Which photos would you use?

Figure 1 - I like the body language of the student taking a biology test.  I also like that the background with the body parts is behind her.  The dish in front has tissue she is having to identify.

Sometimes the only way is to show folks. I believe many of my clients hire me over and over because of what I deliver as compared to my competition.

I want you to look at these situations and see the before and after treatment that I often do with lighting to give my clients a choice.  I often will shoot available light and many times I find that adding a light to part of the scene can enhance the photo.

Figure 2 The student seems more engaged than the student in Figure 3 and interested in the subject due to her pointing with the pen to the different parts of tissue.

Figure 3 While this student maybe be thinking about the parts like the lady in Figure 2 she is not visually showing the same interest in the subject.

Lighting can help create a mood.  The client sometimes isn’t sure what look they are going for in terms of mood, so I give them some choices.

Figure 4 With her hands by her side and not on the paper like the student in Figure 5 she looks at a loss for the topic.

Figure 5 The one eye engaged with the model, lips are tight, the fingers tightly grasping the pencil all are communicating she is in control of this content.

Which of these did you like the best and why? You can comment on them below. I would be interested in your thoughts as to which one you might choose and why?

Figure 6 Shooting with just the room lights.

Figure 7 Adding flash and colors to the room.

Figure 8 Adding a flash to the women helps to separate them from their surroundings.

Figure 9 You eye is not as drawn the to subjects as in Figure 8 since their faces are in the shadows.

Figure 10 Good color and pop is achieved with a flash off camera.

Figure 11 The subject is more like a silhouette and faceless as compared to Figure 10.

Figure 12 The whole room was given a boost of light with the flash to give a greater dynamic range which makes the color pop.

Figure 13 With just the light in the room the subjects have strong back lighting from the window which causes a flair which diminishes the colors.

Figure 14 With flashes raising the light value on the subjects and less light on the background, helps direct the viewer to what they are doing and increase the pop factor.

Figure 15 The stage lighting on the conductor makes him standout against the darker house lights in the background.

Figure 16 A flash is used on this back lit subjects to draw your attention to their faces.

Go back and look closely at the color and compare those with flash and the one without flash.  Do the ones with flash have much punch and color?  I think so, but do you see it?