Assignment 4: Applying Lighting Techniques

I spent a long tome considering possibilities for this assignment and eventually decided to photograph an old Rollei camera that my step-father used 40 or more years ago.  This camera has personal meaning to me as watching him use it started me on taking photos, it has meaning as a piece of photographic history as a camera everyone recognises and it also has some very interesting detailing.

All the images were taken inside on backgrounds of card or black velvet. The lighting was supplied by a standard household bulb in  a flexible table lamp.

All images were taken in RAW and processed using Lightroom 2 and Photoshop Elements 8. Monochrome conversion was via Silver Efex Pro 2.

Shape.

Example 1.

ISO 400, f/3.2, 40mm efl, 0.8 sec

Here the additional lens gives an interesting shape with an  image that is almost a silhouette















Example 2.

ISO 400, f/4.4, 80mm efl, 1/8sec

The rollei without any additional lenses is almost a rectangular shape in silhouette.















Form.

Example 1.

ISO 400, f/4.5, 90mm efl, 1/20 sec

The rollei without any additional lenses or the viewfinder open is a simple box shape.













Example 2.

ISO 400, f/4.5, 90mm efl, 1/15 sec

When the viewfinder is opened the shape is still basically a rectangular box.













Texture.

Example 1.

ISO 400, f/4.5, 90mm efl, 0.4 sec

This image was taken against a black background and the light was shaded from half the picture, what light remains emphasises the texture in the viewfinder and the faux-leather side.

Example 2.

ISO 620, f/4.8, 48mm efl, 1/8 sec

Here the camera is in its leather case and the texture of the shiny leather is emphasised by the black on white contrast.

ISO 400, f/3.2, 90mm efl, 2.5 sec

The very overexposed effect caused by accidentally turning on the lamp during a long exposure has given an interesting effect of showing the texture and detail in the main body of the camera while loosing the edges. This gives a stylised effect similar to  a pen and ink picture.

Colour.

Example 1.

ISO 400, f/4.5, 90mm efl, 1/30 sec

There is little colour in the camera itself, black and silver, however, the leather case is a rich brown which contrasts against the pale blue background.

Example 2.

ISO 400, f/4.5, 90mm efl, 1/20 sec.

Here more of the leather case shows, this time against a neutral background, together with the lighter underside of the strap.

This possibly was not the easiest object to use for this set of images - but overall I am pleased with them. An object with a greater range of colours might have demonstrated the lighting effects better, but this was certainly an interesting exercise.