The Art of Photography

Monday 15 August 2011

Softening the Light

This exercise to take two pictures of a still life. One with the light diffused and one with the naked lamp.
The picture immediately below is taken with a naked lamp placed facing from the bottom left hand side angled down toward the still life.  The result is: dark shadows in top left had side with no detail. Very log hard shadows. The centre of the jug is very bright. I had to take a couple of shots to ensure this area was not burnt out.

Naked Lamp
The second image taken with exactly the same set up but with my new softbox to diffuse the light has softer more evenly distributed light. The dark shadows from the first image are now visible.  the shadows created by the light are much softer and smaller.

Diffused Light

Conclusion:  The diffused light is more pleasing, however the naked light does give a sense of drama that I rather like. I don't like the harsh shadows.  I will experiment to see if a second light would soften the harsh shadows but keep the dark edges to the image.

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