Experimenting with light - photography

I visited the castle with my wife on two occasions to take photographs:

• On the first visit, it was an overcast wet day with low levels of very diffuse light. I have included a couple of photographs from the first visit even though they are slightly soft. (There was some slight movement even on a tripod when I tripped the shutter by hand. There was a problem with the remote shutter release). Under these conditions, the shadows were subdued and the differences in light direction were not very prominent.
• On the second visit, the day was a lot brighter resulting in stronger shadows. The photographs were all sharp as I had overcome the problem with the remote shutter release.

1. Front lighting - second visit

Nikon 18-200 mm at 62mm: Iso 160 f4.8 for 1/20th seconds

In this photo, the light is coming from behind and slightly above the camera. There is slight modelling from shadow areas on each side of the nose and the sides of her face.

There is little shadow around her eyes, and the shadows cast by her glasses are hardly noticeable. There are catch lights in the centre of her eyes and highlights on her nose and lips.

The background wall is illuminated by the same level of light and thus appears relatively bright.

The collar and front of her coat are evenly lit with little light shadow.

2. Front lighting - first visit

Nikon 18-200mm at 70mm: Iso 160 f5 for 0.8 seconds

The light is coming from a similar direction but is more diffuse. The low light levels means that the shadow areas and highlights are more subdued. The lack of contrast means the portrait seems less vibrant, but the darker background has a restful effect.

3. Side lighting - second visit

Nikon 18-200mm at 62mm: Iso 160 f5.6 for 1/10th seconds

The light direction is from the side but slightly forward of the subject. The left hand side of her face is in shadow except for bright patches in the corner of her mouth and under her eye. I selected this photograph as I liked having these bright patches which were missing in the others.

There is a reasonably strong contrast between the light and dark sides of her face even though I felt the lighting was quite diffuse. The background is now significantly darker than the bright side of her face. As a result, her face stands out much better in the frame than the front lit photographs above.

Her glasses cast a dark shadow by the side of her right eye. I used Lightroom to lighten these, but I possibly should have been bolder. This shadow still seems darker than the shaded side of her face, and I think it would have been better if these were similar in tone.

There are also strong shadows on the collar of her coat which add to the tonal variety of the photograph as a whole.

4. Side lighting - first visit

Nikon 18-200mm at 70mm: Iso 160 f5 for 1.6 seconds

The contrast between bright and shadowed side of the face is significantly lower as the weather outside was overcast.

Whilst the light side of her face is distinctly brighter than the background tone, the difference is much smaller so the portrait is less punchy than the one above.

Unlike the previous image, her eyes are both slightly shadowed and there are no brighter areas on the left hand side of her face. However, the shadows cast by her glasses are similar in tone to the shadows around her eyes and as a result, they are less significant.

I think it was fortunate that she wore the dark polo neck on this day, as this adds to the overall contrast of the photograph. If this had been medium-toned, the photographs would appear very flat in these dull lighting conditions.

5. Backlighting

Nikon 18-200mm at 60mm: Iso 160 f5.6 for 1/6th seconds

With the light coming from behind, there are no shadows on her face. There is however enough tonal variety to show her facial features. Her eyes stand out strongly as there are no shadows or reflections around her eyes and glasses to obscure them.

The rim lighting in her hair and around the collar of her coat act as a contrast to the background which is similar in tone to her face. This also delineates and frames her head and face.

6. Light from both sides

Nikon 18-200mm at 105mm: Iso 160 f5.6 for 1/4 seconds

For this photograph, Val sat in between two windows. A south facing window on the left hand side and slightly to the front was the strongest, lighting up the left hand side of her face. On the right hand side is another window that faces north. This second window is slightly behind her, so that it lights up only the side of her face, cheek and nose. The forward facing area on the right hand side of her face is still in shadow.

Comparing this with the single source of side lighting (photograph 3 above), the addition of a second light source has some beneficial effects, in my view:-

• The shadows cast by her glasses around her eyes are less strong;
• Her hair is brighter and more evenly lit.
• There is an impression that her face is rounder in shape. In the side lit photo 4 above, the vertical areas of light and shade make her face seem longer than it should be.

Techniques

I did not use a reflector to lighten shadow areas in taking these photographs. This was not appropriate in this location as I had at least four light sources around the room. The challenge was to place the seat close to walls and corners of the room in a way that limited the secondary sources of light. In fact, I used a dark umbrella to block stray light in the side lit photo 3.

Having watched a couple of AdobeTV videos on processing portrait photographs, I used Lightroom 3 to adjust the photographs above to brighten the irises, smoothen the skin and adjust some skin blemishes.

Conclusions

The project has been valuable for me, as I have had the opportunity to look in some detail at how light has enhanced or detracted from the portraits I have taken. Some of the factors I identified above were:-

• It is important that the relative brightness of the face, hair, clothes and background is appropriate.
• At the same time, there must be sufficient variety in the tones that the photograph is not dull (especially for black and white).
• The areas of light and shade around the eyes are also important. This is especially tricky for someone wearing glasses due to the shadows and reflections caused by the spectacle frame and lenses.
• It is necessary to consider how the patterns of light and shade influence the perception of shape by the viewer.

It has also been useful experience in the practicalities of controlling natural light to achieve a desired effect.

Whilst I liked each of the four photos that I took on the second visit to Guildford Castle, if I had to choose just one of these, it would be photograph 6. The reasons for this are that I think that the background was too light in photo 1. In photo 5, her hair is quite dark (except for the rim of light) and seems to lack form and body. I noted some reasons for preferring photo 6 over photo 3 in my comments above. Even though I prefer her gaze in photo 3, visually, I think the qualities of photo 6 are better.