Adv 2340 Digital Photography 2 Fall 2014

I felt that this was my strongest image. The diffused lighting adds a nice glow to her face and makes the image evenly lit creating a nice balance.

This is my at home studio. I used several different foam boards for the background. They varied depending on which shoot i was completing at the time. The ones used in this picture were black. I also used a lighting kit purchased from online as my main light source. When shooting in Low light conditions i used my Tripod to help stabilize the image. One of my struggles was i had no source to eliminate some dark shadows that sometimes appeared on my images.  I fixed this by adjusting my subject as far away from the background as i could and by adjusting my lighting to a 45 degree angle to make the background fade out and avoid showing any creases on my board. Another issue i ran into is where I would find a decent space to fit this studio. I settled on my home entryway because it allowed me to control any ambient lighting.   I believe this project showed me that I was really able to make a low cost studio in the comfort of my own home and it delivered decent results.

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My DIY studio is a small and simple setup. I took a white cardboard that folds in three I found laying around the house. It fit perfectly on  my two wooden cupboards I that are stacked on top of each other. My light source comes from an Ikea lamp handed down to my by my sister-in-law. The light that comes out of it is pretty weak which is why I took many photos with strong shadows. Since the lamp is short, I use a folding chair as a base. I tried using tracing paper to remove reflected light but it cannot replicate the effect of a soft box. My tripod was put away at the time of the picture but it is more than tall enough for the setup. After becoming bothered by the background the cardboard was creating, I decided to take a large sheet of paper from a drawing pad I had and lay it over the board. With this, the texture of the board is no longer distracting in the photographs I take. I plan on using my studio in the future to photograph some personal belongings I collect and I’m glad I was able to create it.

My favorite shot from the Childhood Toys Shoot was this one. The lighting is close to high contrast but still to see the details within the shadows. It gives this image a friendlier feeling due to that light being cast. It was also a great moment too attempt capturing motion by catching the fish while it was being arced across the background. A definite happy vibe comes from this picture.

So when it came down to creating a small studio setup I had to adjust for the idea that the location in which the studio is kept is always changing. So in my case I made a portable solution so I could shoot from wherever within my home rather than just a designated spot. Several different bulbs were gathered for the lamps and as for the tripod I had to make shift a stable ground out of books and cases to get the angles I wanted. Overall a pretty awesome way to start learning how to get around with what you have setup.

This is my studio i am using a budget monolight, a light stand and foam boards. havign the monolight is very resourceful

I really like this photo that i took in class because i decided for this shot to be submerged into utter darkness while the strobe light acts as another object making realism and replicating a moon. The duck is really happy which i also considered for making this shot.