Exercise: The lighting angle

The position of the light source in relation to the subject will create different effects, some of which will show the form, some the shape and some will enable the subject to be separated from the background.  The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate this modelling effect by moving the light around the subject and also varying by varying the vertical angle between the light and the subject.  There are 3 sets:

1. the light is horizontal in relation to the subject;
2. the light is elevated and pointing down at 45 deg; and
3. the light is directly above the subject.

This is best illustrated in the lighting diagram below which shows the basic positions.

My very patient model for the this was a mannequin head, which I felt was ideal for looking at the way light is shaped around a persons face.

Light horizontal

With the exception of the light being directly behind the subject, I kept all settings the same, as I felt this would best illustrate the effect, including the amount of light falling off the face of the subject.  The Speedlite was at 1/2 power and the camera settings were ISO 100, f/11, 1/125 sec.  Where the light was directly behind the subject, because I was shooting not only through the softbox, but also through the white backdrop, I increased the power setting on the Speedlite to full power.  The camera setting stayed the same.  Focusing was set to manual and lens stabiliser was off as I was using a tripod.

Front                                                       Right 45 deg,                                           Right 90 deg

In the set above, the first image is with the softbox as close to the camera as possible in the same plane.  It still was slightly to the right of centre, as evident by the shadows visible on the left.  The ideal would be for there to be no shadows at all.  As the light moves to the right, the amount of shadow increases on the face.  At 45 degrees, this provides a good modelling light revealing the form.

Right 135 deg,                                          Back                                                    Left 225 deg

As the light source moves towards the back there is more of a rim lighting effect, separating the subject from the background.  As there is somewhat less light falling on the background, it gets darker, showing how the action of the light can usefully alter the tone of the background.  With the light at the back, a silhouette is formed showing the shape of the subject.  I did have some light spill, as I did not use black 'stoppers' either side of the subject to kill such spill.  Moving the light to the left of the camera, in the last image of the trio above, this provides an interesting lighting effect, as the face is turned to that side.  The left of the face is lit with this side light giving a good sculptural effect and some drama.

Left 270 deg,                                                Left 315 deg,                                                              Front     

The first of the images above is displaying, what is referred to as "Rembrandt" with the light on the right in the shadow.  This is not true Rembrandt light, as it should be more pronounced and the light elevated.  Again, the form of the face is well shown.  The centre image now has more light on the face, and elevated, would be a good portraiture one-light setup, if elevated.  Finally, I managed to squeeze the softbox more effectively against the camera and the flatness of the lighting can be seen.

Light elevated and pointing down at 45 degrees

For this sequence, I changed the camera settings to ISO 100, f/8, 1/125 sec., adding an extra stop exposure due to the increased distance of the light from the subject.

Front,                                                      Right 45 deg,                                              Right 90 deg

Due to the angle of the head, when the light was above the camera, in front, there are shadows developed on one side of the face, so the lighting is not as flat as it otherwise would be.  At 45 degrees to the subject, there is considerable shadow to one side of the face, but the features are well modelled.  Withe the light side on, most of the features are hidden by shadow, so this would not be a particularly useful lighting setup.

Right 135 deg,                                              Back, above                                             Left 225 deg

The first of this sequence is not really helpful at all.  from the back, there is too much light for a silhouette, but there is good separation.  Throwing some light back using a reflector would make this useful.  There is already some light being thrown up from the white background paper on which the head is standing, as can be seen from the light areas under the chin and nose in particular.  Moving to the left, this has the makings of a Rembrandt style lighting.

Left 270 deg,                                    Left 315 deg

The final two in the sequence, as I did not retake a shot from the front.  The first is very much a Rembrandt style light, with the triangular light area within the shadow on one side of the face.  The second of these, provides a good modelling light, with a butterfly shadow developing under the nose.

Light directly above the subject

The camera setting for these was ISO 100, f/11, 1/125 sec.

Above                                              Above and back                                          Above and front

Of the 3 in this sequence, the last, with the light above and slightly to the front is the most useful.. It provides good shaping and ' due to the shadows falling of the cheekbones, gives a more slender look.

In terms of choosing which lighting setup reveals the form of the subject best, then I would go for the light to the left at 315 degrees.  This is an extension of the Rembrandt light, but the face has been opened up due to less shadow, which now creates a more sculpting effect on the opposite side to the light.

Photographic Lighting: Reading material

There are a huge number of books dedicated to this subject and I just don't know where the market is! I had acquired a couple of such books many years ago, and though they might be outdated and the poses / dress might not be particularly fashionable, they do provide some sound information regarding basic lighting setups which are equally applicable whether you use tungsten, studio flash or portable flash such as Speedlites.  In my case, I use Speedlites.

The first book I wish to refer to is "How to control & use Photographic Lighting" by David Brooks.  My copy from the early 1980's was published by HP Books, and searching for the title revealed that it was updated in 1989.

The early chapters discuss the effects of the light source and the light direction and reflection.  Very relevant and helpful for this part of the TAOP module as it supplements and enlarges on the course text.  The description is clear and helpfully illustrated.  The chapter relating to equipment is very dated, and whilst principles are fine, its probably best ignored as far more information can be obtained from other sources.  There is an extensive chapter on photographing people.  This I find a very useful starting point for a variety of lighting situations and complexities including natural, window, light.  All are well illustrated with lighting diagrams and resulting images.  The final chapter discusses lighting for "things".  Again well illustrated and extremely useful as a starting point.  Shooting glass and shiny objects are both subjects which are well dealt with.  Overall a useful book which can be acquired quite cheaply.

My next book is "50 Portrait lighting techniques for pictures that sell" by John Hart published by Amphoto.

Again my copy is from from 1983, but it was updated in 1995 and that copy is available from Amazon for £0.01 used.  That would be a tremendous buy.  This is clearly outdated, but as with the previous book, it is a good starting point for "50" different lighting setups which are well discussed and illustrated, both with photos and lighting diagrams.  There is nothing, here, though, which hasn't really been covered by the previous tome.  The message is, that a well executed and lit portrait will succeed in its aim.

At a photo exhibition a few years ago, I succumbed to obtaining "Portrait Photography Secrets of Posing & Lighting" by Mark Cleghorn and published by Lark Books.  I had just been watching him demonstrating various lighting techniques and the book was on special offer :-).  Mark Cleghorn is a Fellow of RPS and has many other distinctions and awards.  He certainly knows his stuff as I saw from his demonstrations.  The book runs through many styles and techniques and will provide the basic knowledge and inspiration to get going with taking portraits.

Studio work is something which I am interested in, particularly as the lighting is under your control, so the challenge is really how to use it in a creative way.

Alongside the books above there are the technical manuals which come with the kit.  In my case the Speedlites 580EX and 430EX II and the Nissin Di866 II.  It is definitely worth reading these if for no other reason than to become familiar with the controls.

What I have found is that, other than to become familiar with the subject, there is no substitute for practice.

Exercise: Tungsten and fluorescent lighting

Tungsten and fluorescent lighting prove to be particularly challenging, especially fluorescent which has a narrow colour spectrum.  Tungsten lighting, in a domestic and commercial environment, is now less common, and has not been available to the consumer for several years, at least in the UK.

I tried to make sense of what colour temperature settings should one be using with this type of lighting, including the Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL), as I have always experienced difficulty, particularly with the strong colour casts on photographs taken under fluorescent lights.  I was also interested, going forward, what will be happening with regard to LED lighting, as, looking at the manufacturers' websites, such as Philips and Osram, LED lighting appears to be the product which ultimately will replace Fluorescent or CFL as well as incandescent light sources such as Halogen bulbs.

Wikipedia was my first stop and, though not helpful for incandescent lighting, the entry for fluorescent lighting was much more revealing.  This told me that typical incandescent lighting, which is yellowish-white would have a colour temperature of 2,700K.  This is near enough for my purposes to 2,850K which is the temperature given for Tungsten in Lightroom.  However, Canon uses 3,200K as its setting for Tungsten light.  I refer to Canon, as I use Canon cameras.

Fluorescent is much more complex as its colour temperature can vary considerably due to the mixture of phosphors which the manufacturer has used inside the tube in order to achieve a given effect.  Here the range can be from 2,700K through to 6,500K.  This is supported by looking at, say, the Osram catalogue.

Lightroom gives the Fluorescent setting as 3,800K and Canon is a close match at 4,000K.  I find that, many Fluorescent light sources emit a greenish light and it is this which causes the greatest difficult in achieving a natural colour rendition.  It is interesting to note that Lightroom also a +21 Magenta tint for Fluorescent, clearly intended to counter this greenish hue.  The Osram web site tells me that Fluorescent bulbs are  available in three "light colours".  These are:

• warm white, below 3,300K
• neutral white, 3,300 - 5,000K; and
• daylight white, >5,000K.

Seeing these figures it is little wonder that I struggle with colour when shooting under Fluorescent light, due to the range of tubes available.

Looking in more detail at CFL's, I read on the Osram web site, that these are rated as being around 2,500 - 2,700K

Turning to the exercise, it is in two parts; the first asks you to compose a photograph in which both the interior lit by tungsten lamps and the exterior at dusk are both visible.  Three photographs are then to be taken with the WB set to Auto, daylight and tungsten.  The second part is to take photographs in two different interiors, setting WB to Auto and then to fluorescent.

Part 1:  Tungsten

As the light levels were very low, I have used ISO1600 throughout in order to enable me to hand hold the camera.

Auto WB

ISO 1600, f/4, 1/45 sec

The image appears pretty close to how I saw the scene, with a distinct orange / yellow cast arising from the tungsten light.  Clearly the overhead light is not tungsten as it does not give out that yellow light, but, looking at the bulbs, I cannot tell what they are, possibly CFL.

Daylight WB

ISO 1600, f/4, 1/45 sec

This has a distinct yellow cast, which is not surprising as the daylight setting in camera is 5,200K and the scene is lit by a tungsten light at, using the Canon setting, 3,200K.  3,200K is at the yellow end of the spectrum, hence the strong orange / yellow cast.  I would not recommend using this setting indoors.

Tungsten WB

ISO 1600, f/4, 1/45 sec

This photograph comes closest to the colours in the scene, so in this case the tungsten WB setting in camera is certainly the one to use.

In summary, the daylight WB setting is the least accurate, with the tungsten WB setting being the most accurate.  There is not much to choose between tungsten WB and Auto WB, the latter giving quite an acceptable rendition of the scene.

Part 2: Fluorescent

My choice for this was Jubilee Line station at Canary Wharf and the National Theatre on the South Bank.  I suspected that in both cases fluorescent lighting would be used, but could not be certain.

Canary Wharf Auto WB

ISO 3200, f/6.7, 1/30 sec

Auto WB appears to be coping with the lighting pretty well and this image appears to be reasonably accurate.

Canary Wharf Fluorescent WB

ISO 3200, f/4.5, 1/60 sec

To me, this looks a touch green, so the Auto WB setting has done this much better.  Examining the settings, the Auto WB had an extra +10 Magenta tint which can explain this.

Canary Wharf Daylight WB

ISO 3200, f/6.7,  1/30 sec

For comparison, I took a shot using daylight WB, and here the yellow / green hue is really apparent.

National Theatre Auto WB

ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/15 sec

I really should have increased the ISO here, but I got away with a handheld shot, though braced, at 1/15 sec.  Again, I have found that the camera's Auto WB setting is coping pretty well with the lighting and has rendered a pretty reasonable result, though there is still just a bit of green visible.

National Theatre Fluorescent WB

ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/15 sec

Here the green has gone pretty much entirely, so this is the more accurate result.

One thing that I have found in this exercise is that overall, Auto WB copes very well with a variety of conditions, and may need only a small tweak during post-processing.  Understanding the colour changes due to the colour temperature of different lighting helps with that task.  It is, of course, possible to set up a custom white balance in camera for each 'take', however this is time consuming, though there are accessories which provide help with this.

References

Wikipedia - Incandescent light bulb
Wikipedia - Fluorescent lamp
Philips lighting web site
Osram lighting web site
Canon EOS 5D Mark II and EOS 50D manuals

Exercise: Variety with a low sun

This exercise was tremendous fun.  I had the foresight (makes a change) to jump to this exercise while still working on part 3 of TAOP.  I went with a group from the RPS Documentary and Visual Journalism (DVJ) group to photograph Brompton Cemetary at the beginning of March.  The lighting was perfect throughout the day; it made a change from constant overcast and rain!  As could be expected on such a day, the cemetary was heaving with photographers and sometimes had to wait to let another photographer take their photo!

The DVJ always has a theme to their outings, in this case the task was to produce either a book or record cover.  My effort is below:

With one exception, I have presented the set for this exercise as B&W as I considered this medium to be most appropriate for the subject matter and would also best illustrate the objectives of this project.  In preparing the final images I have also used Lightroom's B&W filters to generate the look which I desired.

The objective of this exercise is to demonstrate some of the advantages of shooting when the sun is low.  The aim is take a number of photographs to demonstrate the following:

• frontal lighting, with the sun directly behind the camera;
• side lighting, with the sun to the left or right;
• back lighting, shooting towards the light; and
• edge lighting, where the edge of the subject is lit.

Frontal lighting

I find that frontal lighting can make the subject appear very flat and two dimensional, as illustrated in the first of my images below:

ISO 400, f/9.5, 1/250, Blue filter

I had to step to one side in order to avoid my shadow appearing in the image, so it is not quite with the sun behind the camera.

An alternative shot which works better with this lighting is below.

ISO 200, f/4, 1/1500, Orange filter

Nevertheless, this is still somewhat two dimensional, when looking at the detail, much of the impact being due  to my choice of f-stop which has a limited depth of field.

Side lighting

For the first of my images I selected much more of a landscape, rather than a detail shot.  

ISO 400, f/9.5, 1/350, Blue filter

The Collonades which sit atop the catacombs and surround the 'Great Circle' in the cemetery are a dramatic feature.Here the side lighting, enhanced by the use of the blue filter, brings drama to the scene.  The blue filter also enabled me to retain the brick detail in the highlights.

This led me to consider another use of side lighting, that of using the shadows and highlights themselves to create the design.

ISO 400, f/19, 1/125, Blue filter

Again in the Collonades, this time observing the pattern created by the low sun.

One use of side lighting, which I like particularly, is to bring out the surface detail of an object and this is illustrated below.

ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/1000, Orange filter

Here the texture of the roughly hewn cross is enhanced by through side lighting.

Back lighting

Shooting towards the light, typically creates a silhouette where the shape of the object / subject is clearly seen.  This I have demonstrated in the shot below:

ISO 200, f/4, 1/4000, Yellow filter

In order to avoid lens flare, I positioned the sun behind the cross, and exposed, overall, for the sky, which I further darkened using a yellow filter.

The following image is the only one in the set which is in colour, but this is to demonstrate another feature of back-lighting.

ISO 200, f/4, 1/2000

Here, I have used back-lighting to enable the glow of the yellow leaves, against the backdrop of the crosses, by having the light shining through them.

Edge lighting

With the subject back-lit, the object here is to create a rim light effect around the subject.  This is not the easiest lighting to show as lens flare becomes a problem.

ISO 400, f/11, 1/90, Blue filter

 The effect here is to isolate the subject from the background.

ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/500, Blue filter

Again, the cross is further removed from the background by the rim of light outlining its left side.

Use of low light proves extremely fruitful in providing drama as well as giving a greater degree of form and texture to the subject.  This is certainly an aspect which I have enjoyed demonstrating.