Freelance Photographer
Seeing things differently
A taker of Photographs - A creator of images

Lighting...

My Views on Studio Lighting by Ken McDonald...

The most important light in any portraiture setup is the main light source and for all intent and purposes this is the light I meter off to find my lens aperture... My main light is the only light that creates any shadows in my setup to give my images modelling. Any fill-in or secondary lights and reflectors are positioned to soften or eliminate those shadows caused by the main light, the amount depending on the look I am after... Accent lights, like a hair light or backlight can be used to accentuate a certain part of the setup, as these are brighter than my main light I switch them off before taking a reading from the main light... I have found for my style of portraiture, the best way to take a light reading is to use a light/flash meter to take a light reading from the subjects face pointing towards the light source... From this reading I can determine the amount of light needed by any fill-in lights, hair lights, background lights or reflectors to achieve the balance I require... I can also make any compensation I feel necessary for the medium in which I’m shooting, like under exposing 1/3 of a stop for digital or slide film and over exposing between 1/3 of a stop and 1 full stop for print film to saturate the colours...

The classic ratio for standard portraiture with colour print film is 2:1, which means the main light source is twice as bright as the fill so if the main light gives you f/11 the fill should be set at f/8... For black and white film the normal ratio is 3:1 equal to 1½ stops so if the main light gives you f/11 the fill should be set at f/6.7... A ratio of 4:1, which is 2 stops, is classed as low key but for a more dramatic low key affect I use an 8:1 ratio for print film, which is 4 stops... This 8:1 ratio however is not advisable for use with transparency or digital images as the exposure latitude of those recording media are far less tolerant to contrast than print film... A ratio of 1:1 creates flat or high key lighting and the main light along with any other light falling on the subject should be of equal intensity... High key portraiture is the only exception where all other light sources should be equal to, or greater than the main light source...

You may have noticed that I use the words light source throughout this little article, which is because the light source could be studio flash, photoflood, sunlight or any other source of light... You don’t need studio lights to take good portraits...

Studio Lighting

Natural Light

When it comes to contrast in studio lighting the larger and more diffused the light source is made by using a softbox, honeycomb or umbrella, the less contrast the subject will have and the softer the shadows will be... The smaller and less diffused the light source the more intense the light becomes giving higher contrast between the highlights and shadows, making the shadows more prominent...