April 2024, Portraiture Lighting

Keeping you informed about happenings at Deliberate Light: photos to browse or buy, photography instruction (see also Digital Photo Academy), and services. Also, my thoughts on a photography subject: this month, Portraiture Lighting. To get these newsletters by email a month before they are posted here, go to the DeliberateLight.com website and click on Newsletter Signup.

NEWS

Upcoming Workshops. I am scheduled to teach the following workshops next month.

May 4, location: Bartram’s Garden, Philadelphia.

· Mastering Your Camera Controls (1.5 hours) – DSLR/Mirrorless/Compact cameras (smartphone tutorial available separately)

· Composition in the Field (3 hours) – walking tour around the venue with instruction and hands-on practice composing photos (bring any camera)

New Photo. Art Deco at 30th Street Station. The architecture in the 30th Street Train Station is magnificent and well preserved. Completed in 1933 by the old Pennsylvania Railroad (traces of which are still present in decorative elements of the building), its spacious main waiting room is faced with travertine marble and has a rich gold, red and cream coffered ceiling. Large columned porte-cocheres on the east and west ends of the building lend a classical air that blends nicely with this art deco style interior. Looking up in this building is often rewarded.

(Philadelphia, 2023)

For a more detailed, enlarged view and to get it printed, see it on my website.

VIEWS

Last year, I showcased several great portrait photographers where the emphasis was on capturing the essence of a person in a moment. That should always be a priority, but there are some practices that are useful to know about when taking a photo of a person. (I note that photos of pets or animals are portraits also. See The Photo Ark – Joel Sartore for some stunning wild animal portraits.)

Have I mentioned before that photography is all about light? I haven’t? (I’m surprised.) The word “photography” comes from two Greek words that can be translated literally as “light writing” or “light drawing.” So today, I am going to spend time on the use of light in portraiture, more specifically, the use of natural or easily accessible light, as opposed to studio lighting which is a huge topic unto itself and of little relevance to the average picture-taker. In future newsletters, I will talk about other readily achievable practices for everyday portraiture.

First, try to use diffuse light, not direct harsh light. People just look better with soft shadows on their faces, unless you really want to represent a harsh person. That means stay out of direct sunlight (even dappled sunlight) and definitely do not use a direct on-camera flash. Diffuse light from the side and a little above is usually good lighting (first photo below) because it highlights the features nicely. Compare that to the second photo (you have to click on the > at the bottom right of the image), where diffuse light from below creates a ghoulish effect and highlights her neck which is not what the viewer’s eye should be drawn to.

The above photos use studio lights, but how would you get the desired diffuse light a little from the side and a bit above without artificial lights? The classic north-facing window: it is not in direct sunlight and the sun is usually higher in the sky, so the incoming light is diffuse and from a little above. If the only window you have is in direct sunlight, try finding a translucent curtain or cloth to put over it. You can then position your subject next to the window, so they are facing in a direction with the most flattering light. Of course, if it is dark outside, this won’t work and you may have to try to find diffused artificial light positioned a little to the side and a bit above. Tip: this north window trick works well for food photography too, which is one reason to get a table next to a window in a restaurant, as long as it isn’t in direct sunlight.

If the day is overcast, so there are really no shadows anywhere, you might have to modify the light a bit. In this case, you can create some shadows or brightness on the face using a blocker or reflector positioned on one side or the other. A blocker is anything dark that blocks the light to create shadows on one side of the face, like a dark piece of paper or cloth – a dark jacket works nicely. A reflector is anything that reflects light to brighten one side of the face, like a white piece of paper or cloth. This might require a little patience for you and for your subject, so it probably won’t be useful for pets or babies.

If you cannot avoid bright light, consider backlighting: light directly behind the subject.

Backlighting creates a bright glow around the edge of the subject, which is dramatic, especially for silhouette shots. But if you want to see the face, you will have to overexpose to lighten it. For smartphone cameras, this is usually accomplished by tapping on the screen where you want the camera to set its exposure (the face) before tapping the shutter button. On regular lens cameras, set your metering mode to spot-metering, then control where on the image the focus point is. (If you are not sure how to do this, let me know and I can help.)

Finally, as regards light, how you position your subject affects how flattering the light will be. It depends entirely on the shape of the face. Short-Lighting makes a face appear slimmer and Broad-Lighting makes it appear wider. Let me illustrate these terms with the photos below. The first image uses Short-Lighting: the face is turned a little away from the incoming light, so there is a shadow on the near side of the face. The second image (click on the > at bottom right of image) uses Broad-Lighting, with the face turned into the incoming light. (In both cases below, the head is oriented pretty much the same relative to the camera, it is just oriented differently to the incoming light.)

I have cropped the photos tight on the face so we can focus on the effect of the direction of incoming light. Observe the slimming effect of the shadow on the face created by Short-Lighting.

Next month I will cover blurring the background and positioning tips for portraiture.

Carl Finkbeiner

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