When in the studio I wanted to explore how the distance of the light affects the look, is it hard or a soft shadow?
I tested this by placing an object that I found in the studio, in this case a vase with flowers, this then gave me something to focus on. By doing this test I learnt that the closer the light source is to the subject the softer the shadows and the further away the light is the harder the shadows. I believe this will help me when lighting a model in the studio as the quality of light will increase depending on what i’m shooting in the studio.
As you can see above, I took photos to test the lighting on the first image I had the light a meter away from the subject. The second image is taken two meters away and the third was taken three meters away. If you look at the shadow from the stool you can see how harder it gets the further away I place the light and how softer it is the closer it is to the light source.
So I have decided to shoot in the studio with a model. This is to experiment with hard and soft light with a subject that moves.
On the day of the shoot I had a lighting set up of a Soft box at the left side of my model and a white reflector board at the other side to bounce some light back onto the model. When I originally imagined this image I wanted a hard light as the model had dark hair and had a black dress I thought it would look good in black and white.
I am happy with my final image and the experience that I had with the model who was so patient with me when I was experimenting with light. I think this pose is unusual and that is what I found most appealing. Also, how her face is dead pan goes with the pose. I think my favourite thing about this image is how the light shapes her face. you can see this as the shadow is falling down her neck on the left of her face and the other side of her face is carefully shaped using the light from the left and as it is further away, it is softer on that side. Overall, I am happy with this image because the time in the studio producing this image has given me the time to learn a lot more about hard and soft light. I believe this is going to help me in future when creating an image with a particular look.
asmithucbcphoto 