Page 19 - Lighting the Un-lightable Volume 1 #3

Outside the window was a wall. Painted white, the wall made the
1 every angle it made the window mirror like. The white wall also
window mirror like. Given the location of the wall, from virtually

reflected much more light back into the room than the human eye
sees.

The shadows under the table and away from the windows were
significant. The difference between black and white was easily four
F-stops - well more than any digital camera can effectively handle.
2 The "blackest black" was here. We had to find a way to extend the

light into this space, or, in our terms, raise the blacks to extend the
dynamic range of color into this area.

3 This area was almost as bright as the clouds in the sky. Critical to

the emotional experience of the image was the detail of the fabric.
We didn't want to lose it.

4 This was the "whitest white." The client wanted to capture the
skyline outside the windows. While the clouds added drama, they
also added to the problems we faced. They also reflected much
more light than the human eye could see.

5 The spotlights in the ceiling added to the problems we faced. We
needed to make the lighting look natural. This meant capturing
the spots, light bezels, and the reflections of the lights on the walls.

6 6 This area was almost black. None of the detail in the carpet was
visible. We knew we needed to capture it without losing the shad-
ows that separated this area from the area of the rug lit by the
windows.

Let's analyze the scene.

| 19