Day 25: Playing with artificial lights

This was another very broad concept I had to yet again crack. The only direction I had was to use any form of artificial light. It didn't matter if it was day or night, overcast or cloudy, strobe lights or coloured. All it mattered was that I used some sort of artificial light to correctly expose my subject.

At first, I thought of creating something atmospheric. Maybe use smoke or fog together with coloured lights. But this was part of a later challenge, so I thought of making each challenge more distinct.

I decided to challenge myself and get my strobe light on a day out in the city. It was a rainy day so I increased the strength and exposure time of my external flashlight to enhance the water reflection.

Since I decided to use reflections, I needed to find the right spot and water puddle. The reflection should be of something interesting that will make you check the other side for similarities. I also wanted to use leading lines to drive the eye in my focus area.

Once I found the right spot, I waited for the perfect opportunity. A car passing with its lights on.

In order to capture the falling water droplets, I increased my shutter speed to 1:1200 and my ISO to 1600. My apertured remained as open as possible down to f/2.4 for that natural looking bokeh, driving the eye to the puddle. My light settings were set to manual at 1/8, whatever that means. I haven't yet mastered the art of strobe lights.

Photo-shooting during a rainy day is challenging, but also fun considering the many different stories you are able to tell.