Page 53 - NyghtVision Magazine Volume 3 #1

FALCON 53

t had rained. It was July. of light in the room and around the subject?
If you’ve never been in North Carolina on What if I didn’t light the subject, but raised the
Ia 90+ degree day in July, let me tell you, amount of light around the subject?
the rain doesn’t bring relief. It intensifies the A few days later, we found ourselves in the
misery of it all. On this particular day, we burned-out house again. We were working in
were up on the second floor of the burned-out the first floor inner bathroom that had but one
house working with a model named Merlot. It frosted window and no other source of light.
was disgustingly hot, miserably humid, and It was one of the toughest places to work. This
the sky was a heavy gray. At some point dur- time, I didn’t point the light at the model. In-
ing the day, Mer- stead, I pointed it
lot leaned against a away from her so
window with both that it washed up
arms spread so that the wall and over
her hands rested on the ceiling. Expo-
the remains of the sures were still way
window molding. too long, but the ef-
JD took a photo of fects were dramati-
her. For reasons I cally better. There
no longer recall, I were no burned-out
didn’t. I suspect that portions of her face.
part of me thought While the model was
it would be anoth- changing, I found
er useless photo. an old lamp, added
That nyght, as we my spare 100-watt
sat side by side at bulb, turned on the
our computers, JD light, and placed it
asked me to look at on the other side of
that photo. the frosted glass.
It was dramatic, The volume of light
stunning, emotion- in the bathroom in-
al, and I could see creased. My shutter
the house across the alley through the win- speed was considerably faster. There were no
dow. Later, as I watched TV, in my mind I re- burned-out areas. In fact, the color in the room
viewed photo after photo. I needed to under- was incredible. The shadows were stunning. I
stand why the photo of Merlot was so stunning didn’t say anything at the time to anyone but I
and why not one single pixel was burned out. could hardly restrain myself.
The photo was underexposed. Way underex-
posed. Yet, despite the heavy shadows and the here were many more
apparent loss of detail in those shadows, noth- lessons to be learned that summer. For
ing was burned out. What if, I began to think, T example, I learned that I didn’t need
it had nothing to do with the dynamic range a lot of light. I just needed enough to, well,
of light and everything to do with the volume that’s where I was at a loss for words. What

nyghtvision magazine volume 3, number 1, WINTER 2013