{"id":29226,"date":"2015-07-03T14:13:10","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T18:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=29226"},"modified":"2021-02-13T23:01:12","modified_gmt":"2021-02-14T03:01:12","slug":"dramatic-lighting-effects-portrait-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/dramatic-lighting-effects-portrait-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"Dramatic lighting effects for portrait photography"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Dramatic lighting effects for\u00a0portrait\u00a0photography \u00a0(model: Jessica Joy)<\/h1>\n

For this dramatic Hollywoord Glamor inspired portrait sequence of Jessica<\/a>, I used two Litepanels Sola 4 LED Fresnel Lights<\/a>\u00a0 (B&H<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0Amazon<\/a><\/em>). But there’s more that happening here with the lighting than just the main light and the rim light. There is the splash of color in the background, augmenting the\u00a0blue rim-light coming from behind.<\/p>\n

Jessica’s reaction to the first test shot was amusing\u00a0– a surprised,”where did that come from?”, when she saw the image on the back of my camera. The blue tones and the pattern in the background were an unexpected dramatic effect. It didn’t look like that until I fired the shutter.<\/p>\n

While Jessica was finishing up her with her make-up and hair, I had set up the lights. The two Litepanels Sola 4 LED Fresnel Lights<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate)<\/em>, and a\u00a0Light Blaster<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>) with a star pattern gobo on the background. When I positioned her in the middle of the studio floor, the two fresnel lights were shining … and that’s all that it looked like at the time. But then the magic happened.<\/p>\n

The lighting for these photographs need to be considered as two layers – the continuous light (via the LED fresnel light), and the the flash via the Light Blaster on the background. And that’s how we’ll break it down:<\/p>\n

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LED fresnel lights for dramatic portrait lighting<\/h2>\n

Continuous lighting is easier to work with than flash – the\u00a0WYSWIG aspect of these video lights (and other continuous light sources), is that you can make careful adjustments to the lights’ \u00a0position, and to the pose. With such a small light source, it really does need\u00a0careful positioning of the lights, and careful posing. You can closely observe exactly how the light falls across your model\u2019s features. Even as much as I like the top-most photograph, it can be said that I should’ve angled her shoulder better so that there isn’t a shadow cast across Jessica’s chin. I tried, but then the pose fell apart slightly – so that is the image that I liked the most, even with that small flaw.<\/p>\n

These LED fresnel lights have made other appearances on the Tangents blog, for a similar reason – they are awesome!<\/p>\n