Autumn Hanna

The first word that came to mind when I saw this image was stark. Initially, I though the lighting was very simple to the point that I thought it was not worth writing about. However, I found this image to also be very poignant and beautiful in its simplicity. I love the amber hue, the tones and the lighting reflecting off and being absorbed by the different surfaces. I like that the light is soft and brings out the ripples and imperfections in the sand. It also gives the woman in the picture a withered affect because she is blurry, which gives the impression that she has been walking for a while. What was once a simple image has become so much more.

Autumn Hanna

I like the backlighting of the image. It gives a gloomy feeling to the photograph, as if there is something foreboding on the horizon. Otherwise, the image has a youthful touch without the lighting. Even though the image is in black and white, I like that the image still has a lot of contrast. There is a lot of interest in the image, even though it is achromatic. The image has a very nostalgic feel to it in this way. This image could take place at any time within the last couple of decades. In terms of lighting for the stage, I could imagine this image as a flashback or in order to draw attention to the words and message rather than the actors themselves.

Spanish Beauty

This picture is of a beautiful structure in Spain which I found online. I love it for two reasons because it is illuminated by both man-made and natural light. The architecture is also constructed in a way that makes the building look almost holy, as if it is ascending to heaven. Each floor is illuminated at a different intensity because of the open roof and the sunlight that shines through. This makes the building have variation and an even more abstract look to its already modern look. The stain glass windows are another gorgeous aspect to the building, the lower intensity of man-made lighting used makes it look almost like candlelight. I love the two contrasts of light in this picture, and I hope to see this building in person someday.

Light imitating Life

I was shopping at Fashion Island last weekend. It was a beautiful, bright day and I had my camera with me so I began taking photos of the pond with all the pretty fish. The water was crystal clear and completely mesmerizing because of the ripples being created by the fish themselves and the water fountains. It was midday and the strength of the sunshine made the different colors of the fish really pop out. I think I spent about 15 minutes by the pond, slowly circling it, deep in thought and fully appreciative of the amazing weather Southern California is blessed with! Coming from a cold, rainy country I don't think I've ever seen such a bright and sunny day EVER, let alone in mid-November!

I got to thinking about how such lighting (and the feeling that light creates) can be translated to stage lighting. This is one of the things I have struggled with for the Our Town projects. The previous assignment was easier as it was our own interpretation, but this time we have many more factors to take into account, such as place, time of day, as well as feelings and atmosphere.

Turning every light on at full intensity would create the brightness of that day by the pond, but wouldn't actually be interesting- it would be distracting because too much stage would be visible.

One of the most valuable things I've learned from our class is the importance of shadows and contrast.

In class over the past few weeks some people have chosen words such as LOVE, COMFORT, WARMTH, CALM, feelings similar to the way I felt by the pond. Some of those feelings were achieved with as little as two lights.

Ahh the power of lighting desgin!

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.