GRA 2330 Digital Photography Wed 230

Today we used 3 “lights” to create a standard 3-point portrait lighting. They are the background light, the main light, and the reflector. We began with the main light, also known as the key, by pointing it at our subject to create a  a triangle of light on the darker side of the face. You can use this lighting to create a more mysterious look to your subject. The main light is  pointed at the subject. The next light we used was the fill light, which is the reflector. This type of lighting adds light to the shadow or unlit side of the face. The closer we moved the reflector to the subject, the brighter the fill showed. The last light we used was background lighting. You use background lighting to light the background to separate the the foreground (subject) from the background. This method gives a sense of depth in photographs.

We experimented with lighting, Main or Key light, the Fill light, and the background light. The main light is the largest source of light, the light giving off a shadow. the Fill light is the reflection of the Main light.  The Background light is the light source the only targets the background. the main light in m opinion was the most interesting and the most difficult to control. The reason I believe this is because i had a hard time creating the triangle on the opposite cheek, i came close but in my professional opinion i didn’t master the distance and angel, however it was the most emotional to use, me and my group would create such a wide range of styles and emotions because we changed or position and moved the light up or down and its space on the floor.  the fill light was unique, we didn’t use too much of it because there were some shots we didn’t want a warm feel to them. Background light was the easiest because we kind of just set it up then adjusted if we needed to change the shoulder height or chest.  This was one of the most fun because the model could experiment with their pose.

Three point lighting is set up using anywhere from 1-3 light sources. The lights used are the key light, fill light, and background light. The key light is used as the main light source that can either light the front or side of the subject. The position of the light can be towards the front of the face, broad or short. The fill light is used to add light to the shadow side of the subject, filling in dark spot and bringing the contrast down. The background light is focused on the backdrop and is used to bring the subject out from the background and add more depth to the photograph. The use of these different lights in different combinations can dramatically alter the mood of the photo.

We used 3-point portrait lighting, background light, the main light, and the reflector. Key or main light is basically the front of your subject. The subject has to be facing the camera in order for the main light to work. The key triangle creates a triangle shadow on the opposite side of the face. Broad lighting is placing the light on one side of the subject. It creates a shadow on the shorter side of the face. Fill light is when you use a reflector to add light to the shadows showing up on the subject. The reflector lights up the darker side of the face. The gold fill light creates a warmer tone, and the silver light is very bright. The closer you place the reflector to the subject, the brighter the fill appears. Background light makes the subject pop out against the very bright white. It also creates separation between the subject and the background. It almost looks like a glow around the subject.