Table of Contents
Basic Knowledge of Light
Light can be divided into natural light and artificial light. Natural light is also called a constant light source, which means that it can remain unchanged for a long time. Artificial light can also be divided into constant and instantaneous light sources. For example, a light bulb is constant, and a flashlight is instantaneous. Natural light needs to be coordinated, and artificial light can be controlled freely.
The Important Role of Light
Light Is the Soul of Photography
Without light, there is no shadow, and no pictures can be taken. This is not just for portraits, it is for all photography. Light is the soul of photography and the root of photography. In most of the time, a good light environment can give a lot of points to the photo.
Light Can Create Atmosphere
The atmosphere is the air in the picture, which determines how you breathe. Shaping the atmosphere of the picture requires light to be laid out. For example, the forward-light picture is more natural and real, and the back-light picture has a sense of distance and layering. For example, warm light makes people feel warm and harmonious, while cold light makes people feel cool and quiet.
Light Can Reshape the Face
With good use of light, people can be thinned. Different light angles will also have an important impact on the shape of the characters. The forward-light will make people fatter, the front side light is three-dimensional and thinner, the side light shows the mysterious characters, and the ground light makes the characters insidious. To say that the most skinny thing is the side backlight. For example, the effect of the picture above. The warm side backlights shaped Evelyn’s face particularly stylish and small.
Light Can Modify the Skin
Just like girls using PS to retouch photos after taking selfies, light can also “dermabrasion” the skin. Different light quality has different modification effects on the skin. The light quality has soft light and hard light. Soft light can make the skin softer and smoother, and hard light can make the skin more three-dimensional. It is best to use soft light when photographing children, because the skin is inherently smooth. You can also use soft light to shoot cute, gentle, sunny and natural style photos. For shooting mysterious and cool style portraits, such as men, you can use hard light.
Light Can Cut Space
Photography is to convert a three-dimensional space into a two-dimensional picture. In this process, in order to highlight the level and space of the picture, two of the most important skills are: composition and light. Light can be divided into bright and dark. From the perspective of visual language, there is a principle of “bright advances and dark retreats”. This means that the bright position will feel forward, and the dark position will feel backward. All choices or creation of a light environment with contrast between light and dark can play the role of cutting the picture and make the photo more layered and spatial.
Backlight Portrait Photography Tips in Autumn
Backlit portraits can create romantic, beautiful, and dreamy visual effects, which is a common method for many professional photographers to take portraits. The photos taken in this way will not only make the character appear beautiful outline light, but also the character’s hair will appear beautiful golden hair.
When shooting a portrait of a beautiful woman against the light, very beautiful blond hair appears on the head of the person, and the photo feels very romantic and beautiful.
Real Shot Steps:
Step 1: Choose a sunny day with direct sunlight to shoot. In a sunny day, the directional sunlight can easily produce golden hair.
Step 2: Arrange the beauty in a backlit position and frame the shot. That is, let the character face the sun and face the photographer. At this time, you can observe the effect of golden hair under the character’s hair.
Step 3: Use reflectors to fill up the beauty’s face. When shooting under backlight, the brightness of the face of the person is much darker than the background, and better results can be obtained after filling in the light.
4th Step: Use aperture priority (Av) mode.
5th Step: Set the metering mode of the camera to spot metering, metering for beautiful faces, adding 2/3 stops of exposure to the correct exposure.
6th Step: Adjust the composition and take the picture.
Choose Backlight Shooting
The shooting effect of blonde hair must appear under backlight. If it is a front and back light that is 180° with the camera direction, the effect of golden hair will be formed on both sides of the character’s hair. If it is shot with side backlighting, the hair on the light-receiving surface of the person will appear as golden hair. When shooting under backlighting, the light is easy to directly shine into the camera lens, causing the quality of the photo to be impaired. So you should add a hood to the lens, or block the direct light with your hands.
Use the Reflector to Fill up the Face of the Character
When shooting portraits under backlight conditions, because the faces of the people are not illuminated by light in the shadows, it is easy to appear darker with no details. Therefore, you should use a reflector to fill up the character’s face, so that the character’s skin appears more delicate and smooth. In addition, the use of reflectors can also bring very beautiful eyes to the characters.
When shooting with normal backlighting, people’s faces appear darker
Use reflectors to fill light when shooting against the light, and the skin color of the characters has been better expressed
The Effect of Choosing a Dark Background Is More Obvious
When shooting blond hair, the edges of the hair are exposed to strong light, showing very bright colors. Using a dark background as a foil can make the picture form a clear contrast between light and dark, which is conducive to the creation of the overall atmosphere of the picture.
Under the backlight, the character will have beautiful golden hair, but the background is too bright and the golden hair is not obvious
When shooting against the light, photographers often use the dark background as the background of the model’s hair, and highlight the hair effect of the blonde hair.