Lighting is an important part of photography as it can change the way a photo looks through the smallest movement and is one of the key components of taking a good photo. There’s a variety of light combinations that can be used in order to change how bright/dark a photo looks, the black/white balance, the exposure, the warmth/coolness of the image and a lot more.

Natural lighting is one of the most common forms of lighting, using no artificial lights and instead relying on the amount of light outside. Although it’s commonly used, it’s difficult to control as it can leave photos dark/dingy if there isn’t enough light out, being especially hard to use in winter due to the lack of sunlight, however, natural lighting can still create incredible photos but photographers need to be aware of more variables such as:

• Light Direction -> Throughout the day, the sun changes position, moving shadows and can brighten the photo if it’s shining directly onto the subject.
• Light Intensity -> In the early mornings, the light is less intense and will give the photo a softer look as it’s not shining as brightly as it would in midday when it’s the light is at its highest point.
• Temperature -> As the sun sets [specifically in summer], it creates a golden look, giving photos a warm, orangey tint [this is often referred to as ‘golden hour’] whilst winter mornings are darker and will give the photo a colder bluish tone.
• Weather -> Rainy days are more likely to give photos a darker/grey look whilst sunny days could leave photos overexposed due to the light intensity.

Artificial/studio Lighting is often used in portraiture due to how controllable it is. It can be moved in any direction and can produce both soft and hard lighting with the use of flash or continuous light which allows a bigger variety of lighting choices/combinations. Along with that, the colour of the lights can be manipulated in order to get warmer or cooler toned photos depending on what lights are used. Some examples of artificial lights are:

• Flash head lights -> They connect to the camera via a Bluetooth adapter that sits on top of the camera. This causes the lights to flash whenever a photo is taken and creates harsh lighting. They often have softboxes or umbrellas attached to them in order to diffuse the light and get softer photos.
• Ring Light -> A circular, continuous light that’s mostly used for portraits. The camera typically sits in the centre of the ring light which erases most of the shadows as the light surrounds the subject.
• Studio Lamp -> A small light that creates soft lighting and are usually too small to light up an entire image by itself. Usually, they’re equipped with ‘barn doors’ which allows the light to be redirected subtly. They can create both warm and cold lighting and are typically used alongside a bigger light.

With artificial lighting, there are certain techniques that are used in order to create specific effects:

I have picked this photo of Noel Flood from my environmental portraits to be one of my final images because I think it shows what he does and what type of place he worked in. I have turned this photo to black and white because I wanted Noel to be the main focus and I thought that the powerful colours of the bottles behind him would take that away. I like the harsher and darker blacks in it and how the brighter whites contrast with them, I also like how you can see all the bottles in the background with noel still being in the centre of the photo.

This is one of my environmental portraits of the owner of the Quayside cafe down by the harbour. I like how the background has a yellow tint which contrasts nicely with the blue in the foreground from the reflection on the screen. I also like how you can see many of the products that they sell on the shelves behind her. The lady is also in the middle of the image so it makes her the main focal point even though there are many other elements to the photo.

This is one of my still life images and I have chosen it to be one of my final images because I think that it is eyecatching and has nice shadowing behind the objects. I also think the bright white sits nicely on top of the darker metal of the candle holder. I wanted the shadows and the reflection to be prominent without taking away from the main object, so I haven’t made the shadows too dark, as well as cut off most of the reflection beneath the objects.

This is one of my experimentations, I have put together my coloured image of the white bottle and the candle holder and the three yoghurt pots stacked on top of each other. I did this photoshop and like how they look together, I also like how they lined up together to make it look like one object altogether.

I have picked this from my Hamptonne objects because I like how it shows how people use to live and what they used or wore. I also like how the hat has vibrant reds next to two darker objects because it allows the hat to be the focus of the image but it still doesn’t take all of the attention away from the lantern or the knitted bag. The darker brown in the wooden hangers also contrasts nicely with the bolder reds as well as the greys and greens in the other objects.

This is another one of my Hamptonne objects and I have chosen this to be one of my final images because I like how it is a bright photo with no dark tones, I also really like how both the brown in the shoes and the wood complement the creamy white of the wall. In the is the image you can also see the ageing of the floorboards which tells the story of those who used to live there.

I have chosen this to be a part of my final images because I like how the foreground is blurry and highlights the different antique plates and tea sets. While editing I wanted to give it a more vintage feel to the photo so the blues and red on the plates and teacups are less bright but are still the main focus of the photo. Also, I like how the gold of the cadel holder is shiny and highlighted which is a big difference from the dull and worn out lock on the cabinet.

This is one of my portraits from Hamptonne and I have chosen it to be one of my final images because I think that it has good lighting which shows the Goodwyfs features and what she would have worn during that time. I like how that she isn’t looked into the camera because it draws our attention to her surroundings and the shadows that are created from the window in front of her.

Vanitas Still Life

A Vanitas is often a symbolic work of art with connections to concepts like the inevitability of death, being consumed by greed and vanity, and how one’s life is being spent. They were most popular in the 1600’s and were mostly done by Dutch painters.

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Sharon Core

Sharon Core is an American Artist and Photographer, born in Louisiana (1965) she studied painting at the University of Georgia and Photography at Yale University of Art. She has won numerous awards and has many exhibitions for her work. In this work she recreates the style of vanitas paintings but using a camera. It is incredibly recognisable and unique and her history as a painter helped fuel her to edit and create photos like this.

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My Images-

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I attempted to edit mine in a similar style to make them seem less realistic, making them seem softer and a more pleasant colour scheme.

Portraiture has been used for centuries in the form of paintings, however, in recent decades, as photography’s developed, portraits are easier to take than ever before, becoming easier and less time consuming as the decades go on.

19th Century – Louis Daguerre + Daguerreotypes

Louis Daguerre was a French painter and physicist that created the first practical process of photography called the daguerreotype after improving upon Niepce’s work after he passed.

He discovered exposing an idolized silver plate in a camera would create a permanent image if the latent image was developed through exposure to fumes of mercury then fixed by a solution of salt. Daguerre’s process lowered the exposure time from 8 hours to roughly 30 minutes! However, daguerreotypes were expensive as they were highly detailed, heavy and very fragile due to their mirror-like surface which meant only the wealthy could afford them.

Despite their pricing, daguerreotypes were very popular and used for still life, natural phenomena, documentary subjects and most commonly portraits.

19th Century – Henry Fox Talbot

Henry Talbot was an English scientist that created the salt paper and calotype processes which are known as an improved daguerreotype.

The salt paper process involved placing paper into a salt solution that would later be dried before one side of the paper got coated in a solution of silver nitrate, creating a light-sensitive silver nitrate that would darken when exposed to light. Objects would be placed on the paper or the image from a camera obscura would be used in order for the photo to be made.

The Calotype process used a paper negative to make a softer version of the daguerreotype which makes it possible to make multiple copies as a negative is produced.

19th Century – Julia Margaret Cameron 

Julia Margaret Cameron was a British photographer who is best known for her soft-focus close-ups of many Victorian people, creating ‘moving portraits’ due to how expressive they are.

Cameron often convinced her models to dress up for their portraits which helped her create biblical-esque photos, often compared to Pre-Raphaelite paintings due to how soft and spiritual her portraits look. She achieved this soft look by using dark lighting, a shallow depth of field, long exposure times and a soft focus, all of which combined together to create her now famous portraits.

Cameron’s work was heavily criticized at the time due to her ‘lack of technique’ causing most of her photos to be out of focus, have cracked plates, have fingerprints etc. However, these ‘mistakes’ are what led to Cameron’s modern day success as they added character to her portraits and allowed her to truly capture each model she photographed.

WHAT IS PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. A portrait photograph may be artistic or clinical.

USE OF STUDIO LIGHTING

Chiaroscuro is an Italian term which literally means ‘light-dark’. In photographs the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted. Artists who are famed for the use of chiaroscuro include Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio.

Rembrandt lighting is a standard lighting technique that is used in studio portrait photography and cinematography. 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 with a minimum of equipment. It’s common characteristics include a triangle of light beneath one eye and a shadow beneath the nose.

OLIVER DORAN

Oliver Doran is a portrait and advertising photographer who works in Jersey, London, Paris and Dubai. Doran loves cinematic and theatrical imagery mainly of humans but also, as any professional photographer, I delve into other areas of the photographic world including; product, food, interiors and architecture. Oliver came into our studio to teach us about lighting techniques.

Oliver Doran Biography- I endeavour to shoot timeless images that work today and in a 100 years and avoid using fad techniques that date the images. One can only guess where technology will lead us but the art in the humanity will never change. Our eyes on a piece of art, a portrait and the emotion we derive should remain as relevant today as well as in 100 years time or even a 1000 years time.

Overview

The importance of natural lighting: it bounces sunlight toward the camera’s subject and makes sure they’re always more lit from the front than from the back. This is what allows photographers to produced detailed, high contrast photos of their subjects. Direction of light: below I have put this image in to visually illustrate how the direction of lighting can alter the shape and shadows around objects.

Hard and soft light are different types of lighting that are commonly used in photography and filmmaking. Soft light is light that tends to “wrap” around objects, projecting diffused shadows with soft edges, whereas hard light is more focused and produces harsher shadows.

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Why do we use studio lighting?- this is to create more aesthetic final images, as you can control the angles and lighting. This means that photographers don’t have to rely on the natural environment for lighting, and photos can be taken at any time which is more convenient.

Difference between 1,2 and 3 point lighting- the number represents the numbers of lights, which can be projected from any angle to brighten the model/ subject. With 1 point lighting being more 2 dimensional, and 3 point lighting showing all the features of the subject.

What is fill lighting?- A fill light is responsible for exposing the details of a subject that fall in the shadows of the key light. It is the secondary light in the traditional 3 point lighting setup. The fill light is typically positioned opposite of the key light to literally fill in the shadows that the key light creates.

Chiarascuro

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.

High key lighting is used to produce images that encourage an optimistic, upbeat reaction. The photos come out youthful and simple but sophisticated. Low key lighting, on the other hand, produces images that are the opposite of high key photos. Images taken in low key lighting create a mysterious and dramatic mood.

Contact Sheets

Portrait examples

Here I have created a gallery to show my first images, after exporting them into Lightroom Classic and identifying which ones I would like to use, I placed them into a gallery in this format to illustrate the majority of the useable 2 point light image examples. As I have many images but some of them are not 2 point lighting examples.

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Final Images

I have selected this as my first final image as I think that the use of the two point lighting really help make Leticia’s facial features stand out, despite the image almost being too over exposed, I think that this actually helps the image stand out more as this creates a huge contrast between her bold features such as her eyes, eyebrows and hair, and it actually brings good attention to this features and makes the image more cohesive as her skin appears very pale because of the editing. Also, I decided to not crop this image down to just her face as I think that the shadows on the left side of her gives the image more depth. I think the clarity of this image is also very important as textures in her hair and hoodie have become more apparent and this contrasts with her smooth skin.

Here I have created a mood board to introduce this portrait research and work, in these images above, the importance of lighting is evident as in the bottom right image. As you can intentionally not see half of the person’s face as the lighting appears from the right of his body, meaning we can only see what the photographer wants us too. This helps us with learning to take our own portraits as it shows how we can hide certain imperfections to create a more aesthetic final image. In addition, this shows how different shapes can be made of the model’s faces as specific lighting creates triangles on the cheeks and harsh shadows underneath jawlines. making them look sharper.

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Louis Daguerre

Louis Daguerre was was a French artist and photographer, recognised for his invention of the daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photography as this process creating a highly detailed image on a sheet of copper plated with a thin coat of silver without the use of a negative. The process required great care. After exposure to light, the plate was developed over hot mercury until an image appeared.

Louis Daguerre called his invention “daguerreotype.” His method, which he disclosed to the public late in the summer of 1839, consisted of treating silver-plated copper sheets with iodine to make them sensitive to light, then exposing them in a camera and “developing” the images with warm mercury vapor.

As Daguerre was professional scene painter for the opera with an interest in lighting effects, Daguerre began experimenting with the effects of light upon translucent paintings in the 1820s and came to create his first photo in 1838, it was even more impressive as it was of a person in Paris. Furthermore, in contrast with Niepce’s work, this process only requires 20-30 minutes of exposure whilst the first image ever created took around 8 hours.

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Henry Fox Talbot

Henry Fox Talbot was an English scientist, inventor and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes in 1834, precursors to photographic processes of the later 19th and 20th centuries, he is best known for his development of the calotype, an early photographic process that was an improvement over the daguerreotype of the French inventor Louis Daguerre. In 1842 Talbot received a medal from the British Royal Society for his experiments with the calotype.

This discovery, which Talbot patented in February 1841 as the “calotype” process (from the Greek kalos, meaning beautiful), opened up a whole new world of possible subjects for photography.

Talbot was an accomplished mathematician involved in the research of light and optics; he invented the polarizing microscope. He was also politically active and a Member of Parliament. He lived his adult life at this family estate, Lacock Abby, originally built in 1232. His invention: Talbot’s frustration that day with the camera lucida led him to recollect his experiences ten years earlier with another drafting aid, the camera obscura—a small wooden box with a lens at one end that projected the scene before it onto a piece of frosted glass at the back, where the artist could trace the outlines on thin paper. 

Henry Mullins

Henry Mullins started working at 230 Regent Street in London in the 1840s and moved to Jersey in July 1848, setting up a studio known as the Royal Saloon, at 7 Royal Square. Initially he was in partnership with a Mr Millward, about whom very little is known. By the following year he was working alone and he continued to work out of the same studio for another 26 years. For a brief period in the 1860s he also worked in London, but judging by the collection of his photographs which is now held by La Société Jersiaise, he found plenty of willing sitters in the island prepared to pay half a guinea (promoted as “one half of that in London”) to have their portrait taken by him.

His speciality was cartes de visite and the photographic archive of La Société contains a massive collection of these. Their on line archive contains 9600 images, but the majority of these are sets of up to 16 photographs taken at a single sitting. Also, he was also popular with officers of the Royal Militia Island of Jersey, for whom it was very popular to have portraits taken, as well as of their wives and children, for the more senior and more affluent officers.

He was also popular with officers of the Royal Militia Island of Jersey, for whom it was very popular to have portraits taken, as well as of their wives and children, for the more senior and more affluent officers. The pictures of these officers show clearly the fashion for long hair, whiskers and beards in the mid-1800s. Indeed, so similar is their appearance and so stylised the portraits, it is very hard to detect much difference between a large number of officers of the same rank and social standing.

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Oliver Doran

Oliver Doran is a photographer living and working in Jersey, London, and recently, Dubai. His photography portfolio spans fashion, commercial work, events, portraiture, celebrities and families. He is passionate about using light as an artistic medium. Oliver says that one of his biggest and most interesting experiences was having to travel to Bahrain from Dubai with six women to photograph and film a Royal Wedding for the Prince and Princess of Bahrain.

With more than 15 years of experience, Oliver is often found at the crossroads of cinematic and theatrical explorations of human conditions, as he photographs some of the most recognisable faces on the planet.

Oliver creates vibrant, cinematic images using both flash, natural light and a mixture of both. He is comfortable in and out of the studio with complex lighting setups as well as working with ambient light in any location; day or night.

Example of experiences with celebrities- “I’ve been quite lucky. For example Robert De Niro, he was a very very interesting person and he suddenly realised that I was photographing him and he wasn’t actually acting anybody.  He is a character actor, so spontaneously being himself was a little bit more tricky for him.

Oliver came into school and demonstrated to us how to take good portraits, using 1,2 and 3 point lighting and angle. In addition, he showed us how to make ur models comfortable, by making jokes and plying music, this allowed them to naturally smile for the photographs, making them more authentic. Doran also showed us how to create the butterfly effect with lights, which makes shadows under the nose and highlights the cheeks.

Oliver says that one of his biggest and most interesting experiences was having to travel to Bahrain from Dubai with six women to photograph and film a Royal Wedding for the Prince and Princess of Bahrain.

Celebrating personality and amplifying uniqueness while always striving to be real and relatable is Oliver’s calling card. Being a strong advocate of organic creativity, he has quite the reputation for his skilful use of light and mood to create striking visual breakthroughs that also strike the right chords and achieve diverse briefs and business goals.

Photoshoot Plan

1. Select who I would like to model, considering who would be the most comfortable with being taken photos of

2. Set up the 1 point lighting, also the rest of the studio with tripods etc

3. Go into the studio and take as many images as possible as multiple difference angles

4. Explore into Lightroom and start the editing process

First Images

Here I have created a gallery of my first images, the purpose of this is to show these images before they have gone through the cropping and editing process. Additionally, I think that a gallery is a nice and visual way to show my first photos on the blog, as the images are legible and good quality.

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Final Images

I have selected this as my first final image, mainly because of the lighting on the left side of the face, as this helps enhance Niamh’s facial features the best. Furthermore, the light reflecting into her eyes along with her smile makes for a happy complexion and the minimal lighting on the right side of her face contrasts with the brighter light on the left side. The white of her teeth matches with the white light casting onto her face, and the darkness in Niamh’s hair compliments the darker tones in her eyes.

Here I have selected a final image of myself, taken in the studio with one point lighting and mostly displaying the left side of my face. I thin that along with the monochromatic editing and the angle this image was taken, it turned out better than expected. I also like how this photo is on the verge of being too bright, with just the shadow on the side of my nose left. Furthermore, I think the lightness in my eyes matches well with the light complexion on my face from the lighting.

To make this image more effective, I have cropped it down so that the grey surroundings have been taken away, creating more focus on Diana’s face. This means that her facial features are more clear and visible, however, her hair isn’t as prominent as I would like, editing the photo more may have made it her looked washed out. I do like the angle at which this image was taken and the contrast between the lighting on the left side of her face and her forehead.

I have selected this image Lottie as one of my final ones as I think the lighting has made for a better photo than expected. This is from our first photoshoot where most of the outcomes were not successful, however I think the colours in this image make it a good final piece. Furthermore, the darker background contrasts well with her lighter blonde (natural) hair and eyes. The focus of the image is the centre of her face, around her nose and I think that the direct eye contact with the camera makes the colour in her eyes stand out more clearly.

I have thought about whether to post this image or not as one of my for images for some time. but I think that the combination of the fact that this is the only picture of me smiling that I like, and the natural pose makes for an effective image. Despite the angle being very low down and now even showing the bottom of my neck, I like how the main focus is my whole face, especially smile

I have chosen this as my last final image as I really like the composition of this image, with the larger grey area I decided to keep, which just allows for the viewer to understand where the light source is coming from. Additionally, the model Katarina, is looking at the light and we can mostly see one side of her face, rather than her looking at the camera and exposing the front of her face, creating an aesthetic image.

Early Portrait photographers

Louis Daguerre –

• Born on the 18th November 1787 in France and died on the 10th July 1851.
• He became an excellent French artist and photographer who invented the daguerreotypes process of photography.
• He helped to develop Diorama theatre.

Thomas Sutton –

• Jersey based photographer born in 1819 and died on the 19th March 1875.
• He opened the first photographic studio in Jersey in 1847 after graduating from Cambridge university.
• He was one of the first people to develop the first permanent coloured photograph in 1861.
• He also created the single lens reflex camera which later on helped him to develop the first panoramic camera with a wide angle lens.

20/21st Century approaches

Studio Lighting –

Most of the time we try and take advantage of the natural light which is produced through lightbulbs, sunlight, ‘The golden hour’, etc within our photos.

There are other variations such as ‘studio light’ and here are some features of it which we control:

• The background being used (infinity curve, natural surroundings, etc).
• The intensity of the light (hard/soft light).
• The direction of the light.
• Temperature of the light and the exposure/white balance which will be produced on the camera.
• Using silver/gold reflectors.
• Where the model is posing.
• Creation of shadows and silhouettes.
• Camera settings (shutter speed, ISO, etc.)

Using Flash effectively –

There are many different ways of using flash within your photos, these can include:

• Flash ‘bouncing’ (positioning your light against a white wall or ceiling, this helps to create a softer effect and fill area).
• Fill-in flash
• TTL/speed light flash
• Remote/Infra red flash
• Fast and slow sync flash
• Light painting c/w slow shutter speed
• Chiaroscuro technique

1-2-3 Points lighting technique –

Newer portrait photographers

Oliver Doran –

• A commercial, editorial and portrait photographer who spends his time working between Dubai, London and Jersey.
• Over 15 years of experience.
• He has photographed many celebrities.
• Uses both flash and natural light during any time of the day.
• Mainly photographs in black and white and can change it into colour if wanted.

Here is one of his photoshoots which he carried out within Jersey.

Some examples of his work:

David Bailey –

• Born on January 2nd, 1938 in London United Kingdom.
• A British photographer who took inspiration from Henri Cartier-Bresson.
• His work focuses on celebrity, fashion and advertising photography.
• Was given the award for the Commander of the Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth II.

Examples of his work –

Steve Mcurry

Steve McCurry (born April 23, 1950) is an American photographer, freelancer, and photojournalist. His photo Afghan Girl, of a girl with piercing green eyes, has appeared on the cover of National Geographic several times. McCurry has photographed many assignments for National Geographic and has been a member of Magnum Photos since 1986.

McCurry is the recipient of numerous awards, including Magazine Photographer of the Year, awarded by the National Press Photographers Association; the Royal Photographic Society’s Centenary Medal; and two first-place prizes in the World Press Photo contest (1985 and 1992).

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Yousuf Karsh

Yousuf Karsh CC (December 23, 1908 – July 13, 2002) was an Armenian-Canadian photographer known for his portraits of notable individuals. He has been described as one of the greatest portrait photographers of the 20th century.

An Armenian genocide survivor, Karsh migrated to Canada as a refugee. By the 1930s he established himself as a significant photographer in Ottawa, where he lived most of his adult life, though he traveled extensively for work. His iconic 1941 photograph of Winston Churchill was a breakthrough point in his 60-year career, through which he took numerous photos of known political leaders, men and women of arts and sciences. Over 20 photos by Karsh appeared on the cover of Life magazine, until he retired in 1993.

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Philippe Halsman

Philippe Halsman was an American portrait photographer. He was born in Riga in the part of the Russian Empire which later became Latvia, and died in New York City.

Halsman had his first success in America when the cosmetics firm Elizabeth Arden used his image of model Constance Ford against the American flag in an advertising campaign for “Victory Red” lipstick. A year later, in 1942, he found work with Life magazine, photographing hat designs; a portrait of a model in a Lilly Daché hat was the first of his 101 covers for Life.

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