Full control of the photographic environment…
Over the course of my photography experience, I have dabbled in just about all phases of the art.
Landscape, nature, macro, time-lapse, sports, portrait, composite, and short filmmaking all have their advantages/disadvantages, demands, and limitations. In most cases, you have very limited control over your subject matter and the environment surrounding the scene.
You make your best attempt to get the shot under the given conditions.
I probably learned more about my camera and my capabilities while shooting sports. At the time, a family member played in a semi-pro football league where most games were at night on fields with less-than-desirable lighting conditions. Fast action under low light is a challenging condition for capturing quality images. I learned and adapted.
At the complete opposite end of the spectrum is still photography.
The photographer has full control over light, composition, and camera setup, only limited by creativity.
The above image features natural light. The setup and composition of a still like this is simple, demanding only a tripod and appropriate camera settings.
With the subject not moving and a constant natural light source, you can focus on the creative aspects of capturing the image.
Like the title photograph, simplicity and color are featured in the above still.
Here studio lighting has been applied with a dark backdrop after multiple experiments with natural light and lighter color backdrops. I settled on this combination to create a more robust contrast.
Some compositions are far more complex and require consideration of multiple light sources as well as the control of background light.
The above photograph is featured in a recently published article in Illumination. Still, it is worthy of the presentation here due to the complexity of the setup required to capture the image.
Eliminating all external light sources while adapting to the low multiple-source studio lighting desired to create the mood setting was a big challenge.
Many hours went into staging the setup for the above image.
This still, featured in an article in In Living Color, is in the same category as the previous one, where there are multiple light sources, both inside the box and out.
Still photography can be a tremendous creative outlet and is a favorite that I like to go back to every so often.
Ultimately, the most appealing aspect of still photography is the degree to which the photographer fully controls all aspects of the image capture.
It’s capturing the image on your terms.
