Drama 50C - F20: Beginning Lighting Design

I was out on a walk recently when I saw this pattern of light cast on someone's driveway. The way the lights was cut up into this interesting patters, and these clears shapes, immediately reminded me of somethinga a gobo might produce. I had to take a photo, it was just so uncanny. The clear, slenders rays of light gives this pattern an almost fantasy feeling, transforming ordinary pavement into something very interesting to look at. It seems to me to be the very phenomena a gobo tries to reproduce.

      So as a part of my house's holiday decorations, my mom has opted to use a green bulb for our porch light. Now in this picture if I were to back up a few feet, you would see all the Christmas lights and decorations on my front lawn, and the green would blend in with the bright festive lights. However, when the picture is framed like above, the green wash gives the scene a sickly and almost spooky feeling. This got me thinking about how different colors can drastically change the feeling of the scene. A lighting designer must be careful of the not only the color of the scenic elements and backdrops, they must also be aware of the skin tone of the actors on stage. A green color may cause the actor to appear sickly or creepy. Even a festive scene like above can take on a completely different mood through color.

  This is my Christmas Elf, he doesn't have a name. That morning he woke up on a shelf in the living room, next to the Christmas decorations. In the evening, when it was already dark, I turned on the carousel next to him and it looked like he was staring at it. I like this picture because I see a lot of interesting lighting elements going on at once. I like to think of it as if this was a scene happening on a stage. The Elf would be an actor, and he'd be getting light coming from a lot of different sources. It is not really noticeable here, but when the carousel goes round, it flashes green and blue lights. I took this picture when the blue lights were more prominent and they reflected on the left side of the Elf's face. Those lights are also reflected on the rhinestones on his costume, it looks like little lights sprinkled all over him. The green lights are mostly visible on the carousel. When I pay close attention, I can see how the green and blue play around and create s...

This is a photo I took bored one afternoon. My room gets a lot of natural light and my bed sheets are also a white/cream color, and I wanted to capture the openness of my room during the afternoon but I needed a subject. This plant is a beautiful contrast between dark and light green that adds a warm feeling to the harsh white sheets. I enjoy the different shadows that occur in the wrinkles of sheets as well as the texture from the pattern on the pot and the bedsheets. When taking this photo I wanted it to appear almost as a blank canvas, which is why you only see white sheets as the background; I did not want any other color in the picture besides green and white. I wanted the feelings portrayed in this photo to be pure, innocent, and calming.  

 I went to this shop and there was an art studio within it. While I was walking through and looking at the different paintings, pictures, and sculptures I noticed how the lights were hitting the pieces. For every piece they had at least one light pointed at it. I looked at how they arranged the lights to show off the pieces in the best way possible. You can't really see it well in my picture but it made the pieces seem alive and incredibly beautiful. Even this one painting of some fruit which on its own was nothing special seemed to be glowing and it made it interesting. This was a clear way of how lighting can make things come alive and I thought that was incredibly interesting and beautiful. 

Granted, this is not the lighting I would take my selfies in, but the statement still stands.  I think the shade over the window does a good job at softening the light, and I like how the clear box illuminates at the edges and corners. The red from the left is from one of those novelty nightlights you buy at national park gift shops. I enjoy the wash effect it gives without any distinct edges. The last light source is coming from the mirror reflecting the light seeping through the doorframe. I think this completes the spectrum, providing harsh, crisp lines clearly marking the cracks in between the door and wall. Something else I notices was that the red, yellow, and blue are the primary color palette (not of light I promise I remember it's red blue green).  My favorite part of this picture, though, is the difference between the outside light and the inside light, handily provided by the mirror. I'm not sure how mirrors have been used in lighting aside from inside t...