Page 80 - NyghtVision Magazine Volume 3 #3

I is that there is always detail to be recovered in
t was late morning when we arrived would be far too dark. While the rule of thumb
at belmont and once Hannah had decid-
ed to work in the Gentlemen's Parlor, I had the shadows, there is a point of no return. The
to prepare for working in that room: shadows become so dark that recovering detail
damages overall image quality.
â It was June 10 so I knew that the angle
of the sun in relationship to the long windows ó No matter where she chose to work, the dif-
along the front wall of the room would be quite ference between the blackest black and whitest
severe. This meant I wouldn't have to worry white would exceed the two f-stops a DSLR can
about the sun coming through the blinds as it adequately handle. (see Figure 2)
does in the winter.
ú And Hannah had selected a red dress. An-
ê It would be early afternoon and though other potential mirror, or worse, red can be-
the sun would be moving across the front of the come awash with light and all detail can quickly
house, it would not directly be lost. That wasn't accepti-
effect how I lit the room. As ble either.
long as the sun didn't re-
flect from the porch into the Ç And there was Hannah
room and create hot spots, herself. One of the first
I didn't need to worry too things I do when I meet a
much about its effects. model is look at her skin. If
I can see her blood vessels, I
Û Since light reflects at know she will absorb more
the compliment of the an- light than she will reflect.
gle with which it strikes an If I can't see her blood ves-
object, I knew that every sels, I know her skin reflects
panel of dark wood, the more light than it will ab-
brick of the fireplace, and sorb. Hannah's skin would
even the finish on the wood reflect far more light than
floor, could and would be- it would absorb. Pointing a
come reflective. light at Hannah could make
her skin mirror-like and I
û If Hannah were to didn't want that. I wanted to
pose on the couch in front of the window, capture the soft brown tones and the even tex-
the problem of light reflecting would be even ture of her skin. Hannah also has very dark hair
worse. Strobes have a way of mirroring them- - somewhere between black and a deep brown.
selves in windows and wherever I placed my I was concerned that if I didn't light her correct-
lights I needed to make sure I remained aware ly I would lose some of the texture of her hair
of that fact. against the wood panels or the shadows.

é If Hannah decided to use one of the side è And of course, if Hannah decided to pose in
chairs, I would face another set of problems: ex- front of a window, I needed to make sure the
tremely dark shadows. Given that I could not world outside the room was visible through the
directly light the space around her because the window.
woood and the windows would become mir-
ror-like, it was quite possible that the shadows IN NOVEMBER, we had received a Profoto D1 kit

80 | lighting the un-lightable