ring would be wide open and at F22 the ring would be a small hole.

Aperture controls the light that falls on the sensor.

APERTURE CONTROLS -

• INTENSITY OF LIGHT FALLING ON THE SUBJECT


• DEPTH OF FIELD (2.8 low depth - 22 high depth)

TIME- SHUTTER SPEED

• B - bulb 10sec to 1min


• 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15 - used for landscape, time lapse photography.


• 1/30, 1/60


• 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000 - used for sport photography

shutter speed controls the amount of time the shutter curtain is open and light spills in.

SHUTTER CONTROLS -

• TIME ALLOCATED FOR LIGHT TO FALL ON THE SENSOR


• SUBJECT MOVEMENT (to freeze action or not?)

Using any of the above setting with effect the picture in various ways.

INCIDENT LIGHT - the light which falls on to a subject.

REFLECTIVE LIGHT - the light which falls of the subject.

*CAMERAS ONLY READ REFLECTIVE LIGHT*

When taking a portrait its always best to take a reading on incident light. It's very important to shoot to the right of the histogram getting plenty of mid tones means a picture can be edited with out losing and information (quality of picture).