What Is Studio Lighting:

When lighting a studio setup, dramatic lighting is important. Create dramatic lighting by producing a lot of contrast. This means that dark areas are just as important as light areas. Dramatic lighting requires a number of light sources placed in a way to create very light and very dark areas.

The most basic studio lighting arrangement uses a key light (1), a fill light (2), and a back light (3). This is the most common lighting arrangement for standalone characters and objects in the studio. A three-point setup will give good results right away and is an excellent starting point for creating special effects. Spotlights are useful because you can control their direction and hot spot to give the scene drama.

http://docs.mcneel.com.s3.amazonaws.com/flamingo/nxt/help/en-us/lighting/studio_lighting_basics.htm

Basic 3 Light Set Up:

Key light: The key light is the dominant light in the scene. It sets the mood, provides direction, shows dimension and texture, and creates the darkest shadows. 
Fill light: The fill light is placed just above the lens on the opposite side from the key light. Its purpose is to reduce contrast and bring out detail in the shadows by simulating light reflected off nearby objects. The key light and fill light may be of equal intensity for a low-contrast result, but the key light is usually brighter and harder than the fill light. The fill light should not introduce any more dark shadows into the scene.
Back light:  The backlight effect is subtle but can define the edges of objects in the scene and add depth by preventing objects from blending into the background. Backlights are usually placed behind and above the object and are pointed toward the camera. The effectiveness of backlights depends in part on the reflectivity of the surfaces they are lighting.

http://docs.mcneel.com.s3.amazonaws.com/flamingo/nxt/help/en-us/lighting/studio_lighting_basics.htm

Mood Board:

Action Plan:

In my first studio lighting shoot I am going to try to create both contrast by having one half of the face with the light, and the other half with a shadow. I am also going to experiment with filters and using two lights on either side of the face. I will also experiment with shooting onperson, two people and then three people to see how the light works with numerous people. There are two lights that I am going to switch between my images, a light with a soft box and a redhead light. With the red head light I also placed coloured filters over to experiment with.

The Photoshoot:

As you can see I experimented with soft light, hard light, colour filters and multiple people. I also experimented with different white balances, creating a warm tone in some images. The shadowing of the soft box creates a contrast across the face betwen light and dark. It adds mystery and depth to the image. I stood fairly close to the models while taking the images however I also wanted to include the black background in the image because I feel it makes the models stand out more.

Images to Manipulate:

I chose to manipulate these images because they were the most focused and aesthetically pleasing images. I feel that the curly haired model Aimee has very photogenic eyes which make the image more interesting.

Manipulated Images:

I manipulated all of these images using adobe lightroom. I adjusted general settings such as contrast, highlights, shadows, exposure, vibrance, saturation and clarity. However, with some images I also experimented with presets. For example, my image of my friend Aimee in black and white was applied with the black and white filter "punch". I then slightly adjusted the exposure, highlights and contrast.

Reflection:

Overall I did like the outcome of my images. Once again I need to perfect my focusing skillsbecause some of my images are still slightly blurry. I also need to experiment with different lighting techniques such as using two lights at once. I would also like to experiment more with composing my images to make it look more interesting and maybe using male models aswell so I can compare and see if I have to take my images any differently.

In photography light coming in  from the outside can be used as an alternative to artificial lighting when capturing an image. This is known as ‘window lighting’.

There is several ways in which you can photograph a person using window lighting.

• If the light is coming in from behind the subject you will get a silhouette of the subject. To counter balance this you must reflect some of the light from the window back onto your subject using a reflector or a white piece of card.
• You could have your subject at an angle to the window. This could create a chiarascuro effect. This means that half of your subject will in the light while the other half will in shadow.
• If your subject is facing the window the whole of their face will be illuminated. This means that there will be little to no shadows cast on your subject.

Contact Sheet:

RED: Not usable.

YELLOW: Maybe/Needs editing.

GREEN: Usable image.

Favourite Image:

To capture this photo I had the subject face slightly away from the source of light. This made one side of his face more illuminated than the other. The photo also has soft lighting as it was cloudy outside, which means that the shadows on the subject’s face are not very harsh and dark.

Natural lighting

Natural lighting is the form of lighting that is mostly used in portraiture. Natural lighting can come at different intensities, temperatures and directions. These are all important to consider as all these factors can cause things like shadows, so you must use the lighting to your advantage in order to achieve the outcome that you want. I also used reflectors in this photoshoot so I could choose how the lighting illuminated certain parts of my models’ faces.  Below is a mood board that I used as inspiration on how to use natural lighting in portraiture:

Mood board

Contact sheets

Best outcomes

Using reflectors

Below are 2 examples, using my own images, showing how using reflectors can change how a portrait look:

The images on the left were taken without a reflector. You can tell as the parts of the faces that aren’t in direct contact with the light, ended up shadowed. The images on the right are taken using white card as a reflector. You can tell as it made the other side of the face ended up lit up.

Analysing

Technical

when taking this image my ISO was set to 800, and my shutter speed was set at 1/60.  These settings meant that this image had a long exposure time, so that it wasn’t dark and under exposed.

Visual

I think this is one of my best outcomes due to how the lighting looks on the model’s face. I like how part of it is lit and the other half isn’t, giving the image a chiaroscuro effect. I think the image would’ve also looked good if I had also reflected the light onto the other said of the face too. However, I think the chiaroscuro lighting and the slight low-key lighting in the image pair together nicely to create a really dramatic and mysterious image. I also like how the model is positioned nicely in the middle of the image, as it adds symmetry to the photo. However, I think the image would’ve looked a lot better if it had been taken with a better background as the plant in the background would’ve been less distracting.

Contact sheets

Here are my contact sheets to help me cut down to my final images. These are all the unedited photos compiled side by side in order to pick out the best of the lot.

From these images I was able to isolate and identify the photos I wanted to work with

Final edits

Here are all my final images some edited, some left unedited due to achieving the perfect lighting effect I was after.

Desaturated with a heavy exposure drop

Just a drop in exposure with a crop of the background

Desaturated with lowered exposure and raised contrast to highlight the shadows on the subjects face

A close up of the subjects eyes, desaturated and exposure dropped slightly

Desaturated with contrast dropped slightly

Desaturated

Lowered exposure and vibrance toned slightly down to give faded pink effect

Unedited, I really like the shadow created by the lighting falling on the subjects hand gesture and face.

In this particular photo I used the white background in order to capture the pink to its fullest. I got a friend to hold the pink infront of  the white spotlight and angle it directly towards the two girls. I chose Marli and Kristy as I thought their height differnce would make from and intersting picture and it expressed a feeling of individuality as we are all the same age and from the same place yet we are all so different. No one person is the same, whether it me in height or race or brains, I wanted to express a sense of unity by putting to very different people so close to each other, a tall Lativian and a small South African. I purposely had Marli’s shadow fall onto Kristy as a symbol of solidarity and harmony between the countries there represent and the values they express and how no matter what we all stand as one.

In this photo i had the black curtain drawn and had the softbox on and no flash was used as I wanted to display chiaroscuro and any naturally occuring shadowing from the soft box. Yet I didn’t want the spotlight on because I felt it would have been to harsh and I wanted it to feel as subtle as possible. I wanted the tall at the back inorder to capture everyones faces clearly and also to create a clear foreground and background, as well as a reptive structure which is created by the pairs they are standing in. I purposly avoiding having a leading eye as I wanted all persons to be the focal point which symbolies equality, everyone has there chane to be in the spotlight and recieve attention. I put this photo into black and white to resemble the idea of ‘yin and yang’ and how opposites attract in harmony, this filter also creates a cool temperature and tone.

In this photo I had a pink filter over the white spotlight and the white background again. No flash photography was used as I wanted to capture the naturalistic  I wanted Kristy to get down to Marli’s height to show a sense of integration between us and how we should all respect each other and we should always put ourselves in the other persons shoes before making a judgement, it’s all about us being on a level playing field. Also I specifically asked Marli to wear black and Kristy to wear white to symbolise ‘yin and yang’ which describes how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.