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.

Light

Hard Light

It's not always a bright, sunny day thing.

Soft Light

From Nat Geo's Feathers of Seduction article - no real shadows, everything just sort of glows.

Diffuse Light 

Not very journalistic, but it's an interesting use of cloud and shadow.

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.

ASSIGNMENT: Clips, Light (Part 2)

By 9 a.m. on Friday, March 13, please post links to three photos that demonstrate the ideals of hard light, soft light and diffused light to the blog. Make sure they're tagged to your class, as well, so we can find them.

Spend some time on this - don't just grab the easiest image you can find.

For the reshoot, you need to have your second try at light on the server by 5 p.m. on Friday, March 20. Think about what David LaBelle said in class - this should be an image where the star of the photo is the light.

Have a good break, stay out of trouble.