Chiaroscuro

Definition:  the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.an effect of contrasted light and shadow created by light falling unevenly or from a particular direction on something.

Chiaroscuro was originally an oil painting technique, developed during the Renaissance, that uses strong tonal contrasts between light and dark to model three-dimensional forms, often to dramatic effect. Now days Chiaroscuro is still being used by artists to draw but is a popular technique in film making and by photographers aiming for a more dramatic image.  Chiaroscuro  is used in cinematography to indicate extreme low-key and high-contrast lighting to create distinct areas of light and darkness in films, especially in black and white films. In more highly developed photographic processes, this technique also may be termed “ambient/natural lighting”, although when done so for the effect, the look is artificial and not generally documentary in nature.

The Girl with the Pearl earing – taken by Johannes Vermeer’s is an iconic version of Chiaroscuro in painting

This image shows how Chiaroscuro works. A bright/harsh light source is directed onto a face/object at an angle so that half of the face is lit up this usually leads to the other half of the face being shadow and in most cases unseen. To get the full effect of Chiaroscuro a black background is used and the photo is taken in darkness with just the key light.

This image was taken with a harsh light:

This image was taken with a lower intensity of light and then the use of the gold face shows the use of a reflection colour of light. The gold reflector rapped around the model creates a soft, warm light tone on his face.