Light Observations

This assignment was a big departure from what I'm used to having never worked with film cameras before. It's amazing to see the difference and the intricacies involved in this old school photography, and how you can paint such diverse paintings with small changes to the lighting. 

Bracketing was something that I thought was going to be a pain in the ass when I first heard we'd have to be doing it. Honestly I didn't understand the purpose but after going out in the field and applying it, it began to make more and more sense why we were doing this. This shot above is a perfect example. The bottom photo was the properly exposed shot based on the light meter, and while I don't remember the exact f-stop it was set at, it tells a much different story than the other photos. It was an overcast, misty day, and the light cast on this bush shows enough of the texture of the leaves, and the drops of water can also be seen. It's fairly neutral, an accurate rendering of the day that we were shooting.

The middle shot is the brightest and the overexposed image, and in contrast to the properly exposed photo, it bathes the plant in light. It appears like a bright spring day and seems to soften the textures on this bush a great deal. A totally different mood is conveyed in this overexposed image. 

The top shot is the underexposed one and is my favorite. While the properly exposed one is fairly neutral, and the overexposed image looks bright and hopeful, this one is quite dark and gloomy. The plant hardly looks illuminated at all, its textures fade into the shadows rather than stand out. The mist is hardly visible. While the first two shots have enough light, this one doesn't and looks more dead and dreary. It's amazing how different it looks to me based solely on the amount of light we allowed through. A totally different atmosphere is conveyed and in my opinion matched the dreariness of the day most accurately. It's awesome to see what a difference a little tweak can make.