Focus On Lighting Photos Focus on the Fundamentals.pdf

Background light
Different backgrounds have an
impact on the final style of the
portrait. While most photographers
stock various shades of
seamless paper, they may only
have one or two painted canvas
backgrounds as they are considerably
more expensive. Regardless
of the background, by using
a backlight, we can effectively
control how dark or light a
background is.
Up to this point, we’ve used
either black seamless or black
velvet. For the photo to the left,
we changed to a painted canvas
background. A great many
styles are available, or you can
paint your own. This one had
fairly dark tones. We wanted
a more midtone background.
There are two ways to brighten a
background. The first is to move
the background closer to the
subject. Immediately, the lights
we are using for the subject will
also brighten the background
because it is closer. If subject
and background are too close,
we can get shadows on the
background cast by the sitter.
Although this can work on occasion,
we generally don’t want this
effect. We can sometimes eliminate
these distracting shadows
by raising our main light so that
the shadows will be cast at an
angle where they hopefully will
fall behind the sitter unseen by
the camera.
An easier way is to use a background
light. Place a flash on
a short light stand (or on some
boxes) behind the sitter and point
it at the background. Use a silver
reflector and barn doors for more
control. The reflector will make
our little light bigger, and the
barn doors will restrict the light
so it falls off at the edges of our
image. If we place them correctly,
we will see the background
lighter behind the sitter and then
darker at the edges.
In the image on the previous
page, we’ve got four lights at
work: main (key), fill, hair, and
background (with four barn doors
to restrict the spread of the light).
This technique is doable with
three lights and the sun, but it is
still more than the simple lighting
(two lights) we are mostly concerned
with in this book. Something
for future consideration.
feminine versus mascuLine
In the photos on pages 111,
112, and 113, our model is
in the male pose. The body
is turned toward the main
light. The head is turned back
to the camera and is in line
with the spine. In the photo
on page 114, our model is in
the female pose. The body is
turned away from the main
light. The head is turned back
toward the main light and
tilted a little bit, creating sort
of an S-shape. Women can
do both male and female
poses. Men should stick with
the male pose. Men tend to
look somewhat silly when
their heads are tilted as in the
female pose.
So, Where Do We Put This Light for Portraits? 115