COMD1340TueSpr24

Robin Michals | COMD 1340 Photography 1

Category: Course Activities (Page 3 of 10)

Week 11 – Portraits with two and three lights

April 8, 2024 / / 0 Comments

For the next class

On April 16th, if you have a flash light bring it in. You can also use your phone but you might want to have a charger so you aren’t left with a dead phone for the rest of the day.

Review Portrait Lighting Styles

Audrey Hepburn.
Photographer: Yousef Karsh
Baby Keem
Picasso.
Photographer: Irving Penn
Victor Cruz.
Photographer: Timothy Greenfield-Saunders
Francesca Woodman
Laverne Cox.
Photographer: Jill Greenberg

Inspiration

Mamadi Doumbouya

https://www.mamadi.co

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/21/reader-center/mamadi-doumbouya-photo-portrait-talk.html

Focal Length

The focal length of a lens is defined as the distance in mm from the optical center of the lens to the the sensor when the lens is focused on infinity. This varies on the camera and the lens.

Focal length controls: Magnification and angle of view

Focal length is described as short, normal ie close to human vision, or long.

When working with a crop-frame sensor, approximately 65 mm will be the most flattering to your subject.

Lights

  There are three basic types of lights (these are the physical lights not portrait lighting styles):

  1. The Main or Key Light-This light provides the brightest illumination and casts the shadows

2. The Fill Light-this light brightens the shadows. It can be a reflector or an actual light.

This video shows how to use a reflector as the fill light.

3. The Separation Light or Background Light-creates separation between the subject and the background. This light can be aimed at the background or it can be aimed at the subject. If the later, it would be called a hair light. If accenting the edge of the face or shoulders, this light would be called a rim light or a kicker.

3-point Lighting

– standard lighting for portraits, video and film, uses all three: a main light, a fill light and a background light.

Lab Exercise

Lab 10: Two and Three Light Portraits

Homework

HW 9: Window Light Portraits

Lab 9: One-Light Portrait Styles

March 31, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Set up:

  • The subject should be at least 4 or 5 feet in front of the backdrop to avoid casting a shadow.
  • Use 65mm focal length when you are using a camera with a cropped frame sensor, 85 mm for a full-frame sensor
  • Focus on the subject’s eyes.

The key or main light is the light that casts the shadows.

Working with just the key light:

Front view:

Photograph your subject with:

  • Rembrandt light – the light is at a 45 degree angle to the subject. Look for the key triangle -a triangle of light on the darker side of the face to position the light.

    Do not place the light too high because this will cause shadows around the subject’s eye sockets.
  • Split light – the light is at a 90 degree angle to the subject. One side of the face is dark but light does fall on the other side.
  • Front light (butterfly) – Light falls on the subject from the camera position.

     

Three-quarter view:

  • The model’s face is turned to a 45 degree angle from the camera.

Photograph your subject with:

  • broad lighting by placing the light on the side of the visible ear. There will be a broad highlight on the subject’s hair. This works for subjects wearing glasses.
  • short lighting by placing the light on the side of the invisible ear. 

Profile:

The model turns their face at a 90 degree angle to the camera. Place light like a side light. The subject faces the light BEING VERY CAREFUL NOT TO LOOK DIRECTLY INTO THE LIGHT. 

Put your 20 best photos into an album on Flickr. Make sure to represent each one of these lighting styles. Send your 2 best to the class group.

HW 8: Final Project Statement and Mood Board

March 31, 2024 / / 2 Comments

Due April 9, 12 pm, Noon. 4 pts.

A final project proposal of 300 words min plus a gallery of images for inspiration otherwise known as a mood board.

The goal of the Final Project is to create a series of 10 related images on a theme.

You may choose to do either:

A series of portraits (not 10 pictures of 1 person but 10 pictures of 10 people) OR

A portrait of a neighborhood

OR another theme that you are passionate about: dogs, skateboarders, basketball players, street fashion to name a few possibilities.

Decide which assignment(s) you most enjoyed. What are you most interested in? Then consider: do you have people to work with? What is your schedule like and what is practical?

Final Project statement: Describe your project. What is your theme? What is the story you want to tell? What is the subject matter? Where will you shoot and when will you shoot? What kinds of techniques will you use?

Find a minimum of 6 images by 6 different photographers that show what you want your project to look like. Put them in a gallery in the post with your final project statement.

Category on OpenLab: Final Project Statement

Grading Rubric

Deliverables and dates:

Due April 9 – a 300 word final project statement posted to Openlab with “a mood board”

Due May 7: Shoot 1 – minimum of 40 images in an album on Flickr

Due May 14: Shoot 2 – minimum of 40 images in an album on Flickr

Due May 22: Shoot 3 -minimum of 40 images in an album on Flickr PLUS

  • final 10 images selected, adjusted in Lightroom, and posted to an album on Flickr
  • a presentation to the class of the final images.

Total albums: 4 – 3 shoots of a minimum of 40 photos and a final album of 10 edited and toned images

Examples:

Kalia Cruz

P1028442

Xavier Vasquez

IMG_8660

Enson Zhou

David Moya

CMD_5920

Ifetayo Forrest

DSC_0323

Week 10 – Portrait Lighting Styles

March 31, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Review

Shutter Speed and Depth of Field

Photographer: Maximo Cardenas
Photographer: Roderick Chen
Photographer: Sasha Tourkova
Photographer: Sasha Tourkova

Perspective

Photographer: Andrea Jaime
Photographer: Erick Humala

Test Yourself: Which Faces Were Made by A.I.?

Portrait Poses

There are three basic positions for someone’s head and face in a portrait.

  1. Front view or face forward
  2. 3/4 view
  3. Profile

Front view.
Photographer: Celeste Sloman
Three-quarter view.
Photographer: Celeste Sloman
Profile.
Photographer: Nadav Kandar

Portrait Lighting Styles

There are a 5 basic lighting styles for portrait photography. Each style is defined by how light falls on the face.

When the subject’s whole face is towards the camera, there are three basic lighting styles.

  1. Rembrandt Light – the model is face forward, main light is at 45 degrees and casts a light on the opposite side of the face to form a triangle on the cheek.

Rembrandt Lighting
Michael B. Jordan. Photographer: Peggy Sirota

2. Butterfly Light, Clamshell or beauty or glamour light-model is face forward, front light.

Tyra Banks. Photographer: Matthew Jordan Smith

3. Split Light-model is face forward, the main light is at 90 degrees to the camera and falls on one side of the face. 

Lewis Wickes Hine (U.S.A., 1874–1940), One of the spinners in Whitnel Cotton Mfg. Co. N.C. December 1908.

When the subject is in 3/4 view, there are two basic lighting styles.

4. Broad Light-light falls on the side of the face with the visible ear. Good for controlling the reflections on glasses.

Danny Devito. Photographer: Gregory Heisler.

5. Short Light-the light falls on the side of the face with the features. (Not on the side with the visible ear.)

Aretha Franklin. Photographer: Matthew Jordan Smith

Both of these are examples of short light. Here the light is slightly behind the subject.

Chadwick Boseman. Photographer: Caitlin Cronenburg

Left: Photographer-Yousef Karsh, Winston Churchill, 1941

Right: Photographer-Nadav Kandar, Donald Trump, 2016

Yousef Karsh

https://karsh.org/overview/portraits/#thumbnails

Nadav Kandar

https://www.nadavkander.com/portraits/portraits/single

Photographer: Mark Seliger
Photographer: Josefina Santos
Photographer: Armen Djerrahian
Photographer: Oliver Schrage
Photographer: Arielle Bobb-Willis

Lab

Lab 9: Portrait Lighting Styles

Homework Assignment

HW 8: Final Project Statement and Mood Board

HW7: Space and Focus

March 26, 2024 / / 0 Comments

4 pts. Due April 2, 12 noon. 30 photos in an album on Flickr.

Shooting outside during the day at a location of your choice:

Take at least 10 DIFFERENT long shot photos that use perspective to depict deep space. This can be either converging lines or diminishing scale or both. These photos should use extensive depth of field meaning everything from near to far should be sharp. This will not work in dark indoor spaces. Shoot outside in daylight!

Take at least 20 DIFFERENT close up photos that use shallow depth of field to isolate the subject from the background. The subjects of the photo need to be at varying distances from the camera.

If you are shooting with a camera phone, you can get real shallow depth of field vs blur created by an App by getting very close to the subject and having actual space between it and the background.

Put your 30 best photos in an album on Flickr. Send your single best photo with deep space and perspective to the group as well as your best example of shallow depth of field.

« Older posts Newer posts »

License

Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

Unless otherwise noted, this site has a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) license. Learn more.

OpenLab Help

Need help?
The OpenLab team offers a selection of Help materials, office hours, and support via email.

© 2026 COMD1340TueSpr24

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑