Headshots and Exploring Lighting

Soft and Hard lighting

Hard lighting is a type of lighting in photography which is harsh and creates the effects of strong shadows in the image. It usually comes from a single, bright light which is smaller than the subject. When photographing objects, the dark lighting will also help to show the 3D-Appearance and will also further define the textures and details an object might have.

Soft lighting is a type of lighting in photography which is more diffused and creates softer shadows. Hard light has more contrast and is usually brighter than soft light, while soft light is usually more even. Soft light tends to wrap around the subject to create its subtle shadows . The use of soft lighting also increases the size of the photo as as the light rays travel in all directions as they move toward the subject. Soft lighting can also make colours pear richer and more realistic when it comes to the usual photography or cinematography.

My two favourite photos that demonstrate thus technique

Framing: Headshots

In photography, framing is often used to direct the viewer’s eye towards the subject of an image.
for example, the technique of Rule Of Thirds is used to frame the subjects in your photo to make the image more visually captivating. The Rule of Thirds is the process of dividing an image into thirds, using two horizontal and two vertical lines

What can the rule of thirds be used to do?:

Use composition techniques that are in line with what’s naturally pleasing to the eye
Creatively use negative space
Create conversation between the subject and background

in my attempt, my headshot is focussed on the right on the image and the 3 squares on the right are kept completely blank to draw attention only to the aspects in the middle and the right.

Focusing on the eyes

When focussing on the eyes in photography, photographers tend to do this is many different ways. Such as:

Capturing the image up close
Having the subject pose
Adjusting the aperture
Lighting

The proximity of the photo allows the photographer to get an image up close to the subjects face. This will cause the subject to look directly at the camera with their eyes to create the interstellar stare. This will create a sharp quality within the eyes and most likely make them the main focus of the image.

Posing with the eyes would be directed by the photographer for where they want the subject to be looking. By doing this is could enhance the lighting on the eyes when, for example, the subject is looking upwards rather then to the left.hands can also be used to focus the attention onto the eyes even when they are not looking directly at the camera

As an example, this photo shows the use of the hands posting upwards that lead the viewers gaze towards the eyes.

By adjusting the aperture on your camera, it is another way of adjusting the detail of specific aspects. If you were to focus on the yes, you would adjust the aperture which would then slighting blur out the background of the image other than the eyes. This can be a very accurate and frustrating process as one slight movement could move the focus on the nose or the hair so to lower the chances of this happening to Paul d be smart to use a tripod if possible.

Direct focus on the yes using lighting can easily brighten them and create the main focus. This can also be used by sunlight and not just artificial lighting. The lighting can cause shadows all over the image but the eyes will be well lit. This is a proven technique to create engaging portraits.