Dramatic Lighting Photo Shoot

Today we took our full body portraits. In order to do this we talked about dramatic lighting and ways the lights could change the mood and strength of the picture. We found that placing the light beneath someone pointing up made them look powerful, and tall. Putting the light far to the side created a feeling of mystery and danger, since the face was partially concealed in darkness. We first experimented with the lights moving them around a model just to experiment, and then we began the picture taking process.


Everyone had ideas about where they wanted their picture taken, how they wanted the lighting to be, where they wanted their hands, and what they wanted to portray. I watched my entire group go ahead of me, even the people who claimed they had no idea what to do loosened up in the lights and took tons of thought provoking pictures, all of which turned out really well. I’m not always camera shy. I don’t mind cameras when I’m goofing off, or when I’m with friends. I don’t mind posed group shots, and I will even smile for a camera if people are taking pictures. Something about the lights though. The fact that the pose we did was supposed to reflect us and the word in us, something about how we were supposed to strike a pose that would make people think, made me freeze up in front of the lens. I can honestly say it was the most awkward moment I’ve had at my city my voice. I couldn’t come up with any pose I thought reflected me. The word in me I always viewed as an internal thing, “beat”. It starts in me and expands outward; if I can’t feel it in myself I can’t project it. All of my pictures were closed, they were awkward. I couldn’t think of anything to do with arms or legs in front of the camera, and the poses others suggested seemed wrong. They weren’t me. It was suggested to me that I try to take the pictures again later, with fewer people there, just enough to control the lighting, and camera. I will try this soon, and hope the lights will seem less daunting without the same number of eyes watching.  

-Phoebe