Lighting – Introduction

Photography portraits demand as much control over lighting as possible.

This is because the positioning and intensity of light is the main factor between a good and a bad portrait.

Light accentuates the characteristics of your subjects’ faces and bodies. How you light your subject can alter the mood of the image.

There are a lot of different types of flashes and lighting setups available.

I will only cover the most straightforward / available in this presentation.

Which light for your Model ?

Before we jump into lighting, consider your subject.

Ask yourself 2 questions –

What do I want people to feel when they look at my photo ? What do I want my model to feel ?

It may help to discuss this with your model – do they have a “good” side they want you to use?

The lighting you choose should complement your subject. Place the light to highlight their best features. For example, lighting the hair, eyes, or even wrinkles !

For children and babies, use softer light to emphasise their youth and innocence.

Strong characters may be better in harder light, to generate a more dramatic look.

Lighting – Working Outdoors

The benefit of outdoor portraiture is that everywhere you go is a potential studio !

However, if you choose to work outdoors, you can’t always choose what type of lighting you’ll get - the amount of light available depends on the weather and the time of day.

NB – remember to select the right white balance for the conditions.

The direction from which the light is coming and whether your subject is against a dark or light background is also important.

As a general rule, if the subject is well lit and bright, it works well to contrast this with a dark background.

If the subject is in shadow, a lighter background will place more emphasis on them.

Lighting – Working Outdoors – Harsh Light

When the sun is high in the sky, the light is harsher and more direct.

Shooting is this light will give your portraits contrast and create harsh shadows. These are good conditions for street photography.

When direct light hits your model’s face, it will highlight a lot of flaws, but you can use this. Photos of old people in direct light can look amazing, because of all the textures and shadows the sun highlights.

Do not ask your subject to look directly towards the sun.

Apart from hurting their eyes, it is likely they will screw up their eyes or blink and you won’t get the image you want.

Lighting – Working Outdoors – Golden Light

When the sun is lower in the sky, the light is softer and has a golden appearance.

Photographs taken during the “golden hours” near sunrise and sunset produce warm, vibrant colours.

They can also be used to create dreamy atmospheres.

Golden-hour backlit photos are ideal for creating moods of this kind.

Lighting – Working Outdoors – Shooting into the sun

When the sun is behind your subject, this is called being “backlit”.

The resulting backlit “halo” effect can be quite stunning, but one issue may be that your subject’s face is in shadow.

To bring out their features, you may need to use your camera flash, or a reflector, to add light to your subject’s face.

This is called using “fill-in” light.

Lighting – Working Outdoors – Working in Shade

Using shade produces soft, indirect lighting which can create beautiful portraits.

NB - Make sure at least some light is reaching your subject !

The background may be darker depending on the amount of shade. Remember to expose for the subject – use centre-spot metering if required.

Walk around your subject- try soft light from the side, as well as the front – but always aim to have most of the light on their face.

Lighting – Working Outdoors – Cloudy Days

Clouds act like one big soft diffuser of sunlight.

Cloudy days create soft even lighting – the opposite of harsh sunlight. This gives us more options in where we place our subject and the camera.

However, most overcast days will still have some directional light around, i.e. brighter areas of the sky.

A quick tip is to point your subjects towards the brighter areas of sky, to illuminate their face - the opposite of shooting under harsh light conditions.

Lighting – Working Outdoors – Cloudy Day tips

Remember to adjust White Balance & ISO for cloud.

Keep your aperture open to blur the background

If there are patches of sunlight, you could try standing the subject in front of them, so they are backlit.

Light, neutral clothing can act as a mini-reflector to bounce light into your subject’s face.

Stormy skies can add drama to your photo – but watch out for rain !

Lighting – Working Indoors – Natural light

We can still use natural light indoors, by placing the subject close to windows and doors.

Doors provide more creative control than windows because you can open and close them to adjust the amount of light allowed through.

The larger the window, the softer the light. A large window also provides a wider angle from which the light falls on to the face and it produces less shadows.

You can also reduce the amount of light through windows using blinds/net-curtains, or try sticking some white tissue paper to the window to diffuse strong sunlight.

Lighting – Working Indoors – Natural light - window

As windows are fixed in position, you have to think where you want your subject to be placed, rather than just moving the studio light to where you need it.

The soft nature of window light makes it very flattering for portrait photography. The shadows that appear on the face are very natural and don’t accentuate any features.

If there are any features on the subject that you would want to hide, stand the subject farther from the window, or try reducing the light by blinds/nets or even try a smaller window !

Lighting – Working Indoors – Natural light - window

Moving your entire setup to the window will allow your subject’s face to receive the most light. However, you’ll need to be more careful as window light can produce a high contrasts/shadows on a bright summer day.

You can also try a silhouette effect, by placing your subject between the camera and the window, with the light behind the subject.

It can be difficult to get the correct white balance if you mix sunlight with light from an internal light bulb.

Try to use only 1 type of light-source at a time.

Lighting – Reflectors

A photography light reflector bounces existing light back onto the subject.

Reflectors are excellent tools for adding fill light. This can prevent a silhouette look, by reflecting the light coming from behind back on to the subject’s face

They are relatively inexpensive to buy – roughly £10-20 for a cheap set, more for a “brand” name.

You can also make your own using white paper, tin-foil and muslin/net curtains. They don’t have to be round –use any spare frame or make some from canes.

The key is to stretch the fabric/foil over the frame, to minimise folds and to give an even reflection.

Lighting – Reflectors

Photography reflectors are very simple tools, but there are a few different types.

The larger a light source is, the softer the light. This creates a softer transition between the light and dark areas of an image.

With a large reflector, the shadows are less noticeable. Additionally, larger reflectors tend to be more flattering for all skin types.

The reflector should be a bit larger than the subject. A 40-45 inch reflector is a good size for portraits.

Lighting – Reflectors

Larger light reflectors are more common because of the soft light they produce, which most photographers want.

NB the larger the light reflector, the harder it is to hold it !

The colour of the reflector also affects the look of the light that bounces back :

A solid white reflector will produce a very soft light.

A reflector with a silver side will reflect more light back than white, creating harsher, but more powerful light.

A gold reflector is like the silver reflector, only it will give the subject a warm glow.

Lighting – Reflectors

A black reflector will block light. This can help you create your own shade or provide a dark background.

The semi-transparent white one is a diffuser. Place this between the light and the subject to soften the light coming through, instead of reflecting it.

Shoot through reflectors are regular reflectors with a hole cut in the centre, through which the camera is placed. These are used for shooting backlit portraits.

The shape of the reflector will be the shape that is reflected in the subject’s eyes – hence round reflectors are the most common.

Lighting – Reflectors

Reflectors can bounce back any type of light. This includes studio lights, sunlight, light from a window or door and from lightbulbs. Flashes and strobes can also work with reflectors.

Reflectors can’t create light, so there has to be enough light to begin with.

On a sunny day you can use the reflector as a fill flash for backlighting or adding creative lighting effects.

On a cloudy day use the reflector to fill in shadows.

Indoors, reflectors work well with window light and alongside flashes and strobes.

Lighting – Reflectors

The direction of the light-source will tell you where to place the reflector. It has to actually bounce back the light.

So note where the light is coming from.

The brightest reflected light is straight across from the light source. You can also use the light reflector at an angle to that original light source.

When the sun is low in the sky and not as harsh, try using a silver or gold camera reflector.

If the sun is bright and higher in the sky, use the white or semi-transparent instead.

Lighting – Reflectors

Small changes to the position and angle of the reflector can make big changes in the amount of light and where it falls.

In most cases, it is a just trial and error – keep adjusting the reflector, watching how the light changes - until you get the look you want.

However, as a general rule, the closer light is to the subject, the softer it is.

If you want to try a look with harder light, move the reflector farther from the subject.

For a soft portrait look, move the reflector as close as possible. You might end up holding the reflector yourself !

Lighting – Working indoors – natural light cont’d

We can also reflect light by using white sheets as backdrops or from white, or pale clothing.

NB - the amount of light reflected by clothing or a backdrop will generally be lower and softer, than using a reflector.

Mirrors can also be used as fill-in lights, bouncing natural light from windows and doors onto the subject’s face.

White tissue paper placed over the mirror will diffuse strong sunlight and prevent squinting.

Lighting – Working indoors with artificial light

Dedicated artificial lights have 2 important advantages over natural light. They allow you to be much more flexible and creative in lighting your model – you can move the light(s) around the subject.

They also give you more control over exposure. The intensity of light decays according to the “inverse square law”. If the distance between the light source and the subject doubles, the light intensity on the subject decreases by a factor of four.

So we can increase light levels by adding more studio lights, turning up the brightness of these lights, or moving the lights closer to the subject. By doing this, we can shorten the exposure needed.

If we move the lights further away or turn down their intensity, we will need a longer exposure.

Lighting – Working indoors with 1 light - setups

1) Diffused flash/camera flash

The Look

A simple diffused on-camera flash works as a fill light. It eliminates under eye shadows and adds a sparkle or catch light to the eye.

The light is coming from the same direction as the camera. This means that there are few shadows. If you soften the light, these can flatter imperfections like bumps and wrinkles in the skin.

The Setup

Leave the flash on your camera, but add a diffuser (tape or tissue paper) or set the flash to manual mode and dial it down.

Lighting – Working indoors with 1 light - setups

2) Bounced flash/camera flash

The Look

Soft light that hits the subject from an angle.

The Setup

Leave the flash on your camera. Place a reflector so it bounces the light back to your subject. Then turn the flash head until it points into the reflector.

With this setup, you can adjust the reflector to get different looks. Try bouncing into a reflector that’s angled 45 degrees in front of the subject.

You don’t have to use a reflector either, you can bounce your light off a neutral coloured wall or ceiling.

Lighting – Working indoors with 1 light - setups

3) Butterfly lighting

The Look

Soft light that hits the subject from above. It creates a small shadow underneath the nose and chin and it lights up both eyes and both sides of the face equally.

The Setup

Place an off-camera light directly behind the camera. Raise the light so it is above the subject’s head. Then angle the light down towards the subjects face at about a 45-degree angle.

When to Use It

Butterfly lighting is a popular but simple lighting technique. This portrait lighting set-up can emphasize the jaw line and the cheekbones.

Lighting – Working indoors with 2 light - setups4) Clamshell lighting – the Butterfly with a reflector

The Look

This pattern uses light from above, as per the Butterfly light. However, it adds a lower reflector to fill in the shadows. This lighting pattern exaggerates the cheekbones and jawline.

The Setup

Set up a butterfly light with the flash above and behind the camera, but angled down about 45 degrees. Add a reflector placed in the subject’s lap — ask them to hold it in place. The reflector will bounce some of that light back up as a fill light.

When to Use It

This soft flattering light is common in beauty shots and portraits of women. The shadows on the cheekbones can slim the face and define the jawline. Photographers using clamshell light on men tend to add harsher shadows by moving the light farther from the face.

Lighting – Working indoors with 1 light - setups5) Loop lighting – the Butterfly at an angle

The Look

A majority of the face is still well lit. But you’re working with a light that’s off to the side of the camera. This adds shadows to one side of the face.

The Setup

A loop light is a butterfly light, but moved to one side of the subject. Place an off-camera light next to the camera and off to the side, up to a 45 degree angle from the subject.

The light should also be taller than the subject, but angled down at them.

The light should be far enough from the camera to create shadows on one side of the face. But keep it close enough to the camera that both sides of the face are well lit.

When to Use It

If you want the flattering light of a butterfly, but with more interest and dimension, try loop lighting. This look falls between soft beauty lighting and dark and dramatic.

Lighting – Working indoors with 1 light - setups6) Rembrandt lighting – light from an angle

The Look

You can identify Rembrandt light by a triangle of light on the cheek farthest from the light source, just under the eye. This lighting pattern will also have catch lights in both eyes.

The Setup

Move the light to a more extreme angle, typically 45-degrees. Move the light until the opposite side of the face only has a small triangle of light on the cheek just below the eye. The height of the light should be a foot or two above eye level.

Then place a reflector at about a 45 degree angle from the subject, but on the opposite side to the light. Angle the reflector so that it’s bouncing some light back.

When to Use It

Rembrandt lighting is a traditional yet dramatic lighting style. This type of light is best for creating a more serious portrait. NB - the more extreme side angle is less forgiving on skin textures, acne and wrinkles.

Lighting – Working indoors with 1 light - setups7) Rim lighting – light from an angle and behind

The Look

This lighting pattern creates a narrow rim of light on one side of the subject. Rim lighting is often used with a dark exposure to light the outline of the subject.

The Setup

Rim lighting also uses a light that’s about 45 degrees from the subject, but 45 degrees behind the subject. Instead of placing the light next to the camera, place the light a few feet behind the subject and to the side. Varying the height will adjust the width and placement of that rim.

If you want a dark image with just the outline, use manual exposure. If you want the subject’s face lit, expose for the face and use a reflector towards the front of the subject.

When to Use It

Rim lighting is dramatic light that emphasizes the subject’s shape. That makes it excellent for photographing athletes, exaggerating curves, or capturing a profile.

Lighting – Working indoors with 1 light - setups8) Split lighting – light from the side

The Look

Light that splits the face exactly in half, with half the face well lit and half the face in shadow. The second eye may or may not have a catch light.

The Setup

Place the light at the subject’s side, about face height. The light should only reach one side of the face, leaving the other side dark.

Since this lighting pattern is more dramatic, the light can be farther away.

When to Use It

Split lighting is excellent for creating dramatic, moody images.

The light is less forgiving to skin imperfections and works better with a serious expression.

Lighting – Working indoors with 1 light - setups9) Split lighting with reflector

The Look

Lighting that’s more prominent on one side than the other, but with both halves of the face visible.

The Setup

Like the typical split, place light directly to the side of the subject, about face level.

On the opposite side, use a reflector to direct some of that light back to the other side. A white reflector will create darker shadows than a silver reflector.

When to Use It

Use this set-up if you love the drama of the split light, but want to see the details in both sides of the subject’s face. The lighting is still dramatic and one side is darker than the other, but the reflector leaves more details intact.

Lighting – Working indoors with 1 light - setups10) Backlit with a reflector fill

The Look

A halo-like light from behind the subject with soft light for the face.

The Setup

Place the light directly behind the subject. Lower the height of the light so that the camera can’t actually see the light. Leave the light tucked behind the head, or behind the shoulders and pointed slightly up.

Use a reflector at the front of the subject to bounce light back to the face. A shoot through reflector works best for this look.

When to Use It

Backlight gives your subject a halo and the reflector means that the light on the face is soft and flattering. This lighting pattern also gives the subject and background more separation.

Lighting – Working indoors with 2 lights - setups

1) “Hero” lighting – split lighting with 2 lights

The Look

This setup takes its name from the powerful mood it conveys. It produces a strong shadow in the middle of your model’s face.

The Setup

Place 2 lights either side of the subject, about face height. Each light should only reach one side of the face, leaving the middle in shadow.

Positioning the model in front of the lights creates a larger shadow. Position the model behind the lights for a thinner shadow.

Lighting – Working indoors with 2 lights - setups

2) Rim lighting with 2 lights

The Look

With 2 rim lights, it is possible to highlight the complete subject, isolating them from the background.

The Setup

As with Rim lighting, place the lights a few feet behind the subject and to the side, roughly at a 45 degree angle. Vary the angles to get the look you require.

To have a nice, thin, highlight showing only the contour of your model’s figure, reduce your flash power. Too much and the light will spill over the contour and light their front.

Black & White Portraits

Black and white has a way of stripping unneeded information from an image, helping you to emphasize specific elements to your viewer, without the distractions that colour can provide.

It can bring a unique and honest perspective to your photo.

A lack of colour opens up a new world where light, expressions, and stories are intensified.

A B&W portrait will prioritise your subject’s expressions, movements, and other subtleties.

Black & White Portraits

1) Start with black and white in mind

If you can start the creation of an image knowing that you intend it to be black and white, you can take steps to ensure that all of the elements of a good monochrome image are in place before you press the shutter.

For example, contrast in tonality, contrast in lighting and appropriate expressions from your subjects.

If you have trouble imagining how an image may look in black and white, try setting your camera to a monochrome setting and use “Live View” to preview the results.

Black & White Portraits

2) The eyes of your subject are the most important.

The eyes are usually the focal point that the rest of your image is built around.

This is especially true with black and white. Without colour, a black and white image often breaks down into graphic forms and shapes.

Eyes are shapes that everyone recognizes and they draw immediate focus from your viewers.

Making sure that your subject’s eyes are well lit, and in focus is critical.

Black & White Portraits

3) Expressions are emphasized in Black & White

Like the eyes, other facial features become more prominent in a black and white portrait.

You can use this to your advantage by conveying emotion in your images. Even tiny changes in your subject’s expression can make a difference.

To get a mixture of expressions from your subject, first prepare a list of emotions and ask your model to show how they look when they feel like this.

For example, happy, sad, joy, angry and melancholy.

Black & White Portraits

4) Thinking about …… Tonal Contrast

Tonal contrast is the difference in brightness between the different areas of the photo.

Try to see the scene in terms of highlights and shadows. Switching your camera to monochrome mode will help you see whether the composition is working in black and white, and how the colours in the scene translate to grey tones.

For example, by placing a model with fair skin against a dark background gives high contrast.

Conversely, a dimly lit scene produces a low contrast image.

Black & White Portraits

5) Thinking about ……. Texture

Texture is also important when shooting in black and white.

If your model has smooth skin, you might like to place her against a rough background to emphasize the difference in texture.

You should also pay attention to the textures in your model’s clothing.

Black & White Portraits

6) Keep the composition as simple as possible.

Black and white is a form of simplification because it removes colour from the scene. Keep the theme of simplicity going when it comes to composition and lighting.

Try to use natural light, perhaps with the assistance of a reflector and keep backgrounds as uncluttered as possible.

Use a wide aperture to throw the background out of focus. Simplifying the composition to removes distractions and emphasize your model.

Summary

In this presentation we have covered ...

Choosing the right lighting setup to suit our subject

Using natural light, indoors and outdoors

Using a reflector

Some studio lighting set-ups for portraits

Specific things to focus on when shooting in black & white

I hope you have enjoyed this presentation and I look forward to seeing your competition entries !