Project 2: The beauty of artificial light: Exercise 2 Artificial Light

Capture ‘the beauty of artificial light’ in a short sequence of shots (‘beauty’ is, of course, a subjective term). The correct white balance setting will be important; this can get tricky – but interesting – if there are mixed light sources of different colour temperatures in the same shot. You can shoot indoors or outside and the light can be ambient or handheld flash.

Add the sequence to your learning log. In your notes try to describe the difference in the quality of light from the daylight shots in Exercise 4.1.

In the sequence of photos below I have experimented with artificial light both in colour and black and white. Having read about chiaroscuro and the contrast in light and shading across an entire image composition, I decided to experiment and look for scenes that had elements of chiaroscuro effect. Shooting in manual opened up creative opportunities and I used the light to create atmosphere, utilising the shadows, tones and different light sources. I played around with iso, shutter speed, white balance, and aperture as well as using a tripod. As it got darker I noticed that some of the lights were coming out as white blobs (highlights were blown) so I increased the aperture and found that above f8 this created a starburst effect.
Compared to the daylight shots I found the artificial light directional depending on the source cast different colours of light and created lots of shadows and light casts. These varied between white, yellow and orange and I tried to capture scenes as I saw them as well as looking for scenes that would translate well into B&W.