Portrait
Lighting exercise
B
In
situation B the light is still positioned in front
of the subject, but from a position well below
the face of the mannequin. This is the type of
lighting that might be produced from standing
around a fire at night and consequently is often
used in horror movies or suggest a villain. The
under side of the chin is well lit, but the check
bones throw a shadow above them, the eyes and
below the eyebrows are also in full illumination,
with the top of the head falling off into shadow.
.
Compare
other portrait lighting situations
There
are standard lighting techniques recommended
for portraits and while some photographers
follow these to the letter ( I worked for
a photographer who had not changed his lighting
set up for 20 years) it is more useful to
understand how to read light and shadows
on the subject and apply this to each subject.
In
the next sequence we will have a look at some
lighting options with one single desk lamp.
Find
a manikin or a doll and
try and set the lighting as well as you can to match that in
each of the images below. Shot it with a digital camera.
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
I |
J |
K |
L |
M |
|
Once you have shot the images, upload them onto your computer and leave it a week. Then using your images as a guide, try o copy the light in each one as precisely as you can.