Chiaroscuro Lighting

What is Chiaroscuro Lighting?

A high-contrast lighting technique that utilises a low-key lighting setup to achieve contrast between the subject and a dark background, emphasizing certain aspects of a scene or object that are in high-contrast light.

Creating Chiaroscuro Lighting

Examples of Chiaroscuro Lighting

Rembrandt Lighting

What is Rembrandt Light?

Rembrandt lighting is a technique utilizing one light and one reflector or two separate lights. It’s a popular technique because it creates images that look both dramatic yet natural. It’s predominantly characterized by a lit-up triangle underneath the subject’s eye on the less illuminated area of the face

Creating Rembrandt Lighting

Examples of Rembrandt Lighting

Butterfly lighting

What is Butterfly Lighting?

Butterfly lighting is a type of portrait lighting technique used primarily in a studio setting. Its name comes from the butterfly-shaped shadow that forms under the nose because the light comes from above the camera.

Creating Butterfly Lighting

Example of Butterfly Lighting

Rim Lighting

What is Rim Lighting?

A rim light is placed behind a subject that exposes the outline or rim of the subject with light. This lighting highlights the contours of a subject and creates a dramatic and mysterious effect. Rim lights can be used in a variety of ways. It can be created by pointing a bright light source towards the camera and placing someone/ a subject in front of the light, creating a silhouette like image.

Creating Rim Lighting

Examples of Rim Lighting

My Responses

Rembrandt Lighting

Chiaroscuro lighting

Rim Lighting

Butterfly lighting

What is an Environmental Portrait?

An environmental portrait is a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings. The term is most frequently used of a genre of photography.

What makes a good Environmental Portrait?

Good environmental portraits will tell strong stories of their subjects. Their immediate surroundings will give the viewer insight into where these people are, what they do, and who they are.

What distinguishes an Environmental Portrait from a studio portrait?

A typical environmental portrait simply will illuminate a subject’s life and surroundings. A studio portrait is a portrait which will focus less on surroundings and more on the individual by using sterile backdrops and props so to help enhance the focus on the individual in the photo.

Mood Board

Inspiration

My focus for this project on the topic of Anthropocene was to create a series of long exposure images highlighting the excessive use of artificial lighting and its effect on the environment. Rut Blees Luxemburg’s work similarly explores the urban, metropolitan landscape and its effect on the human condition. Luxemburg’s photographs are made with long exposure times using the ambient light sources provided by the various forms of neon and other night-time illumination in the city inspiring my chosen images. Luxemburg first captured modernist structures such as tower blocks, 1960s council estates, car parks, empty sports grounds, urban motorways and building sites, Luxemburg’s images have seen characteristic synthetic lime green, fluorescent yellow and sulphuric orange tones. The interesting approach of her images present normal everyday structures in a unique and powerful way, exploring the effects caused to the environment.

Environmental issue

Light pollution was my chosen topic for Anthropocene. Light pollution is a global issue. This became glaringly obvious when the World Atlas of Night Sky Brightness, a computer-generated map based on thousands of satellite photos, was published in 2016. The atlas shows vast amount of light surrounding our planet at night. Sky glow is the brightening of the night sky, mostly over urban areas, due to the electric lights of cars, streetlamps, offices, factories, outdoor advertising, and buildings.

Outcome

Overall, i’m pleased with how my images turned out. I believe they visually represent the effect of light pollution on the environment, similar to the objectives of the The Anthropocene Project. Although, i was not able to capture as many images as i would have liked due some difficulties with the positioning of my tripod on a slanted wall, blurring some potential final outcomes.

Image comparison/analysis

Both images similarly present a busy road at night, shot in shutter priority mode with a long exposure producing an image overloaded with artificial lighting. The foreground of both images show a road masked in light whereas in the background its seen to be deserted almost as if the lighting has taken over the city. Luxemburg’s image was taken alongside a number of photographs in London in 1996, whereas my image was recently taken in Jersey’s town centre above a popular tunnel. The two images consist of a similar composition and structure, although Luxembergs lighting has a more sulphruric orange tint to it affecting the mood of the photograph in comparison. The pair of images have been captured from a vantage point allowing viewers to see a unique angle of the area, the harsh red and white lighting differs to the softer lines of light seen in Luxemberg’s image. The dark surroundings of my image almost act as a frame to the bold lighting in the centre, placing a stress on the unnatural presence of the light. Leading lines can be seen on the roads of both images continuing until visibility is lost. Possibly making viewers question what’s beyond the photograph. The use of the S-curve technique in my image can also aid the viewer’s eye to explore the scene captured by taking them on a visual journey, giving the image a sense of overall rhythm.

Contact sheet

Images

Technical

Lighting: Artificial

Aperture: 18-55 mm f/4-5.6 IS STM lens

Technical

Lighting: Artificial

Aperture: 18-55 mm f/4-5.6 IS STM lens

Technical

Lighting: Artificial

Aperture: 18-55 mm f/4-5.6 IS STM lens

Prints relating to the topic of Anthropocene

The Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth’s geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change.

The Anthropocene Project

The Anthropocene Project is a multidisciplinary body of work by Edward Burtynsky, Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier, combining fine art photography, film, virtual reality, augmented reality, and scientific research to investigate human influence on the state, dynamic, and future of the Earth. The Anthropocene is an informal geologic chronological term that serves to mark the evidence and extent of human activities that have had a significant global impact on the Earth’s ecosystems.

Edward Burtynsky

Edward Burtynsky (born February 22, 1955) is a Canadian photographer and artist known for his large format photographs of industrial landscapes. His works depict locations from around the world that represent the increasing development of industrialization and its impacts on nature and the human existence. It is most often connected to the philosophical concept of the sublime. His photos capture the changes made to the environment and the things that are destroying it. His style of photography is characterised by the sublime nature of the scale of his photographs. Burtynksy worked with Jennifer Baichwal to create a documentary about Anthropocene in 2018. Burtynsky is considered one of the world’s most accomplished contemporary photographers.

Rut Blees Luxemberg

Rut Blees Luxemburg (born 1967) is a German-born British photographer. Her technique is to take photographs at night, mostly exploring the urban landscape. She is a Tutor at the Royal College of Art. In 2020, Luxemburg was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society, Bristol. Her work ranges from large-scale photographic prints, through public art works and operatic mise-en-scène. She mainly photographs at night, using long exposures which allow her to use the ambient light of the city . Her poetic images are recognisable through their contemplative, considered  and atmospheric tone. 

Where: Roundabout outside the finance buildings (La Route du Port Elizabeth, Above the tunnel (Pier road)

When: Early evening as rush hour traffic will enable me to produce the best images relating to the topic of light pollution

What: A series of long exposure images highlighting the excessive use of artificial lighting

How: Use of a tripod and shutter priority mode (a low shutter speed) to capture the movement of light in the area

Why: To produce images expressing my view on the topic of Anthropocene