Lighting

My examples of hard and soft lighting are from the same website. My choice for hard lighting is #9, which also displays some great golden lighting. The example of soft light that I chose was #19.

Picture #4. This is my example of diffused lighting.

Sorry these were a bit late, we did not have internet access like we were told we would at the condo, so I did these as soon as I could. Apologies.

Light

My example of hard light courtesy of Mike White.

Image number 6 here has very little shadow, soft lighting.

Not a whole lot of shadows in this one either. Diffused.

light pictures

hard light: This photo depicts hard light because of the large shadows casted to the side of the cows. This photo has good composition and movement as well.

soft light: This photo is a good example of soft light. The light from the lamp gently wraps around the woman's face.

diffused light: This photo is an example of diffused light because of the low fog or clouds. I think this is diffused light because you cannot determine where the exact light source is coming from and there are clearly no shadows.

Courtney Ebert's Light photos

My hard light photo is one of monks. The light is very directional.

My soft light photo is one of an African girl crying. The lighting makes it more somber.

For my diffused light photo, I could not pick between two. One is underwater and the other is light coming through a haze.

Light

This is my good example of soft light. The lighting here lends a very forceful sense of tranquility to the overall scene. It sets a very mellow, contemplative tone that compliments the expression on the woman's face very well. The vivid green of the grass also seems to stand out a bit better in the relative dimness. Also, this may be unrelated, but it bothers me that her foot is cut off by that chimney-looking thing at the bottom.

Here is what I considered to be diffuse light. Notice how hazy the trees in the background are because of what I'm guessing to be a combination of snow and fog (snog?). I think there's a strong feeling of desolation and bleakness here.

This would seem to be hard light. Notice how fiercely white the stuff close to the window is. As we move closer to the camera, the shadows make the bed closer to a shade of gray. Also, I can't see a single thing out of the windows, so the sun must've been burning very brightly that day, causing the highlights there to be blown out.

Light assignment.

Hard light: this photo here really uses the hard light to make the whole landscape pop. The brightness and detail afforded by a smaller aperture puts both the man and the camel in focus, so they can anchor each other.

Photo by Eugenio Pastor Benjumeda.

Soft light: This one by Dan Heller definitely makes light the star, figuratively and literally. The star trails are beautifully executed, stand out just enough from the early morning sky, and the lights in the tents bring out just enough detail and color all around to make the rest of the image compositionally interesting. Beautiful.

Diffused light: This photo by Timothy Toole is an interesting one, because it uses both the diffused light through the fog, and a tiny bit of hard light in the foreground. Great shot, anyway.

Hard, Soft, Diffused

HARD
-This photo is of an image that creates a prominent shadow and uses the sun as the direct light source. Additionally, details are lost in the wrangler's face and clothes.

SOFT
-In this picture (image 6 of 10, with the dog), no shadows are cast. It's not an especially dramatic photo, but the details are held across the frame.

DIFFUSED
-Finally, here, contrast and colors are reduced because of the weather. The only real color comes in the foreground with the skier.

Light Clips

Soft light: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/photos/photos_galleries/022709globestaffphotosoftheweek/#/14
(#14)

Hard light:
http://onlineathens.com/multimedia/galleries/030309-snow/slides/030209_Weather14_ts.html?show_param=3

Diffused light:
http://onlineathens.com/multimedia/galleries/030209-readersnow/slides/Athens_Igloo.html

Light photos: hard, soft and diffused

A little early, but here are my three images.

The New York Times has been doing a lot of narrated slideshows of Manhattan lately, and I've yet to find one that disappoints. This one is by photographer James Hill, who spent a couple weeks shooting in New York. I like the entire collection, but there are a few good examples of hard light toward the end, starting around 1:22 when he starts talking about Central Park. There's one of the subway at the end that I think is a good example too. He talks about New York's "unique light."

This photo is my soft light example from The Red & Black, taken on March 1, aka snowstorm day.

And last but not least, a photo with diffused light.

Anne's composition pictures

Here is my choice for the picture I have a question about...
It breaks the rule of thirds by putting the subject of the photo right in the center, but in my opinion, it is still well composed. I think it works because the men in the background are equally in focus, and they have color the man in the foreground is lacking. I was just wondering who agreed with me, and if not, how you would do it differently? I don't think shifting the man to the right would improve the image at all.

Here is my bad photo... I think it looks very amateur. There doesn't seem to be any thought put into the composition, the article just needed a picture of the Apollo, and someone snapped one. There's a little warping like Mark talked about as well.

This has got to be several people's choice for best composition, because its on the homepage, but I couldn't pass it up. I loved how the yellow of the fireman's outfit popped because of the smokey environment. The focus is great, even though the firefighter in the the background is also yellow, he is muted and obscured. Great use of the rule of thirds.

Composition Photos

The good:

I like the composition of this photo (# 2). I think the focus is right where it should be and I really like that you can see the reflection in the man's binoculars.

The bad:

I don't really like the composition of this photo (# 32). I think the picture could have been taken from a different angle, or even cropped better to get the cars out of the bottom and the streetlights out from the front of the sign.

The ?:

This photo (# 10) is taken from underneath ice. Would the photographer be able to to get a picture without going underwater to take it?

Composition

I really liked this photo. It has great depth of field.

I did not like this image at all. I feel like there should be less depth of field, especially since the seats are not completely filled. The background being in focus makes the image look very busy, and it takes away from the players and the ball, which should be the center of focus.

This image confused me. I wasn't sure what the focus was supposed to be. The caption refers to the people in the background, which makes me think they are the focus of the image, so I wondered why the photographer did not choose to put the people in the center of the frame. The picture also seems a little crooked to me, and I don't like how the walkway is not centered because it does not lead the eye to the focus like it should.

-Lindsay

Freeman's Composition Pics

1. GOOD PHOTO
"The 'W' Word, Re-Engaged"
-I thought this photo was great because of the way it captured the words written on the booklet, and how the book almost acted as a direct line to the man sitting down. It was clear where you were supposed to look instantly. The picture is so descriptive you don't even need a title or a passage to figure out what's going on.

2. BAD PHOTO
"Landmark downtown diner changing owners, but nothing else"
-I just felt like there was too much going on here. I'm not sure who the focal point is, and the lighting is really annoying.

3. QUESTION PHOTO
"Dappled"
-I just wanted to know how the photographer was able to put light on just the 3 subjects they wanted with this picture. It seems to be pretty effective.

Composition Pictures

Good picture:
I really like this picture because the body of the butterfly is in so clear and in focus. I find it hard to blur surrounding images while making one element sharp and this picture demonstrates this concept perfectly. Also, the colors in the picture are vivid and pleasant to the eye.

Bad picture:
I really do like this picture (picture 10/10), but I think the photographer could have snapped the picture a second later and got the tennis racket at a better angle. The composition of the picture would be more "intense" if the racket was more visible.

Question:
The composition and coloring of this picture is unreal. It looks painted and the reflection of the mountains in the water is without a single flaw. My question is, did it take a lot of "photoshopping" to get this image to look this way? Also, can the cameras we are given to use take pictures of this quality? If not, what type of camera took this?

Composition Photos

This is my choice for a great photo. The positioning is very well done, colors are great, and it's something interesting to look at.


My choice for bad composition is this photo. Maybe the photographer couldn't get another good shot but his aim is a bit off and the fuzzed out policeman in the foreground distracts us from the subject.

My question picture is this one. How in the world can you get this effect? It's absolutely stunning.

Kelly's Composition Photos

I really liked this photo. The fencing down the middle helps guide the viewers eyes through the picture and the whole space is filled in an interesting way.

I wasn't a huge fan of this photo. I feel like there was definately a good idea behind it, but it is a little to hazy for my taste. Not only that, but only the horse on the left side is the only one which is clear. I found it to be distracting.

I really liked this picture also but as I was looking at it, I wondered why the photographer didnt move her camera to the right or left a little bit more so that she was able to get more of the white horse and less of the backsides of the horses in the background.

Composition Photos

I thought this photo had a nice composition. The bridge guided the eye to the ferry and it was placed well (rule of 3rds).

I thought this photo compositionally was a bit sloppy. Maybe the photographer was going for "chaos," but it starts to give me a headache if I look at it too long.

My question about the composition of this picture was why the photographer chose to be so far away from the subject. It seems like some of the information in the photo (like the car sticking out on the left) could have been left out in favor of a closer shot.

The good, the bad, and the question

Good photo
I thought this picture, the first in this "The Big Picture" series titled "African Immigration to Europe," was very well-done. The boldness of the red blanket really makes the subject pop in contrast to the dark browns and blues of the background. It also follows the rule of thirds which I think works well here. And lastly, the expression on this man's face really grabs your attention and captures the essence of the story.

Not-so-good photo
I wasn't crazy about this photo. I liked individual parts of it, like the fallen crane, the anger in the man's face (assuming he's telling the photog to go away ... who knows?). Some parts of it seem out of focus, and it's just busy overall. The guy on the left is distracting, as well as the cut-off guy on the right. I just think the photographer could have achieved a better angle with a little less clutter.

Questionable photo
This Reuters photo was of a serve during a recent tennis match. I think it looks kind of cool in a Magic Eye, playing-around-with-Photoshop kind of way, but I think sports photos look best with the traditional frozen snapshot, with lots of detail, as opposed to the blurriness of this one. My question is when do sports photogs choose to go for a non-traditional shot like this one, and why?

Composition

Good: I thought this photo's composition was powerful. The photographer is almost eye level with the man crawling so you get a personal view of his facial expressions. Also, their is a sense of direction from this man and the others in the background as they are crawling. Would the composition be better if the photographer were not dead on with the man crawling?

Bad: I don't think this photo is well composed. I'm not even sure where the focal point is? or what is even going on in this picture. My eye is not directed in any particular place.

Question: When is it good to put the focus in the center? In this photo, does it work?

Betsy's Composition Pics

I really like the first picture in this slideshow; because I thought it was good contrast between the clear ice and the color of the bird. Also I thought the bird and icicles were in very much in focus. I didn't like this picture, because I thought it was too dark to the point where you couldn't even really make out the subjects. This is the picture I have a question about. I like it but I was just wondering how high of a shutter speed this was shot at and I thought it was a cool angle.