Photography Lighting Techniques Part 1/2

Okay, were going to do a low-key lighting scenario, low-key meaning a darker picture. Very much like the other lighting setup, I had showed you with the gray backdrop, but a few minor changes. Specifically I’m going to show you little more variation on the post but if you come over here, I’ll show you the light. We are now using a much smaller soft box and the reason I’m using a smaller soft box is because I want to control the light a lot more. In this soft box is about three feet by two feet and again it came from Alien B same company where I got the other light from. So the light itself is in a smaller source, so when it comes off and falls off then it will face it’s not spilling so much on the background. And it’s not going to affect the rest of the picture. I want to control like a little bit more. Okay, so I’ve got my reflector and then when we talked about the reflector, the reflector comes down in her face. I’m going to work with this gentle pose is what the basic poses for a full length. Pardon me it hasn’t got no, no shoes but she is a barefoot puppet here but were going to work with that look anyways. We didn’t worry about the shoes. Because I wanted to show you the actual poses and stands and you could how she stand in, her left foot is pointed out and she’s relax all the way just on the right foot. Her body is turn away from the main light and her head is going to be turned in this way down. Okay, her head is going to be turned into the main light but the kind of lighting were after is that we wanted – this is called short lighting or no lighting. The lighting is affecting the side away from the camera. Okay, the side facing the camera is going to be a shadow, this creates a very nice sculpting effect. The opposite to that is what’s called broad lighting, if you turn your head this way Daniel, good, look over here turn it a little bit more. If the light comes in and effects the side that’s facing the camera is called broad lighting, took away that and winds out the face of people who are skinner. Would you turn your head this way, with no lighting it knows the face and if you have a larger face, it makes it look narrow. So it has different effects for different people depending on what you want to do. Somebody with a larger face you want to know it, some of the skinny face you want to find it. However, I prefer narrow lighting all the time. So it’s what I work with all the time. I find it’s a very pleasing, very effective lighting. So it carves out and creates a nice shooting effect right here, so turn your head little more sweetie, that’s it girl. Okay, so I have to add a few more things about here, she’s standing and her shoulders are relaxed, her hand is across the top of our nice antique chair here, and if she would just kind of lean away. And just kind of like this here, you see, that’s it girl good. Just relaxed that arm and then I’m going to throw in a couple of props back here. As a very classic look is what were after. You can tell my table is seem better days, but I did pick that table off at a very, very cheap price because it was all busted up on two of the sides but I only need one good side. So were setting up some different props here and you can get a lot of these things at craft shops and various other stores. And it work really, really well. So we got our few light, again it’s very similar what I was doing earlier and then I want to make sure that the light is coming off, going back into the area that I wanted to fill. And then of course, we have a reflector, which is going to – it’s going to reflect back up into her face. I’m always checking to make sure light is coming off the reflector very, very important. You should never leave that to guess work. Sometimes you have to bring it out little more in order for it to work. And there’s the header light, gently turns your head this way, can you wink to the camera for me, that’s it girl. That’s nice. Can you look this way turn your head some more, that it girl don’t move, you see my hand, good, hold still, a little smile would be nice, with that that’s it girl hold on. So that’s a very classic lighting scenario for a low-key it works conception as well, I’m just going to change this little bit, I want you to turn your head that way. Just your head, keep going, keep-going keep going where your nose is plugging is where I want your eyes to point keep turning your head some more, a little more, good, were almost in the full profile here. The problem with this is, the main light has not moved. She is moved but the main is not moved so what this is going to create a very undesirable light especially for a low-key situation. We want to get a very dramatic kind of light going. So it’s important to control your main light in such a case when the subject moves their head. So I’ve got the light coming beyond 90-degrees from Daniel, from the camera angle. And coming off effecting her side of the face that is un-robs inside of the camera, this side to the camera is in the field zone, I’m going to take a few shoots like that then I’m going to show you exactly what were talking about. Okay, that’s really nice except now were loosing our fill, so I’m going to get a little more fill in there. I have to come it up with check makes sure the fill is working. Because I changed the main light, this has got to be adjusted. The fill is going to be adjusted and everything is working a little bit different with. It’s really nice add a little bit more of a smaller bond, you fill that, that’s it girl, good she’s an excellent model. For us to be able come to variations on a low-key situation if I wanted to I can come in the background and I could take in a little bit of light with the background light. But sometimes it adds a little more punch it’s totally up to you and let me take one just like that right now. And that’s what you want, so smaller light sources hot on low key’s situation control light a little bit more but bigger than the soft box will work as well but that’s just the way I do it of course experiment easier on the imagination and work with what works for you, thank you. Again, here’s the image as it came off the camera it’s kind of flattened all looking and its properly exposed and got a good custom right balance. And here it is a little bit workflow and you can see with the softening effect to how it looks ultimately and how we want it to look for my clients now it’s going to hang on her wall. And here is the same, setup right actually about the light over a little bit more and I her look off almost to a full profile but I can still see both sides over chasing. You can see light falling off her, off her right cheek. There’s like a triangulation on the right cheek on the shadow side very classic effect called Rembrandt effect you could bring the light over a little more and increase that effect a little bit more. And here I’m showing different variations on the same image black and white color and a mix of CP black and white in this particular image right here. So again you can modify this lighting situations a little bit more and have fun with them and if I want to do a full profile I bring that mean light even over some more and have heard turn into a full profile so that her left side, her left eye doesn’t show at all. So here, it is again with the back light. I increased the background lighting by spilling a little bit of the backlight on to the background and this particular case here. You can do that if you want the first thing that just looks fine to me but it’s personal, personal taste at this point in time. Whether or not you want the background to really jump out. You just do it with lighting. And there is your classic, basic setup for really nice lighting in a classic style.