What is available light? 21
the beautiful with the mysterious. His painted photographs of
the Drumheller Hoodoos (rock formations) near Alberta take
you to alien worlds and his images of an old school bus in the
snow look as though they have leaped from the pages of Harry
Potter. Painting with light may be one of the oldest of photo-
graphic techniques, but Thomson uses it to catapult viewers into
new worlds of imagination.
Artifi cial natural light
Unlike Barry, Joe has never been 100 percent comfortable using
studio fl ash units; they were a necessary evil for making portraits
when available light wasn’t so available. Even though digital
capture provides the instant feedback formerly provided by
expensive Polaroid proofs, Joe prefers continuous light sources,
especially for portraits. Instead of the subject’s being distracted
by the repeated pop of (and the blinks caused by) electronic
fl ash, continuous light sources let them relax. The only problem
is that traditional “hot lights” are, well, hot, and not all that
comfortable for subject or photographer. Welcome, my friends
to a new world of continuous light sources powered by fl uores-
cent bulbs.
I know what you’re thinking. Aren’t fl uorescent lights those
thingies that produce horrible green light when shooting with
fi lm? Yes, but as it turns out, daylight-balanced fl uorescents are
the perfect light source for digital photography. Tungsten (hot)
lights produce 93 percent heat and only 7 percent red light. By
comparison, fl uorescent light is cooler, brighter, and even comes
out the winner for color balance. Fluorescent-based lights used
for photography are daylight balanced, and their RGB output
spikes closely match the receptive RGB spikes of a CCD or
CMOS imaging chip. A CCD is least sensitive in its blue channel
and tungsten light has the least output in the blue; when com-
bined with the infrared output of a conventional tungsten lamp
(there’s the heat again), a CCD can overcome the chip’s spectral
response.
People often ask Barry and Joe about their photographic infl u-
ences, and although Joe has many, the most infl uential is motion
picture lighting styles. In collecting images for this chapter, he
decided to use portraits made in the style of the cinematogra-
phers in past and present American fi lms. Please keep in mind
that only one light, and sometimes a refl ector, was used for all
of these photographs. Being able to see the results on an LCD
screen means better feedback, not just for the photographer, but
also for the subject, who responds with more enthusiasm when
he or she gets to see what these photos look like. Here’s a look
at three fl uorescent portrait sessions and the movies that inspired
them.
