13/02/2017 - DOCUMENTING WORK - LIGHTING FOR FINE ART

Our workshop on lighting and photographing artworks was very interesting. Only myself and two others from my group turned up, which in some ways was better as it allowed us to have a much more hands-on approach and become more involved with the process.

First we compared the difference between normal bulb room lighting with specialist photography lights. It was immediately obvious the difference, as Harriet's hair was now shiny and glossy, with high and low tone much more pronounced.

We then also played around with lighting behind the subject, a technique commonly used for actors in movie posters. This produces a 'Rim' lighting effect which gives the image a dramatic feel, and picks out the contours of the human face, giving a chiselled, controlled look.

After this we moved away from portraiture and on to how to present and light our selected works which we had brought along. For the piece of Christ and the mobile phone, backgrond was the hardest part to get right. As the object was so large and structurally complex, it was tricky to get the shadows looking consistent and even. At first we photographed the piece simply against a grey background, however this didn't really help the crisp white frame and bright yellow wax 'pop'.

Next, we shone a light onto the background board from beneath the supporting table, which produced a glow halo along the horizon line which immediately looked more professional, however from this angle a lot of the depth created by the thick wooden frame was lost, so we wanted to make further improvements to highlight this. 


By angling the frame slightly to the right, yet maintaining the halo glow, this depth was rediscovered. We made sure to still place the frame in a way which follows the aesthetic rule of thirds to make the photo more appealing. This final adjustment really finished the image composition nicely, and produced a very professional image which boasts the positive features of the artwork.

Finally we began work on photographing my sculptural fossil pieces. I had brought these in as I thought they would make interesting objects to illuminate, in part because of their complex textural forms which could catch light and shadow quite nicely. 

First we tried simply illuminating the sculptures with a direct, softbox light, and were impressed by the immediate effectiveness of the results. (left) However some of the darkest lower edge of the shadows created around the sculptures was a bit distracting when compared to the subtle tonal values of everything else in the white-on-white image. To combat this we used a light reflector to bounce some of the light back up along the bottom edge, brightening this area and removing the distracting darkness, whilst preserving the shadows picked out by the designs on the upper edge. (right) I was very happy with this second image, and feel the minor changes in lighting really helped lift my work in the photograph. 

I found this session really interesting, as I have consistently with all of the workshops so far, as it was great being able to have first on experience when learning new techniques. I learn best when I am able to have a hands on approach, so the style of this workshops is really working for me, and is getting me thinking in all sorts of interesting ways about how I can improve upon my working style. It is amazing how little changes to the presentation of an artwork can completely change the connotations we take from it. This was most noticeable using the Rim lighting effect which immediately changed a basic piece of portraiture into a dramatic shot of a protagonist in the next box office smash.