Have you already read the following post: 11 Tricks and Tips for Awesome Portraits , How to Get Stunning Photographs With Natural Light , What Do You Need For A Good Portrait Photography? , but you still have not been very clear how to illuminate your portraits? Do not worry, we know the importance of lighting in photography in general, but also the doubts that arise when lighting a portrait, a challenge that any lover of this art must face sooner or later. In this article I will collect everything you need to know to illuminate your portraits, do you sign up?
ACCESSORIES YOU NEED
Before reading further, do not panic with the wide list of gadgets that I will detail, this is ideal, which does not mean that to make a portrait you need yes or yes all these materials. It will depend on the type of portrait you want to make, whether you are looking for a more professional or more personal finish or just the resources you have.
External flash : an external flash is useful for eliminating reflections, red eyes and unflattering shadows. With it you can get a soft illumination bouncing on the ceiling or walls, or direct the light where you want regardless of where your camera is directed. If an advice is useful, of all photographic accessories, it is the first thing you should acquire.
External flash
Tripod: it is not essential (unless you are the model and talk about a self-portrait instead of a portrait ), but it will help you to stabilize the image and if you do not have to transport it it can be very comfortable. Here I leave the link to an interesting post if you're thinking of buying one.
Diffusers: with diffusers, as the name implies, you can blur the light obtaining a softer result, there are many types and sizes.
Reflectors: they are used to modify the light of the scene, reflecting the main light, either from the flash or natural light, fill in shadows and illuminate parts that the flash does not reach. You will find them in different colors:
- White: obtains a more natural result.
- Silver: the brightest result without changing the color temperature.
- Gold: adds warmth to the skin.
- Black: by not reflecting the light, it increases the shadows and highlights the contrast. You can also use it as a background.
There is also the option of five in one. Here is an example:
For outdoors, you also have natural reflectors, such as sand, snow or water.
Light window: it is a larger light diffuser. It is used to make the light under study as smooth as possible, since the greater the extent of the light source, the softer the result.
Light window
Umbrella: it is an umbrella that can be used to scatter light or reflect it.
Umbrella reflector and diffuser
A trick to save you a little money: read this magnificent post by my partner Iaio, Bricofotografía: How to Assemble Homemade Photographic Accessories and you will learn to make your own accessories for very little money.
LIGHT QUALITY
I have spoken to you about soft light and hard light, but in case you are not sure what the difference is, the hard light is the one that causes high contrasts and well-defined shadows providing greater drama to the scene. It is achieved with a more direct light source, it can be a natural or artificial source, but the smaller and more direct, the more dramatic the effect will be. Outdoors, you will get a hard light near noon.
Hard light
The soft light, by contrast, gets much more blurred shadows. It is achieved with diffusers and reflectors that disperse the light so that it does not affect as directly as in the previous case. If you are outdoors, you will achieve a softer light in the first and last hours of the day.
Soft light
PORTRAITS IN HIGH KEY AND LOW KEY
In this article Mario explains in detail what they are and how to get them. I will only insist on the strong emotional charge that these two types of portraits carry and the feelings they convey. While high-key portraits are much more positive and cheerful, with low-key portraits you will be able to convey mystery, intrigue and even emotions related to sadness. Do you see the difference between the following two images?
High key portraitLow key portrait
LIGHT POSITION
Front light: if you place the subject in front of the light source (such as a window) and you stand between them, the model will receive the front light. You will get an image without textures but in return you will be able to capture more details, if that is what you are looking for. This type of light is not the most recommended when making a portrait
Side light: the subject receives the light from the side, so you can increase the volume and highlight textures.
Rear light: when the subject is between the light source and you, you can achieve silhouettes and other effects such as an aura around the figures you are photographing.
Aerial light: this type of lighting is what comes from above. It can help you achieve different effects, although in portraits it causes unflattering shadows. Hey, a trick : if you put yourself at a height higher than the subject and make him look up, you will get a headlight from a much more attractive perspective.
TYPES OF PORTRAIT LIGHTING
There are five basic types of lighting in portraits, let's see them one by one and how to get them.
Rembrandt Light: if you look at the image, it is a portrait in which one part of the face is brighter than the other and in the darkest part a small triangle of light appears.
Rembrandt Light
To achieve this effect you must put the flash at a 45º angle to the camera and on the opposite side you can put a reflector.
Rembrandt light lighting scheme
Split Light: To achieve a much more dramatic effect, you can use this type of lighting. In this case, one side of the face is completely obscured. To do this, place the light source (a flash or a window light) on the profile you wish to illuminate and 90º from the camera. Look at this example.
Split lightSplit light scheme
Broad Light: If you are looking for a portrait that causes a mixture of beauty and intrigue, you can use this type of intermediate lighting between the previous two. As you can see in the diagram, it is achieved by placing the light source at 45º from the camera, as in the first case, but the subject turns another 45º in the opposite direction.
Broad light
Butterfly Light: it is named for the shadow that is created under the nose in the shape of a butterfly when the light source is placed at an angle of 45º above the camera, the model receiving light from above.
Butterfly lightButterfly light scheme
Loop Light: is an intermediate lighting mode between the Rembrandt and the Butterfly. Its result is similar to the latter but the shadows are shifted slightly to the opposite side of the light source. In this case we will see an example with natural light, a much harder source to control but with which excellent results can be obtained if we learn to handle it.
Light loop
If you look at the light, you can guess that the source is at 45º, both vertically and horizontally, with respect to the camera.
These are the five best known or used schemes, but the creative is you, you can play with the light as you want to get your own results. Do tests, move the model, the light, experiment with natural light and artificial light, learn from advice and mistakes. There is nothing better than learning from the latter because they will be the ones you will remember best and the ones you will learn before.
OTHER INTERESTING INFORMATION
I leave the link to other articles that you should read:
Detailed Guide: How to Make a Correct Measurement and Exposure in Your Photographs
If the Term “White Balance” Scares You You Need to Read This Article
Everything You Need to Know About the Flash for Portrait Photography
We could say that here you have the resources to get to practice, but there is something more important than knowing all these tricks or techniques, and it is to find out what you want to highlight about your subject, what you want to tell us about his personality, and for that no It is only useful to know what I have told you in this post, here comes your own creativity, the gift of photographer that you have inside. Observe, decide what you want to tell and finally apply your knowledge so that they are at your service, not you at their service.
I hope this post has helped you and that you want to share it with your friends so much as to start practicing . Thanks for reading and see you next time!
