Basic terms and concepts• Photography is …• Inverse Square Law• Color Temperature

– Mixing light sources– Filters (in camera, light mounted, window mounted)

• Needs of camera / mood of shot / invisible• 3 point lighting (background, kicker)

– Flat lighting, 2-point?, bounce?

• Typical equipment– Spot of flood– Quartz, HSF or LED– Grid or light stands

Key to Effective Lighting:Shadow

• Shadow gives images form, weight, texture, mood, depth. Also reveals spatial relationships.

3 considerations before lighting

• Key light placement – 180 degrees around subject

• Quality of light – hard or soft• Shadow treatment – low key or high key

Try to separate subject from background

3 results of light hitting object

Typical 3 point lighting diagram

3 Attributes of Key Light

• Primary source of illumination• Primary factor of overall exposure• Determines placement and quality of

shadow

Quality of Light

• Refers to hard or soft quality of light• “Pin” or undiffused sources create hard

shadows that fall off sharply (fresnel)• Soft light is created by using large sources

of diffused light.• Determined by two attributes

– Large source– Relatively close to subject

Floor plan of Portrait Key Light Possibilities

Subject lit from 3:00 Position

Subject lit from 4:00 Position

Subject lit from 4:30 Position

Subject lit from 6:00 Position

See textbook example

• Catch lights to show proper placement• Broadlighting: when the key light shines of

the side of the face closest to the camera• Short lighting: when the key light is on the

side of the face opposite the camera; the camera is on the fill or shadow side

Functions of Fill Light

• Fills shadows created by key light• Does not create new shadow

Adding Fill for Portrait Lighting

Fill Light Without Fill With Fill

Backlight Hard backlight Soft Backlight

Background With Background Without Background

Hard vs. Soft Key Light

Hard Soft

Relative Distance of Soft Light Source

Close Far

Lighting Dark Skin with Large Sources of Light

Pin Light Source Large Diffused Source

One Light Setup Use available Light from existing window

One-Light Setup

Available Light One-Light Setup

One-Light Setup

Light directly in front Short Side of Face

Color Balance Color Temps Mixing Key light with color

correction

Warming the Scene Normal Color Balance Tricking Camera to

Produce Warmer Tones

Using Backlight as Key

Use Large sources for Specular Reflections

Backlight as Key Creates Form, Depth, Dynamic Images

Camera

• Indoor, outdoor, automatic• Manual vs. automatic (of anything)• Size of chip (JVC)• Camera to subject distance• Light to subject distance

Lighting effects

• Silhouette – back lit

Lighting effects

• Cameo: spot on subject, dark background

Lighting effects

• Limbo: softly lit (white) background