Lighting 101

1) The purpose of lighting is not just to illuminate, but also to create the illusion of depth in a two-dimensional photograph. It is not light, but shadow, that creates this illusion. You must learn to look at both the light AND the shadow when you set up your lighting. That said, for SG sets you’ll usually want things pretty well lit (the shadows should NOT be a lot darker than the lit areas).

2) Basic cookbook lighting (see diagram below):

a) if you have only one light, put it about 30-45 degrees from the subject/camera axis and, preferably, just a little higher than the model and angled a little down. If possible, try to have a white wall or sheet or piece of foamcore or something off camera (out of the picture) where the light is shining to prevent harsh shadows. This is your “key” light

b) if you have two lights. Put the first light as described above. Put the second light about 90 degrees from the first (i.e., 60-45 degrees from the subject/camera axis on the OTHER side). Make the first light somewhere around 2/3 – 3/4 of the distance from the subject to the second light (for example, the first light about 7 feet away, and the second about 10 feet away).This will make the first light about twice as bright as the second. You might want the second a little lower than the first and not angled down. The first light is your “key” light, and this light is your “fill”.

c) if you have a third light, there are several things you can do with it. One is to shine it on your background from some position behind your subject. This will kill shadows on the background. Another good thing to do is to aim it at the ceiling at a point half-way to the background (assuming a white and horizontal ceiling).

3) Almost all the time, you’ll want “soft” shadows, rather than “hard” shadows. This does NOT describe how dark the shadow is. It describes how sharp the edges of the shadow are. A softer shadow (that is, softer lighting) has blurry edges, and a harder light/shadow has sharp edges. The thing that makes a light soft is the “apparent size” of the light source (how big it looks from the subject’s perspective). The bigger the apparent size of the light source, the softer the shadow. There are several ways to make a light appear bigger (and produce softer shadows):

a) move the light CLOSER to the subject. This seems backwards, but it’s true. It makes a DEEPER shadow (darker), but a SOFTER one.

b) Use a diffuser on the light. With professional lighting, this is done with shoot-through umbrellas and soft boxes (among other things). Don’t have that? Try putting some thin white material between your light and your subject. Be careful not to get it too close to the light and cause a fire!! Remember this will also make your light less bright.

c) bounce the light off a surface. With professional lighting this is done with bounce umbrellas and reflectors (among other things). A white wall works perfectly well. So does a sheet of white foam-core or poster board. Even a white sheet hung over a piece of furniture makes a good reflector. This is often the best way to soften your light.

4) You can use “work lights” you buy at a hardware store (or Home Depot or Lowes or whatever) as “hot” lights. They work especially well when bounced or with a diffuser. KEEP THE DIFFUSER AND ANY MATERIAL AT LEAST 6” FROM THE LIGHT WITH NOTHING ABOVE THE LIGHT to prevent a fire!! If you can, get the “halogen” bulbs. They’re both brighter and whiter. Don’t use fluorescent tubes or compact fluorescent bulbs. They do awful things to skin colors!! Basic free-standing lights are pretty cheap (e.g., http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=26070-290-HCT300&lpage=none), or you can get the lights already on a stand (e.g., http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=22565-290-HDS1000&lpage=none), which is convenient, or you can get them mounted on a clamp (e.g., http://www.lightinguniverse.com/products/view.aspx?af=637&family=177211), which can be convenient, too. Remember, they’re called “hot lights” for a reason. Be nice to your subject and turn them off if you’re not using them!

5) Make sure your subject is getting more light than your background. This keeps the eye on HER not on the background.

6) If your subject has dark hair and you have a dark background, or if she has blonde hair and you have a light (esp. yellowish) background, make sure that you light them differently. For dark hair, it’s good to make sure there’s plenty of light on the hair compared to the background. For light hair you can go either way, just make sure they’re different!

7) You can sometimes get nice effects by bouncing your fill light (see 2b, above) off of something colored. For example, bouncing it off a sheet of yellow or gold (not shiny!!) poster board will help warm skin tones.

8) Light complexions need less light than dark complexions. If your subject has really fair skin, don’t over-light it or she’ll be washed out. If your subject has dark skin, pour the light on!

9) Can’t get your light where you want it? If you have a clamp-type light (see 4, above), you can clamp it to a torchiere lamp or a ladder to put it pretty much anywhere. You can position reflectors that way, too, using cheap plastic spring clamps you get at the same place as the shop lights. Don’t have a lader? Improvise. Lean a broom up against a piece of furniture, with the handle down (so the broom won’t rotate) and clamp to it. Go out and find three long sticks that you can tie together at the top with some rope or a kerchief and make a “tripod”.

10) To increase the sense of depth, have the key light shining ACROSS your subject, not directly on her. To decrease the sense of depth, shine the light more “face on”.

11) If you’re shooting with “natural” light (sunlight):

a) morning and afternoon are the best times to shoot. Avoid shooting between 10 AM and 2 PM when the sun is really overhead as it makes weird shadows.

b) Avoid direct sunlight – it makes really harsh shadows. The BEST lighting is when there is a light overcast (very soft shadows). If it’s a sunny day, try to find a way to shoot in the shade.

c) If you absolutely must shoot in bright sunlight, get someone to hold white foamcore or posterboard or something (the bigger the better!) to reflect sunlight onto the shadowed side of the person to soften the shadows. Even better, shoot where there is a white or light colored wall in the direct sun that will reflect some light back. Try to have your subject stay close to the wall (as much as possible) to get that “fill” light.

12) Not really lighting, but just as important, watch out for foreshortening. Any object or body part that is closer to the camera looks bigger than ones that are farther away. If your subject’s foot is only half of the distance to the camera as her head, it will look twice as big (in every dimension, so 4 times the area!!). Sometimes that’s cool. Generally it sucks.

13) Also not really lighting, but important, most autofocus cameras focus on whatever is closest. Make sure what you want the camera to focus on is what it picks. In some cameras, you can change that by, for example, telling it to focus on whatever is in the center of the picture. Read the book on your camera!