In this workshop, we recapped over how to light our subject and the background, with using only one light and a white backdrop. This is something I have never used before to create different effects, such as making the background change to grey or black with just the use of the lighting.
Light Control
1. Light source position:
- The angle to the subject controls the pattern of lit and unlit areas.
- The distance controls the overall brightness at the subject and the rate of fall-off across the subject.
2. Light source illumination pattern:
- The illumination pattern relates to the variations in brightness of light across the illuminated area.
- An important aspect of this is the spread or spill angle.
- Any modifiers used around the light source affect the illumination pattern greatly.
3. Effective size of light source:
- The effective size is the size of the light source from the point of view of the subject.
- This controls how diffuse a light source is, which in turn controls the character of light on a scale from hard to soft.
- Hard light = hard-edged shadows. Soft light = soft-edged shadows.
- The bigger the effective size, the softer the light.
- Effective size is a function of both the physical size of the source and the distance from the subject
Lighting Patterns
1. Butterfly / Paramount:
- This pattern is shown by a strong shadow under the nose, which is said to look like a butterfly in flight. Also shadows are seen under the check bone. And to create this pattern place one light higher than the model and directly in line with the nose.
2. Loop:
- This is where the main light is placed moderately to one side of the face, in the region of around 20-55 degrees from the line of the nose, and slightly above. This produces a lit side and a dark side, without being too strong. One side of the nose is shaded, and casts a shadow to one side which can be seen as a ‘loop’ at the bottom. The nose shadow does not connect with the cheek shadow.
3. Rembrandt:
- In this lighting the nose shadow extends diagonally down and to one side to the extent that it connects with the cheek shadow, creating a triangular highlight on the upper cheek on the shaded side of the face. The main light is now quite far around to the side and fairly high up. This lighting looks more moody than others.
4.Split:
- This lighting is where it is spilt down the middle of the face, making one slide light and the other completely shadowed. This is more dramatic lighting.
5.Broad & Short:
- This is a variation of lighting and its where the lit side of the face is turn towards the camera. This means that the lit or shaded sides become more dominate.
We then used these skills with a model, and tried out each setting, these are the images we produced. These are skills I have never learnt, or used before. This workshop has enabled me to learn new things, and become more confident in my abilities in the studio. I want to be able to confidently use the studio without support.