One of the great challenges (and joys) of studio photography is controlling light. The word photography means “light drawing,” which I think is wonderful. In the studio, we can (and must) control light very precisely, creating mood and texture and eliciting whatever emotion we want.
So here are two versions of the same subject: a face mask that Karen made to protect us when we go out into the world of the virus. Nothing changed between the two photos, except for the lighting. And, believe it or not, both exposures are virtually identical (of you look at the places on each mask where the elastics begin, you will see that this is true.) And yet, the mood and feeling you get when you look at each image individually is dramatically different. Here, I’ll show you what I mean. Pick the mask that says, “maternity ward with new babies” and then pick the mask that says “Intensive Care Unit loaded with dying Covid 19 patients.” I bet you didn’t hesitate.
So, what changed? In the shot on the left the lighting came from directly overhead, with a harsh backlight added from behind. And the shot on the right was made with a large, soft light source at 45 degrees above, with the shadows filled in with a reflector. Both setups are very simple (this whole shoot took about 15 minutes and I didn’t take more than 6 frames of each version).
Ah, the magic of drawing with light!
Here is the big Flickr version.
Meta: Pentax K-3, 100mm f/2.8 macro at f/9, ISO 100, 1/160th of a second, lighting setups as described above, some refining in Photoshop
