When I was reading Chapter 4 this week, the concept of chiaroscuro was very interesting to me because I have always found that style of lighting to be very engaging to look at it. I hadn’t heard the name for this style or learned any of the theory that backs it up so I was really fascinated by that. I tend to find myself looking for patches of light that act like a spotlight on a scene when I’m shooting in dramatic lights so the concepts of modeling and tonal contrast makes me want to be more intentional with looking for this style of light when possible.
Reading about these concepts really reminded me of performance art photography, which I think makes for a great way to explore more of these concepts of contrasting levels of brightness and hues, as the lighting and costumer designers for shows also think about these things. Since these composition elements are very obvious in performance art, I have had a lot of fun pushing myself in the past to match the tone of the scene I am shooting with through my composition and exposure. An example that comes to mind is this photo when I went to an IU dance rehearsal last winter for the IDS. Since the lighting was super dramatic already, I tried my best to position myself and wait to capture a really dramatic pose or expression on the dancers’ faces to match that.