Assignment 3:  One Light Source

Portrait A:  "The Real Jean"

Objective:  To create an open, youthful portrait of Jean, reflecting a "deer in the headlights" innocence

Lighting:  One light source (250 watt halogen bulb) directly above camera at 90° to subject.  Diffusion panel held directly in front of the light to soften.  Image slightly over exposed to create a high-key effect.

Laws:  Inverse square law showing fall off from front to sides of face; light travels in straight lines shown by specular highlights in eyes.  Paying attention to direction of light at 90° to subject created even lighting on both sides of face.

Portrait B:  "The Imagined Jean"

Objective:  To create a dark and mysterious portrait of Jean with an ominous and threatening feel.

Lighting:  One light source (250 watt halogen bulb) at 180° to the subject; black flag on opposite side to prevent any light spill onto dark side of face; small silver card below to throw a small spot of light into eye on dark side of face. 

Laws of Light:  Direction of light highlights one side of face while throwing the other into full shadow, illustrating that light travels in straight lines . 

Assignment 2:  Light Travels in Straight Lines, Angle of Incidence Equals Angle of Reflection and Inverse Square Law

Image 1 (below):  Shows all three laws of light in one image with single light source.

• Inverse square illustrated by fall off on card base from light source toward left of frame.
• Angle of incidence shown by refection off mirror
• Light travels in straight lines illustrated by passage of light through narrow space between opening of two grey cards.

Image 2 (below):  Alternative set-up A to illustrate three laws with single light source (light source in front of black panels reflecting off mirror) 

• Fall off between Jean and Barry shows inverse square.
• Narrow band of light at right border of image (against studio wall) shows light travels in straight line (passing through narrow opening between two flat black panels)
• Angle of incidence equal to angle of reflection illustrated by light passing through narrow space between black panels and reflecting off mirror to light Joey.

Image 3 (below):  Alternative set-up B to illustrate three laws with single light source (light source behind black panels reflecting off mirror) 

• Fall off between Joey and Barry shows inverse square.
• Angle of incidence equal to angle of reflection illustrated by light reflecting off mirror
• Light passes through narrow opening between black panels to light Jean's profile showing that light travels in straight lines

Fall 2012 Lighting Class

Link to class blog:  FALL 2012 LIGHTING CLASS



Assignment 1:  Inverse Square Law

Part 1:

Using 3 identical 4x5 grey cards set 1 foot apart and overlapping 1" make 4 photographs of the cards with the light 2 feet, 4 feet, 8 feet and 16 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.

Results below:

Exposures:

Distance from light	Aperture	Shutter	Lightroom Compensation
2 Feet	f 5.6	1/40	+0.10
4 Feet	f 5.6	1/10	-0.15
8 Feet	f 5.6	1/3	---
16 Feet	f 5.6	1.3”	-0.05
32 Feet	f 5.6	4”	+0.10

Part 2:

Use 3 4x5 cards a black card in front, a grey card in the middle and a white card in the back. Using a single point source make all 3 cards appear to be the same value.

Results below:

We achieved an 18% grey result on each of the black, white and grey cards by moving the cards relative to the light source.  The cards were spaced as follows:

Black:  3'4" from light

Grey:    5'6" from black or 8'10" from light

White:   6'3" from grey or 15'1" from light