Stary night.

This is a picture that me and my friend Michael took while taking a bunch of picture of the uci campus. This here is in VDC. I like it because of the angle and street lights. I really liked how well they turned out. This gives the picture a "Purpose" as is it was supposed to be just that many car in the lot and each car there is highlighted in some special way. I love how the lights keep going down the lot and almost dissapear. The trees also take some of the illumination of the lights and balance the photo out. The shadows that are being cast from the cars are very distinct. Even though there are many lights you just notice the shadow from the one light that should be casting its light down on it.

I find this picture really interesting and curious because it is taken underwater rather than on land. I'm curious to think that because of refraction and stuff if the lighting ever turns out right in photos or if the photographer used photoshop or something to adjust the image and such. I think it's such a darling photo because you can see from the top of the photo the bright light and then how it gets darker as you go deeper in the water. I just think this is an interesting photo to share and I'm excited that I found it.

Light and Texture

This picture is from one of my favorite photo shoots ever. My aunt had just adopted three baby bunnies and as soon as they came to visit me, I pulled out my camera and my flash. Normally when I do a photo shoot, I take a good fifteen minutes to set up the lighting; I like to make sure the light is flattering, soft and I want to make sure there are no hot spots. However, as anyone who has worked with animals know, most animals will not stay still for fifteen minutes. So I just pointed my flash behind me (for the light to bounce off the white wall and back onto my subject) and hoped the lighting would be ok as I concentrated on keeping the bunnies together on the box. I didn't realize it at the time, but because the bunnies were so furry, I could have put the light anywhere towards them and it would have been ok. Hot spots come when too much light hits a single spot on the subject then reflects back to the eye. It is extremely unnatural looking (you rarely see hot spots in real life) and I hate them. But all three bunnies have extremely dense fur, which absorbs most of the light. Therefore it makes it nearly impossible to have hot spots, because of the texture of the subject. So lesson learned: it is not only about what light you put onto a subject, but about how the light bounces back into your eye. You could have terrible lighting but with a subject like a cute bunny with dense fur, the subject will still end up looking like it is evenly lit.

Sprinkles

In this picture I am at Sprinkles cupcakes in Westwood I believe. It is the best cupcake place in the world. What I like about this picture honestly is just the back wall because it looks like a cyclorama. I don't really like the lighting on the face and I'm sure we all wish it would have shown up better but it was still cool. My friend matt on the left does have a down spotlight on him though.

When I first saw this picture, I automatically said "wow, I wich my bathroom would look like that". it looks so comfortable and peaceful. You can even smell the scent of aroma through this picture. it just makes me want to take a deep rest in this bath tub. it is just a place that I had dreamed of.

What catches my eyes first is how the light creates the mood in here. several candles around the bath tub, and look how the orange or pink light under the bath tub is harmonize with that! I was surprised that lights really can be anywhere. I mean, anywhere, even under the bath tub. I do not know who's idea it is, but it is brilliant. with just one light on unusual place, it creates comfortable and peaceful mood very well. and choosing an orange color is a great choice. if it was a blue or green, I would not feel the same right now. Since it is a warm color, it creates warm mood in general.

sometimes I think, there might be no limitations for lighting design; first I thought lighting is only for theatre (because that's all I knew), but after I learned about lighting design, I found so many beautiful lights around my daily life. And now, I found a light under the bath tub. learning is an exciting process!

Workings of Fire. Or Salt, Really

Though far from the fourth of July, I still live in relatively close proximity to the ever-exploding fireworks courtesy of the Happiest Place on Earth. Fireworks have always captivated me not only because of the spectacle they produce, but that there unique history, shape, and color variation are all products of intricate science and chemistry. Rather than let my mind sink away into meaningless mush at the sight of their utter awesomeness, I decided to deliberately and meticulously suck the fun out of them all and wikipedia their wondrous chemical reactions and catalysts that make those cool smiley faces or the ones that drizzle down in all white sparkly showers.
Apparently, creating the phenomenon of the firework and its color is a complex endeavor, requiring both artistic talent (hello, lighting design!) and application of physical science. Apart from mere propellants or special effects, the bits of light emitted from fireworks, coined 'stars', require an oxygen-producer, fuel, binder, and color producer. The two main means of producing color are achieved through incandescence and luminescence.

I don't want to lose anyone here, but essentially, when the temperature of a firework is closely controlled, the glow of its component (i.e. charcoal) can be altered to a desired degree of intensity (just like in lighting!) which correlates with that specific temperature and good timing. Metals like aluminum, magnesium and titanium all burn very brightly and are ideal for increasing the temperature of the firework. Additionally, Luminescence is an important aspect in that it is produced using energy sources aside from heat. It can occur at both room temperature and cooler temperatures. To create luminescence, energy must be absorbed by an electron of an molecule, causing it to become excited and simultaneously unstable. As the electron declines to a lower energy state, the energy is emitted in the form of a photon (light). As we all know from part 1 of class, the energy of the photon determines its wavelength or color. Erego, colored fireworks!

The importance of this post was not to merely lecture on the physical compounds of fireworks, but rather, to further exemplify how closely related science and artistic design may be. These colors, salts, and patterns are not arbitrary; they require both extensive thought and scientific, calculating caution and thought. Plus, they're just a pretty sweet spectacle.

My Room

I recently moved. Glory be I haven't slept in about 10 days because packing and unpacking and transferring things and making sure my roommates are taken care of and finances and utilities and everything you could possibly imagine that would stress you out is happening all in the span of 1-2 days. So as I sit here amongst the last few boxes and strewn about trash I look to my right and see a bit of light coming from the window and on to my blanket and now I don't feel as flustered.

Who knew that seeing just a bit of warmth shining through would make me feel a little better. The house still feels cold and new and I don't think any of us have settled in yet, but somehow just the way the light pattern hits the sheets and how the movement of the light is very natural and calm settles me down a bit. The pattern is because the light is coming through the blinds and the movement must be the fact that the light is coming from different places. Nonetheless, I thank you blinds. And thank you, Mr. sun, for helping me out and making me feel just a little more at home.

Light sources

This is on the UCI campus --and might be one of my more favorite lighting-design pictures submitted. What caught my eye was the ring of light and shadow around the source-light. You can see the degrees of shadow coming from the light inside of the circle (the darkest shadows are in the center). It is almost like a ripple has been made in a pond and the light is waving out into bigger and bigger circles. What I really like is that there looks like a direct line where the shadow stops and the real illumination on the ground begins. This is different from above center light in our class plot, because the very bottom of this light is blocked by the stand it is sitting on, so all we are left with is side light spilling out. How cool would it be to do a show where this type of technique was used for like a Sci-fi play (walking aboard a spaceship) or walking down the hallway in the Emerald City to see the great Wizard (varied green shaded gells used thoughout)?!

Lightning!

When I saw this video, I instantly thought of how we discussed the way light would travel if we were able to slow it down to see it travel. It would start at an initial point and slowly travel through the air and flood the room. Even though this is lightning, I thought this video would be a great example of light travel. The video shows an initial flash of light in the upper-left corner of the screen, and then the lightning slowly travels through the air. I hope you all enjoy this video, I thought it was amazing to see the small details of lightning!

Flight Patterns

I saw this video a while ago, and I'm so glad I was able to find it again. There's something about this video that really made me appreciate light. All the simple patterns that these bugs are making in the air would be impossible to see without the light in the video. Even though the patterns seem to be just a crazy mess on the screen, when you look closer, there are some interesting spiral/spring like patterns. The contrast between the night sky and the yellow night is so beautiful too, it really makes you concentrate on the patterns. I know yellow light is tricky to use, but I really think the yellow light caught the feeling of confusion and peace. Plus the music gives it a relaxing feeling.