I avoided making a tutorial about this area because I am not really into the technics of studio lighting, usually I just set up the lights and do whatever, and don't even use a light meter. But I am still guided by the basic studio lighting set ups, this website gives a good summary of basic studio lighting techniques.
In my picture below, I used a butterfly set up as the main light to his left (the white arrows coming from above). This is actually a 3 point lighting technique, as the light bouncing off the wall filled in some light on his cheek (the one in shadow).
You can see this light reflected in his eyes, it was an ellinchrom studio light shot through an umbrella. To outline his head I positioned another studio light further way from him to his right, and shot it in the angle as outlined in the arrows. Have a back light is essential to reduce flatness in your portrait, its good for giving your portrait more depth, as well as outlining the hair of those with dark hair. Angle is important too, generally I shoot from below the chin with a male as it gives them a squarer, more rugged jawline. If you do this for a female it often creates a pudgy looking double chin, and your female friends wont appreciate this! There are many many face portraits shot above the head for a female, it narrows her face and makes her appear more attractive, however its not necessary to shoot like this, I often shoot females from below the chin too.
Even on a white background, a backlight is important in your portrait. If the light reflected from your background is stronger then your fill light, then a rim light is created, as in the picture below (there is some strange flaring from my lens in the middle).
i tried to draw a diagram showing how the lights were positioned in this shot, imagine its a view looking above the scene (terrible I know).
And finally, if you are getting confused but light set ups butterfly and 2 point what then buy yourself a simple flash that you can take off camera. This is very important, I had to buy a cord that allowed me to do this, yet I still cannot put my flash further away then a metre or so. Below is a picture I took on the weekend with my flash attached to my tripod to my right, with the sunlight from a sunset acting as a giant softbox for the second light.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Studio Lighting
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3 comments:
Nice article.
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great tutorial! the first set up sounds so simple, but the portrait is really amazing. were you restricting the second light somehow, so that it would not spill on the background or get into your lens?
sorry for the late reply, I think the back light over his right shoulder wasn't shot through an umbrella or anything else, I just angled it to one side as to not flare into the camera. It is a basic set up with two lights, and unintentional bounce on his cheek because of the small bedroom.
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