Evaluation
In this shoot I decided I
wanted to practice with gel lighting, so therefore had to use 2 honeycomb-dish
lights, pointing at the back of my subject, as well as a beauty dish and a soft
box pointing towards the front of the subject. I then had to use 'gels' which I
clipped onto the honeycomb dishes, in order to create coloured lighting. I used
colours such as red, blue, yellow and pink to signify anger, sadness, happiness
and relaxation. I wanted to experiment using colours to depict the mood of my
subject, so I reflected the coloured lighting on to a model, and asked the
model to create an expression which suited the colour; for instance, look sad
with the blue lighting. My camera was set to F11, shutter speed of 1/125 and an
ISO 100. Here is a lighting diagram of the studio that I set up:
In this image you can see
where the honeycomb dish lights were positioned, as well as the soft box and
the beauty dish.
This shoot was very
successful and I enjoyed experimenting with the different lighting technique. I
also furthered the emotion side of portraiture into my next shoot, but this
time without the gels.
In this shot, I asked my
model to look directly into the camera with straight face, and I used a pink
gel over the right honeycomb dish. In order to catch the pink lighting in the
background as well as reflecting off of the models hair, I positioned my camera
so that the lens slightly caught the light in the frame, making the colour
dispose between the background and the model. I liked this technique because it
made the lighting look like a spotlight, and also made the colour more defined.
I liked using pink with a female model as it presents a calming emotion, due to
the lighting being very soft and gentle which also relates to femininity.
I also shot a few 'happy'
photos using the colour pink and yellow lighting. However, I do not think these
came out as good as the black backdrop images did, as I think the colours
reflect better with a black background, as they stand out more. Despite this, I
do believe that this image depicts happiness as the yellow light is shining
along her face, towards her smile, which connotes radiance and shine. I also
think the pink lighting adds a feminine touch once again.
Progression
For my next shoot, I plan
to use the same concept, but without the gel lighting. This is because I want
to experiment with High Key Lighting and dark, shadowy lighting, which will
represent happiness and sadness. This again will be in the studio, and I plan
to use this shoot as a stepping-stone that will make the next one even
better.
