Mood Lighting [Help] = The Good, The Bad, the Know-how...

Well, that's the trick, isn't it?

The first question must be, what kind of "mood" are we talking about? Different moods demand different specifications of dark and shadowy lighting...

For one very specific type of mood though, have a look at MadamMauMau's classic thread on Frank Miller/Film Noir lighting — a most inspirational read, I can assure you.

 

If you are getting too much noise, you need to use a lower ISO and a tripod to keep your photos sharp. Are you using a lamp or focussed light to get the effect? Maybe you need to bounce the light off another surface or use a diffuser to make the shadows softer.

 

Enki, post some examples of photos with the lighting you like, and perhaps some of your past attempts (if you are feeling brave) and it will give us something to get our teeth into.

 

Some really nice shots there. And yes, you KNOW I need no warnings. I have a strong stomach.

OK. The way that I would do it (and there may be lots of other ways and I would be keen to hear of them), is to have one, key light, set so as to rake some shadows across the face/body. What I mean by that is, if you are doing a head-and-shoulders portrait for example, idon't set the light so that it shine directly onto the front of the face, as this will minimise shadows (known as high key lighting)

eg



Inseatd, set it at 45 degrees from the nose (the traditional position for portrait lighting and a good one to start with). You can set it at a higher angle if you want a more dramatic effect. This will cast lots of nice shadows across the face (what is called "low key" lighting). You can either light the side of the face closest to the camera,

eg



or really work those shadows by lighting the side of the face furthest from the camera.

eg



So, yuo have some nice shadows, now yuo want to increase the contrast between the light and the dark areas. To do that, I would try to focus the light by restricting how wide the beam can "splash". The professional way to do that is with barn doors, which are flaps around the light source that you can open and close to focus the light. No, I don't have any of those either. As an alternative, I once made aluminimum foil "snoots" to restrict the spread of the light. These were just foil shapes that I moulded around the light (being careful to allow ventilation, as I didn't fancy burning down the house that night). Other things you can do is use a dark, light-absorbant background (velvet is good) to soak up some of that splashed light. Also, turn off all other lights in the room. Also, particularly if light is splashing on your backdrop, block it off with a big piece of card.

The shots where I used focused lights were the ones in the Sin City thread, such as this one.



That produced the most dramatic, spot light effect.

But, you can still get a decent chiaroscuro without shaping your light, providing you use a dark room, dark background etc. This was just one light source, diffused. As you can see, the shadows are not as dense and the line between light and shade is not so marked.



Have a go with that, and then we can go on to think about what you do with the side of the face that has slid off into the gloom and the eye that has disappeared into shadow. Oh, and the hair that has become one with the background.

And the diffuser used in that set up shot is a diffuser disc, off eBay. It cost perhaps $25 and I have used it for almost every shot. Well worth getting.

Oooh, and just to add, if you shooting against a dark background and usinng aperture priority, you will need to stop down at least one stop, otherwise the camera will expose for the entire (mostly dark) scene, turning your beautiful doll into an over-exposed, white glare.

 

Ah! Ooh! I could have clarified that, couldn't I? OK, 45 degrees horizontally from the nose, and set a little above eye level. Two ways to see if your light is high enough is whether the catchlights (the little reflections of the light source in the subject's eye, like a glint) are at or near to "11 o'clock" position, if that makes sense. But the way I personally do it is to move the light up and down until I like how it is falling on the face and the shadows it is casting and sod the catchlights.

I place the diffuser as close to the light as I can without it touching, but I have no idea if there is a better way. Anyone else? I also vary in how far away I set the light from the subject, just because I have never bothered to think about it (which I really, REALLY should). But, perhaps a foot to two?

I would really like to hear what other people do as well, as I have no idea if I have settled into bad habits and whether there are better ways of doing things.

Here is a diagram of a low key lighting set up. In this one, the light is set at 90 degrees, so would give some really dramatic shadows.

 

A certain type of "mood" can also be elicited with natural light. Artificial light requires more than one light in order to "erase" the shadows which have been created. A "backlight" helps delineate the subject from the background. A main light needs another light or a reflector angled somewhat opposite it. Diffusers are wondrous things and can really aid in shaping the mood!

I only shoot in natural - with an off-camera fill. I still have to watch for shadows but with the dolls I tend to get a bit lazy and use a reflector rather than a "fill light" to soften the harsher lines.

One caveat - dolls are not human sized and when applying human-sized technique one must mathematically reduce.


Strong, natural light camera right. This is open shade light and does not need to be diffused. White foamcore reflector camera left.


Dim, natural light behind the camera. No reflector. WIDE open lens.


STRONG natural light, camera right, diffused light high camera left. Flawed use of reflector - it's too low and the torso is relit but not the side of the face.

Don't forget - photoshop is the photographer's friend today in regards to manipulating light and shadow. But do try to get everything you need in-camera. Don't be afraid of using fill for natural lighting situations. USE A TRIPOD. Manually meter. Backlighting or reflecting light WILL help highlight your shadowed edges.

 

These are really helpful, everyone. I am going to try these techniques are soon as I am able to.

 

Those are really very nice, although it looks as though you do need to jerryrig someway to focus your light. It looks as thpigh you are lighting through a headboard(?). Why not try covering all but a small area of the headboard with dark card or cloth and directing your light through that, to reduce its spread? Your light is also somehwat low. Try raising it up to just above his head and point it down. Lastly, try moving the light closer towards the subject, again to reduce spread.

And the "lost sleeve" is something we will talk about later, as you can use secondary lights and reflectors to get rid of that. However, I thought it would be a good idea to just get it right with one light first.

Good stuff! More!

 

You're already been given so much helpful information, but seeing as you linked my picture I guess I should mention how I did that shot.



I was using natural light, coming from a reasonably wide window, diffused with blinds and lace curtains. The blinds of course are great for controlling my lighting levels and angles. My light level and angle was roughly about what you had in that diagram with the lamp, well above the head of the doll though it was coming over from the right, the left had no light source. I used no reflectors, though the background has some metallic silver in it so I'm sure that reflected things to a point.

The whole shoot is here: http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?357223 so you can see that while the light source changed, you can get a variety of different moods just from where you position yourself/the camera and the doll in relation to the light source.

I use a Macro lens for most of my shots, which allows me to work at a higher ISO than say using a 50mm lens will. It takes till about an ISO of 600 with an aperture of around 3.0 to start getting any noticeable noise I have found. On average though I don't usually go above an ISO of 400, usually sticking to around 250-400 and playing with shutter speed instead.

I hope some of that helped!

EDIT: just saw your post, those last pictures are great!

 

Those shots are great. Very atmospheric. And you really seem to have got to grips with focus and, particularly, exposure, which is very difficult with a light doll on a dark background. Did you compensate down?

Now, are those shadows as dark as you want them? To my eye, they are wonderfulyl soft half shadows, which is actually what you want for a nice, flattering portrait. However, if you want that moody, low key effect, you are going to need to darken them and make them mpore pronounced.

So, where is all this unwanted light coming from? Is the room dark when you take these shots (well, apart from your keylight, of course)? Did you try shaping the light for this?

But, hun, what very nice pictures, and look at the improvement from the first shot in the other thread. You are really getting there, and fast!

 

Just want to drop in and say I really appreciate these tips too! I've had the same problem Enki has and these are great tips!!

 

I can't remember how I focused the shadows on the picture of Demian and the curtain (see? This is why my technique never improves), but I strongly suspect that it was just my usual thing of blasting my light through the diffuser disc, so no shaping at all.

I am inspired to have a go at this too and I will attempt to make barn doors from a cardboard box, lined with aluminium foil. High tech stuff, here! I want to get it done this week and I will post the resulting shots.