The Bag Shot

Today we had our "Bag Shot" assignment. Below is a description of the assignment.

Each member of each studio working group will take turns art directing, assisting and shooting a "Bag Shot", based on the following scenario.

Someone has dropped some type of bag. The contents of the bag have spilled out onto a surface. Based on the bag, the contents, the surface and the lighting, you will tell us something about the person who dropped the bag, or the circumstances under which the bag was dropped. Please keep in mind that a studio photographer has total control over (and responsibility for) every detail in the frame. We suggest that you imagine the character or the situation first, then plan and assemble the props and background materials you will need to create you visual narrative. You are restricted to the use of a single light source only.

Our group initially thought about doing a girl who was totally wasted in the restroom and has all her items from her bag strewn out across the floor.

I decided to go for a simpler shot of a girl putting on makeup.

After a hard day of thinking as to how to shoot the assignment, I finally settled on shooting a photographer tripping over a light stand in the studio. TA Dave was a great sport in filling in as the unfortunate photographer. Tomorrow we process our photos and share with the class.

Working with Strobe Lighting

Day 2 of Introduction to Lighting. Today we learned about flash/strobe lighting and things to modify the lights like soft boxes, umbrellas and grates. The strobe lights that we use have power packs which we can use to adjust the power and control the amount of light emitted by the strobe. The power packs we have can fire up to 3 strobes. We attached PocketWizards to the hotshoe of our cameras to trigger the strobe lights.

Dave and Erik explaining how to use the power pack and strobe lights.

On to modifiers! Umbrellas, softboxes and grates oh my!

James and Mikela taken with a softbox.

I took this with the umbrella above Mikhaela, James and Alejandra.

James and his future wife just using a strobe and reflector.

Learning to control light is essential to becoming a great photographer. Tomorrow we have to shoot a group assignment called the "Dropped Bag." We can only use one light to shoot an image where a bag is dropped and the contents have spilled out on the floor. From the contents and the surface of the floor we should be able to tell a story of who's bag it is and why it was dropped. It'll be interesting to see what the groups come up with.

Intro to Light - Day 1

After a week off from classes because of the snow, I was eager to start classes again. Today we started Introduction to Light with Michael Cunningham. We talked about the difference about ambient/available light and continuous/hot light and how to use a light meter to measure the amount of light falling on a subject. We then went to a area with lots of windows to shoot in available light. While shooting in ambient/available light, Michael showed us how to use reflectors to bounce light back into a subject to give it more light. After taking turns shooting our classmates we went into the studio to shoot with continuous/hot light. There were several stations setup where we could shoot various objects and students.

Michael and Erik demonstrating how to use a light meter.

Hot/Continuous Light

Various modifiers for hot lights.

Michael and David demonstrating the use of reflectors in ambient light.

John shot with ambient light.

Classmate James sitting in for a portrait shot.

John holding the reflector to bounce light to light up the other side of James's face.