22 & 29 April 2010

April 22nd was our first class. We quickly discussed the importance of lighting. Since were trying to recreate a 1930's portraiture picture, a studio lighting is necessary. For this we needed a constant light source. A fluorescent bulb is a good choice (I believe a 300W was mentioned). In the session, we practice the Rembrandt lighting witch consisted of a light source falling on the subject's face and at a certain height that will illuminate one side of the face. The other side of the face is in a shadow where we notice a small triangle (pointing down) of light on the cheek. This type of picture is low key exposure and therefore needed a black background. As I was selected to try to position the light source to get the Rembrandt effect, I realized the importance of light and how it can effect the result of a picture. For example, in my first attempt to place the light source, it was to close to the background. This caused to see the details of the backdrop. So we adjusted. We moved our subject further away from the background. Another aspect, we practice is our communication skills with our model (Sandy). This was my first experience ever in giving directions to a model. It was very difficult since I did not know what I wanted to picture and felt a bit uncomfortable. Overall, the first session was a good learning experience. Even thought I did not get the pictures a wanted (to recreate the pictures that Crombie showed us), I got some interesting pictures.

April 29th was our second class. We continued in reproducing the Rembrandt effect and trying other lighting positions. This time I was able to communicate with Sandy a bit better.I also took some pictures od the group and the set up to remind myself about the position of lighting.