Leisure PhotographyCourse outline

• Every Thursday 6-8pm, with Gareth Hill• Students to bring own camera and equipment• Don’t forget to charge batteries, USB leads etc• Areas of study include:

LightingCompositionPortraitsBlack and WhiteMontageAperture, Shutter Speeds, ISO

Course content overview

• Try to create a democratic content which suits all learners – not easy!

• We will cover basics of practical photography plus some more advanced areas such as photo manipulation.

• Art and Science combine in Photography!• Your input is valued both by bringing in

material for review and in your comments.

Leisure Photography

Photography 1Painting with Light

Week one - Light

Sources of Light• Photography is all about light, the amount and the

direction. • Main light sources are:• The Sun• Artificial light such as lamps, household lighting etc.• You need to manipulate the scene to create the

effect you want, this might mean moving a light on a stand or moving your subject relative to the sun, or waiting for a better time of day to get the effect you want.

Intensity of light• The first property of light to deal with is intensity or brightness. The

light meter in our cameras measures this and converts it into f-stops and shutter speeds.

• F-stops are aperture settings• Shutter speed is how fast the shutter opens and for how long. (More on

this later...)

• The only key to intensity is making sure that there is enough to make an image on the film. The light that enters our camera lens is either direct light from a light source such as the sun or light bulb OR it is reflected light that has come from light that has bounced off of people or things.

• What happens to our images without enough light?

Quality of Light• Light Quality is the most important characteristic of light for the photographer

for it sets the mood of a shot. Quality of light breaks down into two types -- hard or soft light.

• Hard light• distinct shadows • It comes from a point light source• It is a harsh light. • Soft light is the opposite• from a reflected source or a broad source. • indirect light • frequently found in the shade

• Light quality is affected mostly by change in subject or camera position or the use of reflectors or fill flash.

Sunlight• For us the most common light source.• What do you notice about the light in these images?

Time of Day• If you are able to choose the time of day to

shoot your pictures, try to pick a time when the sun is low in the sky, either shoot in the early morning or late afternoon.

• A nice side effect of shooting in the early morning or late afternoon is that the colour of the light is 'warmer', reds and yellows are stronger which generally gives a more pleasing effect.

Direction of light

• Front light eliminates shadows but also flattens a subject, losing depth and texture.

• Side light makes the subject stand out from the background, giving it a more 3D appearance.

• Backlight softens the quality of the light as the subject gets mostly reflected light on its surface.

• The direction of the light falling on your subject - you need to look at your subject carefully and watch how the shadows fall.

Front light example

Side light example

Backlight example

Homework!

• Read the resources on lighting from today by visiting the online blog

• http://kecdrparts.blogspot.com • Try to take some examples of different types of

lighting that we have looked at this evening.• Next week we will begin by having a short

slideshow of your images.

• Next weeks topic is Composition.