November 8th, 2009 Portrait Photography – the Basic Principles of Lighting
Any drawing or painting is simply a recreation of light and shade.
A good reference photograph for a drawing or painting should be correctly lit.
When working from a photograph, lighting is one of the few aspects an artist cannot change. An artist can only recreate what they see. They have no special knowledge that allows them to know information that has not been recorded by the camera.
The basic principles of lighting
Any photograph is merely a record of light falling on, and reflecting from an object. Differences in the levels of reflected light tell us about the shape of the object.
With faces, we normally expect to see a shadow under the nose to describe its size and contour, shadows around the eye sockets to convey their depth, highlights on cheekbones, etc. The roundness revealed by lighting is known as “modelling”, and the level of modelling is determined by the direction and intensity of light falling on the subject.
How the direction of light affect a subject’s appearance
When the direction of the main light source is on or near the axis of the camera, a face will lack modelling and appear flat.
When the subject is front lit there will, for example, be scarcely any nose shadows, and the eye sockets will be as light as the cheeks.
Virtually the same effect is seen when the subject is lit mainly from behind. The whole face will be in the shade, and none of the features well defined.
Light falling anywhere in between these two extremes will create differing degrees of modelling, dependant on the angle and intensity of the light.
Where is the main light source?
When taking any photograph, the first concern must always be to establish the source of the light. It is very easy to do! When outside, we simply look to see where the sun is. When inside, the light will usually come in from outside through a window or doorway.
The second concern must be to establish the direction of the light, relative to the subject. The situation to most avoid is where the direction of the light is on or near to the axis of the camera (i.e. either directly in front of or behind the subject).
Altering the direction of the light
With portraiture, the best modelling is achieved when the light source is at an angle of between 30
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