taking a mug shot and your subject's face is posed at an angle to the camera. These different versions are referred to as broad and short lighting. A
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Rembrandt
Figure 10-4: The four most common lighting patterns.
Broad lighting
Short lighting
Figure 10-5: Broad versus short lighting using the Rembrandt pattern.
Adding a third light source
After you have a good grasp of the ways that key light and fill light work together to create light with a specific quality, level of contrast, and direction, you can consider including a third light source.
Here are some ways to use a third light:
To highlight the edge of a subject: Most photographers use a third source to create a
Figure 10-6 shows you a portrait shot using three lights: a key light, a fill light, and a rim light. Notice the highlight caused on the right edge of the subject's hair and jacket. This helps to separate him from the background and to add more visual interest to the image. (See Chapter 13 for more on portraiture.)
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Figure 10-6: A rim light helps to separate the subject from the background.
To highlight the subject's hair: This use of a third light is known as a
To light a background: In addition to lighting your subject, you may sometimes want to use a third light to light your background, especially if you're shooting in the studio. To do so, set up a separate light behind the subject and out of your frame. Direct it toward the background. Decide whether you want a background that's evenly lit or one that has a gradation. The closer you place the light to the background, the more focused the light will be in the area that it's pointing toward. The farther the light is from the background, the more even your light will be.
By placing the light fairly close to the background, you can create a spotlight behind your subject. This spotlight helps keep a viewer's eyes in the frame by causing the composition's edges to be darker than its center. You determine the intensity of your background light based on the tone of your background and how it relates to the tone of your subject. A subject that's naturally darker, or is wearing dark clothing, stands out more from a lighter background, and a lighter subject stands out more from a darker background.
Breaking the patterns and creating your own look
The lighting patterns I discuss earlier in the chapter (see 'Positioning your light source to create lighting patterns') are great for making people look good in photos and often are used by professional photographers for formal portraits. This formal lighting works well when you're taking headshots for business marketing, and you often see it in fashion photography as well.
Most people in the industry are familiar with these traditional lighting patterns. When I look at a photograph in which the shadow from the subject's nose meets the shadow from the far side of his face, I say to myself, 'Oh, so she went with the Rembrandt.' When a photographer creates an image that has a unique lighting style, I see it and ask myself, 'How did she do that?'
Each situation is unique, and it should come across that way in a photograph. So it pays to find new ways to light people and objects. Try moving the lights around and adding or subtracting the number of light sources in the scene. Combine natural, available, and artificial lighting in one photograph. For example, if a lamp is on and a window provides light, take advantage of both of the sources. Whatever you do, never limit yourself to the four traditional lighting patterns.
Use your own judgment and experiment with lighting. Whenever you see a photograph with lighting that you find appealing, study it and try to figure out how the photographer achieved it. Then try to re-create it for yourself.
Figure 10-7 doesn't use a specific lighting pattern on the subject's face. The light simply reveals the shapes of his features, including his high cheekbones and strong jaw.
To achieve this lighting, I chose the sun (which was slightly diffused by a thin layer of clouds) as my key light. It acted as a mix between a key light and a kicker, or rim light (which I discuss in the earlier section 'Adding a third light source'). The light was positioned behind the subject just enough to avoid causing a shadow on the far side of the subject's nose. Because of the light's soft quality, it smoothly wrapped around the side of his face.
My fill light was created by an assistant who was holding a reflector and standing just to the left of the camera. (Refer to the earlier section 'Changing the quality' for more on reflectors.) This reflector put the highlight in the subject's eyes and balanced the intensity of the key light so it wasn't overbearing. By placing the fill light just slightly to the left of the camera, I created the illusion that the light was gradually wrapping around the subject's face going from highlight to shadow with a smooth gradation.
Figure 10-7: Beautiful light doesn't have to provide a traditional lighting pattern.
Manipulating the direction of Natural Light
Whether you're shooting on a bright sunny day with clear skies or one with heavy cloud coverage, the sun is your source of light in a naturally lit scene. Even at night, the sun provides light by reflecting off of the moon. It even provides natural light indoors by shining in through the windows and reflecting off of walls, ceiling, and floors.
Using natural light gives you less control over the sources of light and means that you have to work with what you're given. In the earlier section
'Understanding Light Quality and Intensity,' I explain the ways to control the quality and intensity of a naturally lit scene. In this section, however, I focus on how to achieve your desired direction of light when shooting with natural light so you can control your lighting patterns and the amount of texture that's revealed in a subject or scene.
Any light source that you include in a scene but isn't provided by the sun and isn't placed there by you is
