Except for the logo for Orange mobile, the shots are very dull, product shots, taken in controlled lighting – probably a light tent. There is very little in the way of what we would consider creativity to the shots; they are simplify designed to show the orange to it best in marketing materials.

There is various way I guess to shoot and orange that is not a product shot we can make it more of an abstract image, so we the viewer is questioning what it is, maybe an extreme close-up on the skin to show the texture of the peel.

The quotation from Haas in the course notes regarding looking at an apple trying to see it as the first ever apple, say to me if we are looking at the familiar we cannot help to be influenced by what as happened before. Didn’t Picasso once say “good artists borrow, great artist steal.”

Looking at Haas work, I was most drawn to the Bullfighting images and other sports images, particularly of swimmers at the 1984 Olympic where he has used extreme motion blur as a way of showing the familiar in an unfamiliar way. Yes, we try to capture the sense of motion or power in our sports shot but not usually to this degree. Unfortunately as inspiring as these are they are not in my mind appropriate for an orange.

Bill Brandt also said that he allowed the camera to capture what the camera saw, without interfering too much, as opposed to shooting what he saw. This is the influence of his surrealist mentors such as Man Ray; however, I have to confess I did quite understand this statement for quite some time. I was only looking at Brandt’s nudes do I begin to he how is is is just capturing how he light is falling off the soft and complex shape of the human body. To me, some of Brandt’s nude images remind me of sculpture by Henry Moore.

There was Henry Moore in Leeds my the art gallery for most of the time I was growing up. In fact, it might still be there today, I have been left Leeds 17 years, but the more I looked at it and aged I saw it more shape in it particularly how it changed in light. This what I see in Brandt some of Brandt’s nudes such as here

The following shots were taken using a one light source, a simple pocket torch, to try to produce a set of images that show the shape and form of the orange with immediately revealing it as an orange. In a similar way that a nude is lit. Orange peel often reminds me of skin, hence where the idea came from.

These images we shot as an extension to me work on exercise 4.4, to get a basis for the full assignment. While, I like the shots although they do need further work – if they are to go forward as an assignment. My idea was to shoot the orange as a celestial body and use the orange to illustrate how light falls on a subject as opposed to how the object looks from an aesthetic point of view.

So armed with a couple of sheets of background I head out to meet a friend who has more lighting equipment that I do on Lamma Island where he lives so that we could make use of his local pub’s outside area. (Benefits of 20-degree weather in November). My friend would also be doubling as a Human light stand.

The shots were in the end set up using a single flash, occasionally with a simple snoot and my human light stand holding the light in place as required for different looks. To have two pairs of hands helps to keep the momentum going on this exercise as well as acting as a sounding board for ideas and memory jogger to make notes of the lights position.

Other than a snoot no other modifiers were used in this sequence.

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

Image 5

Image 6

Image 7

Lighting Diagrams.

As the flash was unmodified, the light from the flash is quite harsh and very directional. The exposure was set so the light from the flash would be the only light captured (except image which was shot as a reference point).

The direction and angle of the light are crucial in all the pictures, how much overspill the there is, to reveal more or less of the orange and the texture of the skin.

This thing with control lighting is that compared to Natural or Ambient artificial light is that is completely controllable and through the use of modified be made to create any look you want – it can even be combined with ambient light to create even more dramatic effects.

As I have said many times I live in Hong Kong – is doesn’t make me unique there is another 7 million of us, but it what as defined my photography up to this point. And as I said in my notes for Assignment 3 I shoot a lot of B&W to avoid the non-descript light, but in general, when I do shoot colour it in the evening and night under the light from the signs and buildings and that is down to the compound nature of the artificial light.

This course had made me realize the street are bathed in a mix of lighting street lamps, Neon Signs, shop window, even car head lights. This combination of temperatures creates a sophisticated look and while our eyes and brains and process all this information; an image requires (without extensive post-processing) just demand the choice of one colour temperature. This leads to different looks from one image/scene depend which light source you focus on.

Below is a sequence of shots taken around Hong Kong in various situations using various types of artificial light.

 Image 1

Taken in a building entrance, lit by I think florescent tubes. Auto White balance on the camera has given, excellent realistic tone. The light is bathing the subjects evenly and much like early or late in the day and is wrapping the subjects.

Image 2

Taken at 10:10 pm in the street, the subject is bathed in light from signs, windows and the white balance was set using the Lightroom eyedropper on the grey road. Where is a distinct cool tone to the light but it is not harsh it still bathes the subject.

Image 3

Shot indoors, but it is the mixture of tungsten and daylight as there is massive glass roof to this building. Setting the white balance for the daylight has exaggerated the orange glow of the tungsten lights. This what I like to play with; mixing temperatures isn’t possible in pure daylight.

Image 4

Shot in the evening using auto-white balance and setting in post-production to the cooler tones coming from the shops and restaurants. This allows me to use the light to give a sense that it is close to midnight although it is only around 6 pm.

Image 5

The same image as above with the white balance warmed to, pick up on the streetlights and reflect the scene more how the eye and brain processed the scene.

Overall as I have said above ambient artificial light more often than not can reflect the characteristics of the softer light of sunset or sunrise just with and a more complex shift in colours.

Taken just after sunrise the sun had been up since about 20mins. The light is soft and cool. While not harsh, the light is not enveloping the World, as does the light at sunset.

Image 2

Taken about midway into the morning golden hour, the light has warmed somewhat with the sun appearing over the building, but there is still a coolness and flatness to the light.

Image 3

Taken at around 9 am, the sun is well into the sky, the light is now cold and completely flat, there is some diffusion from the cloud and pollution, the best thing about this light is that it is even.

Image 4

Taken mid – afternoon around 2 pm the light is now bright, all details are visible on the bridges, and it has brought out the green in the water, but the light has no form it is flat and lifeless.

Image 5

Taken at 17:10 on the cup of the golden hour, the light is considerably different to the afternoon shot there is a warm to the light, there are no real subtle shadows as the sky has clouded over a little. The main standout is the light wraps the subjects and creates a 3-D effect.

Image 6

17:30 well into the golden hour, the white balance has shifted creating a blue tinge to the scene, the light is complicated keeping the 3-D shaping. There is warmth to the light.

Image 7

17:50 the moment of sunset – the sky is darkening the there is the light remains soft and warm wrapping the subject. There are details in the shadows and highlights, with colour and shape in he water.

Image 8

6 pm 10 minutes after sunset the warm light beginning to fade but is being supplemented by the artificial light.

White Card

Grey Card

Black Dress

The auto metering on even today camera is confused by the 3 images and try to make them all grey.

by switching to manual mode and using the histogram we can get the true shades:

White Card

Grey Card

Black Dress

What we have to remember is no matter how complex the metering in our modern camera it just sees the scene as 18% grey and adjusts for that. In most situations it gives a good result but extremes like above illustrate the problems.