First, there was the Copy Test, where I photographed a photo that I felt had emotional lighting in it and the other photo I photographed was a "Stump the Chump" photo because I couldn't exactly tell how what types of light were in the photo.
Here is what I selected for the "mood lighting" photo.
This photo was taken by Pascal Maitre from National Geographic.
I shot this photo with a 50mm lens at an ISO of 200 and an aperture of f/22 on the tungsten setting. The hard light in the photo focuses on the subject's face as well as casts dark shadows behind him. This gives off a feeling of discomfort and fear. This frame of the photo is actually one stop higher than what the meter on my camera told me to shoot at. By just going up one stop higher I was able to get greater contrast in the photo. By shooting one stop higher and lower from the meter I was able to see a great difference in how the photo turned out. From this experience I learned that I won't be able to always trust the meter since it always sees 18% gray!
This is the photo I selected for my "Stump the Chump" photo.
This photo was taken by Stefano Unterthiner from National Geographic.
I shot this photo with my 50mm lens at an ISO of 200 and an aperture of f/16 on the tungsten setting. I thought this photo seemed confusing because although the sun is visible and the use of natural light is obvious, I was confused at why the penguins aren't silhouetted since the sun seems to be behind them. I didn't know if there was some artificial light used or how the photographer went about making this photo.
All in all, I really enjoyed the Copy Test because I figured a lot out by just using the studio for the first time and working with my camera. Being able to do this activity allowed me to experiment with the meter on my camera and gave me more confidence with how to work around what the meter says to capture a better photo.
I also did a Meter Calibration test. In this test we had to make six exposures of the same white textured object. Here are my six frames below.
I shot this first frame with my 50mm lens at an ISO of 200 and an aperture of f/16 and shutter speed of 1/10 on the daylight setting.
I shot this second frame with everything the same, however I changed my aperture to f/8.
I shot the third with everything the same except my aperture is not at f/6.7.
The fourth was taken with an aperture at f/5.6
The fifth frame was taken with an aperture of f/4.8.
The sixth frame was taken with an aperture of f/4.
As the aperture changes, the photos get lighter. It is helpful to see what differences are in each photo with just the aperture changing because it shows how big of a difference one stop can make in the photo. It has really made me realize how important it is to get the most accurate frame, which may even be a stop higher or lower than what the meter says.
After completing the Copy Test and Meter Calibration, I completed an excercise where I took photos of different lighting conditions. I took half of the frames on the tungsten setting and half on the daylight setting.
Here is my favorite photo with the tungsten setting dealing with artificial light.
Lucy, member of the Hendry family, stands in their kitchen on Sunday Sept. 6, 2009. She was adopted from Columbia's Central Missouri Humane Society in 2008 at seven months old and now lives happily with her family in St. Louis, MO.
I took this photo with my 18 to 55mm lens with an ISO of 5000 and an aperture of f/3.5 and shutter speed of 1/45. I liked this photo because the hard light in the photo silhouettes the object and casts shadows, which makes it more mysterious and intense. Although the object is silhouetted it is still in the shape of a dog, which makes it a little easier to figure out what is going on in the photo. With this class I hope to gain a lot more experience with using flash so that in the future if I had a situation like this where I didn't want the silhouette I could figure out how to acheive that by using artificial light.
Here is my favorite photo using the daylight setting and using natural light.
A black praying mantis rests under the sun on a bush in Kirkwood, MO on Monday Sept. 7, 2009.
I took this photo with my 18 to 55mm lens with an ISO of 500 with an aperture of f/5.6 and shutter speed at 1/750. This photo was taken in the afternoon around 3pm. The light from the sun is hitting the leaves and also shows the object clearly. This is a softer light and there aren't as many shadows visible. There is a lot of information shown in the photo, which creates a more relaxed and pleasant mood. While I am happy with the way the photo turned out I hope that in the future I can learn how to get the best frame possible with the natural light that is provided.
I had some trouble with this exercise because right now I'm one of those people who likes to take a lot of photos. It is really hard for me to have a limit on how many photos I take. I am also feeling the pressure when it comes to making the frame perfect on the first try. I also like to check what I am shooting and go from there, which I know I shouldn't do as much. I know that these two things are my biggest weaknesses right now, and I'm determined to move away from that as soon as I can. Although I know it will be a struggle at first I am really happy that this class is going to push me to step out of my comfort zone and make the best photos that I can on the first try. I am looking forward to this semester because I know that I have a lot to work on and am willing to try as hard as I can to get rid of my weaknesses and grow as a photographer.
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