Take a portrait and set the angle according to the light.

A good photo website can go to Hummingbird, which is very good, and its friendly link website is also very good. The application of lighting, I suggest you read this article, which should be helpful:

"Expression of the Texture of Portrait Photography"

[Source: Wenzhou Photographers Association Author: Shao]

All kinds of objects in nature have different texture characteristics, showing their own characteristics. We are familiar with the texture of human skin. Due to the differences of age, sex and environment, they show different texture differences. Such as the rough and wrinkled skin of the elderly, the plump and elastic skin of children and girls, and so on. Only by expressing these different textures on the screen can people feel real and convincing, which is helpful to reveal the character's personality and expression. Therefore, taking a photo of artistic portrait is very important for the expression of texture, which can neither make everyone's skin even, smooth and moist, nor copy it as it is without analysis. Because it will lose the expressive force of different types of people's characteristics and personalities. So, what are the means to correctly express the detailed texture of the characters? To sum up, there are five aspects: (1) the nature of light source; (2) the illumination angle of the light source; (3) How much light is used; (4) Application of auxiliary lighting; (5) exposure control.

Nature and texture of light source

The nature of the photographic light source is different, and the texture of the object is also different. Light quality can be divided into two categories: hard focusing and soft and astigmatism. As the main light sources of portrait photography, both of them have their own advantages in the expression of skin texture. Mainly depends on how we need to choose in art.

Hard focusing, such as spotlight effect, is bright and powerful, and the projection is clear and sharp, emphasizing the reflection of bright spots and the deepening of negative lines in details (such as pores and wrinkles). For people who show dull skin, it can improve skin quality. For example, in art, it is necessary to depict the character characteristics of characters. If it is used for characters with rough skin, it can promote the expression of texture and temperament.

Soft, astigmatism, such as the effect of gathering and scattering lights, soft, delicate, fuzzy, loose projection, rich layering, weak reflected light in the bright part, loose details, can make the skin more moist and delicate. Used for people with rough skin, the sense of roughness can be weakened. Shooting children and girls can better show their elastic and delicate skin characteristics and lively and energetic temperament.

Illumination angle and texture of light source

It takes a certain angle of light to express a good texture. You can adjust the lamp position in the high and low angle and the positive direction to strengthen or weaken the texture.

Whether the layering is obvious or not has a great relationship with the vertical and horizontal texture of the skin under illumination. As far as the main light is concerned, when the illumination angle is perpendicular to the texture, the shadow lines are deepest, the texture expression is strongest and the layers are rich. The facial texture is vertical and horizontal, so the side light with a height of about 45 is usually used, which takes into account the skin texture in both vertical and horizontal directions and better represents the skin texture of the face.

Fine dots and shadows are also important parts that affect the texture. Because light and shadow are relatively unified and complement each other, tiny spots will appear under a certain illumination angle, because the incident angle and reflection angle of light are equal. Only when the light source shines on a certain point on the face and then just reflects on the lens can the light spot on a certain point appear, otherwise, the light spot will not be seen.

How much light is used and its texture?

Is it better to use more light or less light to express texture? I think fewer lights are better than more lights. Most people think that the more people with lights on, the better, but it is not. The detailed texture of people's skin is reflected in the details, with many lights, many shadows, messy spots and gray tones, which can't show the detailed texture of skin. Because the surface of human skin is composed of countless tiny pores and dermatoglyphics, an extra lamp will add a fine projection and a fine light spot. When they cross each other, they will lose their layers and weaken the texture of skin pores. In other words, using one more lamp will reduce one layer of hierarchy and texture. No matter shooting high, medium and low tones, I advocate using less lights when there is no need for more lights. We should use every lamp purposefully at the critical time, never abuse it, minimize it and improve the skin texture. For example, in high-profile photography, in order to maintain a slightly changed facial level and texture, a lamp is used to illuminate the face (except the human face and background), and the rest are replaced by reflectors, which not only enriches the texture of the skin, but also does not lose the delicate white color in high-profile photography.

Auxiliary lighting and textures

After the light quality and irradiation angle of the main light are determined, the auxiliary light must be used correctly. In principle, the main light is not lost to create a good texture, but the projection of the main light is appropriately weakened but not eliminated. This determines that the nature of the auxiliary light must be soft scattering, the brightness is lower than that of the main light, and no projection trace is left as far as possible. "The main light is hard and the auxiliary light is soft; The main light is soft and the auxiliary light is scattered. " This is my principle of using auxiliary light. So when using auxiliary light, the edge of the light is used to scatter light. Because the middle part is brighter than the edge part, and the hard edge in the middle of the light quality is soft. The central light is the direct light of the bulb and the reflected light of the lampshade, and the edge light is the scattered reflection of the lampshade. Using it will inevitably weaken the brightness. Therefore, it is better to place the lamp near the subject, which is much better than illuminating the distant texture layer with central light. Both the auxiliary light of Yin and the auxiliary light of Yang shift to the outside of the picture, that is, the auxiliary light of Yang shifts to one side of the main light, and most of the illuminated surfaces are connected with the transition levels of Yin and Yang, while the auxiliary light of Yin shifts to the opposite side, only illuminating the negative side bounded by the bridge of the nose, but not the positive side. Only with rich layers can we have a good texture.

Another problem in the application of auxiliary light is light ratio. If the light ratio is too large and exceeds the tolerance range of the film, then both the bright side and the dark side will lose their texture; Too small and too dim, it will lose its texture. Therefore, when using auxiliary light, we should also consider the gamma value, sensitivity, tolerance and processing conditions of the film, because various films have different abilities to record brightness levels, especially when using color films.

Control exposure and texture

Correctly controlling exposure is of great significance to the true restoration of texture. Nowadays, exposure meters are widely used, and it seems that controlling exposure is of little significance. Actually, it is not. From the artistic point of view, we should not only control the exposure with the EV value measured by the exposure meter, but also master the artistic requirements of different objects and consciously increase or decrease the exposure to reach the artistic exposure standard. Because the exposure meter only correctly indicates the exposure of neutral ash. If only neutral gray objects can get EV value according to the exposure instrument, the most realistic texture can be obtained by exposure. Because the results of black, white and gray photometry are light gray, and the negative film is medium density, that is, the midpoint of the straight line part of the characteristic curve, this exposure is undoubtedly correct for photos with intermediate tones, as long as the brightness difference is not too big, the texture of all levels can be well expressed. However, if you expose photos with high and low tones in this way, the results will be biased towards the middle tone. Therefore, high-profile photography must increase the density of 1-2 from the midpoint of the straight part of the characteristic curve according to the measured exposure, so that the density of the black part is in the straight part and the bright part rises to the shoulder, so that the black part can correctly record the hierarchical texture instead of a mass of black. The density grade spacing of light-colored parts changes slightly after compression. Similarly, the exposure of low-key photography is reduced by 0.5- 1, and the positive texture expression is correct, but the density level of large area vulva has little change.

This is exactly the artistic standard of exposure that we need. Of course, increasing or decreasing the exposure must be included in the film tolerance, including using the shoulder or toe of the characteristic curve.

In addition to the above factors, showing a good texture is also closely related to the focal length, resolution and aperture of the camera. You also need to focus correctly and make full use of close-ups to show the skin texture.

It can be said that no matter what the artistic requirements are, its artistic means are inseparable from the word "light", that is, light and exposure. Just like this, portrait photography's unique ability to express texture is beyond the reach of other arts. We just want to use this kind of photography art specialty to express all kinds of skin textures and give people beautiful enjoyment