Week 5: Underlighting

Sorry the quality of this photo is kind of blurry. This picture is an interesting experimentation with underlighting. So far in class, we have only used down light, and this picture demonstrates a rather dramatic use of light hitting the face from underneath rather than overhead. You can see the shadows are almost opposite of the way we usually see them; you can see the shadows from my eye sockets stretching back over my forehead instead of down my cheeks. Also, my eyes are highlighted instead of shadowed, but there is a shadow right underneath them where my cheeks block some of the light. Overall, the whole look is almost exactly the opposite of downlight- that would make sense. I mean that the parts of the face that are usually shadowed in downlight are highlighted here, and vice versa. I know we'll be able to use booms soon, and this picture just made me think of ways we can use side or underlighting to highlight the body and face in a different way than we have so far in class.

I'm also really sorry this one came in so late- it was a crazy, hectic weekend. My apologies.

Week Five - Hidden in Red

Sorry, this is another post about color theory.

So today I went to the Tim Burton exhibit at LACMA, and in one particular room there was a showcase of his most recent works (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Stain Boy and Frankenweenie). Along one wall, there was a house set up so that you could look into the window and see a Christmas scene. I passed it once without too much attention and later returned to look into the little window. Inside, there was a Christmas tree, a color wheel/rotationary light (like in the above picture; I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside), the character Stain Boy, and the legs of a man extending from another room. As the color wheel rotated, the lights inside the house would change to match that color. As I approached for the first time, the wheel and lights were red, casting the entire scene into a red hue. This appeared normal to me, I assumed that since everything appeared red, most of the scenery was white. Then, the color shifted to yellow.

As the fade-in/fade-out started, bright patches of red suddenly stood out to me that I hadn't seen before. It was revealed that Stain Boy's entire left side was covered in blood, and that there was also a puddle surrounding the man's legs. This only suprised me because it had been invisible before: the blood was completely hidden by the red light. When the red and blue lights came on, the stains were still visible, but only because they were off-colored from the rest of the scene, like they were black or dark brown. But the red, because it was reflected by the stains themselves and the red within the white, was hidden. This gives me ideas about ways to suprise audiences with revealing costumes or sceneries. :)

Week 5: Foggy Mountains

This picture was actually taken by my sister, however I found it to be very intriguing when she showed it to me. She works as an archaeologist in the mountains out in the middle of nowhere and someone captured this picture of her walking through her site. I love how the clouds in the distance looks so daunting and how the foggy mist from the clouds blends into the mountains on the right side of the picture. When I look at this picture I get a sense of loneliness and I feel like there would be a cold wind moving through the grass, however when my sister was describing this day she told me it was hot and muggy. I love the contrast between the dark mist trailing down to light sky and then back to the dark green of the grass. I see so much dimension within this picture and I think this is a beautiful sight.

Week Five - The Intensity of a Sunset

     I was on my way to Target the other night, when I stepped out my front door and saw that the sun was setting. I ran inside, grabbed my camera, and took this picture. My favorite thing about it is that you can almost see the many colors in the light that the sun is giving off. The blue sky is fading into grey, and the clouds are highlighted as they reflect the sunlight. Because the palm trees and everything else in the picture is backlit, they are in silhouette. This is a warm, peaceful image to me. I find it relaxing to look at. I can almost feel the last rays of the sun hit me before it slips away behind the horizon. Although it is surrounded by the cool color of the grey sky, the intensity of the sunlight seems to be what gives the photo its warm feeling. 

Week Five - Illuminating candlesticks

So my boyfriend has this obsession with cleaning his ears out with Candlestick Wax removers. It's literally some kind of cloth paper wrapped into a candle stick thing that you stick in your ears and light on fire. You usually put the candle stick through a paper plate and then put the candle stick in your ear so when you cut off the burnt part of the candle stick it won't fall on your face and burn your skin.

My roommates and I didn't have any paper plates so we used a white card board box lid to poke a hole through. So in this picture, my boyfriend's head is underneath the box and the candlestick is going through the box into his ear.

ANYWAY! I took this picture while this was all happening and I thought it was so neat. I loved that there were so many different colors within the fire just because it was a different temperature. I know we see this every time we deal with fire but for some reason with this weird candlestick - wax remover thing, the fire was so unbelievably bright that it illuminated the rest of the room more than our three candles do. The intensity and color is what made the difference in this one.

Week 4: Shading and Color Pallete

On the way home from Yosemite, I took pictures of things that caught my eye. One of them was the clouds and their shadows over Mono Lake on the 395. This picture just has so many different shades of color, but what caught my eye was that they have a very similar pallete/ color scheme, like what works in class a lot. The deep blue of the water is very close to the color of the shadows cast by the clouds, and also the color of the clouds themselves (usually on the bottom). The different shades of blue in the sky are similar across a pallete- darker in the top of the picture, and lighter in the background. The clouds are white, blue and grey, but when you look closely, they are many different shades of each of those colors in different places. The bottoms of the clouds are very dark blue/grey, but the tops are lighter grey into very white. The white really pops against the darker, richer colors of the rest of the picture. The land that the clouds are shadowing is a light brown-green that unites the deep richness of the lake (the greenish tinge) with the lighter aspect of the clouds (the light brown aspect). Altogether, I love this picture and the many shades that it contains.

Week Four - City Walk

This Friday, I went to Universal Studios Hollywood with a girlfriend for the first time ever. After the day in the park we walked around City Walk for the evening. The lighting was amazingly refreshing and needed. We were so tired but as soon as we turned the corner and saw the vibrant, lively colors we woke up and suddenly felt like we had energy and wanted to explore the "City". We decided to grab food and walk around and see everything. I thought it was so cool that even a feeling and energy could change with lights.

After working with lights inside of one room and balancing light and making sure it all works together, I was impressed and curious as to how it all works at a place like this. Something so big where EVERYTHING is lit in the way we expect and picture a city to be but no light of any building took away from another. I've never thought of that before or looked at it in that way but thought they must plan it all out for so long and make sure it is all giving off different moods and feelings to fit their specific store but having it compliment other stores.

Week Four - Ghost Galaxy

On my last trip to Disneyland, I brought my girlfriend to the new Ghost Galaxy version of Space Mountain, which she had never seen before. While waiting in the line for about an hour, I got some shots of the effects they display on the "mountain." I looked around and noticed at least one light projector, but I don't know how many it takes to create these changing effects, it's really interesting. I've also been trying to figure out how it works, in terms of our color theory. So the moutain is normally light, which means that in white light (sunlight), it reflects all colors, so that it appears white. That would mean that if we projected a green or red light was projected onto it, since white contains all colors, it would reflect back that green or red light, making the projected area appear green or red. So, with the areas that look like blue infecting the green, either there are different projections creating those specific shapes, or they are creating blue on top of green, which is beyond my comprehension right now. Either way, it looks creepy and cool, and Disney knows its stuff.

Week Four - My Little Red Lamp

This is the lamp I have on my night stand in my room. I love this little lamp, not only because of the bold red color, but also because of the shadows it creates on the wall and the reflection it has on the bookcase beside it. While sitting on my bed today, I realized that when used on it's own, it gives a rather dramatic feel to the room. When I looked at it a little closer, I began noticing that this is because of the stark contrast it creates between the shade's shadow and the white wall behind it. Also, the white glow of the inside of the shade adds a nice, sleek highlight to the silver stand below. My favorite of the three pictures is the bottom one because of the sharpness of the shapes it creates and how clean the lines look. It reminds me of a late evening and has a kind of warm, sultry feel to it. I also enjoy the way the top photo highlights the fact that a lamp produces light from both an immediate source (aka, the bulb) and from its own reflection.

Week Three: H.I.D

Yes I am one of those drivers that have HID headlights. My headlights are called Xenon lights and they discharge at 6000k. HID headlamps produce light with an electric arc rather than a glowing filament. That being the reason the lamps are known as gas-discharge burners. The lamps are connected to ballasts, which gives them enough power to ignite. I just love the cool blue it throws off and the halo that surrounds the two headlights.

Week Three - Empty Wine Reflection

I was up yesterday cleaning and a glass of left over wine was sitting on our kitchen table from dinner the night before. I thought the way the light hit the glass was neat because of how it reflected on to the table. It also reflected into the shadow. The reflection emits light in several different ways; the light bounces off of the glass and lands on the table cloth, it is also bouncing off of the wine which then transfers color on to the table cloth as well. The angle of the light hits the wine and also transfers color down the stem of the glass. I just thought it was cool how something as simple as an almost empty glass of wine can make that neat of a display on a table from light hitting it at a certain angle.

Week 3: Campfire

Guess what this is a picture of:

Right! It's a campfire!

So, this weekend I went camping in Yosemite with my family. The first night we were there, we hosted dinner, and I built a campfire. I started taking pictures, and was startled to see an amazing color that I never thought to see in a campfire: purple. To my eyes, the coals looked red, but when I took the picture without flash, they turned purple. I love this color purple, and it made me think about our color theory class- how warmer things are actually cooler. I love how you can see the difference between the flame and the coals, and I just love the purple color that came out in the picture. This is what the fire looked like with flash:

Not nearly as pretty to me. You can almost see the purple in these embers, but it still looks more red with the flash on. It makes me wonder why the flash does that... usually it makes things brighter, but in this case it conflicts with the purple color and washes it out. Anyway, I had fun taking these pictures, and my family had fun watching me take pictures of a fire.

Highway Stage

This weekend I made a trip back home, 4/5 hours away in Atascadero. I left Irvine around 4:30, so most of my trip was in the dark. Just before sunset, this heavy fog settled in around LA, and at first I thought it was smog so I didn't think to much of it. But, as I grew more tired, and the sky got darker, the fog started to affect the road in a very interesting way. The orange street lamp lights were shining most of the way, and because of the fog the poles of the lamps were barely visible (This picture was not taken by me, because I was driving, but it pretty much is the same thing but blue). So, what appeared to me was floating orange lights, like specials or LEKOs, lighting my way. Because the poles were not visible, and the fog pretty much put everything into a blur, I felt like I was driving inside a gigantic theater, and that there were lights focusing on me. So that was pretty cool, seeing an external form of theater. More than that, the lights from mine and all of the other cars reflected off of the fog. This made the entire sky, or the "backdrop," if you will, appear a solid, faded white color. Like a cyc! When I would pass a police car, the cyc would turn blue and red. It was a very cool experience, and made my drive special.

Week 3: Big Ben

I studied abroad this summer in Spain and then traveled around Europe with friends for a couple months and just happened to snap this amazing picture of Big Ben during the early evening. It was a typical overcast day in England, however, what I noticed after being there for a couple days was that the overcast mornings turned into the most beautiful afternoons. I was captivated by how the sun was shining through little pockets in the clouds, and how Big Ben and the castle were surrounded by a dark shadow. Looking down the street at this magnificent view I felt as if I was in a romantic movie and there should have been music booming in the background. I love the contrast between the sun kissed clouds and the dark castle because the opposition helped in making the street and the clouds have a warm glow to them, rather than looking gloomy and dark.

Week Three - Fall Back East

     When I went home for my brother’s wedding last weekend, I was really excited that I would be able to see the leaves changing back East. And I have to say that the forests of Pennsylvania did not disappoint me. Fall was always my favorite season back home. It was full of football games, pumpkins, warm clothing, boots, and hot beverages. My favorite days were the ones that were slightly overcast, as is the one pictured. The glare of sunshine is shadowed by light clouds, and there is an electric chill in the air. The sky is still bright, but it also provides just the right shadows to make the bright colors of the leaves pop. A more subdued light also allows for the dark outline of tree trunks to compliment the colors. What I especially love about the light in this picture is that it somehow highlights very warm colors while communicating the crisp chill of the air. Looking at this picture reminds me of the calm peacefulness of a warm sweater, a good book and a mug of hot cider.

Week Two - Italian Light

I took this picture in August of 2008 when I visited Italy for the 9th Annual La MaMa Umbria International Symposium for Directors in Spoleto. I remember taking it and being in awe of how it shows the sunlight as it bounced off of the hillside. We stayed in a little cottage-like-complex that had all the comforts of home along with all of the history of those who had come before us. This photo somehow managed to catch all of that history along with the lushness of the surrounding area. I love the way the green pops out from the dark window frame and how the light reflects off of the plastic table cloth. While there, I was able to really take in all of the simplicity and calmness of nature. The picture encompasses the quiet reflection I was able to have and the inner exploration and discovery that was so much a focus of the trip. When days get crazy, I'm able to look back on the peaceful meditation of this moment. 

Week Two: Strike

About three weeks ago, I want bowling with one of my friends. This was the first time I ever been to Irvine Lanes. When we first arrived to the bowling alley they had on the regular fluorescent light with music playing, it felt like a regular bowling alley. Once we started are second game, the regular fluorescent light turned off and the black-light fluorescent came on turning the whole bowling alley into this blue hall with pinkish Led lights going down the bowling lanes. They also seemed to have multi-colored Led fixtures that through off special moving light effects on the floor. Even though I always pay attention to the lighting that surrounds me, I’m always still amazed on how changing the color of a light/lights in a particular area/place can bring so much more excitement that is what I experienced at Irvine Lanes.

Week 2: Objects in Light

I know I did a post about shadows last times as well, but I really love the difference that it makes in a picture. In this picture, the setting sun is highlighting the drink, while completely shadowing my face. I find it extremely interesting that the light from the same source- the setting sun- can completely shadow my face while illuminating the drink so brightly at the same time. It seems to me to be a combination of the drink's transparent quality; low saturation and a very light color. This reminds me of the gels that we use in class. I also like the way you can see the shafts of light across the dark areas of the picture. The rays of light are things that I notice a lot on cloudy days (sort of like the opening scene of the Lion King where the light shines on the newborn Simba), and it demonstrates perfectly in this picture. Not only des it remind me of the gels we use in class, but it also reminds me to be conscious of the person or object we are lighting. Illumination of a person is different than a drink :). Anyway, I had fun with this picture.

Week 2: Midnight magic

I was out and about in Newport one night and sometime around 2am my boyfriend and I decided to take a walk on the beach. The way the moon was hitting the water totally captivated us and we ended up spending about 30 minutes just sitting on the sand watching the moon and the water change colors. I took this picture with my crappy camera phone, and was pleasantly surprised by how well it turned out. In the moment I was captivated by this image because the way the moon was hitting the water was so powerful, and it made me feel happy and warm; but the sky was pitch black and the water looked angry. Even though all my other surroundings were dark and gloomy, there was something magical about how the moon was hitting the water, and how the light would change from a bright white to an orange back to white that made me feel secure. In my mind I usually associate dark black colors to be unhappy and dull- however, in the moment I felt none of those things. I remember it being an unusually cold night- until I stopped to watch the moon, and all of a sudden I couldn't feel the breeze anymore and I was totally content.

Week Two - Lighting My Day

So I came home today after a loooong day and was walking up the loooong stairs and saw this. Now today was only long because i had been spending all day planning several events for this month. I was very excited and pumped for the following few weekends but so mentally frazzled. I felt like everything today was so long and overwhelming but exciting at the same time and as I walked up the stairs and saw this, I thought that if I had to light how my day had been, this would be exactly how I would do it.

The angle of the sun hits the trees and makes the shadows stretch almost as if they were being pulled (which was how my brain was feeling). The surrounding is beautiful but normal for how it is over here yet the sun's intensity breaks through the rest of the lighting that's reflected off of the grass and is extremely powerful. This to me resembled the excitement I was feeling in the midst of the feelings of being pulled in several different directions as planning can make you feel. I thought it was so cool that the sun simply sits in an area that it sits every day and how it can have a completely different affect on me.

Week 2 - Arts Runway

This is probably something most of you have noticed, since we spend so much time in the arts area, but I really like the way the runway lights on the ground were designed. For those who don't know, there are 3 different "runways," one is red, one is blue, and one is green. At the points where they intersect, the light blends, making the red and blue intersection a purple light. My picture is of the purple light which becomes the blue runway. Now, the designers could have put in a purple bulb to create the purple light, which would have worked, However, when you look at any of these lights up close, they are a collection of colored dots, which a backlight shines through, making a colored light. In keeping with the "theme" of the other lights, the purple intersection is not a collection of purple dots, but a mixture of red and blue dots. My camera shows lines across the light, which is not really part of the light, but just showed up and looked cool. This little design choice reminds me of color mixing, of how if you are smart in blending color, you can fool the eyes. Also, it reminds me not to take even the littlest things for granted.

Week 1: Sunset

Like some other people have already pointed out, I realize that a sunset photo seems a little cliche, however, after I took this picture, I was truly inspired by how warm the surrounding light around me was, and I found myself just sitting and watching the sun fade behind the mountains. My family owns a house right on the Lake at Tahoe, which is where this picture was taken, and I have seen many spectacular sunsets while vacationing there, however, there is something about this particular picture that inspires me because of the lack of warmth that I feel when looking at this picture. In the moment I felt a rush of happiness, however, when I look at this picture now, the colors seem cold, and the water looks dark and violent. Like we talked about in class, I think that my brain edited how I perceives the sunset because of my mood when it was actually taking place.

Week #1 - New Discoveries

A few days ago I was wandering aimlessly around my complex - I was having a difficult day due to my being homesick. As I kept walking I found a different pool I hadn't seen before and kept walking. I saw these steps and columns that surrounded a little pond. I followed the steps to get a better look at it and as I turned a corner I found this incredible, huge "pond". All my worries and sadness from that day just seemed to lift off of me and I felt so much peace. The picture doesn't do complete justice but the way the light reflected off the water and hit the trees made all of the surroundings extremely bright. The initial sunlight came through the tress at the very top center of the picture. It lit up the water and the fish and TURTLES were seen clearly. Different parts of the water were affected differently by the light, some of it remained the green/blue color and some of it looked white by the sunlight. I loved it! This is now may place I come to when things get tough.

Week One: Irish Castle

I was in Ireland over Spring Break last year, and I went to Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone and admire the amazing architecture of the castle and grounds. I took a ton of pictures, but I particularly like this one because to me, it really conveys the age and power that the building has and must have had when it was new. I love the shadow that the rising sun makes over the stones, with the highlights on the right and left sides of the building and through the windows. I like that the highlight on the right side is perfectly aligned with the wall, giving it a wonderful clean cut that shows off the dimensions of the building. I also like how the brightness of the sky really makes the more shadowed building stand out. More on the shadows- looking at the picture multiple times just shows that many different types and shades of shadows there can be in even one photograph. The very bottom of the picture has the darkest shadow, that of a tunnel leading underground where there is no natural light. The darkness of some of the other places in the picture (such as inside the very top of the building) suggests to me that those places do not ever see the full light of the sun. They contrast nicely with the points of almost too bright light- the windows draw my focus due to the lightness of their color and the intensity with which the light comes through. Overall, this picture demonstrates the versatility of shadow and intensity, and it allows my eyes to wander all over and not get bored. I love natural, beautiful things, and this picture to me demonstrates a wonderful ancient beauty.

Week One: Dome Light

I took this picture during midnight after making a quick food run to Jack in the Box. I was sitting in my car wondering what could and what should I take a picture of. It took me a good five minutes, before I realized I should take a picture of the dome light in my car. For those who don’t know what a dome light is, it’s the light that switches on when you open the car door. This isn’t a stock dome light, it’s a universal LED dome light. I replace my dome light because I wanted something brighter. In addition, I wanted to add dramatic color and light to the interior of my car. Sometimes when using a camera, especially the camera on a phone it does not capture the image as you see it. Sometimes it comes out blurry and distorted leaving you with a horrible image or (in my case) an interesting one. This image looks like if someone was stuck in a deep hole and they were looking up toward the blazing sun in hopes to spot someone to help get them out. LED lights are not only starting to take over the theatrical world, but it’s taking over the world in general. There are three reasons why LED'S are brighter, they last longer and they are really efficient.

Week One - Stanford Sunset

On my way out of my new apartment this week, my roommate told me to look at the sky, so I did. I know sunset/cloud cover is a little cliched, but it still catches you by surprise when you notice it. This image isn't as detailed as I would like it to be, but what struck my sight was firstly, the bright pink color of the sky. It was so bright that it shined (shone?) through the edge of clouds. However, the color also wrapped around the clouds, which I thought was very cool. I also noticed how pinks and purples can be cool or warm, depending on their surrounding colors.

This entry sounds very factual and informative, and a bit boring, I know. But it's not every day you see something like this. Actually, it does happen every day, but most of us are too busy to take the time to notice it, or we are otherwise occupied. These kinds of things inspire me to seek out the strange colors of our natural world, because they are out there, somewhere.