Artificial Light Photography 19 Pages

This sample chapter is for review purposes only. Copyright © The Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 13

 Artificial-Light   Ar Photography When you have finished reading this chapter, you will be able to: Identify the types of artificial lighting  used in photography.  Explain the effect of the inverse square law on exposure made by artificial light.  Describe the major types of portable flash equipment and how they are used.  Apply the basic techniques of studio lighting for both portrait and product photography.  Discuss the techniques for controlling light in the studio.

Ambient light: The light that already exists in a scene or space, without any additions being made. Ambient light can be natural or artificial.

How long an exposure would you have to use to capture a photo of a black cat in a coal mine at midnight? What if the subject were a white rabbit, instead of the cat? Since the description description “in a coal mine at midnight” indicates a condition of total darkness, you wouldn’t get a picture in either case, no matter matter how long you exposed exposed the film. Without light, you cannot capture a  photographic image. As you may recall from an earlier chapter, the word “photography” was coined in the year 1839 by the English astronomer  John Herschel Herschel,, who combined combined the the Greek Greek roots roots and graphos (drawing). Thus,  photos (light) and graphos some form of light is needed to produce a photograph. If natural light from the sun is not available, you obviously must supply the

necessary light to obtain a photograph. The “necessary light” can be amazingly small and dim — a tiny birthday candle would allow you to capture a picture of either the  black cat or the white rabbit with a longenough time exposure. See Figure 13-1. With a different type of artificial lighting — an electronic flash unit — you could expose your picture using a burst of intensely bright light lasting only a fraction of a second.

Figure 13-1. A black cat in a coal mine at midnight (for practical reasons in this example, a small toy cat against a black velvet background) background) can be photographed by adding only a tiny amount of light and making a long time exposure. This photo was made on ISO 160 film with an exposure of 2 minutes at f/3.5. The light was  from a small birthday candle.

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Photo & Digital Imaging

12. The lighting technique used to lighten shadow areas and reduce contrast when photographing outdoors is called _____. a. indirect flash  b. fill flash c. open flash d. bounce flash 13. A _____ is a tube placed in front of a light source to narrow and direct its beam.

Chapter 13

Artificial-Light Photography

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14. What is meant by the term, “lighting ratio?” What lighting ratio is traditionally used for portrait photography? 15. When photographing a polished metal object, would you use a small light source placed far from the object, or a large diffused source located close to the object? Why?

This portable lighting outfit consists of four tungsten-halogen fixtures with barn doors and other accessories. The outfit is suitable for portrait or product photography on location. (Smith-Victor)