When spoken to the people working at Costa Coffee didn't mind us taking pictures in the canteen but they did tell us they didn’t want Costa Coffee to be photographed as they thought we might have sold the images to their competitors. As they could see we had our cameras we knew they wouldn't give us anything with the costa logo on to use so when Costa cups were left on tables we would collect them to use within our images.
The canteen contains a variety of lighting sources including natural daylight through the windows (however not as much as we could have hoped as it is a dull day), tungsten (from indoor lighting) and flash from our flashguns. In our group we were using a stand to hold the flashgun with an umbrella attachment. When photographing in here, your subject would be lit when using the flashgun however the background would be black. To correct this you would need to set you camera settings so that the background was correctly exposed and then adjust your flashgun to light your subject. The flash helped to freeze the motion that would have originally appeared blurry, this is because the flash was more of a powerful source.
If I were to have photographed my final images in the canteen I would have liked to have used the high stools that were used in the above images as they show that the college has modern furniture. As well as including the coffee cup I would also have liked to use 2 or more models that were interacting to give the image a relaxed and inviting feel. I would have used the same lighting techniques that have been discussed about.
2) The art students, working in their areas with interactions
In the art department the first thing we noticed was how dark the work spaces were. The main source of light at the back of the room was a large window however with it being such a dull day this was not of as much use to us as we would have hoped. At the time the college lights were off so we would have to consider how different it would look the next time we went back to art department later on. The sections the art students work in are small square cubicles so i don't think you would need too much additional light, you could probably capture a good image using just a flash gun, the cubicle walls were white so this would be useful for reflecting light back into the image. Composition would be limited as you don't have as much space to move around in the cubicles.
3) The art foyer, images representing the exhibition on show
In the foyer there are two large windows letting light in both behind and in front of the exhibition space, there was also tungsten lighting indoors above the exhibition space. The lighting was going to change depending on what direction we were going to photograph at. This was an experimental technique. We used 2 portable lights to experiment with this, we also used our flashguns.
First set up:
The first set up we did was an image showing the whole exhibition. There were two boards with paintings on which perfectly hid the lights from view in the image, still allowing us to add light to the dimly lit area. We had one light on either side pointing in to the centre display. I feel the light catches your eye and you follow it from the outside of the image to the middle display. The speedlite was used to light the front of the display however i feel like the effect could have been better if the speedlite was zoomed in more as the front of the image still appears very dark in comparison to the rest of the image. The white balance was set on auto as there were 4 types of lighting.
Second set up:
The second set up we tried was of the hanging ornaments. We had a light either side pointing at the ornaments, we did this to eliminate any shadows that would have formed after using only one light. I didn't photograph this as well as I could have because the angle I took it at made the boards look straight as in this image it appears wonky. Along with this I could have filed the frame better by zooming in closer.
Third set up:
The third image we attempted to take was a close up of the clocks to capture the detail of the work. For this set up we used one portable light, placing it on the left hand side of the subject. We used and umbrella attachment which was tilted towards the ceiling the light stand was also extended to a high position, you can see this as there is shadows underneath the clock. Although I like the composition and framing of this image I don't think it represents the exhibition as well as it could do.
Fourth and final set up:
For the final shot we chose to photograph an object from the middle display. We each chose our preferred item from the display to photograph. For mine I wanted to try and capture the American flag painting in the background, I wanted to use a shallow depth of field to emphasise the item I was drawn but also show without detail that other objects were on display. I managed to capture the American flag I wanted and I think this helps demonstrate that there is more to the exhibition than just what I have photographed. A flashgun was used in this image too to light the front of my subject. For this image I used one portable light which was placed slightly behind and to the left of the subject. The light stand was extended to a high point and the umbrella used was at a high angle facing slightly towards the subject.
If I were to do this project again I would stick to the brief more closely and capture people looking at/ discussing the work. However overall I am very pleased with how my final image looks, I have got more confidence with how to use both my flash gun and the portable lights, I also feel like its a clear representation of the unique work featured in the exhibition.
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