This weeks photographic exercises emphasise the usage of light. Take your camera and pick one lens that you use for all the shots. I picked my 85mm portrait lens and a 12mm extender because I wanted to shoot close-ups. The pick a f stop that you use for all your shots. I picked f2.8 because I wanted a very narrow depth of field. The use of a tripod is highly recommended to keep the camera stable. The pick a light source. I picked a small umbrella with a daylight (5600k) light bulb. You may choose any other light source even a flashlight. Then set up and focus your camera and take at least two shots. The only difference between the shots should be the direction of the light. Your subject can be anything in your house or apartment. Here is my first example:
My subject is a knob of my wife’s drawer. As you can clearly see there is a very shallow depth of field and the light is coming from about 1o’clock.
In the second example the light is coming from 11 o’clock giving the image a totally different feeling. All the settings are the same, only the light comes from a different direction.
Happy photographing and don’t forget “photography” means painting with light!