UAL LEVEL 2 PHOTOGRAPHY – UNIT 3 LIGHTING IN PHOTOGRAPHY

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Studio Flash Photography and Portraiture lighting

In class we experimented with flash and how we can add light. We used a strobe light and a soft box light.

There are two different lights that can be used, strobe light and constant light.

A strobe light in flash photography is larger and more powerful. It has a pack and head, monolights and can be battery powered. You can adjust the F stop on the strobe.

The advantages of a strobe light is:

  1. A power pack delivers a flash to your camera
  2. Can freeze the action as very fast shutter speed, so no blur
  3. Very powerful, can over power the sun, get rid of ambient light with a fast shutter speed and provide a dark portrait in a lit room
  4. can use a low ISO of 100 with a strobe light
  5. Easy to modify
  6. More control photographing the face outside

The advantages of Constant light:

  1. You can see exactly what you are going to get, easier to work with. With a tungsten light you can put a soft box on.
  2. Provides a cinema look
  3. When doing a portrait, the dress can be a blur and the face is sharp, so get a motion look
  4. Can use any camera

Disadvantages of a Strobe light:

  1. Can’t see what you are going to get, so it is trial and error to begin with and harder platform to learn
  2. Can’t go over 1/200

Disadvantages of Constant light:

  1. You need a higher ISO
  2. Low power, can’t use outside as well
  3. Movement is more of a problem with the constant light as there will be a blur

Overall when doing still photography strobes are easier to get a good exposure.

We looked a the mechanics of shooting using studio flash in class and experimented with our camera:

Photos taken in class when experimenting using a flash:

In class using our key light and soft box we could move the light around and experiment with different portraiture situations.

The 5 basic Portraiture lighting situations:

  1. Rembrandt – This is named from when Rembrandt painted and used the window light to create a triangle under the left eye around the nose and above the chin. The subject moves their shoulders toward the light and then the head is turned towards the camera. A soft box light can then be used to fill in more light to the dark shadows.
  2. Split light – The light can be moved to the side of the face. Its very easy to transition from Rembrandt to split as you move the head away from the light.
  3. Broad light – Camera is looking at the lit front of the face, so here the body is turned away from the light.
  4. Paramount/Butterfly light – Move the light up high directly from the camera, this is very flattering as the shadows sink into the cheeks and under the nose, can use a soft box or reflector below too for a shadow under the chin.
  5. Loop Light – The light can be moved a tiny bit lower than the Rembrandt position and tiny bit more round to the front. A shadow line on the nose and dives more into the cheeks. A soft box again can be used to flatten the harsh light.

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