Light: The Brightest Form of Art

I was flipping through reddit.com the other day (like a good college student should) and I came across this really cool picture posted on r/pics. He strapped a flashlight to his chest and then took a long-exposure shot. The result was fantastic...

Original reddit post

After being a little inquisitive, I found his personal website: DennisCalvert.net
He's posted dozens of amazing pictures here that he created with artistic lighting, but what I found most exciting was his tutorial section where he explains how he made several of his pictures.

Keep in mind that there is no serious photoshop work going on here. All of these were created with specific lighting tools to create really interesting designs. To see how he made any of these visually stimulating pictures, check out his tutorial page here.

Of course, this blog mainly focuses on films and not photography... so let me reel this in a little.
Because film can not take long exposure shots like photos can, the possibilities become a little more narrow unless you want to use special effects. However, there are still plenty of ways to artistically use lighting. By this point most of us understand the standard three-point lighting system like in this diagram:

When all of them are used, you get a nice looking shot like this one here:

It looks great, but the absence of one or more of these lights is when you can get a really interesting shot. Take for example this shot from There Will Be Blood:

In this shot there is only one light source on Daniel Day Lewis and he is blending right into the background. It really pulls our attention to his face and makes us wonder what his eyes are so transfixed on. 

Here's another example from The Third Man, where one light is creating a dramatic contrast between the character and the environment. 

I pulled all of these pictures from an album I found (on reddit... of course) which explains lighting and color temperature really well. Check it out here.

On a final note, I just want to say that we really do live in a world of free education today. You just need the motivation to find it! 

Nofilmschool.com

Over the summer I bought my first DSLR and today I was in search of some in depth information on DSLRs and came across this popular website: nofilmschool.com

I guess it's slightly ironic, because technically I am in film school, but who says the learning has to stop at the end of class? That's pretty much the point of these blog posts too, right? To extend our learning outside of class? Anyways, while flipping through the website I noticed on the right hand side a link to a free pdf document called "The DSLR Cinematography Guide". Perfect. Sounds exactly like what I need. So I got the free download it's ridiculously helpful. It's over 100 pages from the very basics that I already understand to the more complex stuff that I've always wondered about but never been able to find the answers to (such as the great advantages of prime lenses).

If anyone is looking to kill a couple hours over fall break I highly recommend giving this a read. Especially if you are a DSLR user like myself.

Beyond this, there are many other great articles to find on this website. My favorite so far has been a comparison between the Sony FS-100 (Our class camera), Canon 5D Mark II (industry standard for DSLR shooting), and the Blackmagic Cinema Camera (unlike any other camera – and it looks friggin cool).

Read the full article here.

This website has pushed me forward on many objectives, first on the list is to get a prime 50mm lens. This is the least expensive of things I want to do, ranging all the way to getting a Canon 5D Mark II. That might be a little more expensive.... maybe I should wait until I get a job for that one.