Light—Science & Magic- P5

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Light—Science & Magic- P5 LIGHT—SCIENCE & MAGIC 8.6 The key triangle extending from the eye, through the cheek, to the lip line is the starting point for good portrait lighting. face. (The extreme example of such “flat” lighting comes from mounting a strobe directly on top of the camera.) Evaluating whether the lighting is too flat can be difficult for photographers who are just beginning to learn portrait lighting, especially if the picture will be printed in only black ink. Anticipating how color translates to shades of gray takes prac- tice. But the decision becomes simple when we see that such lighting also makes the key triangle so large that it is no longer a triangle. 188 AN ARSENAL OF LIGHTS 8.7 Flat lighting, far too uniform to show contour, is the result of placing the main light too near to the camera. We can usually improve such lighting by moving the light far- ther to the side and higher to reduce the size of the key triangle. To maximize contour, we move the light far enough to get the key triangle as small as possible but stop just short of moving it far enough to create either of the following two problems. Key Triangle Too Low: Main Light Too High Regardless of whether the eyes are the window to the soul, they are certainly essential to almost any portrait. Keeping the eyes of the subject in shadow can be unsettling to anyone looking at the portrait. Figure 8.8 illustrates this problem. Notice how the strong eye shadow eliminates the top of the key triangle and produces an unnatural and ghoulish picture. 189 LIGHT—SCIENCE & MAGIC This shadow is there because we positioned our light too high above the head of the subject. Fixing the problem simply means lowering the light a bit. Key Triangle Too Narrow: Main Light Too Far to Side Figure 8.9 illustrates still another potential problem. We positioned the light so that the nose casts a dark shadow across her cheek. This shadow blocks the key triangle. Once more the cure is simple. To avoid a shadow such as this one, all we have to do is move the light a bit more to the front. When we do this, the key triangle will reappear. 8.8 The unsettling “raccoon eyes” that we see here come from lifting the main light too high above the model’s face. 190 AN ARSENAL OF LIGHTS 8.9 The result of positioning the main light too far to one side. The nose of the model casts a shadow across her cheek, blocking the key highlight. Left Side? Right Side? Photographers generally prefer to put the main light on the same side as the subject’s dominant eye, or the eye that appears to be more open than the other. The greater the visible domi- nance of the eye, the more important it is that we light that side. Of course, some people have very symmetrical features; then it makes no difference on which side we put the main light. The other influence on our decision is where the person’s hair is parted. Lighting on the same side as the part prevents extraneous shadows, especially if the hair is long. 191 LIGHT—SCIENCE & MAGIC Some people absolutely insist that we photograph them from one side or the other. Very often we should listen to such opinions because they are based on that individual’s dominant eye or hair style, whether the person knows it or not. Just be sure that the subject has not confused his “good” side with his “bad” side when looking in a mirror! Broad Lighting or Short Lighting So far we have made all pictures with the model approximately facing the camera. Whether the light was on the right or the left would have made only a minor difference. However, the differ- ence is major if the subject turns his or her head to either 8.10 Putting the main light on the side opposite the visible (were it not covered by her hair) ear produces short lighting. ...