Exercise 4.3 Artificial light
Exercise 4.3 asks us to produce a set of images based on artificial ambient light. I was always confused by the term ‘ambient light’ and so I researched it. Curiously it can relate to artificial light or natural daylight. The emphasis is on not producing extra lighting as in staged photos for example or flash light which is ultimately a staged or produced light for effect.
For me beauty can be produced by artificial or ambient light. It is not easy to manipulate natural daylight although with some skill and a reflector or two plus the time of day, it can be done. With artificial light that is not staged (studio lighting) there is yet more of a challenge. Here I have produced a number of images, that are mostly ambient artificial light but with some staged images that are very basically lit.
Artificial ambient light images:
Images taken outside at night under artificial street light. There were two different ‘temperatures’ lighting here.
What I have learned here is that lighting is incredibly variable depending on many factors. The main factors as explained in the research section are to do with: directionality, intensity, source etc. I explore this more in the research section.
The difference between artificial light and daylight as I see it are as follows:
- Daylight is diffuse, more even as it lands on subjects with a variable colour temperature according to time of day.
- Daylight is less controllable with photography than artificial light
- Artificial light can be manipulated to be warm or colder in temperature.
- Artificial light has a more ‘chemical’ feel to it, and it produces different tones and reflections when it is reflected.
OCA log level 1 Photography 