This week was all about light, natural and unnatural. We looked at artists like Baroque painter Michelangelo Caresi da Caravaggio (top), and Dutch masters Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer as examples of how light can be used to great effect to add impact, drama, dimension and aesthetic beauty to a picture. We can use light similarly in our photographs. We talked about "good light" and "golden time," or the first two and last two hours of daylight as the most ideal times to photograph exteriors, a rule that automobile advertising industry is in touch with. Although we focused on natural light, we also talked briefly about flash.
Photographers overlapped this week with more work from David Alan Harvey(second from top), Alex Webb and, from week one, Steve McCurry who was our main point of focus. Others were Paolo Pellegrin and Trent Parke and Arthur Fellig, or Weegee.
The photography websites that I've selected with links to some of the subjects we talked about are general photography advice forums that have a lot of other articles and advice that you might find helpful or interesting.:
A Better Photo blog gives some pointers about shooting in open shade.
Total image.com has especially nice and easy-to-understand tutorials, outdoor shooting tips and a lot of other general advice.
Several good lighting tips and as well as more general helpful hints can be found at Photo.Blorge.com. This site stands out with especially simple, easy-to-understand tutorials.
Flash tips from All Things Photography.com, and if you're really serious about learning more about flash, see The Strobist blog which is free and a great resource with lots of tutorials, articles, and how to videos:
Shooting lighting and fireworks is very similar technically, but the advantage in fireworks is the safety factor (not having nagging paranoia that you'll be struck by lighting) and that it is much easier to anticipate where the action will be and which way to aim your camera. There are a lot of good places to go, but here are a couple of places to start. For fireworks, photographer Garry Black has some simple tips clearly explained on his blog. The New York Institute of Photography also keeps it simple and has a great archive of articles and links.
Photographing lightning is hit or miss so to speak. First, be safe, then aim at where the lightnings is coming from, shoot a long exposure with high aperture, use slow film and hope for the best. It's difficult and takes a lot of patience and tries. Again, don't risk your safety for a picture. Here are two sites to check out: Planetneil.com and Apogeephoto.com. For a how-to on photographing the night sky, try wikihow.com.
