Exercise 4.3: Egg or Stone.

Amethyst Sphere

Use a combination of quality, contrast, direction and colour to light an object in order to reveal its form. For this exercise, we recommend that you choose a natural or organic object such as an egg or stone rather than a man-made object. Man-made or cultural artefacts can be fascinating to light but they’re already authorised authored to some degree, which requires interpretation by the photographer; this exercise is just about control in the light to reveal form.

you don’t need a studio light for this exercise; A desk lamp or even window light will be fine, although a camera flash that you can use remotely is a useful tool. The only proviso is that you can control the way the light falls on the subject.

Take some time to set up the shoot. If you’re already shooting an egg, you should think about emptying it first so that it will stand up. This is really a topic for advanced students at Level 3 but you may need some help from Google. The background for your subject will be crucial. For a smallish object, you can take a large sheet of paper or card to the wall as an ‘infinity curve’ which you can mask off from the main light source by pieces of card. You don’t need to use a curve if you can manage the ‘horizon line’ effectively – they line where the surface meets background. Taking a high viewpoint will make the surface the background, in which case the surface you choose will be important to the shot.

exposure times will be much longer than you’re used to (unless you’re using a flash) and metering and focusing will be challenging. The key to success is to keep it simple. The important thing is to aim for four or five unique shots – either change the viewpoint, the subject or the lighting for each shot.

Add the sequence to your learning log. Draw a simple lighting diagram for each of your shots showing the position of the camera, the subject and the direction of the key light and fill. Don’t labour the diagrams; quick sketches with notes will be just as useful as perfect graphics.

Exemplar: https://ivanradman.wordpress.com/2015/12/15/4-4/

Exercise 4.3: Egg or stone rough

I have just considered the exemplar by Ivan Radman. I found the exemplar precisely impressive. Ivan’s images are aesthetically pleasing, he captured the visual light of the egg’s form with a strong yet simple effective approach to the exercise. The images produced were visually relative. It’s interesting that I feel the simpler the object the more one can appreciate simple beauty. The light on the egg exhibited the importance of the exercise effectiveness.

The images and diagrams accomplish good results, for ones progression of understanding light. Observing Ivans work assisted me with thoughts about my own personal experimentation for this exercise, and development of beneficial skills and techniques I can use again. I think creativity is key but it doesn’t need to become complex at this point in my opinion.

The idea for my own experiment consists principally of thoughts of where to place the artificial lighting, and from what positions to place them. Ivan’s diagrams were of a simpler approach. However, simple but informative diagrams. The relationships of the images connected with the diagrams perfectly. I hope to achieve good quality light, using contrasting light sources – using different direction positions with the light. Highlighting colour too.

My chosen object might be a polished amethyst ball. I own a ball like this and I am considering photographing it. It shape should be reveal different contours and outlines, and the forms appearance with assistance of the lighting execution. I hope to produce an light to produce artistic yet simple images. I feel a natural object would work well for this exercise. I believe the object – amethyst ball is of the right size to light. I will use a combination of lighting. The cameras flash, side lamps, a torch ? I will try different positions for various results. I liked the idea Ivan done used where he used light sources opposite one another. I will use white balance on auto, with my camera set to manual mode. I will consider the background. Please see my results and supporting diagrams in my learning log.

Learning Log for 4.3 Egg or Stone

Having researched and drawn up my plan I am about to see how the experiment turns out. I will then add the results shortly.

Update… the experiment results was fairly subtle. I am happy with my results though.

In my initial shot I was using an amethyst sphere, which was secured. I tried to slightly elevate it. This was done by placing something underneath the white sheet, which is where the sphere was photographed on. I wanted to slightly angle the sphere for a different perspective. Shooting from different angles relatively close.

I used a large white sheet as my background which was secured via clips onto a hard surface on the bed. I used a tripod so that the shots are sharp. The sphere was completely steady. My aim was to get fairly close, but hoped to avoid contortion. I experimented with various lighting which can be seen below.

I attempted to frame the images as satisfactorily as possible. The white background was simple. This was to assist with dramatic effects with the lighting, capturing what should be clear shots. The white background and the purple amethyst are harmonious together. White will go with most colours or all colours for that matter, so I am sure the sphere look good against the white. Hopefully, the contrast is effective enough for viewers. I would like to do this experiment with a clear crystal sphere for refraction. Almost like another lens. However, they are rather expensive so I would need to save up for this.

My first experimentation with light was to use two same sized side lamps, either side one another, one on the left and one on the right, equally set apart. In the second experiment I removed one lamp in exchange for a larger one. The light above will be removed.

In experimentation two I added a mirror for a gradient effect and depth of field. In experimentation three I intended to take a light away from the right side and see what is happening in regards to shadowing. I then added a shoebox for the fourth experiment. The shoebox is to see how the light does bounce and reflects.

In experimentation five I continued to shot with the shoebox to the side. However, I am did introduce baking paper in order to diffuse the light.

Experiment six seen above consisted of a light above the sphere and one in front of the sphere. Finally the last experiment which is influenced by Ivan Radman is to use the natural lighting from a window and the artificial lighting from a side lamp, to the right of the sphere. Natural light on a cloudy day gave me a diffused light. Adding artificial light gives some reflection. Giving some radiance.