Table of Contents
Low Angle Sunlight:
When the sun is low on the horizon, you can use side lighting (splint lighting) to make the shape of the subject have a good performance. At this time, half of his/her face is almost in the shadow, while the other half of the face is in highlights. So let the model turn his face to the light, so as not to create too deep shadows on the smile lines and eye sockets. If you take a group photo, you also need to carefully arrange the location of the subject so that one person’s head does not block the light from the next person.
There must be sufficient auxiliary light from the shadow side so that the shadow area will not become dead black. If you use a flash to fill light, you should make the amount of flash output equal to the daylight exposure value, or about one block lower than daylight. If you use a reflector, you should carefully adjust the angle to ensure that sunlight can be reflected back to the shadow side of the face.
In the composition of portraits under direct sunlight, it is also important to check the background. Since the brightness is significantly higher than in the shade, it is recommended to use a shutter speed of 1/125s or faster and a smaller aperture than normal, such as f/11. A small aperture can make the background clearer and visually separate the background from the subject. You can observe the background imaging effect by previewing the depth of field. If the shutter speed is faster, the lens aperture needs to be opened wider to fully blur the background image. Increasing the shutter speed may invalidate the flash, so have a reflector on hand for backup.
This image by Martin Schembri was taken in the middle of winter, and was completed when there were only about 5 minutes left for natural lighting throughout the day. The shooting took place in a city square surrounded by many stained glass curtain walls. The bride was arranged to look up to face one of the glass walls in order to fill in the light and illuminate the shadows. Use a reflector to reflect some light under the eyes. The main light is actually behind the groom, shining through his left shoulder. Martin managed to keep the auxiliary light ratio at 1:1. The image was taken digitally.
After sunset: Just like the illustrations provided by many great photographers in this book, the best time of the day to take pictures is just after sunset. At this time, the sky is like a huge soft box, and the lighting effect is balanced and soft, without sharp shadows.
There are two problems with working with this kind of super light: First, the light is dim. You need a medium to fast ISO sensitivity combined with a relatively slow shutter speed. If there are children in the shooting scene, there is a problem: you have to use a larger aperture to deal with the diminished light, and the shutter speed and depth of field are limited.
The second problem is that the portraits taken in the morning and twilight have no catch light, that is, the white flare in the eyes of the subject. Therefore, most photographers use flash to enhance the effect of morning and evening light, and use flash bubbles or soft boxes to add luster to the eyes. The flash intensity can be more than two gears lower than that of daylight, which can fill the eyes well to form a catch light.
Reflector
When you are looking for an outdoor scene illuminated by natural light, you must be dominated by natural conditions. Sometimes it’s difficult to find the right type of light you want, so it’s a good idea to carry a portable reflector with you. The size of the reflector should be quite large, the larger the more effective. Like Portable Lite Discs, it is a reflector made of a flexible foldable circular or rectangular frame. It has different diameters and is a very effective source of supplementary lighting. Many manufacturers produce and sell this product, available in silver (maximum auxiliary light output), white, gold leaf (warm auxiliary light) and black (matting effect).
This is another way to deal with overhead light. Use a light-shielding sheet or a light-blocking object to prevent the overhead light from directly illuminating the subject, so that the light is softened and incident from the side, creating an ideal lighting pattern and light ratio. Charles Maring is here to give the couple a black umbrella as a prop, thus achieving the purpose of transforming the overhead light. Pay attention to the highlights on the black umbrella, you will find that although the light has been scattered, it is still almost directly above the head.
Placement position: If the shadow formed by the scattered light is deep and clear, or you want to add a little catch light in the eyes of the subject, you can use a large reflector (or several reflectors). Ask an assistant to help (or use several brackets with clips), and you can set the reflector very accurately, but make sure that its position is outside the screen.
You may need to adjust the reflector several times to get the appropriate supplementary lighting. Remember to observe the effect of the lighting from the position of the camera. Be careful with light reflected from below the subject: incident light below the eye-nose level is very unpleasant. Try to focus the reflector (you really need an assistant here), so that only the shadows that need to be filled can be filled with light.
The window light is scattered twice here-the glass of the window and the veil of the bride, resulting in a beautiful, soft and directional light. Photographer Charles Maring let the model face the light, and he moved to the shady side of the bride’s face to capture the light and shadow effects of the interaction of highlights and soft shadows.
The metal foil type reflector is used close to the subject, sometimes suppressing the surrounding light, creating a pleasant and admirable lighting pattern.
Natural reflector: Many times you can find natural supplementary light in the natural environment: small pieces of gravel soil, light-colored bushes, or nearby buildings may provide the auxiliary light you need. But be careful, the auxiliary light reflected from the ground up to the subject cannot brighten the main light. The light shining from below the eye-nose level is very annoying, so it is often referred to as “the light of the corpse thief”.
Multi-function Reflector
Fuzzy Duenkel uses a self-made reflector, which he calls “Fuzzy reflector”. It is two hard double-sided reflectors with a size of 4 x 4 feet, hinged in the middle to make the whole part stand up.
Since there are a total of four faces, it is possible to form four different brightness levels of light reflectivity. The surface of the polyester film provides strong reflection, which can accurately reflect the light as the main light under bright sunlight, or become the contour light that shoots from behind the subject. The silver-painted surface can provide effective and color-balanced fill light in a short distance. The white surface provides a softer auxiliary light, and the black surface can achieve a matting effect.
Since the reflector can be placed in an L shape to stand on its own, it can be used as both a light shield and a reflector. Another way to use a reflector is to place it under the subject’s chin and reflect the light onto the face. If a tripod is used, one side of the reflector can be leaned against or locked on the tripod, or an assistant can hold it and point it to the auxiliary light accurately.
Fuzzy Duenkel is a master of light, he can transform daylight into soft and elegant light similar to studio lighting. Here he uses a separate gold foil reflector (as described below) to reflect the light back to the subject, forming the main light on her left. You can see the shape of the reflector in the light of her eyes.
Attenuate some of the light
Excessively scattered light: In some cases, the light is scattered to a great extent, and it is no longer able to shape the characteristics of the face. In other words, the light has no three-dimensional effect and directivity. In this case, you can place a black matting card (also called a light shield or a light barrier) close to the subject to block (or absorb) part of the light so that it cannot illuminate those critical areas. The effect is to make one side of the subject’s face extinct, artificially creating a stronger effective light ratio. Compared with the plain scattered light, the illumination light changed by this method can better show the three-dimensional sense and contour lines of the subject.
When you have two light sources of the same intensity and each is strong enough to act as the main light, the black matting plate (or light barrier) comes in handy. In the case of using direct sunlight and polyester film reflectors, black matting plates (or light barriers) are also quite useful. The side of the black matting board close to the subject can reduce the intensity of the light and create the light ratio required for shooting.
Top light: If you find a good location to shoot portraits, but the light source is on the “top of the head” of the subject (it will make the eye sockets too dark and produce unpleasant shadows under the nose and chin), you can use a light block to block The light from the top of the head. The illumination direction of the top light is changed to pouring down from both sides of the light barrier instead of directly shining on the subject. The top light whose direction has been changed will also be refracted from both sides to the subject to become the main light. This is like looking for a corridor or a clearing in the forest to block the direct light from the top of the head.
However, there are two disadvantages to using overhead light barriers. First, you need one (or more) assistants to hold the visor high on the subject’s head. Second, it reduces the light level overall, which means you have to use a slower shutter speed or a larger lens aperture than expected.
You might think that this exquisite dessert was shot in the studio by Mercury Megaloudis, then you are wrong. Mercury filmed this scene under a tree outdoors, using the sunlight through the branches. He placed a large translucent water bottle on the side of the plate and fruit to filter and soften the transmitted light. On the shadow side (that is, the right side of the camera), he used a small cosmetic mirror to reflect the highlights towards the fruit`s surface. He also placed a large silver reflector on the edge of the table on the side of the shadow to illuminate the shadow and reduce the overall light ratio of the subject.