Painting... with light

I was reading a blog recently when a "professional photographer" (I call these people fauxtographers) said that he didn't understand why other professional photographers call photography "painting with light". "You can't paint with light, you can only paint with... well, paints" he argued.

This is one of the many ways you can tell the difference between a photographer and a fauxtographer. The latter will fear light. They shoot with their camera on full or partial automatic because they really don't know how to make the light their main asset. The former, however, will study the light of the scene and start digging in their tool box (whether literally or mentally) to embrace the light and make it work for their shot.

You see, we see because of light. That's such a obvious statement that you probably don't realize how mind-blowing it really is. Study color... you only see color because of light. Basically, the human eye sees color on wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum of light. Light reflects off of a red apple and hits the human eye on a wavelength of about 650nm.  All other wavelengths are absorbed into the apple's red skin. Mix all wavelengths to get white light; remove all wavelengths to get black.

But in photography, I can also paint with light in another way. When my camera's shutter opens, the scene it sees is being painted onto the sensor within the camera body. The longer the shutter is open, the more light hits the sensor. This allows the light to paint the scene onto the sensor (and be recorded onto my memory card). Like a painter with a brush and a blank canvas, I can manipulate light to give texture and prominence.

So when I was working in my studio tonight, I played with a simple still life setup. (Shhhh, don't tell my husband but his cigar humidor got raided!) The first image shows a broad light that illuminates the scene evenly.

This image is well lit, but rather uninteresting. What is the subject of the shot? It's tough to know this right now.

 So we shut out every speck of light in the set. I turned the modeling lights off of my strobes, and pulled out my flashlight to help me "paint" my scene to better show the viewer the important parts of the shot. Much of this technique is trial and error. Remember this simple rule in art and design: the lightest/brightest part of the shot is the focal point. Keep this in mind as you look at the following shots:

I didn't hate this image. The logo on the box is illuminated, and the lighting is quite dramatic. But much of the cigar is in shadow, and the focal point isn't highlighted.

This image is blurry. I was shooting in "bulb" mode, and accidentally had some camera shake while the shutter was open. The brightest part of the image is starting to highlight the focal point, but it cuts through it rather than illuminating it.

I like the way the Diadema Duo is highlighted well here, though the light is just above the wording in the beginning of the name. The cigar is too dark, and the the lighter lacks any interest.

This image almost made it to be my final submission for my homework assignment. I am not happy with how out of focus the Diadema Duo wording is out of focus, but the texture of the cigar and the lighter are starting to look better.

My best shot of the night, this hits everything! My main highlight dances across the wording nicely, making that the focal point (so the viewer knows what to purchase the next time they're shopping for cigars). But that same light reaches down to the logo of the cigar brand on the wrapper. 

I played with various colors of light in my painting (notice how the flat lighting above is lacking in much warmth in the colors?). I loved playing with the shiny metals, the soft wood, and the textured cigar itself. I love this technique, and see myself exploring more of this in the future!

Shooting a cliche

One of the fun things about art school is that a lot of it involves problem-solving, but some of it is simply assignments to see if you can think creatively. One of the assignments for my current class asked us to research a cliche and find images that portray the cliche (whether intentional or not). It was preferred that we find professionally composed images.

The cliche I chose to research was "all dressed up and nowhere to go". The paper discussed the history of social network sites like Myspace, Twitter, and Facebook. These sites spawned a new trend in photography: selfies. Some selfies are pretty interesting (like a person standing in front of the Big Buddha on vacation), but some selfies have endured harsh criticism (think bathroom selfies). Bathroom selfies, complete with duck lips and a disgusting lack of Pine Sol and a rag, is an amateur's version of my cliche.

I did go on to cite professional compositions that hit on the cliche, and got to spend the rest of the paper critiquing the professional's set, composition, camera angle, model, wardrobe, etc. I find that I get better at my own art when I critique a professional's work. It just makes sense.

The next night, I had to shoot a cliche. I didn't have to shoot the cliche I researched, so I shot "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". Again, this set was built in my studio (this is nowhere near what my kitchen actually looks like). What are your thoughts?

When Life Gives You Lemons...

I really enjoy building sets for my shoots. Perhaps I've found my favorite genre of photography?