Category Archives: Project 3: The beauty of artificial light

Film Noir

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Film Noir Research

researching Christopher Doyle’s lighting, I came across the ‘Film Noir’ genre which was the name given to a series of films made in the 40s and 50s.  Doyle’s cinematography seems to contain a lot of the elements of film noir, but in a more modern setting.
 
film noir
fɪlm ˈnwɑː,French film nwaʀ/
noun
  1. a style or genre of cinematographic film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace. The term was originally applied (by a group of French critics) to American thriller or detective films made in the period 1944–54 and to the work of directors such as Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, and Billy Wilder.
    • a film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace.
      plural noun: films noirs
       

    http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/infographic-what-makes-film-noir [accessed 07.04.18]

according to this article, to make a good Film Noir image, it should contain:

  • assymetrical, imbalanced
  • Deep focus, give background equal importance
  • High contrast, no fill light, long shadows
  • use reflections to increase sense of drama and unreality
  • ‘Choker’ close-up to heighten intensity
  • wide angle focal length
  • dutch tilt, strong diagonal bands (cased by prison bars, staircasses, blinds)
  • obscured vision (cigarette smoke, rain, fog, protagonist being drugged or knocked out)

google image search for ‘film noir’

http://www.darkmansdarkroom.com/film-noir-lighting-with-lighting-diagrams/ [accessed 07.04.2018]

In Darkman’s blog, gives examples of lighting setups and says :

The lighting is sometimes either stark dark or light contrasts as are the dramatic shadowing effects known also as the chiaroscuro style. Chiaroscuro is a style of light and dark paterning that came from Renaissance painting. One typical cliche and always notable scene type is the shadows of venetian blinds on the wall or across the face of the characters in the movie or photo.

I very much like this genre and shows what can be done with little lighting.  However, I would like to think about how to use this genre in a modern contemporary setting rather than just recreate images like those above.

4.3 – The Beauty of Artificial Light

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Exercise 4.3
Capture ‘the beauty of artificial light’ in a short sequence of shots (‘beauty’ is, of
course, a subjective term). The correct white balance setting will be important; this
can get tricky –but interesting – if there are mixed light sources of different colour
temperatures in the same shot. You can shoot indoors or outside but the light should
be ambient rather than camera flash. Add the sequence to your learning log. In your
notes try to describe the difference in the quality of light from the daylight shots in
Exercise 4.2.

a selection of images taken indoors using only ambient lighting from the room.  All were taken using a tripod and longer shutter speeds.

The SOOC shots have a warmer yellower light caused by the lamp lights in the room.  There was no other natural light. I took each of the following images and adjusted only the white balance on each.This gives an idea of the difference in colour temperature between taken these images in daylight and artificial light.  

When looking at the scene myself, I would say I saw something in between the two.

 

 

Project 3 – The beauty of artificial light

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Photographers review and research

Sata Shintaro

Night Lights

Sato Shintaro

These shots were taken in the streets of Tokyo and Osaka at night from 1997 to 1999, and in them I have avoided the more aesthetically pleasing locations such as seaside areas and the well-known “subcenters” in favor of the everyday disorder of the streets. Take a brightly-lit busy street bustling with people and remove the people: the purpose of the lighting is lost and only the glow remains – providing a glimpse of the streets we know well from a less familiar perspective.

images from Sata Shintaro’s Night Lights collection

did he take these images by staying until there were now people, or did he use a long exposure, long enough to eliminate the people?

Rut Blees Luxemburg

German photographer takes mostly images of urban landscapes at night.  She is also a lecturer at the royal collage of art.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/gallery/2009/mar/09/rut-blees-luxemburg-photography

she uses long exposure, using only ambient light.  Many of her images have a very orangy/red or green hue.

I came across an explanation about the colour of light during a Phlearn Tutorial on editing a film noire style image. He explained that most flashes and lights are set to mimic ‘white light’ or the light that we would typically get at midday.  This tends to have a bluish tint because the this the time when the radio waves combine the most and humans see this as white.

At the ends of the day, the light turns more yellow, orange and red. therefore many photographers use CTO (colour temperature orange) gels to recreate an night-time feel to photos.

 

http://www.westinghouselighting.com/color-temperature.aspx

this web page explains how you can use this scale to create the look and feel you want.

having now found this, I can compare with images I took for exercise 4.2 and notice that the later images definitely have a bluer tint as the light fades.

Project 3 The beauty of artificial light

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Review of Photographers using artificial light:

Christopher Doyle

This video shows the evocative lighting that Christoper Doyle uses to light his characters. Alot of the scenes are dark and are shot looking through something, often completely black on the edges with bright almost primary colours lighting the subjects.  He particularly seems to like reds and oranges which give a warm sensual nature to the images.

The techniques outlined in this video:

  • Wide angle lens as wide as 18 mm
  • long lenses
  • shallow depth of field
  • angles off kilter
  • moving camera
  • use of colour, influenced the neon colours
  • embraced random chaos of colours
  • used dark alleys and tight spaces
  • silhouetted actors against the colours
  • liked buildings and the way light fell on them
  • inspired low angle shots
  • used small spaces and street lights
  • the lighting in a naturalistic environment is always from the top
  • actors always lit by one light, rarely any back light or glamour light
  • introduce a slight blue tint into the faces of the leading ladies.
  • Contrast ratio of the charts
  • Blacks had a lot of green in because he’s using fuji film

“I think the point of cinematography, of what we do, is intimacy. Is intent, is the balance between the familiar and the dream, it is being subjective and objective, it is being engaged and yet standing back and noticing something that perhaps other people didn’t notice before, or celebrating something that you feel is beautiful or valid, or true or engaging in some way.” — Christopher Doyle

Don’t Look Now Nicolas Roeg, 1973 Cinematography | Anthony B. Richmond

“During the minutes or seconds that this fleeting image is on the screen, you have to enable the viewer to see and especially to experience that there is a very rapid emotional shock. So the lighting has to be designed in such a way that its form can pierce through the screen and travel like an arrow into the viewer’s mind.” — Henri Alekan

The advantage of still photography, is that the viewer has time to peruse the image at leisure so perhaps the impact could be more subtle?

quotes and images from : https://mattystanfield.com/2016/01/06/light-and-shadow-or-the-magic-of-cinematography/ [accessed 20.04.18

Brassai

Tony Ray-Jones Interviews Brassai” Pt. I (1970)

Although trained in art Brassai says he thinks education and intelligence are better prerequisites for photography as painters try to unconsciously take photos like paintings and that photographers need to see things fresh, using their intelligence as well as their eye.