This article is about how some researchers at MIT think that drones might make the perfect lighting assistant for photographers. The idea is that once you’ve set up the drones in relation to a model’s face they’ll maintain that distance/direction no matter how the model moves or what position they get into. It’s an interesting idea, and if they need someone to test their concept out, I’ll gladly volunteer.
I really liked this article by Joel Grimes. A lot of what he says here really resonates with me and what I’ve seen as a photographer, but my favorite bullet point from his article is this one:
Member of the Professional Photographer Whining Club (PPWC) - Stop whining. the industry is difficult, clients are difficult but there is no need to talk about this all the time. The solution – Encourage others and be excited about the creative process.
So true. I used to know an illustrator who jumped into freelancing for a while. I would see his posts on Facebook all the time complaining about how this client was wanting another version, or that client was late paying him, or how frustrating meeting with people was…. It had the overall effect that I eventually started to think of him as a terrible illustrator. Even though his work was decent, and he was getting jobs regularly, his constant complaining made me think that he must be terrible, because he’s telling me all the time about how much he’s failing. And of course, I get that it was probably cathartic to complain on Facebook about his clients and meeting people…. but at the cost of damaging his reputation to all those people he knows on Facebook who might have hired him. I wouldn’t hire someone I knew would probably complain about me to his friends. It’s something I try and keep in mind when I say things to people or post things online. Day to day, I love what I’m doing. That’s the message I should be sending out to people. Photography is great!
This picture is by Javier Vallhonrat from 2005 for Fendi and Flair. It is an homage to the american painter Edward Hopper. I really like this picture. Let’s talk about what makes it work for a minute.
The first thing that jumps out at me about this picture is the way the wall behind the model has been painted. It’s really subtle, but it seems to have been painted in layers of wash in order to evoke something similar to the type of brush strokes Edward Hopper used in his work. The low saturation green is a great color contrast to the faded peach/orange dress the model is wearing as well. Putting a warm color in front of a cooler one makes it really stand out, since warm colors seem to move forward in images and cooler colors seem to recede. So that color contrast is great, and really makes the model pop out of the image.
The second thing about it is the lighting. The hard geometric light that looks like it’s coming in from the window is doing an amazing job of creating leading lines to the model’s face, hands and feet. Also notice how the model’s raised leg is at the exact same angle, and almost seems connected to the hard shadow on the wall. There is no way that is coincidence.
So there’s great color, great leading lines, now let’s look at tonal range. The tonal range in this image is fairly low, with one exception. My guess is that there’s a light source in the room, probably very large and high camera left. This light source is preventing the dark parts of the image from getting to be too dark. Notice that there are no heavy, black shadows anywhere in the image. The only part of the image that has any kind of darkness to it is the model’s hair. And, luckily, it’s right next to one of the brightest parts of the image, the front of the model’s face where the “sunlight” is hitting her (not a coincidence… see how her head now has the highest contrast in the image, so the viewer’s eye is drawn straight to it?).
Anyways. It’s a great image, and I’m really digging all the choices made in it. The rest of the Fendi and Flair gallery is great too, I highly recommend taking a few moments to check it out.
This commencement speech by Ryan Mcginley has some great advice for new photographers. Check it out, it’s pretty great!
This is a practice image. For this picture I wanted to start out and make a portrait on a light background that had the subject’s face emerging from shadow. So it’s half silhouette, half mysterious portrait. This is a pretty tricky thing to pull off, you have to have really strong light control in order to light the front of the face but not the rest of the head/ears/shoulders. And to add to that challenge, I wanted a vivid splash of colorful light coming in as an accent on the darker side of the face.
The way I solved this was to use a gridded stripbox for the front of the face, and then set up a gridded speedlight with two purplish gels camera right. Then it was just a matter of placing a gobo to keep the magenta light off the shoulder and ear, put a speedlight behind for the background, and it’s done.
This is one of those setups that is invaluable. You’re learning about how to control light and shadow on a subject, and how to put light exactly where you want, and not anywhere else in the frame. Using this same technique I could put a magenta accent highlight almost anywhere on a subject, highlighting whatever feature I want to highlight. It’s super controlled, so you definitely don’t want your subject moving around a lot, but once it (and they) are locked it the results can be spectacular.
When you’re just starting out as a photographer the first thing people do is start to throw a lot of light around in all directions. That’s a great place to begin, but as you progress as a technician you should always be looking for ways to refine your control over the light, deciding where it should go and what it should do. Tell the light what to do. Your images will be better for it.
This video by Aaron Blaise is a really great showcase of how to use photographic references to create realistic textures in digial paintings. This tutorial definitely leans more in the illustration direction than most photographers go, but there’s a lot of really great tips and tricks in there that could very easily be applied to photographic retouching. The trick Aaron does at 9:35 using an erodible brush to emphasize highlights on the wrinkled texture… I could definitely see myself using that one on an image in which I was trying to bring the viewer’s attention to something like an elderly man’s skin texture.
Looking outside of straight up photography for ideas and techniques can be very very rewarding. Suddenly your influences and teachers become endless.
This is an idea I had for a self challenge. Basically think of a photography trope… an idea that has been done to death. Photoshoot on railroad tracks. Portrait in front of a rustic brick wall. Picture of homeless person looking sad. Take that idea and use it as a starting point. Figure out a way to turn it on it’s head, or to shoot it in a way that no one’s ever done before. It doesn’t have to be mind blowing or super insightful, but you have to try and figure out how to make it different and your own.
There are so many photography tropes out there. guy with a guitar. girl with suitcase. wingback chair in a field. bed in a field. Choose one and then add one as many ideas as you can. Maybe the bed in the field is on fire. Maybe the guy with a guitar is terrible, and everyone wants him to stop playing. Maybe the chair in the field is being used by wildlife. Subvert, break, and rearrange the elements of tropes into something new. Remix remix remix.
