Maus' Photography Tutorials VI - Studio Portrait Lighting Styles

Another of my mad tutorials, this time on using traditional studio portrait lighting styles to produce the effect you want.

There are more of these tutorials, and there will be more yet. Some are nearly complete, others are just scribbles in my notebook, but I will get around to it. I am trying to focus on the areas where the particular problems of toy photography need a specific approach, as there are already many wonderful resources to tell you about general principles of photography. I can particularly recommend Cambridge in Colour). However, I have also covered some general principles, such as composition and RAW format, as I enjoyed researching them and hopefully the tutorials will be of use to someone else.

If there is something you would like me to cover that is not on this list, let me know and I will do my best to accommodate. Also, if there is something you would like to add or to ask about this tutorial, please do so.

Maus' Photography Tutorials

I – Basic kit for studio lighting of toys
II – Posing your subject for toy portrait photography
III - Isolating your subject
IV – Shapes and lines
V – Lighting basics
VI - Studio portrait lighting styles
VII – Reducing blur and noise
VIII – HDR versus RAW
So, here we go.

Portrait lighting styles

Portrait lighting for dolls is essentially the same as portrait lighting for humans. The main aim is to produce a visually compelling image, by using light and shadow to draw attention to the important parts of the scene and move the eye around the image in a satisfying way. Generally speaking, the most interesting part of a portrait is the front of the face. The eyes in particular engage the viewer and they are where the character of the subject is most easily seen. The mouth is of secondary importance. The rest of the head is, at best, irrelevant and, at worst, a distraction. Most portrait styles are therefore designed to ensure that lighting draws the eye to the important areas and pushes the rest into the background.

The various lighting styles also have their own, distinct properties that will affect your image and how your subject appears. Choosing the most appropriate one depends on what you want to achieve with your image. For example, the pattern of light and shadow across an object indicates its structure. If you want to emphasise realism, using a style with plenty of visible shadow that moulds the form of your subject’s face will suggest its three-dimensional properties. If, however, you want to emphasise the idealised and stylised aspects of your subject, a lighting style with little visible shadow, reducing the image to a flat pattern, might be more appropriate.

Light can also selectively emphasise and de-emphasise aspects of the structure. It can mask an over-prominent feature, such as a long nose, or it can accentuate an attractive facial feature, such as high cheekbones. It can slim a face or make it appear wider. It can also accentuate or diminish surface irregularities, such as the skin texture on an action figure’s face or the slight sculpting imperfections on an artist doll’s cheek. A light that exaggerates form can also add interest to a face that lacks definition and detail.

The various lighting styles also produce different pictorial effects that will affect the mood of your image and the apparent character of your subject. Some are subtle, soft and ethereal; others are moody, dark and dramatic. Look at the examples below. All are of the same subject, but see how different they make him look, in terms of facial structure and the mood they convey. Some styles make the face look detailed and realistic. Others make it look smooth and bland. Some make the face look soft, others make it look moody.

So, decide where you are going before you set off and chose the lighting style that will produce the effect you need.

What is presented below are some of the most commonly-used portrait lighting styles. All can be achieved with a single key light (in the case of the examples, a desk lamp with a 40 watt bulb, diffused with a piece of white fabric) and a reflector (in the examples, a piece of white card).

Frontal lighting

Frontal lighting minimises the amount of visible shadow. All parts of the face that the lens can see are lit, with the majority of the shadows falling on the sides and back of the subject. When used with a brightly lit background, it is called high key lighting. This is where there is a small difference in tone between the light areas of the image and the dark ones, or a low lighting ratio. It is frequently used in fashion photography.



To reduce the amount of visible shadow to a minimum, you need your light to travel along the axis of the lens. The axis of the lens is an imaginary line drawn from the lens, along the direction in which it is pointing. It extends both in front of the camera and behind it. Of course, you can’t place the light exactly where your camera is as this would produce a paradox in the space-time continuum, and who knows what mischief that might cause. Instead, you need to find a position where the beam of light is heading down a path that is as close to the axis as you can manage. This can be achieved by placing the light to either side of the lens or slightly above it. It could be in front of the camera, providing it is not in shot or is causing lens flare (where the light coming from the bulb is caught by the lens, causing flashes or fogs of light. This can be reduced somewhat by using a lens hood to shield the lens from this raw light). It can also be behind the camera, providing it is not blocked by the camera or your various body parts. It can also be achieved with two lights of equal power, one either side of the camera. This ensures that any shadows cast by one light are cancelled out by the other.

As all of these options will produce slight shadows, it is best that the light is slightly above, rather than slightly below the lens, so that any lurking shadows are below, rather than above, mimicking the effect of natural light and avoiding that scary uplit effect that is best suited to horror films.

This style produces an image that is bright and clean and shows all parts of the subject clearly. It is therefore good for showing off a face up. It can also look dramatic against a brightly lit background (producing what is called a "high key" image). Any irregularities, such as skin texture, are also minimized, as the shadow that would indicate them has been eradicated.

The downsides are that this lighting can look boring. The subject can look flat, as there is no shading to indicate the three-dimensional form of the subject. It can also look washed out or over exposed if you are not careful to retain a few, small areas of shadow.

Butterfly lighting

This is a modified frontal lighting approach, where the light is placed higher, producing shadows under the nose, the chin and the cheekbones. It was favoured by classic era Hollywood stars, such as Marlene Dietrich.



The key light should come from in front of and well above the head of your subject, pointing down to their nose. Adjust the height of the light until the characteristic butterfly shaped shadow cast by the nose is no more than half the distance between the nose and the upper lip. More than this and your subject will look as though they are wearing a natty little moustache. This light position can produce a dark, distracting shadow under the chin and on the neck. This can be lifted by placing a reflector in the subject’s lap, angled to reflect light onto the underside of the face. This will also lift the nose shadow slightly, making it look less moustache-like.

In spite of its few shadows, this is a dramatic style. By only casting shadows under the chin and cheekbones, it slims a face, emphasises a strong bone structure and smoothes skin texture. However, it can emphasise large ears.

Split Lighting

Split lighting divides the face along its midline, with one half being illuminated and the other in shadow.



Start with the key light at 45 degrees to the nose and just above head height and move it slowly round until any light on the far side of the face disappears. I like to get a touch of light hitting the eye on the dark side, to bring it out of the gloom. However, this should not be so much that the cheek is lit. Move the light slightly around until you reach the point at which the eye on the shadowed side is just touched with light.

With its strong light and shadow, it is another dramatic, moody style. As only half of the face is lit, it can slim a broad face. Surface irregularities can also be hidden on the shadow side.

 

Loop lighting

This method lights most of the face, producing only enough shadow to indicate the three-dimensionality of the subject. Any shadows are carefully controlled so that they follow, and do not obscure, the form of the face. It is one of the most commonly used styles in traditional portraiture. It can be used with front face portraits or with oblique ones, using a broad or short approach (more on these below).



The key light should be placed higher than the subject's head, pointing down towards the face, and at an angle of 45 degrees from the nose. Adjust the height and angle until you have a nose shadow that points down towards the corner of the mouth, without touching it. The eyes should be evenly lit, from top to bottom. You might need to adjust the height of the light to achieve this. This will affect the length of the nose shadow but, providing it does not touch the corner of the mouth, you are OK.

The effect is flattering and subtle, but not terribly interesting.

Rembrandt lighting

The characteristics of Rembrandt lighting are one half of the face being brightly illuminated, with the other being largely in shadow. On the shadow side, there is an inverted triangle of light on the cheek, under the eye.



To achieve this effect, place the light slightly higher than head height and directed down towards the nose. Start with the light at 45 degrees to the subject’s nose and move it towards the back of the head until the shadows from the nose and the cheek join and the distinctive triangle is formed. Fine tune the positioning until the eyes are both lit and the triangle is no longer than the nose and no wider than the eye. There should also be no strong and unflattering shadows underneath the eye on the dark side. If the triangle is too wide, the light is too far forwards. Push it back a little. If it is too narrow, the light is too far to the side, exaggerating the nose shadow and so the size of the nose. Move it forwards slightly. If the triangle is too short, the light is too high, producing shadows underneath the eye. Move it down slightly.

Rembrandt lighting can be dramatic, producing a stark, chiaroscuro (“light and shadow”) effect. It is therefore not usually suited to soft, subtle portraits. However, it is possible to soften the effect by lifting the shadow with a fill light or reflector. It indicates form well, slims a round face and emphasises high cheekbones.

Broad lighting

Broad lighting is used with oblique portraits, where the face is turned slightly away from the camera. It is used to illuminate only one side of the face, in this case the one closest to the camera, leaving the far side in shadow.



Set your key light at 45 degrees to the nose, on the camera side, and pull it towards the back of the head until it is out of the axis of the camera and the far side of the face is largely in shadow. You can leave the far eye lightly lit.

As such a wide expanse of face is lit, it emphasises its width, making faces look broader. It also obscures some of the interesting parts of the face, such as the far side eye and cheek, whilst emphasising boring bits, such as the near side of the face and the ear. However, as it removes visible nose shadow, it can make a big nose look smaller.

Short lighting

Short Lighting is another method for use with oblique portraits. This time, the light is directed at the side of the face furthest from the camera. As this style produces a large amount of visible shadow, it is good for low key images, where there is a large difference in tone between the lit areas and the unlit ones, or a high lighting ratio.



Place the light at 45 degrees from the nose, on the far side of the face, and pull it round to the point at which you have just illuminated both eyes, both cheekbones, the chin, the forehead and the mouth. One way to check whether you have got it right is to see if both eyelids are equally well lit. Also, if you have lit the ear closest to the camera, your light is too far to the front and needs to be pushed back. The nose shadow should stay on the nose and not encroach onto the cheek or the eye.

This style produces a dramatic effect, with lots of shadow showing and only an intriguing slice of face being lit. As the light rakes across the face, it emphasises texture and facial structure, such as cheekbones. It slims the face as only a narrow band of face is lit and emphasised. The boring parts of the face, such the ear and side of the face facing the camera, are de-emphasised, by being placed in shadow.

So, there are the main styles of portrait photography. Choose a few, experiment and see what you come up with. It takes one light, one piece of cardboard and a little bit of patience. You can do it!

 

hyacinthusmoon, yes, I deliberately stuck to one light as I am well aware that, the more lights involved, the less likely anyone is to try these. And they can be done perfectly well with a reflector (white card) for fill. No reason not to give them a go.

Yup, I have some notes on what would be the minimum, essential bits of kit and will flesh that out into some sort of tutorial. I think the lighting basics and posing your subject ones are likely to appear next, though, as they are nearly done.

 

You are all very welcome.

I am not sure what to do as the next tutorial (I pick these things up briefly and then put them down again for months. I have about three at the halfway stage). If someone sees something in that list up there that they would like to see soon, pipe up and I will drag my notes out again.

 

Eh, OK. I have separate tuts for composition (part II. The first is the Isolating your Subject one) and for posing. Both are pages long and both could do with illustrations. I returned to the basic kit one the other day and will see how far I get with that. Then I will tackle the other two.

Phew! Why do I make so much work for myself?

 

Yes! I saw that doing the rounds of FB a couple of weeks back and thought "Why did I bother?" XD Anyway, I have it stashed away and it is a very handy resource. Thanks for adding that here.