[Leica] Light and a continuation of the discussion

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)]

Don Dory asked:
Subject: [Leica] Light and a continuation of the discussion


> In decent conditions, Ted's shadow side style works wonders.  However, I
> recently was photographing in two locations that were photographic
> purgatory.
>
> The first was a cavernous cube of a room, 20m X20m X 10m with the lights
> turned down to 11:00pm Scandinavia in November.  You know, 1/2 second at
> F1.4 at 800ISO.  The only light was what I brought and bouncing off the
> dark wood wasn't really practical.  Other than passing on the pictures,
> or using banks of radio slaved lights on different channels depending on
> where the group looked I lived with some pretty ugly just off camera
> flash.
>
> Any ideas? <<<<<<<<<

Don,
Sounds horrendous and not a location for much of anything other than "bite 
the bullet" hold the strobe as high as you can, "in your case that would be 
high!" ;-) and flash 'em in the face direction. And I'd use as slow a 
shutter speed as I could to capture as much of the ambient light and what 
little came off any reflective surfaces from the strobe.

Another option I would use is bump the film up to 1600. Or if I had 1600 
with me I'd certainly have no problem using it at 3200 and bouncing the 
strobe. And even though it was dark wood, with 3200 & as slow a shutter 
speed as I could use without shaking the camera or losing the people due to 
their movement it could still be effectivefor good pictures.

It certainly would be a judgement call what to do and wondering... "OK where 
the hell is the lighting guy when I need him?" ;-)


> The second was a concert in a fairly well lit gymnasium.  The problem
> was there was no shadow side, only nice even light without variation.
> As I saw it, the only option was F1.4 and be there.
>
> Again, any thoughts on shooting differently?<<<<<<<,

Nope simply because sometimes you only have light for exposure, then your 
job becomes "capture the best content" for succesful pictures. Sometimes 
there's light for exposure but not for enhancing the scene other than 
lighting it.

One must use common sense in how they use light, as obvious it's as varied 
as the wind in every location. Sometimes the "shadow side is quite evident" 
however the photographer can't place himself in the ideal shooting location 
for it's most effective use. Therefore you make it work as best you can in 
the success of your photography.

But recognizing the shadow side first, gives you the experince to decide how 
best the light can work for you even though you can't make it exactly from 
the shadow side.
ted