The international photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

September, 1934 The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER Nineteen Upper — Left: A scene from "Frontier Marshal," Fox production, the keynote of which is simplicity, obtained with the use of proper filters. Right: Screencraft Productions still. Done in high key; creating a mood appropriate to a love scene. Lower — Left: Scene from "Foreign Legion;" light in medium key with no contrasts — flat lighting. Right: Contrasty lighting, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde;" creating weird, mysterious effect. termining the placement of the light as the film will record it, and in indicating undesired contrasts which might otherwise escape the eye. Exterior lighting is somewhat more difficult to control than artificial light, but much can be done with reflectors, which can be easily and cheaply constructed. Reflectors make it possible to light up shadows, so that the direct sun can be used for backlighting, while the reflectors furnish the less intense front light, which determines the exposure. In exterior lighting, as in interior, depth is obtained by contrasting the planes of light — having the foreground fairly dark and contrasty, while the background is lighter and decreases in contrast with the distance, as is the case in reality. In addition to being natural and aiding composition the lighting should always be in keeping with the mood of the scene. A gay, joyful mood could hardly be expected in a dimly lit, sombre setting, and deeply dramatic, tragic, or mysterious action would seem out of place in brightly lighted surroundings, though sometimes such contrast may be desired. The "key" of lighting is always an important consideration— high key, in which highlights predominate, for joy, happiness, gaiety, airiness, and delicacy ; low key, in which dark shadows and somber grays predominate, for somberness, tragedy, severity, and death ; medium key, containing only gray with no extreme highlights and shadows, for fogginess, vagueness, dejection, and impending danger or tragedy ; and contrasty key, containing extremes of highlights and shadows, for the weird, mysterious, horrible, and uncertain. The accompanying stills illustrate these effects. The ship scene is done in high key, creating a mood fitting to a scene with two lovers. There are no heavy shadows, but a predominance of highlights. In the desert scene the lighting is in medium key, with no contrasts — flat lighting. This creates a depressive mood, one of vagueness, such as one would experience on the desert in a sandstorm. A weird, mysterious, and threatening mood is expressed by the contrasty lighting of the scene from "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Note also the depth and backlighting, and the effect of the hard source light from below. The degree of diffusion of the light has an important bearing on the mood of the scene. In exteriors the contrast and diffusion of light is controlled by color and neutral density filters, and by diffusion discs and gauzes, as well as by reflectors. Filters change the photographic value of certain colors and thus bring out some parts of a scene and subdue others. Color filters usually increase the contrast, due chiefly tothe necessary underexposure of the shadows, as well as change the color values, while neutral density filters merely cut down the exposure without effecting the color rendition. Filters make clouds stand out by subduing the blue of the sky, and give the sky texture, which is much more pleasing and natural than the excessive contrast of a blank white sky. White objects can also be made to stand out boldly against the sky. Interesting and effective silhouettes, such as the one from "Frontier Marshal" are obtainable with the proper biters, which cut down the exposure and leave the foreground dark, and which, therefore, make possible moonlight scenes taken in the daytime. Filters thus are a means of controlling the tone of exteriors, while further control is secured by manipulation of exposure, development and printing. The purpose of diffusion is obvious — it irons out unnaturally sharp lines and contrasts and gives the entire scene a pleasing and natural softness. It furthermore smoothes out imperfections of the skin and make-up in close-ups. It plays an important part in inducing the proper emotional response in scenes in which the mood is soft and tender, as in love scenes. The use of diffusion, of course, should be governed by the nature of the scene photographed, and must at no time be obvious, so as to attract the spectators to the mechanics of the photography. To avoid obviousness it is necessary to keep in mind the proper diffusion continuity — if one scene is heavily ( Turn to Page 28) Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.