Photography... It's all about the light, if there is no light there is no photograph. If you're at college studying photography, you're studying light as well and with 2 years of work free study surrounded by lecturers that are experts in the art of light you need to be leaving college with some basic knowledge of light.
It's usually the case on a level 3 course be it A-Level, UAL or BTEC there'll be some requirement at some point where you'll need to discuss your use of light and why you've made the choices that you have with regards the light.
So what decisions and knowledge should you identify when writing about it, analysing it and planning it?
(1). What is the light source and what are characteristics of that particular source. If it's an artificial source, is it trying to recreate something in nature... Sunlight or moonlight, reflected light, scattered light, fire light, dappled light, diffuse or point light?
(2). Direction - where's it coming from and why, why are you choosing to shoot in that particular light? What is it doing for your subject, is it moody, emotive, dramatic, objective, neutral?
(3). Does it flatten the subject or does it model the subject e.g. pick up the shape, form and texture, do you want it to do one or the other, if so why?
(4). Refracted, diffuse, reflected, specular, point?
(5). If it's an artificial facsimile of a natural form of light, how have you achieved it and how close have you been able recreate its properties and characteristics - be explicit in your explanations, draw floor plans and photograph the set-up.
(6). Colour of light http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/natural-light-photography.htm
(7). Lighting equipment - what did you use, why did you use it what are its pro's and cons.
(8). Inverse square law and its application in photography - how does it help you and why do you need to know about it, how have you used it?
(9). Reflected light - controlling light in the studio using zones and inverse square law.
(10). Artificial light sources, their characteristics and properties.
(11). Studio flash, modifiers, dishes, soft boxes, snoots, diffusing screens, reflectors, umbrellas all the equipment and its characteristics and properties.
(12). Studio space, heights, distances, widths and walls... why?
(13). Influence - whose lighting technique and style are you borrowing from, your analysis of their approach.
(14). Deconstructing and analysing other people's lighting using visual clues.
(15). Ratios - between highlight and shadow, masculine and feminine lighting.
(16). Masters of lighting - classic lighting techniques used by painters.
That's some of the easy stuff.
Use these prompts above and your notes from over the first year when all of this was covered, discussed and used in practice. (That's if you're on one of the courses I deliver).
Showing posts with label colour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label colour. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 May 2016
Sunday, 31 January 2016
The Prompts - Responding to and writing about images "Colour".
You have a been issued throughout the year a number of prompt sheets in conjunction with your work. One of the key things you need to do is learn about the work of other photographers through your research. One of the main things you have to do is make sense of the images... analyse and deconstruct them as a part of this process.
Colour
Much of the photography you look at will be designed e.g. the photographer will make conscious decisions about the colour, whether they want the colour to be muted or vibrant, obvious or subtle. In other situations they may not have a great deal of say in the colours that appear in the image whether in foreground or in the background, but colour has the ability to ruin and image or make the image, so is a very important aspect of the image.
When you're looking at the photography that you're researching one of the easier things to discuss in your work and make sense of and critique is the colour. It helps if you have some background knowledge of how colour is used in Art generally and if you're looking at attain high grades it may be worthwhile doing some re-capping on basic principles in painting and colour psychology. Look to at how colour is perceived in other cultures and the significance of colour in other cultures.
Some of the questions you address in your analysis of the images you research might include the following...
If the image is a colour image - consider whether it would be improved by making it black and white? Think about what B&W images convey to the audience - why do people make black and white images or convert colour images to B&W sometimes? This has been discussed earlier in the year during your early visual language lessons.
Double Click this image to watch a short video about the basic principles.
Discuss the colours used in terms of whether they are warm or cold? Is there a reason for using one of the other? Think too about the use of light - has this an overall affect on the colours in the images. Remember light is described in terms of being cold or warm - has the approach the photographer has used included making the images in a certain light in order to create an overall sense that the images are warm or cold - if so why? You could ask 'What if'? Type questions around this aspect of the images in order to take your up a level to include analysis. Looking at the images you're researching if warm or cold light/colour was applied how would this impact on the images?
Remember when you're looking at and discussing these aspects - write about them in terms of what if I applied this or a similar approach to my own work - how would it impact on my work?
Look at your research images and consider whether the photographer has used colour contrast in the images e.g. colours on the opposite sides of the colour wheel together to create an image that has dramatic use of colour that potentially works because of the stark contrast.
Look at the use of colour discord. This is the use of colours that don't work with each other and look wrong in the image. This may be a considered tactic used within the image to draw attention to something or add to the negative feel of the image.
Does the image use colour harmony - a series of colours that are of a similar grouping that work together and are visually pleasing. One of the most frequent used images that exemplifies this is autumnal leaves - combining oranges, reds, browns and yellows.
Look at images and say whether you think the photographer has chosen to saturate the colours if it's significant. Has the saturation been achieved - is it artificially done using post production methods (Photoshop or similar) or has the saturation occurred through the choice of light?
It may be that when you look at the images, there's little to say about the colours in which case explain why the significance of the colour is limited and move on to the next prompt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFKvdidTVLc
Colour is such an important aspect of images, you do need to consider it's use carefully and the more you discuss it with a sense of real knowledge, the higher grade is likely to be.
Check out this website here and the links at the bottom relating to the connotations of colour http://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-black/.
Colour
Much of the photography you look at will be designed e.g. the photographer will make conscious decisions about the colour, whether they want the colour to be muted or vibrant, obvious or subtle. In other situations they may not have a great deal of say in the colours that appear in the image whether in foreground or in the background, but colour has the ability to ruin and image or make the image, so is a very important aspect of the image.
When you're looking at the photography that you're researching one of the easier things to discuss in your work and make sense of and critique is the colour. It helps if you have some background knowledge of how colour is used in Art generally and if you're looking at attain high grades it may be worthwhile doing some re-capping on basic principles in painting and colour psychology. Look to at how colour is perceived in other cultures and the significance of colour in other cultures.
Some of the questions you address in your analysis of the images you research might include the following...
If the image is a colour image - consider whether it would be improved by making it black and white? Think about what B&W images convey to the audience - why do people make black and white images or convert colour images to B&W sometimes? This has been discussed earlier in the year during your early visual language lessons.
Double Click this image to watch a short video about the basic principles.
Discuss the colours used in terms of whether they are warm or cold? Is there a reason for using one of the other? Think too about the use of light - has this an overall affect on the colours in the images. Remember light is described in terms of being cold or warm - has the approach the photographer has used included making the images in a certain light in order to create an overall sense that the images are warm or cold - if so why? You could ask 'What if'? Type questions around this aspect of the images in order to take your up a level to include analysis. Looking at the images you're researching if warm or cold light/colour was applied how would this impact on the images?
Remember when you're looking at and discussing these aspects - write about them in terms of what if I applied this or a similar approach to my own work - how would it impact on my work?
Look at your research images and consider whether the photographer has used colour contrast in the images e.g. colours on the opposite sides of the colour wheel together to create an image that has dramatic use of colour that potentially works because of the stark contrast.
Look at the use of colour discord. This is the use of colours that don't work with each other and look wrong in the image. This may be a considered tactic used within the image to draw attention to something or add to the negative feel of the image.
Does the image use colour harmony - a series of colours that are of a similar grouping that work together and are visually pleasing. One of the most frequent used images that exemplifies this is autumnal leaves - combining oranges, reds, browns and yellows.
Look at images and say whether you think the photographer has chosen to saturate the colours if it's significant. Has the saturation been achieved - is it artificially done using post production methods (Photoshop or similar) or has the saturation occurred through the choice of light?
It may be that when you look at the images, there's little to say about the colours in which case explain why the significance of the colour is limited and move on to the next prompt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFKvdidTVLc
Colour is such an important aspect of images, you do need to consider it's use carefully and the more you discuss it with a sense of real knowledge, the higher grade is likely to be.
Check out this website here and the links at the bottom relating to the connotations of colour http://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-black/.
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