In order to understand lighting you must first understand where it comes from. In this article I am going to look at different light sources and how it affects the final look of an image.

Ambient Light

Ambient light is natural light created by the environment. Ambient light can be divided into 4 major categories:

• Daylight
• Fluorescent
• Tungsten
• Firelight

Daylight

Daylight is a mixture of sunlight and skylight. Sunlight is the main light. It is warm in colour and creates highlights and shadows. Skylight is the secondary light. It is cool in colour and fills the entire scene with soft light. Without the action of skylight, shadows would be black and detail would not be visible. White balance is usually calibrated to daylight at high noon. When images are recorded at this time of the day the colours and tones reproduce with neutral values, i.e. neither warm nor cool.

Fluorescent

Phosphors inside fluorescent tubes radiate light after first absorbing ultraviolet light from Mercury vapor emission. The resulting light from most fluorescent tubes produces a strong green cast that can be difficult to correct and is not apparent to the human vision. If used as a primary light source the results are often unacceptable due to the broad flat light and the strong colour cast. Daylight balanced fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent lamps are available and these are increasingly being used as a photographic light source.

Tungsten

A common type of electric light such as household bulbs and photographic lamps. A tungsten element heats up and emits light. Tungsten light produces very warm tones when used as the primary light source. Underexposure occurs due to the lack of blue light in the spectrum emitted. Digital cameras can be set to automatically adjust the white balance to correct the colour cast from light sources of different colour temperatures or this can be set by the photographer by choosing either a white balance setting or creating a customized white balance setting.

Firelight

Light from naked flames can be very low in intensity. With very long exposures it can be used to create atmosphere and mood with its rich red tones.

I am going to cover how I achieved this very simple “Half Tone” portrait. It was a simple self-portrait with a creative twist.

The Idea

Simply I wanted a new self-portrait and it gave me the chance to get a little creative. I wanted it to show I have both a light and a dark side very much like my photography. It shows that I am able to photograph both light and happy occasions such as weddings as well as my darker fetish work.

The Setup

This is a very simple two light setup that gives quite a dramatic and almost evil look.

I decided to use two strobes for this one to create the half tone face and one to add the red glow, which I felt just, made the photo.

In addition to the strobes you will require a black reflector or shoot. This stops the light bouncing on to left hand side of the face creating the half tone face.

Using your own lights

Any basic strobe can be used to create this look. You could also use a speed light off camera.

Conclusion

I have achieved the look and feel I wanted. The combination of both dark and light, which conveys my personality.

This tutorial is going to discuss how to use sharp light to create shadows. It will also cover using softer light for the model; this will give both the crisp shadows and soft lighting to create the perfect balance.

The Idea

The idea for this shoot was not down to myself but a makeup artist friend looking for some new images for her portfolio. The shoot was to be a cross of Dita Von Tease and Dolce & Gabana.

She wanted the contrast of the sharp shadows often seen in photos of Dita Von Tease in order to show off her figure and the soft smooth lighting of Dolce & Gabana adverts.

The Setup

The concept of this setup is very simple and requires only two lights, however in practice it turned out to be not so simple.

Trying to cast a crisp shadow from the model while ensuring the subject is adequately lit was a challenging process. The issue faces it how to stop the main model light (fig 3), from lighting the background so that it removes the shadow that we want.

In order to achieve this you will need the following equipment:

1x Strobe
1x Strobe with grid soft box

As you may remember from my first post discussing the fact that light goes in straight lines. This setup is a true example of this very important fact.

The first step in this setup was getting the background shadow cast exactly where I wanted it. This was done using the model light on the strobe (fig 2), the process simply involved moving the light around the model until I had the shadow I wanted.

It is difficult for a model to stay in the same place for a long period of time; we overcame this by marking the spot with a wine bottle.

The strobe (fig 3) was metered for this example we used f/9.

Now the real challenge began how to light the model without disturbing the shadow created by the strobe. This was overcome by remembering that light travels in straight lines.

I used a soft box with a grid (fig 3), to do this. The light needs to be place at such an angle that any shadows cast by it would not appear in the frame. The shadows cast by this light were cast just off to the left of the example image.

This light should be metered at 1 stop from the strobe in this example f/8.

Using your own lights

This shot can also be obtained using a brolly but you will loose a lot of the control you get with a grid soft box.

Conclusion

I am happy with the image and the results achieved. The image has the correct balance of shadow and softness. Again this is almost as shot with very little alteration.

For the first tutorial I am going to explain how I achieved the above image. Very little post processing was done on the image and the result was achieved simply by mastering the light.

The Idea

I was looking to create a powerful image showing the strong and wild side of the model. Most of these qualities come down to the pose and attitude of the model.

I chose the lighting as the glow in the background give an aurora such like that of wonder woman hence the choice of title.

The Setup

I decided to do this as a 3 light setup although similar results could be obtained with 2 lights. I felt the 3 lights created a much more even finish to the model which went better with the harsh orange glow.

In order to achieve this you will need the following equipment:

2 x Strobes with brollies
1 x strobe with orange gel

The first stage is to setup the lights that are used to light the model (fig 3), as that is the main subject.

You do not require a light meter but it does make the setup much more accurate and reduces a lot of time take multiple test shots.

Turn off all the light apart from the two strobes with brollies. Position your model as per the lighting diagram. Set both light to the same power and meter the light from the front of the model pointing the meter towards the camera.

Depending on how powerful your lights are will depend on what you meter these at. I went for f/9.

You now need to set up the strobe with the gel (fig 2), to create the glow on the background. I used a white background but you would also get interesting results on black.

This light should be set at 2 stops higher than the two front strobes (fig 3) again when metering this ensure that it is the only light on.

Using Your Own Lights

If you do not have the luxury of lights with gels you can use different colour fabric to create the same type of effect.

Conclusion

I like this setup as it creates an unusual yet powerful result from a very simple setup. You do not need much equipment and can be created on almost any white background.

I have decided to start a lighting resource in order to share my expertise and experience of studio lighting. I am not claiming to know everything and anything about lighting and as well as passing on the knowledge I have I would also like to learn.

Lighting is a very simple concept. One of the most useful and basic statements that will assist when it comes to lighting be it complex studio or using your on camera flash:

Light travels in straight lines.

The above is one of the keys to successful lighting. All though light has the ability to bounce the concept still applies.

This is going to be an ongoing project for me and after each shoot I will create a tutorial on how I obtained the image. Both complex and simple setups will be used and no matter if you are a novice or expert I am sure you will find something useful.

The first few posts will cover how I created the following simple images:

If you have any suggestion of what you would like me to post about please get in touch. I am also open to others submitting work they have created with tutorials on how to obtain the lighting.

I look forward to seeing example where people have followed the tutorials I have posted and created their own masterpieces.