Portfolio Entry #4: Flash Photography

Project Outline


For this project, I will demonstrate my understanding of flashes through a variety of photos using different flash techniques. For our partner work, we chose to use paintbrushes and other stationaries as our still life. I used my friend as a model for my individual flash shots.


Class Notes, Researched Notes & Demonstrations

1. On camera bare flash
This is when the flash is directly on top or connected to the top of the camera like a normal flash. The light is directly aimed at the object, lighting up the front and forming shadows at the back. It gives the objects a 2-dimensional feel and makes the objects appear very plain.

2. Off camera bare flash
This is when the flash is disconnected from the camera and is free to move around the object. The light can be aimed from anywhere and at any angle. According to this photo, the light is aimed towards the bottom left of the subject, as the shadow is slightly casted right behind the subject. This creates form within the photo, as we can see both the light areas and dark areas of the subject, and creating a 3-D feel.

3. Off camera with reflector
This is the same as off camera bare flash, however the flash was directed at an umbrella opening that was made of metallic material and the umbrella opening was directed at the subject. This way, the light on the objects will appear weaker and softer, making it stand out vaguely from the dark background. The lighting in this photo was from the right side, creating very faint shadows on left side of the subjects. 

4. Diffused flash
This is when the flash is directed under a white umbrella, and the top of the umbrella was directed at the subject. The umbrella acts as a huge, but soft, spotlight directing at the objects and lighting them softly. However, the lighting appears to be stronger than when the reflector was used. The umbrella was directed from the front left of the objects, outlining the left sides of each object harshly while leaving their right sides fading into darkness.

5. Snoot
This is when a snoot or a box is placed around the flash, limiting the area of which the flash can light up. In this photo, a snoot was used to light only the centre of the setup. The snoot was directed from the right side of the objects, making the shadows of the paintbrush fall on the other. The scissors and the metal sticks are very slightly lit, as the light source is reflected from the cotton. 

6. Grid
This is when the flash is aim through a a circular tool with a beehive-like pattern. This has the same effect as the snoot, as both tools limit the area where the flash can hit. However, as the snoot has a more direct and smaller lighting area, if the flash was aim through the grid further away from the objects, it will have a larger lighting area and visa versa. The flash was aimed from the front left of the objects, creating a nice shadow running from the object to the top right of the photo. This was shot on a white background to emphasis the shadows. 

7. Flag
This is when something is used to cover a side of the flash. This way, when taking the photo the light will not hit the side that the flash is covered. In this photo, the light was directed from the back left of the subject, and the flag was covering the left side of the flash. The line behind the objects is the result of doing so. 

8. Cookie
This is when the flash is aimed through something that has an interesting pattern on it. This is to create a pattern on the photo using light. In this photo, the flash was aimed slightly left of the objects through a basket. This results with a stripy background created by shadows of the basket. This cookie can be used to portray the composition of lines and patterns.

9. Gel
This is when the flash is covered with a coloured glass paper, or gel, in order to create colour. In this photo, two techniques are used; gel and multiple flashes. One flash was covered with a blue gel and the other was covered with an orange gel. The blue flash was placed behind the objects to their right, and the orange flash was placed 180 degreed opposite of the blue gel. When the photo was taken, the blue flash lit the back of the objects, leaving the shadows of the objects to be filled with the orange flash, resulting with this photo. We chose blue and orange to demonstrate opposite colours.

10. Multiple Flashes
This is when two or more flashes are used to take the photo. Using this technique, multiple shadows can be created as well. Since shadows are the main product of this technique, the objects were placed on a white background to emphasize their shadows. A flash was placed in front of the objects, slightly to the left and the second flash was placed on the left of the object. When shooting using this technique, two tones of shadows are created. The individual shadows for each flash appear lighter than the shadow where the shadow for each of the flashes intersect. 

Contact Sheets

Final Selections

While researching ideas on how to shoot my flash photos, I was really inspired by some portrait photographs using flashes and studio lightings. In order to shoot my individual flash photography project, I had to use my friend as the model. We used the studio because I wanted my shadows on white background, since white emphasizes black shadows. I shot this photo while having the flash on the left side of the subject, parallel to his face in order to capture the shadow in the frame. I chose this photo because I liked how the shadow on the white background outlined the whole face and head. I also liked how my friend appears to be minor whereas his shadow takes up the whole white space. This is a demonstration of effective use of shadows to erase white space. 

One of the most important element in portrait photography is the subject's eyes.  I like how the flash makes it his eyes clearer. I shot this photo while having the flash left of the subject. Because he is looking away, I was able to use the light to highlight his jawbone and eye socket, making the photo appear 3 dimensional because of form. The crop of this photo makes it much more interesting to look at, since there is not many white spaces. This photo is a demonstration of how flash can be used to outline features of the face. 

I like this photo because the flash drew a line down the middle of his face and arms. I shot this photo while having the flash on the right of the subject. The right side of his body is all lit, whereas the left side of his body is shadow. I used a black background because I did not want to focus on the shadow that is formed on the background, but I wanted to focus on the shadows that are formed on his face and body. In addition, the line that the flash drew on the right side of the photo acts as a leading line towards the main subject. 


Description of Learning


At first, I thought that this unit was going to be boring. But as I shot my photos and was able to try out different techniques, I really enjoyed this unit. I love how I was able to play with the shadows to create composition and that I was able to create "art" through it. I learnt how to use flash in sync with the camera and how moving the flash further makes the shadows harder and vise versa. I learnt many new techniques throughout this unit and thought that working with a partner was really enjoyable as well. I thought that this unit was a good unit to end the semester and I believe that I enjoyed with unit the most. 


Development Options


I thought that my time organisation for this unit could had been improved upon. This is because I had to take my individual project on the very last day we had our camera. If I had more time to work on my individual project then I believe I could had end up with much better and interesting photos. I wanted to try out the different techniques of flash photography in my portrait photographs so I could see how different from one another they could had turned out to be, but unfortunately I was only able to use gels only.