Lighting and Posing
By: Daniel
Lighting and posing go hand in hand. The pose you want usually determines the type and direction of light you use to illuminate your subject. There are many types of lighting and posing; but for now we’ll talk about classical lighting vs lighting for graduating seniors or models. There are significant differences, or can be, between the two. In most lighting situations, outdoor or studio you’ll want to designate a main light or “key” light and a “fill” light. Outdoors the sunlight can be a key or fill light depending on the situation and location; and an off camera modified flash or reflector can be a key or fill light—(as can light reflecting off a wall or building) again it all depends on the location and pose. The same goes for studio sessions. Normally you’ll designate a particular light as a key light and another as a fill—or at times you might want to use a reflector bouncing some of the key light back onto your subject to fill in the shadows as a fill.
As alluded to in the above paragraph the fill light is used to “fill” in shadows produced by the main light. When shooting a classical portrait, the pose is significant because you’ll typically want a Rembrandt type of lighting where there is a triangle of light extending from the upper portion of the nose, under the eye and coming to a point near the bottom of the nose. This is a lighting scheme used by Rembrandt in many of his portraits—ergo “Rembrandt” lighting. Some people refer to this as “short” lighting although there is a slight difference between Rembrandt lighting and short lighting. In most classical types of lighting situations you’ll shoot into the shadow side of the face—so the shadow side of the face, opposite of your main light will be closer to you. The subject will face toward the main light so that it then throws a shadow on the portion of their face which is nearest you. The name “short lighting” derived from the “short” side of a subjects face being lit by the main light and the longer or more prominent side of the face being more in the shadow of the key light. If you were to light the side of the face nearest you it would be called “broad” lighting. There’s a lot to these two lighting setups and I’ll discuss them in depth in a different blog.
Model or Graduating Senior photography can use these same rules of light, but typically with a model or graduating senior you want to emphasize the smoothness of their skin and create less shadows. Shadows create a three dimensional look, and in classical portraits that’s a good thing, however, with models particularly you want less shadows and a smoother or “flatter” type of lighting scenario. There are various ways to achieve this look the most popular are: Paramount lighting (or butterfly lighting), clamshell lighting, or a relatively small difference between light sources on their face so that no significant shadows are created or loop lighting.
Paramount lighting came out of Hollywood where it was used to create hundreds of photographs of beautiful female actresses, essentially it consists of a light placed in front of and above the subject and throws light down onto them. The shadow from the tip of their nose creates a butterfly look above their upper lip and under their nose. It’s not as popular today being largely replaced by Clamshell lighting. Clamshell can be accomplished a couple of ways. The most typical is to place a light in front of and above the subject, like Paramount lighting, except there is a reflector on a posing table or some other device tilted slightly toward the model bouncing light back under their chin, eyes and nose and eliminating the “butterfly shadow”. Another way is to place a light in front of and above the subject and a light, usually a strip light, under them facing up toward them. The setup resembles an open clam—giving it its name. It has essentially the same effect as a light above and reflector below except in this case you can control the lower light a bit more. Both systems offer a flat, very diffused light which for models and/or seniors is quite flattering. Another advantage of this light are the catchlights in the eyes of the subject. This lighting setup is typically used for female subjects. I personally have never used it for a male model or male graduating senior. I’ll usually opt for short lighting or “loop” lighting for male subjects. Loop lighting is created by placing your key light about 45 degrees above and 45 degrees in front of the subjects face and the resulting shadow is like a loop of light created about 45 degrees on the side of their nose opposite the key light. You can use a fill light or reflector to determine how hard or soft you want the shadow. Loop lighting is extremely popular with a variety of male or female subjects, it’s very flattering and leaves a smooth skin texture.
One of the photos here was taken by me in a lighting workshop I was conducting. It’s an example of Rembrandt lighting on a female subject. The other is from a photo of a model I shot for her portfolio. This is clamshell lighting and you can quickly see the difference between the two lighting arrangements. In both cases I also used a hair light to add highlights to their hair.
If you’d like to learn more about lighting contact me and schedule a lesson or join a workshop.
