Lighting 102: Balance Results

Results from the Balance Assignment, in which you were asked to make a photo of someone that both used the technique of balancing strobe and ambient and to try to make a difference in someone's life.

(More after the jump.)

I am going take a little detour on the discussion for this assignment. Rather than dwell on the technical aspects of a selection of photos, I am going to throw a couple of them up (as in this Mark Sirota's birthday project, left, for several grandmothers) and then list a few of the things people tried to accomplish with their assignment photos.

This was a pretty big jump from the earlier, "just for the heck of it" style of assignments and exercises, but it was an important step up, IMO. Yeah, it's all cool to learning how to light and stuff. But just shooting cool pix for the sake of shooting cool pix is a bit of a wasted resource, IMO.

This idea is something that is pretty close to my heart. Now that I do not have the paper to shoot for every day, I am spending a lot of time trying to decide what I can accomplish with my future photos. The engagement portrait at left, for instance, was by lilskibumm, as a gift for the couple.

The idea of accomplishing something could be as simple as an afternoon's recreation or helping out a friend. But it could also mean a portrait for a family during hard economic times, shooting an annual report for a charitable organization, helping a community institution -- whatever.

That said, here are some of the goals behind some of your submissions. These were selected to show the range of the ways people chose to benefit others. Click on the link to open up the photo.

Helping a local science museum
Portrait for a man separated from his family
Kid photos for a mom enduring hard times
Cancer survivor portrait, for a church publication
Community activist portrait, for non-profit newsletter
Portrait of his mother's beloved, aging cat
Family portrait, with little girl battling cancer
Volunteer rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina
Children's portraits for disadvantaged family
Photo to benefit Technical Aid for the Disabled
Long-distance family portrait -- mom is stationed in Iraq
Documenting a friend's new business
Photo benefitting a local astronomy club
Portrait of a camera-shy daughter, after she finally agreed to be shot
Photos of support staff and volunteers at local school
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Finally, reader Andrew Smith bumped the idea up to something community-wide, inviting readers of his local paper to submit ideas. Still looking to see what Andrew comes up with. Hopefully, he will shoot us a link in the comments...

Thanks to all of you guys for the cool photo-related gestures.

Next time we meet for L102, we'll be back in straight learning mode -- snoots, grids, gobos and all that cool stuff. That'll be in two weeks, as next Tuesday will be soaked up (along with the other days) by another theme week.

And I'm a little excited about it, too.


NEXT: 4.1 - Restricting Light