Exercise 4.2 Artificial Light

Brief

Capture the beauty of artificial light in a short sequence of shots (beauty is, of course, a subjective term). The correct white balance setting will be important; this can get tricky – but interesting – of there are mixed light sources of different colour temperatures in the same shot. You can shoot indoors or outside and the light can be ambient or handheld flash.
Add the sequence to your learning log. In your notes try to describe the differences in the quality of light from the daylight shots in exercise 4.1

I started this exercise by looking at some of the references in the notes.

Christopher Doyle:
Looking at the film In the mood for love by Wong Kar-Wai “In the mood for love”, I was fascinated by the lighting used throughout, which led me to look in more detail at the work of cinematographer Christopher Doyle.
When listening to him discuss his methods, I was struck by his comments on the way a scene comes into being. He describes one scene as coming about because of the space and its possibilities:
“It didn’t happen because we thought it through. It happened because this space with this light, with this particular possibility gave us this moment” (Christopher Doyle (2014) BBC documentary). He emphasises keeping things simple: “and then, for some reason, as soon as I put the lights here which was very simple lighting, the actors were throwing shadows on the wall” (Christopher Doyle (2014) BBC documentary).
The scene he was referring to involves a street with a wall that he describes as giving a sense of loneliness and falling apart. When the actors were lit, they threw shadows onto the wall that he describes as giving an additional level of intensity and detachment. Rather than place the camera in the street, he chose to shoot through the windows of the house opposite which gave an additional level of detachment (Fig.1).
So rather than thinking out the scene first, then finding the location, the location is found, and then it dictates the scene.

Fig.1 Wong Kar-Wai “In the mood for love”

Sato Shintaro:
In his series Night Lights, the Japanese photographer fills his images with light. He frames many of them so that they included very little background (Fig. 4). This makes for a very vibrant image and something I would like to try and find. In the reference it mentions the fact that he used the “blue hour” between dusk and night to ensure that the backgrounds, when they were in the frame, were not too dark (Fig. 2-3).

Fig.2 Nishi-ikebukuro, Toshima Ward, Tokyo 2006

Fig.3 Shiba, Minato Ward, Tokyo 2004

Fig.4 Nishi-kamata-Shibuya

Some of Sato Shintaro images reminded me of the Walt Disney films Tron and Tron Legacy. The films, which are part film and part computer generated special effects, use light to suggest the the players are living inside a computer game. In particular, in the scenes with the motorcycles (Fig. 5-6), the light trails looked similar to those you might see in a photograph using a slow shutter speed. In the film, these computer generated light trails were also used as a weapon as they acted like a solid wall. I realised that these light trails could be seen as artificial, artificial light! (ie. computer generated artificial light).

Fig.5 Tron

Fig.6 Tron https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SmWz-UK_H4

Brassai:
Brassai was a Hungarian born, French photographer. In 1933 he produced “Paris by Night”, a photobook which depicted Paris from his own particular viewpoint. Prior to taking up photography he was a painter. When asked if he had ever been influenced by other photographers, he said “Not really. I knew Andre Kertesz. Perhaps I was influenced a little in Paris by Night by the painter Georges de la Tour with his candlelight paintings which gave me an idea of what things can produce at night, the hidden things and concealed lights” (Brassai with Tony Ray-Jones, Creative Camera, April, 1970).
It is very apparent in the images from “Paris by Night” that he uses light and shadow to give a mood or feel that enhances the way in which the images are viewed, and the conclusions that the viewer may come to about the circumstances or context in which Brassai wanted them to be seen.
Some of the images look similar to scenes from Wong car-Wai’s “In the Mood for love” (fig.1,10, 11). In both Brassai’s images and Wong Kar-Wai’s scenes, the light is being used to enhance the mood and make them more than just images or scenes. In Won Kar-Wai’s scenes (Fig.10,11), the use of soft warm light has made them more atmospheric. Had they been in black and white they may well have taken on a different feel.

Fig.7 Brassai “Paris by Night” 1933

Fig.8 Brassai “Paris by Night” 1933

Fig.9 Brassai “Paris by Night” 1933

Fig.10 Wong Kar-Wai “In the mood for love”

Fig.11 Wong Kar-Wai “In the mood for love”

Wanting to try a variety of artificial light images, I started with night time city.

This reminded me of Sato Shintaro’s series “Night Lights” (Img.1). Although it is not a selection of neon signs and lights, it is vibrant and bright and fills the frame.

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(Img 2.) This is a fairground ride with people in small pods that rotate round the central pole whilst ascending . The image surprised me, and I realised that it was the length of exposure that has isolated the tower and the carriages at the top making it interesting. The background is almost completely black and it looks like the pods are floating mid air rather than attached to the tower.

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All the images were taken with the white balance set to auto. For image 3, this allowed the lights inside the building to show up as different colours. The outside of the building has a blue tinge which is a reflection from lights across the road. I wanted the windows to look isolated but without losing the sense of the building.

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With image 4 & 5 I tried a few different exposures and I prefer image 5 where there is some detail in the sky and buildings.

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Again I tried different exposures for images 7 & 8, to try and enhance the reflections on the water.

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For all the images above, I wasn’t using a tripod and so there is blurring at the very low shutter speeds. I also didn’t pay too much attention to other details in the images so they may not be as well composed as I would like instead. I was concentrating on the light and dark and the difference exposure made to the look of the image. I found this a very interesting exercise because I realise that there is no “correct” exposure; it is all down to what you want the image to look like or to portray. I already knew this but hadn’t really thought of it in such clear terms.

Comparing these to the daylight shots in the previous exercise, it was immediately obvious that the artificial light in the city images was far more colourful and vibrant.

Building on what I had learned by taking the first few shots, I waited for a clear day and went to look for more artificial lights. I ensured I was at the location before dusk so that I could experiment with keeping the exposure high, so that the lights still had some back ground detail (Img.9).

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The next set of images were also taken in the blue hour, just moving into night. I used a wide angled lens which has given an interesting perspective of the fairground lights and rides.

Contact sheet

The images I selected where the ones that had an interesting perspective, and were vibrant and colourful.

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On my way home I found this street (Img.16) which again reminded me of some of the scenes in Wong Kar-Wai’s “In the mood for love”, I wasn’t able to stay and think exactly what I wanted from this scene, but I will definitely revisit.