Portrait Lighting
Lighting Assignment
Light Quality
Direct light is light straight from the sun, is unfiltered and nothing is between the sun and earth. Like clouds. It shows texture and details. It can also be any kind of clear , non-frosted light sources like a quartz-halogen bulb.
This type of light is great for bricks or wood, anything where you show texture and detail. It is not good for people.
Indirect or diffuse light is light that is filtered or softened by clouds, trees or shade. It is great for people as it provides nice even light and hides or tones down facial blemishes.
Lighting Techniques
This is the pattern created by shining light on the face. These lighting patterns only apply to faces. Not cars, furniture or any object, only people’s faces.
Imagine a clock starting at 12 and going through a 90 degree arc ending at 3 or 9 o’clock. Within that arc, there are 4 lighting techniques. In alphabetical order they are:
Butterfly lighting places the main light at the 12 o’clock position.
On the face, you will see a small shadow under the nose and two even highlights on the cheeks. It is very flattering for women. It not particularly good for people with short hair and it makes their ears look big. The catch light is at the 12 position.
Here is a link to a photo of Prince Charles showing his large ears. https://www.instagram.com/p/B637PMRACcd/?utm_source=ig_embed
Another name for butterfly lighting is Paramount lighting as it is used in Hollywood a lot.
Loop lighting occurs when we move the light away from the 12 o’clock position to about 1 or the 11 o’clock position. The shadow moves slightly to just beside the nose. This is a good all around type of lighting for most faces. The catch light is at the one or 11 o’clock position. On the link below, loop lighting is on the right.
Rembrandt lighting is named after the Dutch painter Rembrandt. If you push the light to half way between 1 and 2, you will get Rembrandt lighting. The light is now at 45 degrees to your subject’s face. Sometimes this type of lighting is called 45 degree lighting.
The nose shadow characteristic of loop lighting now becomes an upside down triangle, which is the trademark of Rembrandt lighting. The painter Rembrandt always painted an upside triangle on his subjects faces.
Copy of Rembrandt painting with the upside down triangle
Side Lighting – push your main light all the way to the 3 or 9 o’clock and you will get side lighting. It is characterized by line dividing the face in two. One side is highlighted, the other side is in complete shadow. There should not be any kind of highlight on the shadow side of the face. Sometimes this type of lighting is called split lighting. Often used to show drama.
Rim Lighting - is not really a form of lighting, rather it is an accent lighting technique. It outlines a person's shape, whether it is the hair or the torso.
Below is a link to a video from the SLR Lounge showing the five basic types of lighting techniques. In class, we talk about 4. The fith technique discssued in the video is called flat lighting, which doesn't really have any shadows. Remember that shadows cause drama and you can control the darkness or drama of the shadows by moving your fill light closer or farther to the subject.
Remember that you do not need a studio or fancy equipment ot create thse lighting techniques. All of these can be created using window light and for best results, use a reflector, such as pics of white bristol Board or even as sheet of paper to control the darkeness of the shadows.
Catchlights are little specular reflections in our eyes. They add life and sparkle to our eyes. without a catch light, our eyes look lifeless.
This article from Adorama, a US photo store, explains how a couple of ways to create them.
Or watch this video from Adorama. Here is a link to the video without any ads. https://watchkin.com/b0a4f44ddf
Finally, here is a video from the Slanted Lens that illustrates how the lighting techniques work on a real person. Note the host shows them in a different order than I presented them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_O6pbT7Ovw&t=13s&ab_channel=TheSlantedLens
Finally, there is one type of light that youprobably not use. It is called under lighting and the light source comes from blow. That is where the devil lived and generally makes your model looks like a monster. A coupel of examples are shown by clicking on the link below.
Your assignment
Study the instructions above. Then take the following photos.
1. Take half a dozen (6) or more examples of the following of butterfly, loop, Rembrandt, side and rim lighting. Pick your best one to hand in, then you can delete the rest.
2. Strive for great expressions as well as good lighting.
If you can take photos of people in your home or friend, that is OK. If you friends or family don't want you to take photos of them, use selfies.
Pick your best photo for each lighting technique and hand it in.
3: Create a 3 column grid .
Column one name the lighting technique
Column 2 show an internet example
Column 3, paste your own photo that you have taken.
4. Get an Internet example of under lighting. You can take your own photo as well. Why is this light not generally used for portraits?
Edit any 2 of your photos using any of the photo apps on the first page of the web site. Ensure each photo has a catchlight. Include the unedited and edited photos.
Remove any distractions or eye snags.
Hand in to Google Classroom.