Friday, February 12, 2010

Lighting Techniques Proposal

Assignment 2:
must use lights on location, use strobe settings, photograph a person, and direct shoot.
I have two ideas for this assignment. I would like to do both anyway, but for the proposal, maybe you can tell me which one makes the most sense with the assignment. At first, I thought I would do an athlete portrait sitting on location of their respective sport field. My two ideas that I would be able to do without too much trouble are field hockey and baseball players. I will take a travel light out to the field and shoot an on location portrait of the athlete. I will take in to account their location on the field (circle, end line, goal cage, pitcher’s mound, dugout, bench, etc), and their outfits (practice clothes, uniform, winter or summer outfit workout clothes, hat, gloves, shin guards, etc). I would bring out the lights for dramatic lighting, and shoot probably earlier in the morning or at dusk for extra side lighting. For field hockey, I could do a series with a group of players on the baseline, ready to sprint before the whistle blows. This would make sense to shoot in the early morning as the sun comes up because that is when we usually have running tests. I could also shoot more still portraits that show the ‘inner athlete’. I would try to capture emotion in the athlete’s stance, and facial expression. Ideas for the baseball player would include dugout single athlete shot and a bat over the player’s shoulders to show defeat. I would like to change up the camera angle. I think shooting closer to the ground would be good if I am trying to make the player look intimidating and tough.
I still would like to try this, but I think a more experimental and interesting project idea would be to try a time exposure and freeze action with the strobe. I am pulling inspiration from Harold Edgerton where he photographed tennis, baseball, football, golf, and lacrosse players. What I see happening is taking 2 travel lights to the field hockey field at night, and capturing fast action by firing the strobe. I will have a team mate come out and take shots and lifts and I will set up the lights and have my camera on a tripod. At first I will have to have the model light on so I can make sure that the action will be inside the frame. Then, I’ll turn the model light off, put the shutter speed on 10 seconds, press the shutter, say go, fire the first strobe, then the second, and if they power up quickly, I will fire them again.
This is just the general idea that I have; I think that it will turn into something different once I am out there experimenting. Of course I won’t be able to take as many repetitions of the strobe as Edgerton, but if I can get the athlete to slow their action while maintaining form, I will do that and then fire the strobes more than once. I will have to wait to start this assignment because I can’t plug in the strobes at the field.

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