I've been thinking about the ineffable, sculptural quality of light.
When I was new to prepress, I would play a mental color game. The trick was to see a color on the world, like the dude across from me's baby puke green sweater, and try to guess the CMYK color breakdown of it. (C10Y20K2 for the sweater btw)
That game is smart and good exercise, but the color of light is only one aspect of it's quality.
For example, if I was color- correcting a photo of this waiting area it runs left to right yellow-green from the flourescent overheads to a more-nuetral-but-still casted daylight from the pane windows at right. I can imagine a correction curve layer in PS with a linear gradient mask.
But the world isn't a flat photo and the light is spilling in all around the place. Softer here by the wall, catching a diffuse cross from the far off opposite windows on right. Harsher and clearer in front of the counter, bouncing all over the white walls and ceiling, eaten up by the steel gray rug.
I want to better see the depth of the light. It fills up these areas heavily and floats lighter over there. I do a lot of macro work and big sky shots; I'm either up close or all open. There is a complex middle space that escapes me. When I shoot it, it never describes the depth of light correctly. There's something I'm missing.
Maybe it's in the metering, maybe it's related to depth of field. I need to explore further...
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How light describes objects and elements in a landscape are two of my main interests as a painter. So this post is very interesting to me - despite different mediums we share some of the same concerns (what is light doing, and how can I capture something akin to what it is doing).
ReplyDeleteHope you see a lot of great light on your trip. I look forward to reading more of your posts.