Exercise: Contrast and Shadow Fill

Posted in OCA Learning Log Part Four. Light by

For this exercise, you needed a camera, tripod, white card, kitchen foil and still life objects.

You were asked to set up a still life. Something which was accessible to and had enough room around it to be able to move the light around the still life.

You were asked to set the camera up on a tripod and have it at the same level as the still life. Fix your light source about 2 or 3 feet away from the still life and to one side.

  • Your first photograph should be of the still life with the naked light.
  • Second should be with a diffuser
  • White card placed 3 feet away from the still life, to the opposite side of the light. Facing the still life. With diffuser
  • Move the white card twice as close. With diffuser.
  • Attach kitchen foil to the white card. Dull side facing out. Same distance as before. With diffuser.
  • Kitchen foil shiny side facing still life. Same distance as before. With diffuser.
  • Crumpled kitchen foil. Shiny side facing out. Same distance as before. With diffuser.

Compare the results.

I used the settings. ISO 400. 1/6 , F/3.5.

Naked Light:

1 full light

Diffuser:

2 diffuser

White card (2 feet approx. away):

3 white card 3 foot

White card closer:

4 white card closer

Kitchen Foil, Dull Side:

5 dull foil

Kitchen Foil, Shiny Side:

6 shiny foil

Crumpled Kitchen Foil, Smoothed Out:

7 crumpled foil

Differences:

The biggest difference you can see is between the naked lamp, and the diffuser. The photograph taken with the naked lamp is very bright and the light is harsh, whereas when taken with the diffuser, the light is less harsh.

The image taken whilst the card was approx. 2 feet away shows an overall bright image, however when the card was moved even closer, in my opinion, it became a lot darker. I was expecting the light to reflect off of the card a lot more when it was moved closer, so that was a surprise to me.

When I used the kitchen foil, I was also expecting the shiny side to reflect the light a lot more than what it did. The crumpled and smoothed out foil seemed to reflect more light than the smooth shiny side which was un expected.

By doing this exercise, I have learnt that different materials and techniques allow you to reflect light or shade light from certain parts of your image, and can make an overall better image for you.

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