Chiaroscuro is a high-contrast lighting technique that utilises a low-key lighting setup to achieve contrast between the subject and a dark background. Chiaroscuro creates three-dimensionality on a two-dimensional plane, darkening the background and highlighting the subject in the foreground, drawing the viewer’s focus and attention.

The word chiaroscuro is Italian for light and shadow. It’s one of the classic techniques used in the works of artists like Rembrandt, da Vinci, and Caravaggio. It refers to the use of light and shadow to create the illusion of light from a specific source shining on the figures and objects in the painting.

Chiaroscuro Lighting Photoshoot:

For this photoshoot, I took studio portraits using a chiaroscuro lighting setup. In order to make my background darker as seen in the majority of the images I saw, I placed the light source slightly behind the subject and then used a reflective board in order to make the light bounce back onto her face creating that triangular shape once again. I got the subject to try different poses like with her hands on her head, her hands on the back of a chair and with her side on to the camera.

I edited these images on Lightroom and adjusted the contrast, exposure etc. I then decided to make my images black and white on photoshop as when researching about chiaroscuro lighting, I noticed that the majority of the images that I looked at were black and white.

Overall, I feel this photoshoot was successful as I managed to create a dark background which contrasts with the face that is lit up. However, if I were to do this photoshoot again, I would place the light source more towards the camera in order to really enhance the contrast between light and dark.

Chiaroscuro Lighting Photoshoot 2:

For my second photoshoot on Chiaroscuro lighting, I focussed on capturing more of the subject’s body in my images as in the first photoshoot I mainly focussed on the face. I think I managed to do this successfully and created a darker background as I hoped for.

To finalise this photoshoot, I exported my edited images from Lightroom and edited them to be black and white in photoshop as this was a common theme amongst other chiaroscuro lighting portraits I had seen.

Overall, I like how this photoshoot came out as I managed to improve what I wanted to on my previous photoshoot. However, I could’ve shot my images in a portrait and landscape mode instead of just portrait in order to get more variety in my images.