Scene from Snow White animation.
Contact sheet
Best outcome
I opened the photo in photoshop and flipped the image as it was opposite to the original.
I then added another layer and pasted the original animated scene on top of my photograph.
After this, I adjusted the opacity so the two images could be seen together.
Definition of Chiaroscuro:
The treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting. is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modelling three-dimensional objects and figures.
My Examples of this Technique:
After my first couple of times in the studio doing portraiture I have a small selection of photos that really stand out for me, but to make them better I put them through Photoshop and the editing software that comes through windows.
I will be showing the before and after photos, just to show a contrast between an original and an edited version of a photo, although the difference may be very subtle I think that they really change the photos looks.
This is the first photo that I will be editing, it is one of the best photos I took from my second visit to the studio.
In this edited version of my photo all I have done is used spot fix to make the skin seem smoother and clearer I also turned up the color making the blue/purple look bolder. I also brought up the clarity on the photo to make it seem bolder and for some features to stand out. Again I increased the vignette to darken round the edges and corners but so that the model is the main piece of the photo.
I really like this photo as it brings in the style of one point lighting to only show one side of the face but has the added feature of the color making it seem more vivid.
In this photo you can see an immediate change in the look of the photo. The first major change you can see is the blue specks of color where his eyes are. On the left side of his face (As you look at it) you can see where his eye is, but due to the one point light, you can’t see where the other eye is, I think that the blue dots of color help make the picture stand out. Also with this photo I put the clarity all the way to maximum just so that his key features stood out. I also raised the vignette just a bit to create the same effect as before. Again with this photo I used spot fix, but this time not to make his skin to appear smoother but to fix any hairs on the photo which looked out of place, this makes the outline of his head to shoulders seem more in place and smoother looking.
I have done nothing to edit this photo as I think that it is really good. What I really like about this photo is that the use of the color blue really makes the much paler blue stand out. I also like the use of propping with the coat as it does just make the color and atmosphere of the picture stand out.
I also really like this photo, as the use of the red and purple mix of the film to create a mix of colors on the model really makes her eyes stand out among the rest of the photo. I like the use of the silver and glittery sheet as it stops you from becoming too focused on the rest of her face. The use of the sheet also works well with the light as it has its dark and light tones which makes it sparkle and stand out.
So this was my second time doing photography in the studio, so at first I had the same struggles of under and over exposing the photos, so I was adjusting the ISO after every photo just to get the perfect image which really paid off in IMG_0621.JPG.
During most of the photos I had the ISO set at around 400-800 but eventually changed it to auto, so it would instantly adjust to what ISO was needed on the spot.
I did however always use manual focus, just so I could change where I wanted the focal point to be or whether I wanted my models to be in or out of focus, which I like to differ depending on the lighting and my mood or where the models are standing.
I was very lucky in this instance to be able to have 2 models which enabled me to change my style of photography for each, due to their differences in look and style I was able to use these to my advantage and let them express themselves for the camera.
You will notice in this contact sheet that there is a new color which only surrounds myself. This is because of us working in one group we all used the same camera, I isolated my pictures from the rest so I could not be biased towards them. But due to the light, focal points and camera work they are nice photos.
My favorite photos are the green bordered photos, this is because in these ones I really feel like I helped express the models movement and personality into the photo, making it seem naturalistic and just great.
For the editing of my photos I used photoshop to raise the exposure levels on the photos and raise the contrast levels I also brightened the shadows, the reason that I did this is because I was using a 200iso roll of film this meant that I was limited with the amount of exposure that I could input without slowing down the shutter speed dramatically as I didn’t have a tripod or a mono-pod.
Control over lighting offers the photographer control over the final image.
Often photographers work with available light — the sun, ambient light, firelight or available artificial lights. Our knowledge of varied exposure tactics offer us many options for making use of available lighting, but, there are, admittedly, times when we want to control illumination as well as subject as well as the camera and exposure settings.
Studio lighting — strobes, reflectors, diffusers and so forth — offers us that control. https://www.harding.edu/gclayton/photography/topics/010_studio_lighting.html
A common general lighting setup involves a key light, a fill light and a backlight.
The key light provides the main illumination of the subject.
The fill light offers illumination to surfaces turned away from the keylight, providing a better ratio of light and dark tones.
The back light either illuminates the background (or backdrop), or is used on the back of the subject (hair light or rim light) — often aiming to creating rim lighting.
The Three Point Lighting Technique is a standard method used in visual media such as video, film, still photography and computer-generated imagery. It is a simple but versatile system which forms the basis of most lighting.
The aim of this shoot was to experiment with different white-balance, ISO, shutter speed and studio lighting.
The final ISO, shutter speed, and white-balance to execute a well lit studio photo shoot is ISO: 800, Shutter-speed: 60, and white balance for tungsten light.
Chiaroscuro lighting is an artistic term dating back to the Renaissance that is noted by the contrast between dark and light. It is often times used in a bold manner so that it has a noticeable and dramatic effect on the entire composition of a work
Giovanni Baglione. Sacred and Profane Love. 1602–1603, showing dramatic compositional chiaroscuro
Peter Paul Rubens’s The Elevation of the Cross (1610–1611) is modelled with dynamic chiaroscuro.
ONE POINT LIGHTING
One point lighting is formed by one main lighting source, it could be the sun or a studio red head light. The single source of light creates a a natural yet dramatic look, that draws people attention to the subject as they are lit up. One point light tends to hit people straight on and flat, which creates shadows from the subject. One point lighting is used when using the chiaroscuro.
Here are some photos from using one point lighting. I used manual focus which meant I had to constantly adjust my technical settings so that my images weren’t over exposed. My shutter speed was firstly set to 1/80 which was too slow as it was letting in too much light, meaning my photos become over exposed and too bright, I had also not yet adjusted my white balance, these are the first few photos I took;
I then moved on to adjusting my shutter speed to a faster fraction, which was 1/400 and that made my images to dark as the camera wasn’t allowing in enough light, this is what the images looked like;
Finally I adjusted my shutter speed to 1/250 and my white balance to the tungsten setting. This allowed me to take sharper images, with more focus. But when the subject moved it meant I had to change my shutter speed to a faster fraction to make sure capture the subject sharply and in focus not a blur. This is what my image looked like;
In this image the focus is off this is because I hadn’t adjusted my focus lens and also my subject was moving and I wasn’t on a fast enough shutter speed to be able to capture him sharply.
When taking these images, I managed to take e a few images in the style of Chiariscuro, this was done my shining the light on the side of his face which created a shadow on one side and highlighter the other side.
EVALUATION
This was my first time in the studio so I had to learn how to change my settings to fit the type of lights we were using, along with getting in the right place and angle to take the best photos. This shoot was definitely a learning experience as I learnt types of lighting, and what settings are best for different types of lighting. In the next shoot I need to take more photos, as in this shoot I didn’t take enough as I was to busy trying to get the angle I wanted instead of working with what I had.
