Lighting and studio Clipp Asia
28 Mar

Lighting and studio Clipp Asia


The best photography light kits, portable lighting decor, and the best budget strobe light studio photographers for photography are needed. Everything related to the best lighting equipment to get started with editorial or fashion photography. Studio lighting. General concepts To achieve spectacular light and shadow effects, sometimes just a small bright projector is used in a dark studio. This lighting is unwieldy and only suitable for a few subjects. In general, it is preferable to use several light sources. Multiple lighting can come from any number of lights and any direction, but as few light sources as possible are used (each with a precise function) and most of them are positioned slightly higher than the subject. One of these lights, called the main or dominant, is arranged so that its lighting dominates the others. Traditional studio portraiture is done using two-lamp lighting: a strong main light, positioned to one side of the subject and quite a bit higher, and a weaker fill light, positioned as close to the camera as possible and the other side. The main light is the brightest, because the lamp is more powerful or because it is located closer to the subject, or both. The fill light is used to lighten the shadows that the key light casts, not remove them. Other sources can be added to create highlights in the hair, to provide tonal contrast between subject and background, etc., but they do not affect the main and fill highlights. To scale the luminances from subject to film to paper, the balance between the key light and fill lights are controlled by adjusting the relative distances between the lamps and the subject or the relative luminances to the sources. By applying the inverse square law with lamps of equal luminosity, it is easy to adjust the lighting balance by measuring the distance between them and the subject. However, the operation can be simplified by using an incident light or reflected light photometer with a gray or white test board. Lighting ratio It is the measurable relationship between the light that falls on the parts of the subject illuminated by the key light, and the shadows, illuminated only by the fill light. In traditional black-and-white portraiture, it is common to use different lighting ratios for male subjects than for female subjects. The ratio for women is low, between 2:1 and 3:1, for low contrast and delicate tones. In the 2:1 ratio, the highlights receive twice the brightness of the shadows; with 3:1 the brightest areas have 3 times more lighting than the fill. The ratios for males vary between 3:1 and the contrasting 8:1 for black and white portraits. For color portraits, a ratio of 3:1 for men and women is normal. The color contrast compensates for the invariable contrast of light and dark. The 3:1 ratio can easily be achieved by using twice as bright a main light (double the wattage with continuous lighting or double BCPS with electronic flash), with both lamps at the same distance from the subject, or by using the same light sources located at different distances from each other. distances. The distance of the light can be related to the f/ numbers. These values ??are based on the inverse square law (taking the objective as the light source), and the same series of numbers is a useful guide for the relative distances between the lamp and the subject: 1; 1.4; two; 2.8; 4; 5.6; 8; eleven; 16; 22; 32; Four. Five; 64; Placing the main and fill lights If your main light is 1.4m away from your subject, place your fill light 2m away. Or, conversely, if your fill light is 2.8m away, place the key light 2m from your subject for a 3:1 lighting ratio. The fact that the ratio is not 2:1 but 3:1 is because the main light does not affect the shadows, while the fill light does so on both the shadows and the highlights. For example, if the fill light provides 500 lux to the entire subject, and the key light provides 1,000 lux to the highlights, the shadows get a total of 500 lux, and the parts illuminated by the key light receive 1,500 lux (500 of the fill light and 1,000 of the key light; 1,500:500 is a 3:1 ratio). Variants of this type of dominant key light and fill light are "butterfly lighting", "narrow-angle lighting" and "front lighting". In each case, the subject is positioned in front of one side of the camera, in an intermediate position between the frontal and profile shots. Normally, the nose does not protrude from the profile of the cheek when viewed from the camera position. "butterfly" lighting In it, the face is turned towards the main light, which is located much higher than the head. She creates a shadow that runs directly from the nose to the upper lip, giving the shadow of the nose the butterfly shape that gives this highlight its name. The front of the face receives uniform lighting, while its sides, from the cheekbones to the back, are more or less in shadow. Narrow-angle lighting The main light is placed on the side of the face that is furthest from the camera. The far cheek is brightly lit, and the nearer side of the face is almost entirely in shadow. This lighting is used to make wide faces appear narrower. Front or wide lighting The main light is located on the side of the face that is turned towards the camera. The farthest cheek is left in shadow, softened by fill light from a second light source or reflector. This lighting makes thin faces appear wider while minimizing skin texture (especially when the main light is wide and diffuse). Hair lighting A bright spotlight positioned above and behind the subject can be used to add bright highlights to the hair. To prevent its light from entering the camera lens directly, it is possible to use side sunshades (adjustable wings on both sides of the lamp) or a narrow tube that channels the light. A small opaque card or screen (placed on a stand or held by hand) achieves the same effect. Effect lights These are narrow beam lights, like those used for hair, that slightly accentuates highlights in the hair, shoulders, or other areas. Halo lighting It is used on dark backgrounds. It consists of a very powerful backlight, positioned slightly to the side and higher than the subject; brightly enhances the face and head, which are also conventionally illuminated. In this type of lighting, well-placed umbrellas are essential, so that the brightness of the light used for the halo does not obscure the photograph. Backlight A subdued alternative to halo lighting is backlighting, which prevents the dark side of the head from blending in with the dark background. The backlight never falls on the subject; it only illuminates part of the background, so that the dark portion of the head stands out from it. Portraits using reflector umbrella lighting Large white or silver umbrellas are often used, usually with an electronic flash. In portraits, a light placed close to the subject is generally sufficient. The light source should be large enough so that the light "wraps around" the subject's face. The three-dimensional shape is evident with the set of softly defined but sharp highlights and shadows created by this lighting. A silver reflector umbrella produces a more contrasting light, and highlights are better defined than those obtained with a matte white umbrella. Compared to key and fill lighting, reflector umbrella lighting is much less formal, easier to use, and more natural. Since reflector umbrellas are collapsible, they are easy to transport for off-studio shoots. If the flash unit does not have a modeling light attached to its flash head, a small reflector with a tungsten bulb can be attached to the umbrella handle. Once the relationship between flash and modeling lighting has been established, a standard light meter can be used to measure modeling light; This reading is then converted to obtain the correct exposure for the flash. Nothing prevents you from using a reflector umbrella with ordinary spotlights. Bounced light  Another type of informal lighting, often used by photojournalists, is bounced lighting, which is produced by directing light sources onto the white or light walls and ceiling of a room. This reflects soft light onto the subject and throughout the room. The direction of the light can be very defined by directing all the lights towards a point, or the room can be flooded with a light that does not form shadows, by directing several lights to different parts of the walls and ceiling. Normally the effect is between these extremes. When using bounce flash in a medium-sized room with light-colored walls and ceiling, the black-and-white film requires four times the exposure (two stops longer) than direct flash for the same light source. With color images, care must be taken with the tones of the walls and ceiling, which can modify the general tonality of the photograph. With bounce flash, it is important to use a deep reflector and aim the flash unit so that no light falls directly on the subject. Diffused backlight In it, a weak front light with a diffuser illuminates the face, while one or two flashes without a diffuser send out about four times the light (incident light measurement) on a white background (wall or smooth paper). Higher background lighting would cause flare and discolor the subject; a smaller amount would make the background appear dull and grayish. The 1:4 Illumination ratio between the subject and background is easily established by incident light meter readings. Look for two-stop differences in the listed exposures and use the exposure read for the subject. The lights coming from the sources that illuminate the background should not directly affect the subject. The optimum balance is determined by varying the ratio in successive trials. The 1:4 ratio is the starting point. Side lighting A light source placed at the same height as the subject and a right angle to the axis of the camera to the subject is called a side light. It is useful mainly for auxiliary lighting, while it is rarely satisfactory for use as a main or dominant light. When in a frontal portrait the main light is placed next to the subject, it illuminates exactly half of the face, leaving the other half in shadow. The face appears divided in two and the system is called Rembrandt-type lighting or chiaroscuro. If the light from the side is not at an exact right angle but is closer to the camera than the subject, there is some light scattering on the far side of the face. The shadow of the nose is cast to one side across the face, producing an unpleasant effect. For this reason, most photographers avoid side lights. Side lighting can be used in commercial photography to emphasize the shape of an object; fill light is often added to the shadow side so it doesn't go completely black. This lighting is ideal for certain square or cubic objects.

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