How to arrange the light to make people look the best?

Several common light distribution methods in portrait photography

Whether the knowledge of light consumption is reasonably used in portrait photography directly affects the image-building and personality expression of the subject. However, for commercial portrait creation, the primary task of light processing is mainly to depict and express the appearance of the subject, and at the same time try to avoid exposing its shortcomings. Generally speaking, it is more difficult to shoot portraits in the light than in the sun. On the one hand, according to the photographer's appearance (mainly facial features), the most favorable lighting scheme is adopted, on the other hand, it reflects the photographer's own aesthetic orientation and creative intention, and there should be no fixed scheme. After our analysis, research and discussion, we summarized the following lighting methods commonly used for lighting portrait shooting:

A. lighting effect of front side lamp

A- 1。 Using a lamp (with or without accessories such as soft box and soft umbrella) as the main plastic light-called "main light"-irradiates the subject from the camera side at a distance of about 300-600 degrees from the shooting direction, forming a "front lighting effect", which is characterized in that most areas of the subject (especially the face) are directly affected. If only one lamp is used for lighting, the color of the shadow surface of the object will appear too deep and heavy, which will not only promote the necessary details, but also make the shadow color poor. Therefore, a second lamp or reflector is needed for auxiliary lighting to improve the brightness of the shadow part and keep an appropriate brightness ratio (commonly known as "light ratio") with the bright surface. This light is called "auxiliary light".

A-2。 The intensity of the auxiliary light determines the light ratio and is inversely proportional to the light ratio. The weaker the auxiliary light, the greater the light ratio. As for whether it is necessary to add a background light, it depends on the specific situation. When the main lights and auxiliary lights are arranged at that time, if the background color meets the requirements, there is no need to add another background light. If you need to adjust the tone of the background, you can add a background light to adjust it until you reach the ideal state.

A-3。 Using front lighting, the main light usually needs to be slightly higher than the head of the subject, but it should not be too high to avoid the eye socket, nose shadow and chin projection of the subject being too heavy. However, when the subject wears a hat or other headwear to shoot, the main light basically moves with the subject's face to adjust the ratio of the bright surface and the shadow surface of the subject, so that the "light-dark dividing line" between the bright surface and the shadow surface of the subject is in an appropriate position. It is very important to remember this!

A-4。 If the reflector is used as auxiliary lighting, it can be placed on the shadow side of the subject. However, if lighting is used as auxiliary lighting, it should be placed as close as possible to the camera. Some people like to put auxiliary lighting on the photographer's shadow side, but it is not as good as auxiliary lighting from the camera direction, because the latter is easier to eliminate the "dead angle" that is not illuminated, and it is also convenient to make the light spot reflected on the photographer's black eyeball fall in the right position. The auxiliary light should not be too high. When the light spot formed on the subject's black eyeball can fall on the upper edge of the pupil, its height is the ideal height.

A-5。 When the subject's face turns slightly to one side, the faces on both sides of the nose must be narrower and wider from the shooting direction. If the main light is projected from a narrower side, it is called "narrow light illumination", and if the main light is projected from a wider side, it is called "wide light illumination". Wide-angle lighting can easily reveal the nose shape of the subject and emphasize the aesthetic feeling of the nose shape, but it is not suitable for people with too high or too low nasal bones. Too fat cheeks and protruding jaws (on the side of the face below the ears) are also not suitable for wide-light lighting.

a6。 When shooting a portrait with front light, the nose and chin will protrude a little because the main light is slightly higher than the head of the subject. For a full-length portrait, there is no need to adjust its projection, because it occupies too small an area in the whole portrait to be easily detected. If you shoot busts and close-up portraits, you can put a white foam plastic plate in front of the subject or on your knees and use its soft reflection to dilute the projection of your neck. According to years of experience, it is better to use foam plastic board than to put a small soft box on the ground.

B. Smooth lighting effect

B- 1。 The main light is projected on the subject from the camera direction, forming a "smooth lighting effects", which is characterized by uniform light reception, bright color tone and no obvious shadow and projection. Under forward illumination, the stereoscopic impression of the subject's face is not formed by the amount of light received, but by the curve of the face itself-the convex part is bright and the back part is slightly dark. Therefore, the face should not be overexposed, otherwise it will affect the portrayal of the whole image.

B-2。 Shun lighting can be accomplished by two lamps or one lamp: two lamps, usually two flashlights with the same power and soft boxes, project light to the subject at the same distance from the positions near the left and right sides of the camera, slightly higher than the height of the camera, and the two soft boxes should not be too high to avoid too deep shadows under the neck and nose; A lamp is slightly higher than the camera and is thrown at the subject from the back. If the shadows on both sides of the face are too deep, you can dilute them with a reflector (preferably a white foam plastic plate).

B-3。 The advantage of forward lighting is that the shadows are clean and few, which is suitable for shooting young people with symmetrical faces. However, if the subject's face is wide or the two sides are obviously asymmetrical, it is easy to expose its defects by forward lighting, so it is advisable to use front side light and side light to make the shadow cover the part with too wide face.

C. Side lighting effect

C- 1。 The main light is projected on the camera lens from the subject side in the direction of about 90, forming a "side lighting effect". In this case, the three-dimensional sense is strong, because half of the subjects directly receive light to produce bright shadows, and the other half do not directly receive light to produce shadows. In sidelight, auxiliary lighting is often needed because of the large shadow area of the main body. Generally speaking, in order to make the facial tone of the subject clean, the "light ratio" of business portraits should not be too large.

C2。 When sidelight is used, the main light and auxiliary light should not be too high, otherwise the light above the face will be uneven. The auxiliary light is also as close to the camera as possible.

C3 explosive. When shooting people with fat faces and asymmetrical faces, you can use side light to cover the fat cheeks, which is beneficial to make the appearance of the subject more perfect.

C4 explosive. People with straight nose and beautiful nose bones are suitable for sidelight, while those with too high or too low nose are not suitable for sidelight, because sidelight will reveal the height of nose shape more obviously.

The above describes the three lighting methods commonly used in portrait lighting and matters needing attention, but it does not mean that there are only three. Other lighting methods, such as side lighting and backlight lighting, can be adopted according to the photographer's specific characteristics and creative intention, so as to achieve the effect of side lighting. But the lighting methods commonly used in portrait photography are the above three.