Watch the magic

Light & Color

For this assignment I decided to use an object with complimentary colors (green/red) that could express light differences with the simplest of change. The object used is a mask that I’ve kept since I was a kid (of Raphael from the Ninja Turtles). I placed it in between two boards of a fence and snapped away. The reason I chose to display it on a fence was quite simple. The fence is aged and brown which to me has a more somber or depressing value when held up against a bright animated “toy” that perfectly resembles a child-like feeling (for me the value is different because than most because I remember playing with anything and everything Ninja Turtles).

The first picture was taken at approximately 11:45 AM with perfectly clear skies. The picture is perfectly lit with a hint of overexposure in the middle of the mask. In this picture the masks’ colors “pop” so loudly that a quick glance might trick someone into thinking that a cartoon has been superimposed over an actual picture. In this picture I captured the exact expression I was going for which was bright colors against dull morose ones. The browns, blacks and grays of the fence seem to react in a clashing manner that almost compliments the greens, reds and whites of the mask.

The second picture was taken around 3:45 PM with perfectly clear skies. This picture brings out an entirely different effect of the mask and setting with a simple dash of shadow and much warmer colors. Digital camera’s have an odd way of rendering color when the sun isn’t perfectly over an object. With my digital camera I find that when the sun is in upward or downward motion, you get warmer colors whereas when the sun is directly above you (the first picture), everything seems colder or more “stale”. The second picture gives the mask more character and even changes its value for me. If you compare the two pictures, the lighting changes so much. In the first picture the mask almost looks flat like it’s painted or stuck on the fence with no outward protrusion. In the second photo the mask is obviously three dimensional and looks like it’s coming out at you. Unfortunately between the two photos, the mask fell out of the fence, so for the second picture the masks aren’t in the same exact place, but the shadow exemplifies this idea.

My favorite word for the first picture would be sterile because to me the picture has more cool colors and leaves me feeling stagnant, without a connection to my past. I guess this wouldn't make sense to most since my value of the mask is obviously different from yours. My favorite word for the second picture would be synchronicity because it resonates a youthful memory within a mature (real) setting.….it fills the void that separates me from adult to child.