Brian Powell

-Lafayette Lighting Guru, Brian Powell, came to our class and gave amazing workshop.
Check his website:  www.brianpowell.info

1. Lighting is about making a good decision
2. Lighting in layers
3. First decision will be Ambient Light, figure Key Light, and add Fill Light
4. Color, Modifier and Triggers
5. More important what you don't light than what you do
6. Speedlites basically act as their own snoot and studio lights are more exposed* reason to bring studio light on location

Key Equipment...
-Flash Bracket
-Super Clamp
-Jobi Gorilla Pod (flexible tripod) for small flash or camera
-Ball Bungees, zip ties, scissors, tape
-Gels to correct for color (most speedlites are daylight balanced) or for EFFECT
-Velcro straps
-Mini Octobox
-Lastolite Easybox (like a soft box 2'x2')
-Painter's pole
-Instead of a speed-ring use a frame
-Trigger (Paul C. Buff for Alien Bees around $70)
-Lumiquest (10'x14' for headshot portrait or details, composite shots)
-Gary Fong
-Sanyo Interloopt (battery) (@ $200)

Getting your own... (options)
-Vivitar 285 (around $200) OR
Nikon SB28
-Optical Slave (flashzebra.com) senses instant light

After Powered ON...
-Modes- ETTL (speedlite is on your camera and flash compensates for camera settings), M (manual-consistant), Multi (stroboscopic you can change how many times it flashes with each exposure)
-Zoom- one hit, then use scroll wheel (zooms the flash head closer or further from the end) SO at 105mm its like using a snoot,  at 24mm its gives you a broader spread, use diffuser panel to act like a catch light
master on (this specific light sends the signal to the other flashes)
slave on (lightning bolt) (this is the light receiving the signal to trigger)
-MANUAL MODE- set (in middle of wheel) at full power 1/1 and all the way down to ex: 1/128th he usually sets his to 1/8 to 1/4 power, rarely uses full
****KNOW YOUR GEAR! READ THE MANUAL! ****
-Test button is called the pilot (to test the recycle time) (if it turns green and then red it takes awhile to get ready) (green=not ready, red=ready)

shutter snitch

Examples of Broad lighting and Short Lighting

http://photoartsforum.com/broad_vs_short_light-t715.0.html

Examples of Rembrant Lighting and Butterfly Lighting

http://www.portraitlighting.net/patternsb.htm

Lighting Technique

http://tips.romanzolin.com/articles/article011.php

Introduction to Studio Lighting

Workshop and lecture conducted by Lindsay M. McCormick

March 2012

Welcome!

Welcome to the class, AD269 Lighting Fundamentals
Now course syllabus and project descriptions are updated in the blog.
Check Assignment 1,2,3,4,5 to see what you would expect to do in this class.

I wanted to let you know about the reception for Photoworks 2012 exhibit in the Reuff Galleries in Pao. The reception will be on Thursday evening, January 19th from 5-7pm.
Reception is mandatory, especially if you have work in the show. Please, also, try and bring something to share (food-wise) for this event. Cookies, fudge, chips and salsa, veggies and hummus, whatever... Let me know if you can come and what you'd like to bring. Food will need to be there no later than 4:45 so that we can have everything set up before visitors arrive.

BRING THE EQUIPMENTS YOU CHECKED OUT! TOMORROW, WED 18TH

Fact and Fiction

Choose one from the two following themes. 

Fact and Fiction: 1 Image, Minimum of 12"x16"

Due: Dec 8th

Soon after the invention of photography and its subsequent use as an “objective” scientific tool of observation photographs began to be manipulated. While photographic manipulation has a history nearly as long as the process itself, photographs continue to be the mainstay in which we experience history, receive the news and provide evidence of scientific discovery. Many major news publication such as Time magazine, the New York Times and National Geographic, to name a few have manipulated photographs to create a more appealing and dramatic image to a story. Artists such as Joan Foncuberta and Christine Chin have taken advantage of the objective role of photography and have used it to create fictions that are presented as fact.

For this assignment, I would like you to create a photographic hoax with the intention of conveying it as the objective “truth”. Consider how manipulated images in the news have possibly (re)shaped our ideas of historical and cultural events. Invent an event, alternate history or scientific discovery and create a photograph will serve as evidence of the event, history or discovery. 

It's a Small World:1 Image, Minimum of 12"x16"

Due: Dec 8th

Itʼs a Small World allows for the exploration of the studio as a viable part of an artistic practice. Working small will give you the freedom to construct realities, which may have never existed otherwise. The studio is a space to explore the interrelationships of control and experimentation. It stands apart from the social world, but it is indirectly connected. The isolation may allow some to explore ideas that involve identity (self and the construction of meaning), while many others will remake or allegorize the outside world. For all, this is an opportunity for the improvisation and execution of elaborate plans.

Steps Outline:

Your miniature set should not be any larger 3 feet square. Prefabricated sets may be used. ie. dollhouse

Begin with sketch of your potential set. Identify any potential hurtles and accompanying solutions. Identify lighting needs. Construct for set with lighting needs in mind. ie. does a wall need to be transparent or a roof removed. Make at least 4 images you’re your setup(s) and 2 prints for critique.

Materials Ideas:
Cut paper and photographs, dollhouses, snow globes, food, toys, models, clay, play dough.

Lighting Ideas:
Flash Lights, studio strobes, work lights, mirrors, colored lights.

Tips
Plan ahead, and have all of the item in hand and ready before you begin.
Have sketch and/or images that you draw inspiration from.
Sketch lighting setup.Use the hand held meters

Bracket your exposures: +1⁄2, +1, –1⁄2, and –1 stop - Choose an f-stop that gives you the effect that you want - FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS

Project 3: Interrupted Landscape

Final 

Minimum of 2 final prints

Digital Contact Sheet

Minimum of 60 images shot for editing

The Final Assignment is designed to have you looking at the landscape/society/world that surround you. Most people think of landscapes as being a documentation of pristine beauty as in the photographs of Ansel Adams. However landscapes can include suburbia, urban landscapes, seascapes, futurerama,fairytale landscape, inner landscape, emotional landscape,,,,,you name it.  For this assignment, you would be creating a inner landscape that exist in your mind. It could be photographing scenes where the presence of man has altered the natural landscape and you collect them together and edit them to sense of your own landscape; this alteration can be obvious or subtle. Your image could be representation of Utopia or dystopia. Your series of images should have connective thread through use of camera control, light, style, or subject [conceptual or physical]. Please creatively utilize photographs you shot for Shooting Assignment (Exploring a Space and Recognizing light)

Artists:

Gregory Crewson

Thomas Demand

Dainel Kaufmann

Alison Carey

Jeff Wall

Joel Peter Witkins

Richard Misrach

Edward Burtynsky

John Pfhal

Joel Sterfeld

Stephen Shore

Robert Adams

Lewis Baltz

Mark Klett

Patrick Nagatani

Requirements

2 final Minimum 8.5"x11" Maximum 12x16 Prints

2 Final edited images resized for web – 1200 pixels long dimension – jpg format-upload them to your blog

2 final 12x16 Prints

Digital Contact Sheet

If you are in need of help outside of the scheduled class time please see me during my office hours or make an appointment by e-mail.  Group appointments to answer technical questions are advised and very much appreciated.  


Due by Dec 6th (Thursday)

Digital Photography Tutorial

Easy Easy Tutorial to learn the basic Digital Photography and Studio Lighting

Digital Photography 1 on 1: Episode 1

Digital Photography 1 on 1: Episode 2

Digital Photography 1 on 1: Episode 3