Teach you how to shoot the skin texture of a portrait.

Lead: In portrait photography, many people will pay more attention to the application of main light and auxiliary light. However, in some close-up portraits, especially those showing human skin texture, side backlight has a very important application. It not only highlights the outline, but also reflects the light sense of the character's skin. There are many ways to use side backlight. Here, I just analyze two commonly used backlight portrait lighting methods with illustrations.

Light distribution method a:

F 13,1160, Canon EOS1dsmark Ⅱ?

Main light of photography course:

Place a radome or a small area soft box directly above the figure, which is about 1.5m ~ 2m away from the figure. The area of the flexible frame should not be too large, and the distance between the flexible frame and the character should not be too close, otherwise the face of the character will be too flat and lose its three-dimensional sense.

Side backlight:

The side backlight adopts two soft boxes, which are distributed on both sides of the back of the figure and between the figure and the white background, facing each other. This part of the light can illuminate the background, and part of the light shines on the face and neck of the person from the side and back.

Then we need to fine-tune the position of the side backlight. Turn on the modeling light, and you can see that the side backlight illuminates the character's cheeks and neck. If you want to reduce the light receiving area of cheeks and neck, move the flash to the inside (center) of the figure, but it cannot enter the picture range, and it should not be placed directly behind the figure, only illuminating the outline; On the contrary, if you want to increase the light receiving area of cheeks and neck, you can move the soft light box to the outside of the character, but not too far, otherwise the backlight will gradually start to illuminate the lip edge and bridge of the nose of the character.

Or by rotating the light direction of the flexible box? To achieve the same goal, it is necessary to experiment more and use it flexibly in shooting.

In this photo, both backlights are on the inside, so the bright part formed by the edges of cheeks and neck is narrow, and the cheeks and neck refract the side backlights, thus reflecting the elegant texture of the skin.

Shadow:

Using side backlights often shoots light into the lens. In order to avoid this problem, shielding is needed. Two black light absorption plates are placed on the right side of the figure near the figure to block the direct light of the soft box on the back and the diffused light on the white background.

Light quantity control:

After light distribution, the side backlight should be about one notch larger than the aperture of the main light, otherwise the light effect is not obvious, but it should not be too bright, making the skin dead white, unable to reflect the texture, and sometimes even destroying the facial contour of the characters.

Light distribution method b

F 13,1160, Canon EOS1dsmark Ⅱ.

The picture above is a photo taken to promote whitening and skin care. The model's facial skin must be very bright and tender. Simple plane light can make facial skin very white, but the skin will not appear particularly bright and shiny, so the side backlight is extremely prominent in this case.

Main light:

Place a soft box at an angle of1.5m above the graph. The tilt angle of the soft box is about 30 degrees. Pay attention to the position of the "optical center" of the soft box. It is best not to hit the face of the character directly, but to the upper side, so that the skin texture of the character will be very soft and layered. If the dark part of the face is underexposed, we use a white reflector to fill the light under the head of the character.

Side backlight:

A soft box is placed behind the left side of the figure as a side backlight. What is the specific surface of the soft box? The product size can be determined according to our actual needs, but the distance should not be too close, about 1.5~2 meters. Adjust the position and angle of the light source in the same way, and change the area outlined by the strong light on the face until the satisfactory effect is achieved. Here, I put the soft box outside, so that I can get a larger irradiation area.

Shadow:

Put a black light-absorbing plate on the left side of the picture to block the light.

Background light: We can choose suitable colors and patterns for the background according to our own needs, and then use a honeycomb to create various gradient effects on the background paper. Then measure the light and adjust the light ratio relationship between the front light and the back light.

In fact, what we talked about above boils down to three points that need our attention:

1. The control of the illumination angle of the side backlight can adjust the position and angle of the side backlight and realize the control of the side illumination area and skin light perception of people.

2. Blocking, blocking the side backlight, without affecting the image quality.

3. Control the ratio of side backlight to main light.