Unit Overview
Lighting is a key factor in creating a successful photographic image, and determines the brightness, tone, mood and atmosphere of a picture. therefore it is necessary to control and manipulate light correctly in order to the the best texture, vibrancy of colour and luminosity on the subject matter. this can be demonstrated and learnt by considering the disribution of the of the shadows and highlights accurately in a photograph so that you can create stylised professional looking photographs.
Lighting is used and considered for both studio and location shoots, where set techniques and equipment
are used to help create shadow and tone. The position of light will develop consideration of the light direction, so
that the light can be used or set in a particular direction to enhance a photograph.
Light can be shaped and diffused to reduce glare and harsh shadows. There are also artificial light sources that
will soften the strength of the light to create more natural looking result. By the end of this unit I will be have practiced and participated in workshop led activities and be able to consider my own independent study for the theme, ‘Lighting for Photography’
Research on historical and contemporary studio photography and location photography
The history of Studio photography started way back in 19th century with the first camera, Dutch painter Rembrant ( 1606 - 1669) He would use effectively light by putting together group of candles in a studio in the 17th century his Lighting techniques came to be a big influence on photography since the middle 19th century. By with the early stages of studio photography was create by using different painting lighting techniques such as Rembrant lighting where the main light source would come from large window or skylight facing north, usually come above and to one side of the subject matter. Electric studio flashes became available in the 40's but they were extremely expensive and dangerous and could explode however, during the 60's they became very common with in progessive studios but small time portrait photographers would still end up with tungsten light ( hot lighting)
A contemporary photographer that I chose to discuss about is Zhang Jingna (age 20 currently living in New York, she was born in Beijing into a sports family but moved and was raised up in Singapore since the age of eight.
During her mid teens she went to train in air riffle and go on to broken the national record just after 9 months of training later she goes on to brake the a record again in the 10m air riffle at the common wealth shooting champion in 2005, A year later she won bronze at the common wealth games also won the awards for sport girl of the year.
So what about her photography side of life. Having a good aim for shooting with an air riffle, she pursued a degree in fashion design at Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore, and did photography as a hobby. At the age of 18 she left the national team and Lasalle, and held her her first solo exhibition: Something beautiful.
Two years later she ended up working for big brands like Canon and Mercedes Benz just to name a few.
Primary Research
Below I found some images within an ASDA magazine. I spotted where there are different types of lighting styles used by the photographer. The photographer looks to use the butterfly lighting which is commonly used with in beauty fashion photography
I notice with the images above I can tell that where the light is coming from as it shown by the shadows and what type of soft-box was used with in each image because of the catch light in the eyes of the model . The photographer has used a large soft box.
Lighting Workshop | Rembrandt Lighting
Its named after the 15th century Dutch artist Rembrandt you use it in his painting with just the use of natural light coming from a 45 degree angle creating a triangle of light to the side of the nose and beneath the eye on the shade side of the subject
Lighting workshop | Butterfly Lighting
This is common use with in fashion photography as butterfly lighting is when the light is straight above the model and creates a small little triangle under the nose which create a butterfly likeness and it normally a creates a softness look on the model skin that is why it used a lot with fashion photography.
Butterfly Lighting gets it name due to the butterfly shadow-like shape that forms under the noes of the model. The main light is placed in a high position with a fill light immediately underneath it. the fill light is positioned around head height.
Lighting Workshop | Short Lighting
Short lighting is where the main light highlight the side of the subjects' face that is not facing the camera. short light is also known narrow lighting and is great for narrowing a models face, this is very good when used on models with plump or round faces. If you move the main light higher and further away this will turn the light from short to Rembrandt. Light dynamics
Key light - is the main light source that is facing the subject matter and fill light is to fill in the shadows in the subject matter hard and soft lighting
Fill Lighting - fills in the shadows on the subject, it is more of a soft light than key lighting, or is situated further away from the subject matter that is being photographed, which naturally reduces the intensity of the light on the subject.
Rim light - light source that comes from the behind subject matter bounding on the back of the model creating a halo like effect around the model
Exposure compensation + over exposure and - under exposure an image exposure lock
over riding the cameras meeting site it allows you to dial in a profit amount of exposure
its meaused 1/3 of a stop ( -1 ,-0.7, - 0.3,0.0, + 0.3, + 0.7, +1 etc all the way to - 5 stops to +5 stops more you redues the exposure compensation darker the image will be. higher the exposure compensation becomes brighter the image because
over exposure is normally done when it to lighten things up in a image incase the is areas in a that might look flat for example when taking a picture of an image that might include snow it might come out a bit grey however if you was to change the expousre compensation to over exposure it the snow will end up looking more white
some images might need to under exposure to empise on the shadows or even to sillhowet a subject matter in a picture to bring out a more dramic effect
Metering Modes
The is different type of metering modes that a photographer may end up using in their work
first of all the is the matrix mode where it divides the image area into a grid and meter each part of the grid and workes out an average the selects the best possible exposure of the image and gives the best overall exposure matrix is the most used metering mode unless the lighting condition are all mixed or if you want to work on one area of the image for the correcr exposure
centre weighted meters the entire frame in the scene but works out the better value to the center of the frame where main subject matter is usually located
spot metering allows the photographer to meter only a specifc part of the scene recomened when taken a photograph of the subject against a bright or daek background. It is commonly used to shoot very high contrast
exposure is the amount of light that the film/ digital camera sensor receives to get a good quality image. the right exposure on a image will show plenty of detail in the shadows. Photoghaphy tries to capture what we see through automatically our own eyes everydays. Measure the amout of light being reflected off the subject matter.
Speedlight essentials
Sometime you can require adjustments to the flash output. use the symbol to right increase or decrease the amount of flash. The built in flash in the camera sends a pulse to the wireless speedlite and can only go off if the built flash is in line of sight of the speedlite.
Fill flash is mainly used to fill in outdoors on a bright day. You can use it to take away shadows from the matter so it prevents the subject becoming a silhouette.
If the flash effect is too bright and makes the subject matter look over exposure value by about 1 stop. Also consider the distanced the further you are away from the subject matter, the more power you'll need.
Using fill flash with exposure lock can help and give the image more of a moody atmosphere depending on where you chose to use and point your exposure lock at the background and if you use fill in flash on the foreground, the camera a flash will balance the images.
Be aware and make sure to remember that an image of people when the light bounces of a ceiling can show a shadow under eyes. To prevent this you can use the build in reflector to put a little light onto the face of your subject to highlight the eyes ( eyes are a key feature in a fashion.)
Bounce Flash (Speedlight)
Bounce flash allows you to turn the light into a 'bouncing bean' this really allows you to take control of where you want the light on and off such as walls, ceiling and reflector which can soften the light. The speedlight gun can be rotated to any position as long as stay on top of the camera. This lets you as the photographer become lazy as the exposure is automatically controlled so that you will be able to get a perfect result every time ' this is because speedlite and camera normally have an amazing relationship with each other and enjoy each others compenly.' The way I remember it is like a game of pool where it all about the angles to get a perfect shoot.
Studio flash meter: A light meter can be used anywhere on location or even in a studio, it records incident or reflected light. Incident - light reading measures the amount of light that hits the subject matter by using the white sphere placed on top of the light sensor. To take this type of reading, the light meter needs to be placed on the subject, positioned and pointing it in the direction of the camera.
Reflected - light reading, measures the light that is reflected by the scene you are wanting to photograph. This will require you to have the flash meter still in line with the direction of the camera, but the white sphere needs to be facing the subject matter not placed on the subject matter.
Snoot: A cone - shaped piece of equipment that you would attach over the front of your light. This gives the ability to direct your light to very specific places. Snoots are not used in portraiture very much, as the quality of light is 'Hard'. If a photographer did use a snoot in portraiture then they would be working with hard shadows, possibly to create a 'moody' portrait.
Behind the scenes of a workshop we had to try out different lighting styles: first of the first shoot just had a single snoot attachment then we move on to just adding two side
following images are from a work shop where I tried out different lighting techniques I started out with just only a snoot attachment direct on to the model then I change the amount power of light also known as the exposure stops up by one each time I took to the shoot a to see what effect what it would give. thorught out he works shop
when we had the light on the lower setting it gave out more of a hard light with very lod shower
This image on the left was done by change the exposure stop one more this gave more light and allowed to more to light the background creating a .... with a darker edging to it . this does make a big differents
on the other hand the image on the image on right is the when the exposure has gone up by two stops
but didn't make must of a different compaired with the others
Honeycomb grid: hard light contrast image it fgives out a small pool of light showders are going to be dark and all the light areas such as skin will be brighter and brings out the hightlights
Reflectors: A reflector is used to bounce the light back from the main light to the subject matter. A reflector can be used to lighten shadows below the lower cheek and chin.
Beauty dish: Mostly used on a beauty photography helps to get butterfly lighting with the Beauty dish you can add a diffusere
Soft box: A large diffused light source that shines light through a diffuser which gives same soft flattering lighting as Rembrandt lighting.
The benefits of using a large soft box is takes a long time for the light to hit the subject matter which create for a soft light when the light hits the subject matter. The soft light can be more flatting on a models face.
the is different type softbox as as they come in different sizes and shapes from a octobox and eight sided softbox to a four sided square or even a rectangle. smaller the soft box quicker it takes the light to hit the subject matter.
Visual Assignment - Location using available lighting
Location relates to the place and time that a photograph is captured. Many photographers, over time, have adapted both in a studio and on location to the practical elements required to take professional pictures. This is a knowledge that will be researched, changed and used to develop a personal location project. For part an of this brief I will beed to produce a thematic approach to using available light. The theme you choose could be a series of landscapes; a documentary; an advertising campaign; fashion photography; architectural studies or simply the contrast of light and shade. Expand your knowledge from workshop activities to demonstrate my ability to control various lighting situations on location.
Shoot background information: what are you doing?
Test shoot - at the start of the project I was lucky enough to be ask by a couple who are part of a band to take photos of the next album and posters to promote themselfs as a band. They were they clear on what they wanted as the wanted done in the
Shoot background information: what are you doing?
Test Shoot 2 - Beach clean up
Beach clean up as Ainsdale beach were the college was invited my the MP of the local area the task was simply to pick up plastic of the beach as some of the photography department managed to document the day out as well as help to clean up the beach.
Shoot background information: what are you doing?
Test shoot 3 - Birthday party
Family members 60th birthday party i took it under my will to document the evening
Visual Assignment - Studio as Location
For the second part of the brief you will need to produce a thematic approach to using light in a photography studio. again, the theme you choose is individualised to yourself. this could incorporate food photography; fashion photogaphy; portraiture; product photography or macro photography. the studio is a controlled space where ideas and image are limitless. I can expand your knowledge from workshops activites to demonstrate that iam ability to control studio lighting
My Ideas and mood board
still life photography -Food photography - fashion photography -profile photography
Shoot background information: what are you doing?
ZED photography
I helped out for a day with a photographer called Zack who runs his own studio called ZED photography. when I arrived at the studio he made me feel they welcome and introduces me to his team; once I got setailed down, before the first shoot he shown be how he shoots.
Zack is an ex-student who is a freelance fashion photographer and has just set up his own studio in Liverpool. He has kindly offered for students to join him on a photo-shoot either on location or in the studio. He will allow the resulting images to be used for student portfolio work. Zack has a wealth of experience in the industry having worked for Miss Pap and Pretty Little Things an e-commerce fashion photographer.
What setting he set his camera at and what lighting techniques he had set up for the day. Then he talked to me about what he does as a photographer and his background leading up to when he started up ZED photography. Afterwards, he needs me to steam some of the clothing to get rid of the crease before it was put on the model, once I was done this that he showed me the software that he uses (capture one and photoshop) and how it works and what he uses them for.
Throughout my time with him, I managed to edit some of his work and shoot one of the produces that he planned out to shoot that day. During the day it was just a female fashion shoot however Zack also take photos of male models as well on different days. During that he planned to go into a milkshake cafe as a different location to mean the client needs, and I managed to help out with the speedlight he took to the location with him, and I had to set out the different types of probs that he brought with him for the shoot.
(screen shot above is from the shoot where I helped out with the probs and speedlites)
This images below are from when Zack allowed me to take photos of one of the products and now are featured on Brentiny website (the company that Zack gets paid for to take pictures of) Brentiny is a big fashion company in France.
https://www.brentinyparis.com/en/skirts/17879-jupe-leopard-croisee-a-volants.html
Workshop of head-shots with performing arts students
A few shoots from behind the scenes from the headshot session. The performing arts HND students require 'actor head-shots' and 'casting images' to send out to casting agencies
They require the following: Low key headshot | High key Headshot | High key full Length
For the shoot we used a beauty dish with a diffuser attached to it facing right above the models for the key light and snoot of to the right hand side of the model from behind,we used a golden reflector to warm up the lighting and to bounce some light back in.
Final out comes from the head shoots
Workshop of using different lighting styles such as available light, speed light, speed light with warm tone filer and reflector coming from the back of the model.
I shoot using two speedlights on a location, maybe one of my favourite shoot to date.
Overall review on Unit 10
I found this unit helpful as it helps to gain a great understanding of how much lighting plays a big part within photography. I enjoyed finding out about and using different lighting styles, both for studio and location work. I like how by using speedlights allows a photographer to create studio lighting and make outdoor shots more dynamic.
From what I learned I now know how to adapt these styles into future shooting tasks. When I was doing my visual work, I enjoyed how open it was just as long as I was able to do anything as long as it featured lighting styles also within a studio I am amazed by just moving the light a metre can change the outcome completely. Even by just adding or taking away light plays a significant impact on what the result may look like.