This test strip was produced with aperature 8 with 3.5 seconds. It is too light, so I increased the time.
Hard Light Still Life
This full print was taken at aperature 5.6 and exposed for 7 seconds. It expresses hard light because the light is hitting the flower is such a way as to make it really stand out from the background.
Soft Light Still Life
This test strip was taken at aperature 5.6 and exposed for 7 seconds, and it looks pretty good!
Please ignore the rainbow (my scanner...). This full print was taken with the same settings as the test strip and came out fairly well. It demonstrates soft light because of the gentle shadows in the backgroung, as well as the ones showing the texture on the flower.
Hard Light Landscape
This was taken at aperature 8, exposed for 9 seconds. The contrast here is very good, and it demonstrates hard light in the drastic shadow changes on the pathway and in the trees where the sunlight falls.
I had a lot of trouble with this print. This is taken at aperature 2.8 and exposed for 15 seconds. It was supposed to demonstrate soft light in the landscape form, but no matter what I tried to do on the enlarger, I could not manipulate it enough to show that. In order for it to be soft light, the reeds in the background would have to be darker, and not hit directly by the sunlight. The same thing would have to happen with the algae (or whatever it is) growing on top of the water. Another problem is the trees in the background. The sunlight is hitting them directly on the top, but you can through to the inner branches, which are submerged in shadow. It was a little disappointing because I quite like the photograph itself, it just doesn't convey what I wanted it to.
Image Bank
This photograph was taken by Michele Clement, from the States. Clement won this year's first place Photographer of the Year award at the Annual Spider Awards Show. I chose this picture because it demonstrates soft light with the faint shadows. I also love the way Clement has captured a skewed moment; it's very creative.
This photograph was created by Cole Thompson. He decided to become a photographer at an early age, studying photography from both books and personal experiences. I liked this image in particular because of how creepy it is within the car, which is then contrasted by the bright sky seen through the winshiedl. It also demonstrates hard light, with the shadows and sharp contrast between black and white.
This photograph is from Steve Walton, a photographer from the UK. He has a passion for nature, where he gets his inspiration for photography. I chose this picture because of the natural elements of it. It is a beautiful landscape composition, and I love the way that Walton used the scant sunlight to his advantage, focusing on the rocks, which are not the center of the image.
Theory Notes
Hard Light
This demonstrates hard light because you can see the sharp shadow image of the finger on the hand. Hard light images, when outdoors, should be taken at a time when the sun is high and will give the best shadows and contrast. If you are using studio lighting, you should position the lights in such a way that will create shadows on the central object or person.
Soft Light
This demonstrates soft light. You can still see the shadow of the finger of the palm of the hand, but it is much softer. To achieve this with natural lighting, you would have to shoot at a time when the sun will not create as many shadows, and the contrast is more gentle than drastic. With studio lights, just position the lights so that it is spread evenly across the subject. You may also want to dim the lights.
Three Point Lighting
Three point lighting is fairly self explanatory. There are three lights, positioned in a semi circle around the subject. All three lights should be pointing at the subject, and coming from different directions.
