Project 57: The Lighting Angle

I used my husband as a subject for this project, as I have been keen to try a bit of formal portraiture using lights, albeit a flashgun rather than glamorous studio lights. I used my Canon Speedlite 430 EX, reflected off a silver umbrella, as this gave the most diffused light in the previous project. However the weakness of the light became apparent as I started to more away from the side. The light was too weak to spill around the side of his face. One I had completed the project, I realised that I should have been adjusting the exposures as I moved the light round, however the results clearly demonstrate the principles & key learning points.

The most obvious result was that backlighting emphasised shape. In this particular image, this added nothing, and looked a bit strange. This would be more relevant for something with a strong shape, and possible slightly transparent as well, such as a glass ornament or bottle (see project 24). The image lit directly above and behind was the more acceptable one with backlighting. I have seen an example of using backlighting with flash to emphasise the shape of a child jumping and I plan to give this a try when I have time and will upload the results. In that particular example, the "action" of the child compensates for the lack of detail in the subject.

The second result was that front lighting (either at level or above) gave the flattest image, with little sense of form. The one lit with the light pointing down was particularly unappealing. However there is an argument that the lack of shadows could be flattering, and this is probably a good light to use for a passport photograph!

Finally, the side lit ones gave the greatest illustration of form and 3 dimensional shape, and I think the one lit from the side pointing down probably has the edge in terms of highlighting form.

I was quite impressed with the effect of lighting directly overhead. It created interesting shadows, which are not really flattering for a human face (nose shadows etc.) but could be capitalised in a subject of a certain shape.

So which is my favourite from the set? Obviously the side lit image (2nd image), partly because of the lighting, and partly because of the expression on my husband's face (watching World Cup highlights while modelling). This emphasises the point again that the subject is generally the most important thing, lighting secondary.