Design Your Mind

I can’t believe how much better my lighting class has made me understand light. There are a lot of principals and theories that I did not know about which I wouldn’t have been able to understand unless dealing with it on a personal level. Understanding the ‘family of angles’, how shadows cast and the inverse square law do not just absorb into your brain without hands on practice. All college text books are filled to the brim with knowledge that can teach you anything but you can’t demonstrate an understanding of something just be reading it and taking a test. That is why I enjoy my lighting class. We will read from the book a few fundamental lighting principals and then practice them all day in class. It can’t get any better then that.

My latest assignment I have been working on for class is glass. For some, this is the most difficult type of photography, which I totally agree with and can sympathize. My teacher keeps telling us, “If you understand how to light glass you can light anything.” It is so true! There is nothing that glass won’t throw at you; shadows, glare, reflection, the whole gamut and the kitchen sink.

These few pictures are my attempt at lighting glass and demonstrating the light techniques I have learned. Enjoy.

The water bottles are not glass but they use the same principals. Its fun to make things that are so boring into things that are extraordinary.

Cheers,
Aaron