Tangents

direction of the light … any light

February 22, 2011

photography: direction and quality of light

While in Las Vegas for a few days, I had the opportunity again of working with one of my favorite models – Shawna. This striking photo of Shawna illustrates something that I want to underline: at some level, our consideration of the light that we’re using remains the same, whether we’re using available light, or flash, or video light or some other continuous light source.

We need to consider the direction and quality of the light we have or are creating.

We then either need to adapt our lighting, or adapt our way of shooting our subject, to complement our subject. So let’s look closer at the light / lighting used for this photo …

The light that you see in the top photo, came from this incandescent spotlight in the ceiling of this hotel-floor lobby.

Just having Shawna look directly at the camera, with no consideration of the light, creates this unattractive photo. The uneven light on her face just doesn’t look good.

We could either bring in additional lighting, such as a video light … or as in this case, pose our model so that the light falls onto her face in a way that suits us. It just makes sense to get more light onto her face and not have her eyes completely in shade. With a slight shift in her pose, we have the light fall on her in a way that just looks so much better. I don’t think this needs more explanation as to why it looks better. It just is.

There’s a sense of drama now, a little bit of mystery … and we have a photograph that makes our model look as attractive as she really is. Mostly because we considered our available light and really looked at the direction and quality of light in how we posed our subject.

As mentioned at the start here, our approach would be quite similar, whether we used flash or continuous light (like video light), or the available light.

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Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.

If you need more direct help or instruction on flash photography,
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18 Comments »

Great picture and once again a wonderful lesson – its amazing to see how “only” changing the position of your model makes the photo from ‘so so’ to WOW !!

Comment by alex-d — February 23, 2011 @ 8:10 am
well said, well done Neil. Congrats and thanks for sharing.

Comment by LoneTrekker — February 23, 2011 @ 10:21 am
Strangers in the night exchanging glances
Wondering in the light
What were the chances we’d be sharing love
Before the night was through

Two of my favorite things. One of your best portraits EVER!!!

Comment by Jazz Guy — February 23, 2011 @ 10:47 am
Nice Image Neil, I have a Question kind of unrelated to this topic, Do you shoot tethered when you work either on location or in studio?

Comment by Adran — February 23, 2011 @ 4:49 pm
Adran … nope, I don’t shoot tethered. But I did try the wireless transmitter on the Nikon D2H way back. When it worked well it was very impressive. When something went wrong, even one tiny setting, then nothing worked. I felt like I had to be a network specialist and a photographer. At the moment though, I don’t have the need for tethered shooting.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — February 23, 2011 @ 4:50 pm
What a great post. I have been reading your blog for a long time and always learn something. This post is no different. I will have to keep my eyes open for opportunities like these!

Comment by Michael Wachel — February 23, 2011 @ 4:51 pm
Your blog is the only one in my RSS feed that makes me go “oooh another post, excellent” and it’s the only blog that I settle back and make a point of reading and absorbing.

This post sums it up for me as to why, so simple, so effective and so clear in explanation.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom

Mike

Comment by michaelJ — February 23, 2011 @ 8:18 pm
True Neil, sometimes we don’t analyze the light or rush the picture and both situations turn into a disaster (I’m guilty of doing both)

Comment by Hanssel — February 23, 2011 @ 8:23 pm
I love the way she is standing close to the shadow. I probably just have her stand in the light…still haven’t quite master the art of seeing the lights and shadow yet. In general, when shooting with your 5D2, do you leave your setting at RAW or the smaller size sRAW1 or sRAW2 ? I supposed when taking pics of model, the number of frames are not too high, you can leave your setting in RAW. What about when you work a wedding ?

Thanks
William

Comment by William — February 23, 2011 @ 9:21 pm
William .. I use the Nikon D3 for wedding stills. I checked with friends of mine who shoot weddings with the Canon 5D mk II, and they all use sRAW for the wedding, except for the family portraits, bridal party and portraits of the bride and groom. For the rest of the day, it is all sRAW.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — February 24, 2011 @ 8:10 pm
This is one of the best pictures I’ve seen from you Neil. Absolutely love it!

Comment by Bogdan — February 25, 2011 @ 9:17 pm
I saw this photo in your newsletter and was immediately drawn in by the posing and lighting. What a stunning difference it makes when the photographer learns to see the light. Well done.

Comment by Becki Dickinson — February 26, 2011 @ 4:23 pm
Thank you everyone for the nice comments. This is one of those instances where I also really like the final result.

I find that when I look at the image, my focus darts between Frankie’s constant gaze and Shawna. There’s a tension for me in looking at the photo because my eyes never quite settle on something. Yet in that, there’s a balance to the photograph.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — February 28, 2011 @ 8:21 pm
Once again thanks for your willingness to let us in on some of the pro tips and trick. Keep making the world a better place one Image at a time, lol!

Comment by Adrian — March 2, 2011 @ 11:37 am
Hi Neil,

you also have readers of your posts from The Netherlands. I am one of them and also learn new stuff all the time. My question on the picture above: what iso value do you use for a picture like this, using only available light?

Kind regards,

Hans van den Berg

Comment by Hans van den Berg — March 2, 2011 @ 4:48 pm
My camera settings were: 1/125 @ f4 @ 800 ISO

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — March 20, 2011 @ 8:38 pm
Hello Neil,

Well, you have done it again. Just when I spend the last month reading all I could about current flash photography equipment and techniques including your latest book on the subject, you show me several wonderful shots taken with a small continuous light source which has added to my confusion.

I am a lifestyle and portrait photographer and have been using Nikon SB800′s for my flash work. I am interested in stepping up to the next level and have looked at the Nikon SB900 and the Q-Flash system as well. I also looked at Paul C. Buff’s Einstein units but felt that they would not be as portable as the Nikon or Q Flash units. As you are my go-to-guy when it comes to flash, I would very much apreciate your thoughts on which units I should purchase.

Comment by David Glasco — May 29, 2011 @ 4:35 pm
David .. that will depend on what your ‘next level’ is.

For power vs size, there isn’t much to beat a speedlight. But I’m not sure the SB-900 will give you much so more in features over the SB-800. For me the SB-900 was an automatic upgrade, but I don’t think you gain anything in terms of power or capability over an SB-800.

A Quantum flash, when used with a diffuser disc, has less than a stop more power than a speedlight. That said, the spread of light from the Q-flash is much better. And the Q-flash can be fired all day long without melting.

But your next step really comes down to what YOU want to do with flash that your speedlights aren’t capable of.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — May 29, 2011 @ 9:28 pm