I think we (photographers) dream of walking into a lab and seeing steam billowing from beakers of richly-colored, bubbling liquid, laser beams streaking across the tables and mad scientists with electrified hair.
Unfortunately, reality dictates otherwise.
Most often the most exciting thing in a lab is the photographer.
I recently photographed a lab at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, NC. The lab was a very typical lab: small, beige in color, a little cluttered and boring. No smoke, no lasers and no mad scientist, just your run-of-the-mill lab; a scientist sitting in front of a computer.
At this point, my work is cut out for me. How do I make it interesting for the reader?
First, I have to decide what is important to the photo. The background with the microscope is a key component to the photo, but not the main focus. The scientist sitting at the computer is where all of the “action” is taking place.
My goal now is to create a scene where the scientist is properly lit and the background is slightly darker but still readable. To achieve this, I use a Honl snoot and a warming gel on my main light hitting the subject. I drop the shutter to “burn” in the computer monitor. This lets me and the viewer to actually see what’s on the screen. Since I’m shooting at a slow shutter speed, and don’t have my tripod handy, I have to brace myself against the wall.
For the background, I use a blue gel on the flash and underexpose the background by a couple of stops. Underexposing causes the blue gel to saturate a little and give me a darker shade of blue while still leaving enough detail for the viewer to discern what else is in the room.
If I had tried to evenly light the room, the viewer’s eye would be moving around the picture searching for a main focus. Everything would carry equal weight. By using a snoot on the scientist and underexposing the background, I am focusing the reader’s attention to the scientist before letting them explore the rest of the photo.
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