Studio

For this unit I've included seven pictures and these pictures fall into the following categories,  the first being my portrait of the very photogenic Agnes.  This picture could fall in the categories of fashion or portraiture.  I took this picture with my Nikon D5100, an 18-55 kit lens with a soft-box facing her, lighting just off to her side.  The soft box was perfect for her skin as it diffused the light so no harsh shadows, although the light was slightly above her and this did create a shadow under her chin that I should have filled with another light or a reflector.  I wont lose sleep over the fact I didn't use a fill light because the angle also enhances her cheekbones.  

My second picture is an advertisement for a new game.  I chose a white background to keep the viewers attention on the product.  I used two lights, one behind the table shining through it to whiten the background and one above it to light my subject.  The above light wasn't being diffused from the table like the rear light so it was slightly more powerful this created a nice shadow so the subject didn't look like it was floating in mid air.

My third picture was of a bottle, it was an advertising shot.  I used one light to create a shadow of the bottle, I then changed the angle of that light until I had the affect I was looking for, whilst still having enough light for the label.  

My fourth picture is of a flower and is a still life.  I used two lights, one at the rear shining through the almost translucent petals and one with a soft-box in front to enhance the detail of the pollen.

  My fifth is of a necklace and should be considered advertising.  I took this with one light from the front and slightly to the side so to have as many catch lights as possible on the shiny surface. I then added a cross screen filter that I found in my cameras retouch settings, this turned the picture into a jpeg so wouldn't be ideal for a client demanding raw.  That said I still liked the effect and for this project it wasn't unideal. 

For my sixth picture I did another still life but this time I used only one light and that light was above and at the back of my subject, creating a nice shadow in front and enough light on top so you can still see the petals.

For my seventh I used a ruler sitting on a piece of old wood.  I then used a light shining from the back on an angle just right to enhance the shadows of the ridges in the wood so adding contrast to the texture yet still lighting my subject.

Historically most studios have been used for portraiture, fashion and still life.  These days there are lots more genres here are a few advertising, pets, beauty, family, scientific, art, political the list goes on.  But why choose a studio over the free light that we get from our sun?The main reason would be convenience.  It's a lot easier and more reliable to use a studio since you can control the light,  control the weather and you don't have to carry your equipment around.  In a studio setting photographers will usually work with one or more of these three  basic lights flash, hotlights or cool lights. There are also lots of different light modifiers that can be used in conjunction with the lights that include soft-box, reflectors, striplight, umbrellas, beauty dish, snoot, barn-door and many more.  Carrying this stuff about on location is a lot harder than using it in the studio.  Some fashion photographers will still do this very effectively but a studio makes using all this equipment a lot easier.  Using a studio for portraiture can be extremely effective since the weather won't ruin the clothes, you can add wind with a fan for that outside look, you can control the light so no waiting chasing the perfect light you can conveniently turn on your lights and start shooting, this could also make your model happier and increase the number of perfect shots in any amount of time than you could ever get from working on location.  Scientific studios are perfect for experiments for the same reasons but one more vital reason is that for any experiment to be successful it needs to be done the same each time or the results will be wrong.  Still life in a studio gives the photographer a lot more time to think about composition and less time worrying about lighting.  Studio photography can be of benefit when photographing pets as they will be more relaxed indoors so you can get the all important sitting shot? I can see the benefits of studio photography for most of the subjects I've listed and understand it plays a vital role in some of them.  In my opinion animals and children are best photographed outside where they can be free to run about safely but for the others listed, studio, in most cases would be more suited.



Chosen 7