Basic lighting skills of portraits: basic lighting knowledge

Basic lighting skills of portraits: basic lighting knowledge

Polishing, like practicing martial arts, contains a lot of mental skills and basic skills. Although we don't know whether there really is such a martial arts world, at least we know that behind many professional jobs, we must take basic training as the foundation and make different changes on the basis.

Lighting will vary with the nature of the work. For example, professional commercial photography needs the precision and contrast control of each lamp in a single operation, racquet needs a special atmosphere of soft light in a large area, and wedding photography needs to create the desired light in a difficult environment.

Although the case owners in all walks of life have different requirements for the presentation of pictures, they are all connected on the basis of polishing; For example, the control of contrast, the direction of light source and the neutralization of white balance have some similarities. Understanding the basic lighting technology will help the application of shed lights.

There are many similarities between the lighting methods of portrait photography in the shed and the above situation. Next, we need to know what contrast is, how to operate various lights, and then learn how to use lights in different environments, which will be very helpful for using background paper or shooting outdoors.

Basic lighting knowledge

As Mark has always emphasized before, many seemingly brilliant lighting technologies actually evolved from the light in the natural environment. If you want to make progress under the shed light, you must observe the natural environment.

The above picture was taken at 7: 00 in the morning, and the location where you can see the natural light is very good. However, people with discerning eyes will find that this is a photo with "the light of Rembrandt". To tell you the truth, I have taken a lot of exterior shots and have never seen such a perfect light of Rembrandt. Even if it is often taken outside 7-8 am, it is still rare; So the shutter can't stop for a while!

If nature can shine so beautifully, why don't we grasp more? In fact, there are still some problems with this photo, the most important one is contrast. Because the contrast of light is a little big now, but in order to grab the light, we have to be hard; I think if there is a next time, I hope I can make up for this contrast. In fact, when we take pictures, in addition to using light, another thing we will adjust and correct is contrast. What is better to do?

Contrast (light ratio) control affects the photo atmosphere.

Another way of saying contrast is light ratio. Generally speaking, after adjusting the main light, we will adjust the contrast (light ratio).

If the luminosity values of the bright and dark parts differ by 1 EV, we say that the light ratio at this time is 1:2; if the luminosity values differ by 2 EV, we say that the light ratio at this time is 1:4; if it is 3 EV, we say that it is1:8; Similarly, if the difference is 4EV, it will be said that the light ratio is 1: 16, and you can find that the light ratio is multiplied by 2 times. The greater the digital difference, the greater the brightness difference between the bright part and the dark part. The control of contrast will affect people's feeling of looking at photos. Many times, we will use contrast to create the feeling we want. Simply put, it depends on whether we want to be more individual or gentle.

The original intention of the picture below is to highlight personality, so when lighting, the exposure value difference between the bright side (sometimes the bright side) and the dark side (sometimes the backlight side) will be a little more; Strengthen the feeling of shadow, make the contrast bigger and add personality to the picture. Although the picture on the left is taken with background paper, because it is a flexible product, the photos taken will not have much contrast, but will choose a low-contrast light ratio to present the flexible appeal of the product.

In fact, the contrast (light ratio) of these two photos on the protagonist's face is not much different, one is about 1:6 and the other is about 1:4; As far as the light ratio is concerned, in the control of the dark part, it is only an EV value, but it feels much worse; So before understanding the basic lighting skills, we must first understand what is light ratio, which is also a common problem when shooting outdoors!

Demonstration and explanation of different light ratios

Low contrast: 2: 1

From the following photos, we can see that when the light ratio is 1:2, there is only one aperture /EV difference between the bright part and the dark part, so there is almost no contrast on the model's face, and the light feels dull; Sometimes when we take pictures, we feel that such photos are impersonal, but if the focus of shooting is on the face, this kind of light feeling is more common, mainly because there is no shadow and it will not take away the elegance of other products.

If it is in a soft light environment, such a light ratio is also easy to appear. Because it is soft light in a large area, there will be a lot of diffuse light around the shooting environment, so the light ratio will be 1: 1. This kind of photo feels Japanese, and this light ratio is often used when shooting soft-packed products.

Gao Fancha: The light ratio is 1: 8.

If the light ratio is 1:8 and the difference between the bright part and the dark part is 4 apertures /EV, we can clearly tell where the shadow is. Under such light ratio, it is mostly used in shooting occasions with self-style and personality conflict. As shown below, the sock product on the left emphasizes individuality, and the special tonality of the scene is emphasized on the right, so it was shot in Gao Fancha.

I don't know if you have noticed that when the contrast reaches 1: 16, the dark part is a little unclear about its details; If you shoot with negative film, maybe you can see the difference in details of this Gao Fancha. However, on the digital fuselage, because the tolerance is not as high as the negative, although the details can be pulled out by reducing the contrast, the photos taken will be darker and less pleasing. Therefore, I seldom use Gao Fancha on the digital camera, and I will use 1: 16 or more. Another reason is that it is difficult to draw a greater contrast in the shed, unless it is in a "black shed" with no reflection at all, it is possible to achieve such a shooting situation.

Conclusion:

These are four photos using different lighting technologies. Even the same light will have different feelings on different people's faces, because everyone's facial features are unique, not a light that can beat invincible hands all over the world. Before lighting, it is suggested to observe the facial features of the model first, and then choose the techniques to create good light perception.

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