Table of Contents

Lighting the round face
Broad, short, loop and Rembrandt lighting
Fill light for subject lying down
Crash course in fashion photography
Glamour lighting
Lighting a subject lying down
Window light decisions
That glamorous hard lighting
Candle lit portrait
To tilt or not to tilt
Lighting dark skin

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I would like to solicit your recommendations on how to light and pose a person with a round face so that they look thinner?
Thanks for your input!
Ky

Dear Ky:
When you have a portrait subject who has a round face there are a number of things you can do to help the situation. A slightly higher than normal camera position will help make the face look a bit smaller in the lower part of the face which is where most facial roundness is observed. Always use short lighting for this type of portrait because it slenderizes. It is also helpful to avoid poses that place the face looking straight into the camera position. Have the subject turn their head a bit and look back toward the camera. Finally, use a ratio that is a bit heavier than usual. That is to say, make the shadow side of the face just a bit darker than you might typically do. The more you light of the face, the more attention you call to it. When you light less of the face, it will appear smaller because the eye sees less of it. Your main light can be a number if different types and still be successful. You can do what you need to do with a small, medium or larger light source. Medium to large will give you the most flattering look. A stronger ratio is in order to darken the shadow side of the face just a bit more than usual to draw less attention to it. In addition, you should adjust your background to be about the same tonality as the shadow side of the face to again draw less attention to it. This would definitely fall into the darker category. Light backgrounds show the full shape and size of a subject. Not usually a good idea. Draw less attention to an area by blending it into a background with a similar tonal value. I don’t wish to confuse you about my different method of determining a ratio. Rather than making you calculate the amount of light coming from each light, I prefer to have you take specific meter readings with the dome of your meter pointed toward the main light and again with it pointed at the fill light but shielded from the main light. It is very important to have all of your light operating so you will take your readings under the same conditions that will exist when you create your portrait. The difference in these two reading will give you the simple difference in brightness of each side of the face. For a portrait like you are talking about, a three stop difference or even a bit more is in order. Don’t get confused and think that this is the same as a 3 to 1. It is not. This is purely a difference which is much simpler to think about. For most photographers, ratios were never very much fun to calculate. Hope all goes well for you.

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Broad, short, loop and Rembrandt lighting

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Scott, I feel that many of us would benefit if you would expand on the subject of broad, short, loop, and Rembrandt lighting.
Sincerely,
Soren

Dear Soren:
Loop lighting is the most common of all portrait lighting styles. It can be done in the form of broad lighting or also as short lighting. If you are not sure what the difference is between broad and short let me explain. Picture in your mind a portrait subject seated before you. Their nose is turned slightly to your left (their right). Now study the face. Divided the face into two halves divided at the center line down the middle of the nose. Look at the two halves and ask yourself which is the larger half. Remember the subject is turned to YOUR left. Which side of the subjects face do you see more of? Answer. Their left side. More of it faces you than their right side. This “larger” half is referred to as the broad side. The side that you see less of is referred to as the “short” side. It’s really that simple. The bigger side is “broad” and the smaller side is “short”.
Now, about the lighting aspect of this. Let’s keep the subject facing to our left (their right). Nose pointed slightly to our left as we stand behind our camera. The main light can now be in one of two positions that will be distinguished as either broad or short lighting. If the main light is placed far to OUR left (the subjects right) the light will fall onto the subjects face from the direction of the short side of the face. Guess what? That is short lighting. If we move our main light over to our right (subjects left) and light them where the main light is striking the larger or broad side of the face, that is broad lighting.
Broad lighting is not used nearly as much as short lighting because if does two things. First, it lights a larger surface of the subjects face beginning with their ear (the one nearer to the camera) which is not that desirable in the first place. Because it lights such a broad amount of the subjects face, it adds weight to the subject making them appear heavier than they really are. Not usually what you want to do in a paid portrait sitting. The second negative thing about broad lighting is that the shadows cast by the nose and other features of the face fall onto the smaller or “short” side of the face. When you place shadows onto this small area they become somewhat confusing to the eye. You have so little real estate to work with on the short side it’s just not a good idea to be throwing shadows on it. Short lighting on the other hand does a number of beautiful things for you subject. First you are lighting what is called the “mask” of the face. That part of the face that would be covered by the typical Halloween type mask. That is all the frontal features of the face NOT including the visible ear. When you do short lighting you are lighting both eyes, both cheeks, the nose, the lips, the chin and forehead. One way of knowing that you are doing well with the eyes is to study the eyelids and judge as to how equal they appear to be lit.
A little side note here. When doing short lighting, keep an eye out for the ear that is visible to the camera (the one closest to the camera). If your main light is lighting that ear, the light is too near the front and should be moved more to the side so as not to light the ear. Lighting that ear isolates it as a bright object sticking out from the shadow side of the face. It really screams at you. Not desirable. On that same subject, you should also avoid allowing the ear on the back side of the subjects face to show at all. If you turn their head a bit more toward the back you can usually eliminate the back ear. If their ear is just too big to hide then you should select a background with a brightness level that is very similar to that of their flesh values. In this way you don’t showcase the ear as a bright object in front of a black background. You disguise it by making it less conspicuous. Another alternative is to photograph them in profile to hide the size of the ears.
Now back to the lighting. When you create loop lighting your goal is to generate a shadow from the nose that points down toward the corner of the mouth but does not touch the corner of the mouth. The shadow should follow the natural line of the face from the nose toward the mouth. Now, it is critical that in achieving this that you don’t sacrifice the light in the eyes. You can easily do this when making the loop but the eyes are always the priority. Make the loop shorter if necessary to keep the eyes evenly lit from top to bottom. The eyes are always more important than the structure of the loop. If you use light heads without umbrellas, soft boxes or other items that make the light source larger you will be able to see the distinct shadow shape more clearly. This is an aid in teaching you how to see light. In all my classes I teach with small lights which require much more precise placement than with a big light from an umbrella or other source. If you can master light with a small light, then achieving wonderful results with a larger light source will be even easier.
Rembrandt light is similar to loop but with a small difference. The loop shaped shadow from the nose is directed to move further toward the shadow side of the face until it connects with it. This connection of shadows will now create the characteristic triangle of light under the eye of the subject. It looks like an inverted pyramid. This is under the subjects left eye. Remember your main light is to your left and the subject is turned slightly to your left (their right). You are lighting them from the short side and allowing the shadow from the nose to connect with the shadow side of their face (their left side). The eyes should both be well lit and you should have a nice triangle of light under their left eye. Once you make your light source larger (umbrella etc.) the shadows will be less defined but the pattern is still there and very flattering. Rembrandt lighting is less used than loop lighting. It is great for character studies, people who have blemish scars on their face that should be de emphasized by placing them in shadow. It is also more dramatic when you wish to do something that is more powerful than your standard everyday portrait.
A final thought. As your light source becomes larger (softer), consider using less fill light to create a deeper (harder) ratio. As your light source becomes smaller (harder), use more fill light for a lighter (softer) ratio. This will control the shadows and prevent them from becoming too dark and harsh looking to the eye. I hope this has been helpful.

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Fill light for subject lying down

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I am curious. It is recommended that the fill light be behind the camera in front of the subject. If I am photographing a person laying down I will lower the fill light. The problem now is that the camera and myself are kind of in the way. Won't there be a shadow or will the light wrap around me? I've seen catch lights in the eyes in some magazines and you can see the photographer. What is the best position of the fill light in relation to myself, the camera and the subject?
Kurt

Hi Kurt:
To answer your question about the fill light with a person laying down, the rules don't really change with regard to the placement of the fill light. The first issue in your question that I should address however, is that you indicated you were lowering the fill light but not the camera. In some cases when you lower your subject to a laying down position, you will also lower the camera position. You could also choose to raise the camera for a more looking down point of view.
The effect of the fill light is very important but the location of the light should not be evident. This indicates a placement of the fill light at the lens of the camera. Since this is not practical, the best choice is to use your fill NEAR the lens. It's obvious that you cannot have the light source right there in your face so you have to put it in a practical location. The best compromise is to place it above the lens and slightly to one side (opposite the main light) but not so far as to make its location known due to shadows that it might cause. The problem of additional and unwanted shadows caused by the fill light when placing it too far from the camera can be virtually eliminated by keeping the fill close to the camera and by using a light source that is as large as is practical. A large umbrella is a common choice for a fill light. A smaller umbrella will produce a more defined shadow edge while a larger one will produce a much more gradual one, disguising its location.
Remember that you are not placing the umbrella behind you but rather beside you or even slightly in front of you with its edge over or nearly over the lens. With this arrangement you will have very good fill light and will not have to worry about blocking the fill light with yourself or your camera.
I do not recommend using the fill light on the same side as the main light. Doing so will create an area on the shadow side of the subjects head that receives no fill light at all other than what is bouncing around the room. This could easily make that area far too dark. Keep the fill centered as much as possible but just slightly to the shadow side to keep things in control.
In addition, using a silver umbrella will give you more control than a white one because you can feather it (turn slightly to one side or the other) to increase or decrease the amount of fill light reaching your subject. White umbrellas are not quite as directional.
You need not change the actual location of your fill RELATIVE to your lens when your subject is lying down. If you lower your camera by a foot, you should lower your umbrella by a foot. If your camera is tilted a bit more toward the floor, simply tilt your umbrella down a bit until it is pointing more toward your subject.

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Crash course in fashion photography

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I am responsible for shooting a model in a simple room for an experimental online web fashion magazine. I have taken good photos of models outdoors with a Nikon FM2 with a 105 mm lens and a Vivitar 285 flash, but I have absolutely NO experience with studio lighting
setups. I have been given a $500 budget to buy lighting equipment, or I can rent a more elaborate strobe setup for 50 bucks a day from a local camera store. I am not sure what I should do.
The photo shoot calls for just photographing one model in front of a simple white background. Will a bed sheet work, if pulled tautly enough between two poles?
I have seen a simple photoflood set advertised for around $230. Can I get a nice enough shot with such a modest setup?
The other option is to rent a multi-strobe outfit, complete with umbrellas, slaves, etc. I already have borrowed a friend's Sekonic L-508 flash meter, so I know I can use that to determine exposures, but I am still unsure as to whether I can use such an elaborate setup well. Does anyone know of a two strobe/umbrella setup that I should try and rent? Would such a setup be significantly better than the aforementioned floodlight setup, and would it be too difficult to learn how to use within one week?
ANY HELP would be greatly appreciated. The existing literature only discusses elaborate and expensive setups (Dynalites, Norman's, etc.) and I don't think I have the time or money to use such equipment. But I am intrigued by the idea of using two strobes bounced through umbrellas plus, this would give me an excuse to use my friend's flash meter. Please advise me on my ignorance!! Dazed and Confused and Short on Time.
Sumanto

Dear Sumanto:
I feel for your frustration. Let me try to suggest an approach that might be practical for you. While you have no experience with studio lighting, I believe that with a little guidance, you can do this job with minimal risk. First lets talk about the type of lighting to use which will help us understand what to get to do the job. You didn’t say if your shoot was to be head and shoulders only or full length but with a 105mm lens I will assume that it is to be a head and shoulder session.
Let’s establish that what you’re doing is fashion photography rather than portrait photography. In fashion, some of the lighting guidelines are a bit different. Fashion photographers use many lighting styles and techniques that are quite different than studio portrait photography. While a portrait photographer works toward a directional light that usually comes from one side of the camera and allows one side of the subjects face to be more in shadow than the other, fashion photography often illuminates the face from both sides, above and even below. One photographer might place three umbrellas in a triangle around his camera to create a specific look while another might use a pair of large umbrellas or soft boxes above and to each side of the camera. This type of photography relies on the use of well done makeup to create contours and shape to the face rather than directional lighting. Knowing this, let’s consider a two light kit for you to perhaps rent. A pair of easy to use monolights would be a good choice. I suggest that they be identical to each other to avoid confusion and the need to learn two different control panels. 500 watt monolights will work nicely. If you use a medium size umbrella with each monolight you should be in pretty good shape. Select something over 42 inches in diameter. Silver is fine but will produce a slightly more harsh look to the face than white umbrellas. The difference may be less than you can detect so I wouldn’t loose a lot of sleep over it. Do try to keep the two umbrellas the same.
Once you have your monolights and umbrellas assembled, place one umbrella on each side of the camera and just a little above the height of the lens but not too high. Keep them in fairly close to the lens as well. Perhaps within a foot of the camera on each side. This arrangement will give you fairly typical fashion lighting. I see no need to confuse you with a lot of unnecessary details. At this point, you simply want to do the job well and not create potential problems. With your flash meter set to the ISO of the film you are using, place the meter where the subject will be and point the dome of the meter toward the camera. You can have someone fire one strobe for you by pressing the test button. The second strobe will fire on its own at the same time as the first. Be sure that it’s built in remote trigger in in the on position. Some monolights have a defeat switch. You want both lights active. Be sure to observe that both strobes fire while taking the reading. Once you have your reading, set your lens aperture to the indicated F-stop. Of course you must connect your camera to one of the monolights in order to take your pictures. This is done with a cord running from your sync connection on your camera to the socket on the monolight. This socket usually looks like an AC wall receptacle but is the sync connection site on your monolight. Once you are hooked up you are ready to go. By the way. You won’t need your Vivitar.
With regard to the white background. I will have to suggest that you get a roll of white seamless paper from your camera store. You will need a set of portable stands to support it. Also have a couple of welding clamps to use on the roll of paper so once it’s on the stands, it won’t unroll onto the floor. Place your subject 3 to 4 feet from your background. This is closer than I usually recommend but the idea is to put a little more light on the white seamless in order to keep it white. I really don’t think you would enjoy the results of using a stretched bed sheet. White seamless is a good investment if you want a white background.

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Glamour lighting

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Looking for some proven suggestions for glamour lighting. currently using butterfly lighting or short lighting. I have a three light 2400w/sec Speedotron setup. interested in some ideas on exact placement of the main and fill light thanks for any of your suggestions
Jerry

Hi Jerry:
Glamour lighting is not so much a list of locations for your lights but rather the understanding of where the light itself might be on your subjects face in order to create a new and exciting feeling. Photographing women is our main specialty at my studio. I do more of it than anything else. Making women look glamorous is a combination of lighting techniques, lighting style, and very importantly, making the lady feel totally at ease with you. With regard to the specific question on lighting, I would like to suggest that you try some new lighting additions to what you are already doing. For example, back lit hair using colored gels, edge lighting on the legs or sides of the body, again with colored gels. An amber accent light cutting across the bust line. Try using amber and blue accent lights. These two colors really work well together. Consider adding smoke. With only three lights you may have to improvise with a reflector for a fill light in order to free up an additional head to use as an accent light or hair light. Sculpt with light from unusual angles. Try making your fill light a color rather than neutral. Short light and butterfly light as you said you were using are just fine but try more lighting patters such as Rembrandt and even light from directly overhead while the subject looks skyward or even from below the typical location for the main light. There are no limits to what your imagination can do. Try what I call power lighting which is where your main light is placed in the position for Rembrandt lighting and then lowered to just below eye level. With a diffuser in front of the light, you will get an unexpected style of light that is very dramatic. The eyes will be very bright and the look is very strong and contemporary.

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Lighting a subject lying down

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I am having trouble lighting a subject that is on their side. Example - I want to shoot a subject in a bikini. So one pose is to have them lay down on their side like they are watching TV. This is a studio setup. I seem to be having problems with shadows under their eyes. this is from the hair light obviously or maybe it is from the fact that I can't lower the lights (My Bogen stands are about 3 ft when collapsed.) Anybody have any suggestions on proper lighting techniques when photographing a subject laying down.

Hello Kurt:
In order to light a human face correctly, you must understand where the light is supposed to go on the face in the first place. Ok let's see if we can describe this without the use of pictures. For the style of general lighting I am suggesting you will be lighting the front features of the face. What we call the mask of the face. This includes the forehead, both eyes, both cheeks, the nose and the chin. The main light comes from one side of the face rather than the center.
Now, use your hand and feel your cheek bone. That is the round bone that protrudes from your face about an inch below the corner of your eye. Now that you have located the cheek bone I want you to think about a rod several feet long, sticking out from your cheek bone into space. From left to right the rod is at about a 45 degree angle. That is to say it points half way between the area in front of your face and the area to the side of your head. Now, elevate the far end of that rod up to about a 45 degree angle above the horizon. Now if you did this correctly, the rod will be pointing 45 degrees up and half way between your nose and your ear. What is the purpose of this imaginary rod? It's easy, the rod points to where your main light should be. This is for general portrait loop lighting. The most common lighting used for general portrait work. This is not typical modeling lighting but you didn't say that you were doing a modeling shoot so I am assuming this to be a portrait session.
Ok, now that you know where the main light is to come from you must place it so the cheekbone points toward it. Let me say it another way. Place the main light so that the imaginary rod extending from the cheekbone is pointing toward it. Your main light is now in approximately the correct position. All faces and eyes are not the same so you have to look at your subject and evaluate how the lighting looks. Most important of all are they eyes. Are they both lit completely and equally? If not you will need to move the light perhaps a little more toward the front of the subject and maybe a little down as well to get more light into the eyes. It is very important to remember that if the head is tilted to one side, then the rod will also be tilted. You position this imaginary rod based on the position of the head, not the verticals and horizontals of the room. You need to do this with only the main light on so you can see precisely where the light and shadow are. Your room lights must be off so you can see your modeling lights effects. Once you have the main light in proper position you are ready to add the fill and the hair light. Use the hair light sparingly. Young photographers overdo it on many occasions. The best rule for hair light is if in doubt, use less and if not in doubt, use less. If you are lighting the subjects face from their right, then you should position the hair light behind them, above, and to their left. Alternatively you could place it behind them centered and above. Either is a good choice. It's which ever you prefer. Centered might be less difficult for you to deal with until you have a little more experience but will require a boom to hold the light in place above and behind the subject.
Now, about the subject lying down. Light does not know if the body is lying down or standing up. It’s the position of the face that determines the position of the main light. If your subject is on her side with her head resting on her hand, then it is probably at a slight angle to one side. The method described above will work just fine. If you have her with her head totally on it’s side then the same method still applies. You just have to look at the face and determine where the imaginary rod is pointing and which cheekbone is pointing more toward the sky so you can position your main light easily.
If your hair light is so far to the front that it is affecting the light on the front of the face then you need to back it away and lower it so it lights JUST the hair. If your eyes have shadows in them then your main light is too high relative to the vertical axis of the face. I don’t want this to be complicated for you. Just think about the imaginary rod and you will do just fine. I don’t think you will need to place your main light anywhere near the three foot level once you place it correctly. Pick whatever side of the face allows you to position it conveniently and this will give you a good start.

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I just read a book about photographing babies (like, 1-year-olds), and I'm interesting in taking some portrait-type shots as described in the book. The book did a good job about explaining the non-technical issues (it was written for parents, not photography hobbyists), but I have a couple technical questions:
My plan is to -- as the book suggested -- sit the kid beside a window, so that you get nice diffuse skylight from the window on one half of the kid's face, and then (relative) darkness on the other side of their face.

For example: You're in a room where the window faces north. You sit the kid beside the window, so that the kid is facing east. (The window is on the kid's left side.) Then the photographer sits to the east of the kid, shooting west towards the kid. The book recommends NOT using flash, to preserve the quality of light. I figure that at a film speed of 400ASA and a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second, the side of the kid towards the window is going to be illuminated at about F/8, and the side of the kid away from the window is going to be illuminated at something like 4 stops below this... say F/2.

Question 1:
IF I was going to photograph the kid without light modification, and I was using print film, I would want to set the F/stop of my camera to the dark side of the kids face -- F/2 -- correct? Or would I want to set the camera to some value in between F/2 and F/8? Or would I want to set my camera to F/8 to match the illumination on the light side of the face?

Question 2:
Would it be preferable, rather that shooting the kid with 4 stops difference between the light side and dark side of the kid's face, to use a flash to
bring the "dark" side of the kid's face up to nearly the brightness level of the "light" side of the kid's face? If so, how many stops under would be
appropriate? Two stops? (F/4?)

Question 3:
If I was going to use a flash to bring up the light level of the "dark" side of the kids face, would it be ok if I left the flash mounted "on camera", since it's only acting as a fill flash? Or should it be mounted off camera somewhere?

Question 4:
I'm thinking about using black-and-white rather than color. I'm thinking that it might be a good idea to use a fast 3200ISO black-and-white film to take these pictures. (I figure that that way, I could shoot these pictures at a high film speed, with a reasonably small aperture -- making sharp focusing and camera shake less of a problem.) Is that a good idea?
Kent

Hello Kent:
First let me compliment you on such a detailed description of your scenario. It really helps develop an answer when you have plenty of info to work with.

Ok, to answer your question. First, let's skip the idea of using flash. This is a situation where you do indeed need to preserve the natural beauty of the light coming in the window. I would like to suggest just a little more about where the light touches the subjects face. While it is acceptable to have what is called split lighting, (half of the face is lit and the other half is not) it's not really a good pattern for such a young subject sitting by a window. Try to turn the subject a little more toward the light so that you can see light falling on both eyes and eye lids and both cheeks rather than just on one side. This will be more toward portrait lighting. You are lighting what is called the "mask" of the face. I think you will like it far more than split lighting.

I don’t think you need super fast film for this portrait. A tiny aperture does indeed give you lots of depth of field but if your subject is seated and reasonable still you won’t need but a little depth of field. You could use f 5.6 or f 8 and throw the background a bit out of focus making your subject more clearly the center of attention. It is best to work with your camera on a tripod.

The issue of such a great difference between the highlight side and the shadow side is a valid one but easily fixable. First, make your exposures based on the highlight side of your subjects face. If you make them based on the deep shadow side you will have grossly over exposed highlights with increased contrast and less than great color. Base your exposures on the highlight and then control the shadow. This is easily done. Get a couple of kitchen chairs and place them to your left near the camera stretching across to the area opposite the window. Throw a white or off white bed sheet over them. If the sheet has little yellow flowers, don’t worry about it. It will still be just fine. You can adjust the sheet as you desire to control how much of the window light is returned back into the dark side of your subject. Be sure to keep the sheet set up more toward the camera. If you position it back behind the subject you will get cross shadows on the subjects cheeks where no light at all falls. Not too pretty. The fill should come from as close to the location of the camera as possible. This big sheet will bring up the shadows in a nice, soft way that you can control by moving it back and forth or making it smaller by moving the two chairs closer together. Bring up the shadow side until it looks good which will probably be about 2 to 2 1/2 f stops less than the taking aperture.

This method is fine for either color or black and white film. With black and white you may wish to use a little more fill than with color. It is usually desirable to keep at least a little detail in the shadow side of the face.

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I've read that beauty lighting should be soft and there should be a soft transition between the diffused and shadow. Well, I've studied many fashion magazines and the work of some very prominent fashion photographers. What I have found is a very sharp transfer between the diffused and shadow. What they seem to have done is just blast the subject with light placed (where?) to prevent shadows on the face. Am I correct? What type of light sources do they use? Where can I get technical information on beauty/fashion photography?
Thanks,
Pete

Hi Pete:
Butterfly light is a common, glamourous form of lighting. The main light is centered above the subject and fires down onto the face creating a shadow pattern under the nose that looks a little like butterfly wings. This style of lighting is often enhanced with a base reflector fill or even an umbrella placed under the lens to put light up into the lower part of the eyes as well as under the nose and chin.
The hard shadow edge that you have been noticing is quite simple to produce. It comes from using a small light source such as a flash head with no umbrella, soft box, or other diffusion device. The smaller the light source, the harder the shadow edge. The larger the light source, the broader or softer the shadow edge. It is the size of the light source that controls the character of the light on your subject. The use of a small light source has it's place just as larger and medium size light sources. When you use a small light source, it is very easy to over do the ratio and allow the shadows to go very dark which can be quite unpleasant. Likewise it is easy to use a large light source with too much fill light which will make it difficult to see where the main light stops and the fill light begins. This will add weight to your subject because you have light reaching the face from ear to ear rather than just the mask area of the front of the face. Large light sources produce portraits that generally look pleasing when you select a heavier ratio by using less fill light. Small light sources produce portraits that look more pleasing with a gentler ratio caused by using more fill light. It is also common to use lens diffusion (soft focus) with smaller light sources to further soften the effect of the hard light on the subjects skin. Mixing hard and soft is what will produce the most pleasing images. If you use a soft light, AND a gentle ratio, AND a soft focus filter, your image will look too soft and muddy with few defined shadows to create the illusion of three dimensions.

A good rule to follow is this:
Soft light combined with a harder ratio and little or no soft focus.
Alternatively, combine hard light with a milder ratio and more soft focus.

The glamourous effect you refer to is easy to produce but at the same time you must be precise with your light. A small light will reveal less than great placement much faster than a large light source which will produce pretty much the same result even if you move around a bit. Francisco Scuvullo (I may have spelled it wrong) uses pretty much the same lighting style for each cover of Cosmo. His light is not very large but is located very near the level of the camera and slightly to one side. If you study his work, you will see that if you simply point your light dead on into the subjects face from very near camera position and then move it to one side until you just see a hint of shadow on the side of the nose, you have it. This technique produces bright whites in the eyes, a nearly centered highlight in each eye and light under the chin and nose. On the down side, it lights the subject from ear to ear which adds weight and will make a person with a round face look even heavier. This is certainly not what you want to do for all subjects all the time but is one of many styles of lighting to choose from.
Another thing to consider is that when you use small light sources, the make up needs to increase to compensate for the penetrating quality of a small light source. If your subject is not properly made up with a solid matte surface to their skin, you will see specular reflections that will suggest oil on the skin and will not usually be flattering.

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I would like to take a portrait using a candle next to the face. Any suggestions on set-up.?

Hi Victor:
In your question you said that you wanted to take a portrait using a candle near your subjects face. If I am correct in assuming that you wish the candle to be in the portraits, here is a setup that you might find unexpected but that will provide you with a lot more light to work with without dramatically changing the look that you desire.
First establish the pose the way you prefer and place the candle so that it is lighting the face correctly. Preferably from the far side of the face in a 2/3rd face view so you have short lighting on the front of the face. Now we have to cheat a bit to achieve the desired end result without having to use a single candle as our light source. If you mix outside light sources, be they tungsten bulbs or strobes with amber gels, you will lose the legitimacy of the scene. An image like this tends to look more set up and fake when you deviate from your original idea. There are several problems with doing the shot with a single candle and a dark room. The shadows will be totally black unless you have some room light on to fill them in. This is acceptable but might be a little difficult for you to make comparisons between the effects of the candle and that of the ambient light in the room. You may not mind the shadows going totally black but the shadow edge from a single candle will be very sharp and will add some harshness to what sounds like a soft romantic image. Here is a method that will provide you with a softer light that is the right color to blend in with the candle and is several stops greater in it's intensity so you will have more light to work with and can use more reasonable shutter speeds and apertures. Get a large cookie sheet. Line it with aluminum foil. Press it in just as if you were going to bake cookies on it. Get something that you can use to prop the cookie sheet against so it is up on it’s edge. Now prepare a number of white taper candles. They need not be longer than 6 or 8 inches for stability. Arrange them so they will be close together in a shoulder to shoulder configuration in the middle of another cookie sheet for safety. Now if you used 8 extra candles, you have a 9 candle power light source rather than a one candle light source to work with. To make your 8 candle light source, position yourself so that you can see your hero candle (the one that will be in the shot) lined up and centered in the subjects face. Now place your cookie sheet reflector right there and locate your candles a foot or so out in front of it toward the subject. Your new light source (located just out of frame) with it's reflector will provide a larger, softer light that is coming from the precise, same direction as the hero candle. The light will be much brighter to work with and easier to take a meter reading than the minimal light of a single candle. If desired, you can add even more candles giving you yet more light to work with. Don’t burn down the house! The color will be consistent, the shadow edge will be much more gentle thereby adding to the romance of the image. It is even possible to add a little natural fill by placing a white board out of cameras view that will reflect some of the candle light into the shadow side of the subjects face.
If you are wondering why I selected a cookie sheet lined with foil rather than a silver reflector of some kind, the reason is simple. Safety. Most photographic reflectors are either made of material with a silver coating or a silverized plastic. In the event of a minor accident where the reflector falls forward against the candles, it’s metal rather than a flammable material. Anything you can do to reduce risk when working with fire is always preferred. I work with fire a lot so I try to avoid accidents.
If you are using your in cameras meter, place a piece of ordinary brown cardboard in the scene in front of the subject so that it gets the same light as the subject. It should be large enough to pretty much fill your viewfinder. Take your meter reading off of the cardboard. It's not too far from the reflectance of a gray card so your exposure should be fairly accurate. If using a handheld meter, take ambient readings at the face with the dome pointed directly toward the light sources. If using Kodak 160NC, rate your film at ISO 100 or even 80. If you are using 400 film, rate it at ISO 250. With an image like this, a single layer of black tulle over the lens will provide a slight amount of blending for the subject and will give you a soft star effect around your candle. If you use the tulle, lower your ISO one more setting to compensate for the 1/3rd stop of light loss from the material.

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Scott:
Let me start by saying how much I appreciate your web site with the valuable information you provide for the rest us out here in cyberspace. Thanks to you I feel a lot more confident about lighting and portrait techniques that you've suggested. And now the question. Is there a general rule that would apply when using the camera tilt in portraiture. For instance, is it best used with certain types of poses? When should you tilt east or west (right or left)? Can it be as effective for male subjects or children as it is for young ladies. I look forward to to hearing from you, and thanks again.
Mike T


Hi Mike,
Tilting the camera does basically one thing. it does what the subject could do but with greater comfort. Set a model with elbow on a posing table doing a profile and add a little pizazzzz by tilting to the left (for a left facing profile). The tilt is mostly used to suggest that the subject is looking more upward thereby making the front of the face a diagonal line rather than a vertical line. It can be just as effective for men but be careful not to suggest a feminine tilt. It’s not used that much for children because they generally don’t hold still that well and you don’t want an overly adult look for a child’s portrait anyway. Tilting the camera can be easily overdone so don't make it a big habit. I do it once or twice a year when the image can be enhanced by it. Concentrate on working on good posing and you won't feel the need to do much tilting. It can occasionally help but it can also look like you made a mistake if you over do it.

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Any suggestions for shooting dark skinned people? Indoors vs outdoors?
Bill

Hello Bill:
Contrary to popular thinking you really should not change your exposure when photographing people with dark skin. Being indoors or out makes no difference if you are using your film, and meter correctly. To alter and increase your exposure is to change the contrast of the image and increase it which is not desirable. You can also experience color shifts in printing when film has been overexposed. If someone needs to alter the exposure just because they are photographing a person with dark skin, then they were not making accurate exposures in the first place. Working in your studio or on location should not have a different set of rules for people of different races. The differences colors are just too small to completely change the rules. Still people insist on changing the exposure just because the skin is darker. The correct idea is to have a correct negative. Very dark skin should record on film with it's true tonality. Think about it. We don't deliberately UNDERexpose film just because a lady comes in with very light blond hair and very pale white skin. Properly placing the tonal range of your subject within the working range of your film is what will keep your negs perfectly consistent and your lab loving you. Todays films have plenty of latitude so that a pale skinned white person may be photographed right next to a person with very dark skin with predictable, and perfect results. The necessary things to do are to have the working ISO of your film established and use your meter with 100% consistency. Once you have tested to determine the correct working ISO for the film you are using, you will always have predictable results with consistent highlights and detail in the shadows no matter what the subject. All of my images of people are exposed with the same ISO settings and metered the very same way. I photograph quite a lot of dark skinned people and have many of them in my web site galleries. I think dark skin is very beautiful in portraits. My images are all exposed the very same way. I use Kodak 160NC in the studio and Kodak 400VC outdoors.
One final point that probably confuses many photographers is that poor printing can and does degrade many images of dark skin people. Sadly, some labs set up their printing equipment and never choose to make density corrections when printing so a perfectly exposed negative of an African American is often printed such that they look excessively dark in the face with just their eyes and teeth showing. This is unfortunate and easily corrected IF the printer chooses to do so and if the negative is indeed correctly exposed. To add additional problems to this, when photographers deliberately overexpose their film, they further increase the contrast between the dark skin and the light color of the eyes and teeth making the image even more difficult to print. Working for a proper exposure is the correct way to go.
If you need any additional help with this, feel free to write to me.

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