Chiaroscuro is an Italian term which means light and dark and basically refers to the high contrast light/dark style used in Renaissance painting and later in photography and cinema. In modern terms Chiaroscuro means strong or bold contrasts between light and dark areas in the photograph. It is often used in studio portraits using single-point lighting to cast a shadow across one side of the subject. This means that Chiaroscuro Lighting creates a very low key image as there are a lot of dark areas on the picture.
As you can see, half of the face in the image is completely enveloped in shadow, creating a very dark and mysterious atmosphere, similar to that of renaissance paintings of which the style is based.
Rembrandt Lighting:
Rembrandt lighting is a lighting technique that is used in studio portrait photography. It can be achieved using one light and a reflector, or two lights, and is popular because it is capable of producing images which appear both natural and compelling without needing too much equipment. The iconic sign for Rembrandt lighting is the triangular light/reflection next to the nose, under the eye, on the cheekbone usually on the side of the face that is darker or further away.
Why do we use studio lighting? – I think we use studio lighting because the lighting can create different effects and make the photo look different and unique.
What is the difference between 1-2-3 point lighting and what does each technique provide / solve? – One is the key light, two is the fill light and three is the back light. The key light provides the technique of Chiaroscuro, adding the back light dims the effect of Chiaroscuro and then adding the fill light removes all shadows.
Example:
What is fill lighting? – Fill light is used to reduce the contrast of a scene to match the dynamic range of the recording media and record the same amount of detail typically seen by eye in average lighting and considered normal.
What is spill lighting? – Spill light is the light that illuminates surfaces beyond the area intended to be illuminated.
What is Chiaroscuro ? Show examples + your own experiments – Chiaroscuro, in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modelling three-dimensional objects and figures.
My example:
Natural Lighting:
intensity of the light – Intensity is the brightness level of light and it brightens up your subject. For both natural light and studio light, you can modify the light source to change the intensity.
direction of the light – The placement and width of shadows in a photograph is created by the angle between the camera and the light source. The width of the shadows increases as the direction of the light moves from the camera out to the side.
temperature of the light and white balance – f the light in the image was Tungsten (3000K) or Daylight (5500K) they would post produce with a white balance of 2800K or 5300K respectively. Any temperature setting lower than the color temperature of the light in a scene, will yield a more blue or “cooler” image
Using reflectors (silver / gold) – In flat lighting, a reflector can add interest or drama to the shot. Some photographers use reflectors as hair lights outdoors. Many reflectors have a black side that can be used to block out light instead of to reflect it. Reflectors are also great for bouncing a flash when there’s nothing around to bounce off of
For this project I took some models around school and posed them where there was a lot of light, so near a door or window. My white balance was on tungsten and I had quite a small aperture.
Contact Sheet:
Red – No
Orange – Maybe
Green – Yes
Final Outcomes (Unedited):
I really like the outcomes of these unedited photos but I wanted to edit them a little to bit to enhance the photos.
Best Photo:
I chose this photo for my best image because it looks the sharpest and shows my camera skills the best.
Studio Lighting:
Rankin (John Rankin Waddell) –
John Rankin Waddell (born 1966), also known under his working name Rankin, is a British portrait and fashion photographer and director.
Best known as the founder of Dazed and Confused magazine (along with Jefferson Hack), and for his photography of models including Kate Moss and Heidi Klum, celebrities such as Madonna and David Bowie and his portrait of Elizabeth II. His work has appeared in magazines such as GQ, Vogue and Marie Claire. In 2011 Rankin started the biannual fashion, culture and lifestyle magazine, Hunger and launched Rankin Film to produce and direct his own commercial and editorial film work.
Examples of his photography:
The Impression Magazine – Vol. 4 – RankinJohn Rankin
Rankin Portrait Positive
Contact Sheets:
Red – No
Orange – Maybe
Green – Yes
My Response (Final Outcomes Unedited):
For some of these photos I used coloured gels to get the red and green colour you see in the photos. I also used one light on the side to create the Chiaroscuro effect. I also used two lights with a trigger flash on the camera to create full body photos.
Best Photo:
I think this is my best image because the chiaroscuro looks really effective and the image is very sharp and well exposed. It also has a really good white balance.
Flash Photography:
As I didn’t take many with flash, I only have a few good photos. I used two studio lights and a trigger flash on my camera to get these images. I hope next time I can take more photos with flash as I liked the outcome of these few photos. Most of the images were too over exposed as I was adjusting the settings and testing out the trigger flash.
Contact Sheet:
Best Image:
I chose this photo because it has better exposure and looks sharper and better than the other photo I took.
Conclusion:
Overall I am very happy with how these three best images turned out. I think it shows my camera skills very well and shows that I can work a camera well also. I really like studio photography as I want to look further into fashion photography so this really helped with what I would like to do in the future.
Using artificial lighting can offer many creative possibilities, I will explore…
size and shape of light – the larger area of light produced, the softer the shadows will be.
distance from subject to create hard / soft light – the further away the lights are from the subject, the softer the light will be, and vice versa.
angles and direction…high, low, side lighting – changes the direction of the shadows that are cast.
filtered light –
camera settings : WB / ISO / shutter speed etc – makes light cooler/warmer, changes the amount light hitting the sensor, amount of motion blur in the image.
reflectors and diffusers – diffusers make the light and shadows softer, reflectors are used to manipulate the direction of the light
key lighting, fill lighting, back lighting, 3 point lighting – key light- main lighting, fill – used to reduce contrast, back – used to make the subject a silhouette – 3 point – all of the above at once.
soft-boxes, umbrella lights, spot lights and floodlights – all help the photographer manipulate the light
chiaroscuro and Rembrandt lighting – used to create a high contrast with shadows on the subject.
high key and low key lighting techniques – high key – low contrast, overexposed, bright. low key – dark, high contrast, shadows.
backdrops and infinity curves – creates a clean backdrop for the photographer to use.
head shot – portrait that realistically demonstrates a person’s appearance.
half body shot – similar to a head shot, but focuses on the torso as well as the head and shoulders.
full body shot – picture of the whole body leaving equal space around the subject for balance
Tableau is french for “living picture”, meaning a picture is staged to give it a sort of snapshot effect. The image usually contains two or more models interacting with each other or props and their environment and are usually stationary and silent. props may be used as well if relevant to the context.
Paul M Smith
Paul M Smith is a UK Based tableau photographer who is most well known for his portrayal of the image of typical, working class “lads” in the 1990s. His work explores the ideas of the image of young juvenile males and their friendships and working class lives
Here are some examples of his work
These two particular images all include Smith as every character in the image. This effect was achieved by utilizing multiple images and photo editing software to give a multiple exposure effect. Essentially multiple photos are taken of the same character in different outfits in different positions and then layered over the top of each other.
Some of Smith’s most prolific work is in collaboration with Take That! star Robbie Williams. Smith was tasked with creating album art based around William’s love of football. The set features images associated with playing and watching football and helps perfectly paint the picture of the working class in the late 90s.
This is my favourite photo by Bruce Gilden; mainly because of the genuine expressions on the women’s faces. The photo also captures textures and motion really well. It being black and white helps focus attention on the facial expressions instead of the background.This is a photo of what Bruce Gilden looks like.
Bruce Gilden is a street photographer who is most known for his up-close photographs of people. He was born in Brooklyn in 1946 and has received many awards including the ‘European publishers award for photography’. The main reason for him starting photography is the film ‘blowup’. Being influenced by this movie, he went and bought his first camera and started attending night school photography classes.
He doesn’t try to be discrete at all when taking photos. He prefers to approach people and take photos of their initial reaction. He also aims to take photos of people who either stand out, or people he can portray as different.
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35 mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as capturing a decisive moment. He was also one of the founding members of Magnum Photos in 1947.
This idea of capturing the decisive moment can definitely be seen in this photo; if the photo was taken a fraction of a second later the person in the foreground would have stepped in the standing water, which would have caused ripples and ruined the clarity of the reflection on the water.
These two photographers are very different but they have one thing in common, they both focus on the decisive moment. For Henri Carter that is the whole frame (like described in the photo above), and for Bruce Gilden it’s the moment people react to him taking a photo of them.
You will be completing the PORTRAIT UNIT during a day of CONTROLLED CONDITIONS (exam rules apply) at the end of January.
The preparation period begins NOW and continues through the month of January.
Your stimulus is IDENTITY AND PLACE.
We will be exploring tableaux vivants, composite / cut-n-paste / collage portraits, self -portraiture and more over the coming weeks to ensure that you have successful final images ready for your exam.
Exam Arrangements
Periods 1-5 | Breaks as normal | Exam Starts at 9am each day
Group 12 C | Wednesday 30th January | Photography 1
Group 12B | Wednesday 30th January | ICT- MEDIA
Group 12E | Thursday 31st January | Photography 1
Group 12A | Thursday 31stst January | ICT-MEDIA
What do you do in the exam itself…?
Select your final images
Edit and manipulate your final images
Add your final images to the print folder
Show the above process clearly in your blog, including screen-shots of your editing AND annotations
PRINTING : choose at least 1 x outcome for each of the following…
response to “identity and place”
response to photo-montage
response to tableau / staged reality
response to studio lighting
response to street portraits
response to environmental portraits
Print size images = 4000 pixels on LONG EDGE
BLOG SIZE images = 1000 pixels on LONG EDGE
Ensure you have enough evidence of…
moodboards
mindmaps
case studies (artist references)
photo-shoot action plans / specifications
photoshoots + contact sheets (annotated)
appropriate image selection and editing techniques
presentation of final ideas and personal responses
When taking pictures, being able to determine the intensity, colour and direction of light will help you to know how to position your subject and which camera setting to use.
Intensity of the light
The intensity of light is a measure of its harshness or brightness and determines how much light is present in a scene. It can be referred to as the quantity of light. You can estimate how intense light is based on the balance between shadows and highlights. This distinction between highlight and shadow is called contrast. Light is mostly intense at noon when the sun is directly overhead; This means that the contrast is high. On the other hand, light and contrast are less intense early in the morning or evening. Direct intense light can be harsh. You often find these conditions on bright sunny days. Harsh light intensifies the contrast between light and shadows which can result in unflattering images. When using diffused less intense light, contrast is lower and the light is more flattering. When the sun is shining brightly overhead there are a few things you can do to diffuse the lighting:
Find some cover as shade can be a great diffuser. Photograph your subject under the cover. When working in shade make sure the subject is evenly covered by the shade.
If there is no shade in your area you can diffuse the light with a scrim. You place the scrim between your subject and the light source.
Overcast days are good for natural light portrait photography because the cloud cover acts as a natural diffuser
If you are taking images inside and are relying on a window as your light source, move your subject away from the window to lessen the intensity of the light
Direction of the light
Depending on the time of day, the direction of light changes due to the sun’s movement. Knowing where the light is coming will help you know where to position your subject to get the best images. Try positioning your subject with the sun behind them instead of having the sunlight shine directly into the face to light up their features. The backlight this provides will cast nice highlights around the hair.
Temperature of the light and white balance
Colour temperature is the various shades of colour that are produced by different light sources. It is measured on the kelvin scale, from the cooler blue tinged end of the spectrum to the warmer, reddish coloured end. Colour temperature changes throughout the day, depending on the time and the amount of cloud cover. At dawn the sky appears light blue, at sunset the sky appears orange, and at dusk the sky appears violet blue. Our eyes naturally adjust to changes in the colour of light to keep colours looking the same in various lighting situations. Since our cameras don’t do that white balance is important.
These are my final edited images from another photo shoot in the studio. The main purpose of this shoot was to experiment with different lighting techniques/colours.
This is two photos edited together. The original was two different people staring at each other, but I decided to take another darker photo of myself and edit it into the previous one. This give a bright/dark good/bad side effect.
This photo used two-point lighting. A spotlight with a green tint to the left, as well as a ring light positioned directly in front of the camera. The ring light isn’t visible as the camera was placed in the middle of the ring light. This results in a brighter image, but still keeps the colour lighting.
In both this, and the following photo I have used only one light source, this lights the model in the centre evenly with one colour, it also gives a big clear shadow to one side.
In this photo I used two-point lighting. There was a softbox placed to the right side at a slight angle, and a spotlight with a purple cover placed on the other side. This creates a warm and colourful effect.
The same lighting was used for this photo as the previous one. Only in this photo the camera is positioned nearer the purple tinted spotlight, which gives it a bigger overall impact on the face.
This is two photos edited together. The original was two different people staring at each other, but I decided to take another darker photo of myself and edit it into the previous one. This give a bright/dark good/bad side effect.
This photo used two-point lighting. A spotlight with a green tint to the left, as well as a ring light positioned directly in front of the camera. The ring light isn’t visible as the camera was placed in the middle of the ring light. This results in a brighter image, but still keeps the colour lighting.
In both this, and the following photo I have used only one light source, this lights the model in the centre evenly with one colour, it also gives a big clear shadow to one side.
In this photo I used two-point lighting. There was a softbox placed to the right side at a slight angle, and a spotlight with a purple cover placed on the other side. This creates a warm and colourful effect.
The same lighting was used for this photo as the previous one. Only in this photo the camera is positioned nearer the purple tinted spotlight, which gives it a bigger overall impact on the face.