Introduction to Digital Camera Work and Lighting in a Studio Setting Workshop
Yesterday, I attended an Introduction to Digital Camera Work and Lighting in a Studio Setting workshop, in order to further develop some of my ideas for my Biophilia project. During this workshop, we learned about how manual camera settings, such as aperture and shutter speed, combined with lighting, can be used to affect the tone of a photograph.
During the workshop, we got the opportunity to work in groups of two to set up lighting and objects related to our project, and to photograph these in various ways. I found the experience of working with another person to be extremely helpful, as I feel that it was valuable to think of ideas with another person who could contribute different experiences and opinions than my own. Here are some examples of photographs that I took during the workshop:
Firstly, in my group, we decided to try wrapping a clear plastic sheet around a small toy that looked like Earth, which we then placed on top of a piece of artificial grass. We then shone a torch and a red light on the objects, to represent global warming and climate change. I feel that using the plastic to separate the Earth from the grass was effective in communicating the fact that humans are destroying the natural world through our reckless and wasteful lifestyles.
I then decided to try holding the plastic sheet in front of my camera lens and shining the red light on the plastic when taking photographs, to investigate how this would affect the image. This resulted in a much rougher effect in the image, which made it slightly more difficult to see the Earth and the grass clearly, and which reminded me of looking at the objects through scratches, cracks or even dirt. I think that this is fascinating, as I feel that it reflects the damage that humans have done to the world, and a sense that we are losing sight of the natural world and disconnecting from it. However, I also used the torch to create a small spot of white light on the grass in front of the Earth, which I feel could represent a glimpse of hope that we could save nature, if we take immediate action.
Finally, in my group, we decided to try wrapping a sheet of red plastic around the Earth toy instead of clear plastic. I think that the effect that shining the red light on the red plastic had was extremely interesting, as it reminded me of fire or lava surrounding the Earth. I feel that this was the most effective image that we created, as the red colour of the light and the plastic clearly communicates the danger and threat of global warming and climate change.
I feel that it could be interesting to further explore the differences between natural lighting and artificial studio lighting for my Biophilia project going forward.
