Studio Lighting

1. Name three different lighting sources and their functions

Natural light – like the sun and moon, that we doesn’t use any equiepment to create, All though it can be difficult to work with bacause of its movement and its important that you understand what kind of light it creates at the different times of day and night. It can be harsh and hard, but it can also be soften and flattering – in other words natural light can be direct or indirect.

Continious light – These are lights that continuously shine, similar to the lights in a house. They constitute a larger power drain on the studio and tend to be less mobile.

Flash – These are lights that flash on and off when a picture is taken. It can be the cameras flash. It can also be a flash gun which acts separately as a slave to the photographer’s flash in order to boost it, or strobe lights which are more powerful lights and act independently of the camera.

2. Name two light modifiers and explain the difference between them.

Umbrellas

Reflective umbrellas are used as a diffusion device to soften the light and spread it over a large area.

Soft boxes

Soft boxes come in different shapes and sizes and are used to soften the light that’s spread to the subject.

Draw three studio setups for the following subject matters and list all the equipment that you would use to light your subjects:-Portrait-Fashion-Beauty

In a magazine or on the Internet, find one fashion shot, a beauty shot and a portrait shot and explain how you think the lighting was set up in each shot.

Take some portrait shots and pay specific attention to the lighting you use. I would like to see a shot with soft lighting and one with more dramatic, harder lighting. It would be beneficial to hire studio lighting, but if you can’t, you may use natural light, reflectors and your camera’s flash.

I though about renting a studio for this, but I have a backdrop stand so I used a dark carpet and a desk lamp til create these shots inside. My son who is 7 years old approved using these photos for this task 🙂

The hard light – The lamp was standing close to him on the side and made a big contrast in his face, by lighting the one side of his face.

Soft light – This was shot with the same light source, but more in front and further away from him, which makes the light shine on all of him and creates a more soft look.