1.09.2009

A Study In Lighting

A friend of mine graciously agreed to model for me for a study of studio lighting that I wanted to conduct. I thought you might like to see the results! I used two lights for this study. The light to the camera's left stayed constant throughout the study.

For this portrait both lights were set to the same output, resulting in flat lighting.



Beginning with this portrait, I lowered the output of the light on the camera's right one stop for each exposure. You can see how the left side of my model's face is slightly darker.



Lower.




Lower still.




For this portrait I turned off the light to the right of the camera.




This last exposure demonstrates the difference the direction of the light can make to the feel of a portrait. In the previous portrait, my light was pointed at a 45 degree angle to my model. For this one it is feathered across, or pointed perpendicular to her face. Notice the lighting on her face. More light reaches the left side of her face, creating softer shadows, while less light reaches the background, making it darker.



Which one is your favorite?

6 comments:

Ginger said...

It's hard to say... I like the first time you lowered a light, then I like "lower still", and of course, I like the last one. :-)

Is that Courtney? Don't you think she kind of looks like the young pics we have of mom?

Lyle said...

I like best the portrait designated as "Lower Still," and next best the final portrait where the light angle has been changed.

Christie said...

I like the 3rd one from the bottom the best.

Courtney said...

This is NOT what I meant by updating your portraiture blog JUDY!

Lisa P said...

I like the model! No, seriously, my favorite is the one under "Lower".

Katie L. said...

My favorite is third from the bottom too. How interesting that lots of people pick the same one. I would have thought opinions would be different. I like it because it seems to have more depth to me. Could Court be more beautiful?