Workshop: Tabletop Abstraction (final)

Fall '13

Workshop: Lighting

Nikon D5200 DSLR

Workshop: Butterfly Lighting

What it is:

• a lighting technique that is characterized by the symmetrical butterfly shadow it creates under a subject's nose
• works best on women to accentuate cheek bones and soft skin

Butterfly Light - People I've Met by James Kendall

Alternative names:

• Glamour Lighting
• Paramount Lighting
• Beauty Lighting

How to create it:

• Materials
• Main light: softbox, rifa light, or flood light
• optional: reflector for fill light
• Place your main light high above and in front of your subject. Make sure you are shooting with the camera between the subject and the main light.
• If you are using a reflector, place that anywhere under the subject's face so it is not seen in the frame.

Setup without reflector:

Text and Diagram Source: Lighting Patterns for Portrait Photographers

Workshop: Tabletop Abstraction (sketches)

Fall '13

Photo Workshop

Nikon D5200 DSLR

18-55mm

Exciting accomplishment!

When you are on Year 2 of trying to get through college without any loans, you have to do ghetto things (aside from taking Instagram selfies) like make your own lighting equipment for class.
But here lies my very own homemade softbox! Completed by 1am.

And now, off to sleep.

EDIT (9-16-13)
Here are a few pictures that were taken with this softbox. (rough edits)

Fall '13

Nikon D5200 DSLR

18-55mm

Workshop: Abstract Still-Life (in-class)

Lowlight:

Highlight:

Fall '13

Photo Workshop

Nikon D5200 DSLR

18-55mm

Workshop: Silhouette Extraction

This was a nightmare and a half.

Workshop: Abstraction

"The best abstract photographers have complete control over their images.

They know exactly what they want to convey and the resulting image doesn’t happen by accident.

Outstanding abstracts are arguably the most difficult of all photographic images to produce,

and there are no shortcuts."

-Lynne Guimond Findlay

     In a painting or drawing, it is rather simple to create a work of art that can be labeled as "abstract". The painter creates the lines, colors, and shapes to produce something that does not already exist in the real world. As a photographer, it gets difficult because what we are trying to produce is already in front of us, and we have to think about what we want to include and exclude in our composition. If there is an object that has parts we like and parts we don't like, we have to figure out a way to distort the part we don't like so that if we had to include it in our photographs, it would serve a purpose in the composition. There is also the battle of convincing the viewers that the photograph is abstract. Many people, with good reason, have engraved the idea that photography is as real as it gets; therefore it cannot be abstracted. They see what's in front of them, and Object A is Object A. But if a photographer can distort the real world and turn it into a compilation of lines, shapes, and textures and trap the viewers' eyes in the frame to deceive them into dismissing reality, then that person has done his job in achieving abstraction. Not everyone can do this because they don't just happen by accident. Like Findlay says, "a poorly-framed, out of focus, and badly-exposed photograph is just that. It is NOT 'abstract photography'". Preach, Findlay. Preach.

Fall '13

Photo Workshop

Nikon D5200 DSLR
18-55mm