Exercise: Experimenting With Light.

Exercise: Experimenting with light.

Before I write up the exercise I want to show three portraits I have previously taken and explain their lighting.

The first is of a local man who was a spectator at the Deal Festival.  A striking individual already and here set off by the warm evening sun hitting him full in the face.  I asked his permission and took the picture.  

Olympus E3.

The next is of a fire eater/walker in a very dark venue in Kandy, Sri Lanka.  I found a viewing position where I was close to the action.  As this man walked by me he just glanced in my direction and I took the shot.  The main light was from the right and came from the fire-pit the walkers were using and paraffin lamps used to illuminate the scene.   There was a bluish light coming from an emergency exit sign behind him and to the left of shot that added the blue highlight. 

Canon G12. ISO 1600. f4.5. 1.30th sec.  Steadied on a monopod.

The last was also taken in Sri Lanka.  Because the sun was very strong and directly overhead I manoeuvred my subject into the shade of his hut where the light was soft and even.  Canon G12.

Exercise: Experimenting with light.

During this exercise I have concentrated solely on the use of light in a controlled setting.   I just wanted to see what various lighting set ups had on the subject, me.  My face is a test for any lighting.

Olympus E3 used throughout.  Set on A @ 6.3.  Manual focus.  12 sec delay.

The first shot employed natural light coming in from the left though glass doors.  The doors face south but the sky was overcast and it was raining.  As one would expect the face is strongly lit from one side, leaving the other in deep shadow.  It highlights the face’s faults only too well; the jowls, double chin, baggy eyes and mottled skin, whilst adding nothing in the way of flattery.  Not even a highlight in the eyes.Not very pleasing.

In the second I added a photoflood with white umbrella to the right of camera.  This became the dominant light source and give a more balanced look to the picture.  The umbrella gave a large light source and softened out some of the face’s imperfections.  There are now small eye highlights.

The third is similar to the above but with exclusion of the umbrella.  I wanted to see how much harsher this would make the light.  This has hardened up the light and sharpened up the shadows.  The face now has a more masculine look to it with firmer shadows and deeper lines.  A small change in the lighting has changed the look by fair degree.  Not as flattering but about what I anticipated.

The next is, for me, the most successful of the group and was lit with an umbrella close in, at face height and close in to the left of the camera.  A second open flood was pointed to the white ceiling from a position to the right of camera.  This soft lighting is very kind to the older face.  It allowed the character of my face to come through without highlighting too many of its imperfections.  The shadows under the eyes and jowls have been diminished, and even the double chin looks less fleshy.  Nice double highlights in the eyes.  Pity about the reflections in the glasses.

Number five employed a camera mounted flash with a small soft box attached.  I closed the blinds on the natural light source to reduce its influence. I tried it without the soft box and found the result far too flat and left me looking like a rabbit caught in a head light.  The addition of the soft box, plus under setting the flash by one stop, gave a much better result.  The effect was similar to adding the umbrella to the photoflood.  The light source was widened and the sharpness of the shadows was reduced.  Not good but a better result than I anticipated.  Flash again reflected in the glasses.

Metz 58 AF-1.TTL metering.

The last was created by pointing the Flash at the ceiling and having the blinds drawn across  the natural light source.  Again the flash as under set by one stop.  This gave soft downward light that was not unpleasing.  The facial features are again prominent but in a fairly soft way.  If anything this one is slightly under exposed but still the result isn’t too bad for just a single flash.  A far better result that having the flash full in the face.   Once again the flash has left its mark in the glasses.

Metz 58 AF-1. TTL metering.

A very interesting exercise.  I had not done anything quite like it before but, as I said above, most of the results were about what I expected.