arunakella5

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Canon EOS 550D

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Aperture f/7.1 ISO 800 Shutter 1/15

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Oct, 2013

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460

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Same photographer See all Behind The Lens

Kathakali is a traditional Indian dance form- each character has a unique color for make up. The dancers are trained never to blink during the entire

This image was taken at the Jawaharlal Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad, India.

Behind The Lens

Location

The photo was taken at my home in Indiana, USA.

Time

This photo is one of my favorites and the most memorable, as it was not meant to be a photography session, but a prank to scare one of my roommates who was sleeping! I spent about three hours in the night for makeup, using pieces of paper towels, corn starch for glue and watercolors. This was an indoor shot, taken at about 1 AM in the night.

Lighting

This was the first time I had taken a photo with an emphasis on a dim, single light source. The lighting setup was a lucky accident. As my friend sneaked in to scare my roommate (the lights were switched off for added drama ;) ), the light from the street lamp outside lit up my friends face from the side, and immediately I noticed a number of things I would have completely overlooked. The yellow light was giving out a perfect monochrome form from light to shadow, with the texture of the paper towel, and corn starch showing brilliantly. The torn pieces of paper towel formed perfect shadows to give out the illusion of ripped flesh. A simple prank turned into a great lighting and form lesson, and I knew I had to capture it, so asked my friend after the prank to pose for me. I was so unprepared that the batteries in my camera ran out and I had to borrow his camera too!

Equipment

I used a Canon 550D (Aperture: f/7.1, 1/15s, ISO: 800), and a flashlight with a layer of paper towels to decrease the intensity of light. All other light sources were turned off.

Inspiration

It was definitely the lighting from the street lamp outside. Until the light hit his face, I was only bothered with scaring my roommate. If this photo was taken in color, you would know immediately that the makeup is average at best. Not at all worth taking a photo. But a dim, monochrome light changed it all! It is very rare that you get to learn by accident, and this was one unforgettable lesson! I had always been a landscape and wildlife enthusiast, but since that day, I found a new love in portraits, and the power of monochrome photography.

Editing

Yes, I used Adobe Lightroom to crop, set the photo to black and white, lower the exposure, tweaked up the contrast and clarity, and finally a bit of noise reduction.

In my camera bag

I have a Nikon D5100, an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 stock, a 50mm f/1.8 prime and a 55-300mm f/3.5- 5.6 telephoto lens. Add to that a couple of filters and a lens cleaning pen. I think this is the most common sort of "amateur photography kit".

Feedback

This goes for all form studies, not just portraits: a single light source against a dark background with give you dramatic results (even simple objects like a rubicks cube, a pen stand etc), even more so in monochrome. If you are not getting satisfactory results with the lighting you have, break down the steps, switch to a single light source, take photos with the light source at multiple angles, convert them to black and white and study form, then you can move on to adding additional lights wherever necessary. I also paint, and this is a technique they use in oil paintings: First, all shapes are painted in a monochrome layer with one color to study how the shape is transitioning. This is called form study. This is then converted to a black and white painting with 7-9 shades from white to black, indicating where the lights and shadows are. This is value study. After studying form and value, colors are finally applied with the shape, light and shadow in mind. I found this method applicable to photography too- portraits and other shape studies as well. When in doubt, just switch to a single light and study it in black and white!

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arunakella5

arunakella5

Undead

Behind The Lens

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