Light a Structure at Dusk – Assignment Re-Do

Our 10th assignment for our lighting class was to photograph a building at dusk with multiple flashes, taking care to show the texture and dimensions of the building. Once we’ve gone through critique night, we have the opportunity to re-shoot the assignment, if we wish.

My original shot. Really, I only was able to get off two flashes before the timer on the camera clicked off. Further, it was freezing when we were out shooting and I thought I’d done okay. The sun had been down for at least a half hour, but the clear sky stayed brighter than I would have liked. Exposure time: 20 seconds.

My instructor said he would have liked to see more detail on the right and in the area to far left, so I went out last night to re-shoot. Here is the result. The sky was overcast, I was dealing with a street lamp to camera left and I used a longer exposure time (about 45 seconds). In this shot I got six flashes off.

Hope he likes this one better.

Full moon from yesterday

I wanted to share this. I shot this late last night and, so far, it’s the best moon photo I’ve ever taken.

Edited to add: I used auto-focus, spot metering, tripod. Settings: ISO 400, f/9.0 1/640s, 250mm. Daylight white balance.

Day 68 – The Nugget

John Ascuaga’s Nugget in Sparks.

Day 67 – Big Fat Full Moon

Heading east tonight on I-80 the full moon hanging over the foothills took my breath away.

Day 66 – Outside the College of Education, UNR

The buildings on the University of Nevada, Reno campus are beautifully lit at night and this back-lit bronze sculpture outside the William J. Raggio Building caught my eye this evening as I was leaving class.

Day 65 – Concrete Factory at Twilight

Shot in Fernley, NV at about 6:20 p.m. I processed this shot first in Lightroom 3.6 and then fine-tuned it in Photoshop. I shot this at 1600 ISO due the low light and the fact that I wasn’t using a tripod. Lightroom allows me to quiet the noise in a way I am not able to do in Photoshop.

Day 52 – Country Gas Station at Night

First day back at work after a three-day weekend, so of course I was busier than usual. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I need to leave early to make it to school by 4pm for my lighting class, so I don’t take a lunch. Tonight was critique night, so I had no chance to shoot anything until after class.

This gas station sits at the crossroads of Highways 50 and 95, the location of our town’s one and only stoplight; a blinking one. Shot at ISO 1600, f/13, 1/60s (hand-held).

About critique night. Our third assignment was to shoot a face lit from six different angles. This was the shot everyone, including our teacher, felt was my best. I’m very happy with this shot. There is always room for improvement, and it’s far from perfect, but for my first foray into the light studio, it came out pretty good. Shot with a diffused light camera right, with a white poster board reflecting the diffuse light to provide some fill for the left side of her face.