Create Mood with Light

[Bill The Lurker]

it was.. ah suggested.. that i create my own challenge/assignment thing. so ok. i have some junk and a camera i guess.

i didn't change anything but shutter speed between shots, just moved light around. some curves adjustments in post and obviously mono/wb stuff but no local modifications otherwise sooc

what's in the "box"? what do you see? what can you make?

(also, as an exercise, i guess, where are the lights, but you can just see that right?)

 

[limr]

I'm sorry, I'm a little confused by your questions. What are we supposed to do? Try to recreate this on our own or guess what your set-up was?

 

[Bill The Lurker]

do what you like, of course but the point of this subforum is to make some images. the Q's were to inspire thought.

 

[smoke665]

I'm not sure I fully understand the direction the OP is going either. If I go by the title I would assume that it purports to show how the intensity/direction/angle of the light affects the mood. Based on the shadows in the first it appears light was high at between 10 & 11 o'clock, no 2 appears to be very low 9-10 o'clock, and no 3 very high 11- 12 o'clock. Is this the response you were looking for? Is there a special process or technique that is being utilized??? Or is this a challenge for others to post examples of how the intensity of the light changes the mood??


edit: sorry your post came up just as I posted this one.

 

[smoke665]

Is this what you had in mind???? This was shot afternoon, bright sun. I moved around until I had the cat part in the shade part out, using the dappled light to illicit a more sinister mood.

Florida01082017_081.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr

 

[Bill The Lurker]

absolutely! i think it was actually you how prodded me to kick this off, right? anyways this is what i do (or one thing i do). im trying to create a mood, tell a story, and i think about a lot of stuff.

light
color
camera angle
set design & pose
direction/expression

ideally i'd like to be able to make even a rock look "angry" or "afraid" or "happy" and then that should translate to a model, or a dog, or an artist mannekin or a chess piece. this specific challenge was just about the first one (light) although i admit i cheated and used color too.

as for your lion, what else could you do to make it sinister? what if you brought the middle tones down to darker a bit and radically altered the color to a lot cooler and less saturated? not to suggest that's what you ought to do, it's what pops into my mind thinking "sinister" when i look.

i think i steal everything from movies.

(all questions are, again, rhetorical, although your free to answer them if you like)

 

[smoke665]

i think it was actually you how prodded me

As Doc Holiday said "I'll be your Huckleberry".

i'd like to be able to make even a rock look "angry" or "afraid" or "happy" I've seen some pretty rough looking rocks lurking in the woods, but I've yet to come across a "happy" rock.

Granted the mood of an inanimate objects can be modified some, but there are limits. Animals/humans have expressions. I've heard estimates that it takes 17 different muscles to smile, 43 to frown. All of this movement changes the face, creates wrinkles, dips, hollows, etc., that in turn are affected differently by light. So while "some" of the basics of light applied to inanimate objects might work with live subjects, you'll need more.

 

[limr]

Okay, I'll play. I've been known to shoot the same scene many times with different light, different angles, different camera/film combo. Here's 2 different shots of one subject, that to me feel like completely different pictures:

 

[ronlane]

I typically start my photo challenges with photos that are in focus. But hey, that's just me.

 

[Bill The Lurker]

the focus is just where i want it but thanks for your input

 

[DanOstergren]

Window lighting can be good for moody lighting.

 

[DanOstergren]

I've always felt the light in this one lends to a very moody look. Natural light coming through an opening in the side of a parking garage on a rainy day.

 

[pixmedic]

Singer 503a Rocketeer by pixmedic, on Flickr