Lisa in High Key

[RussHeath]

Beautiful shot, beatifully lit. Thanks for sharing it.

I had not seen the portrait tutorial WooD posted, so thank you for that too.

I would love to know more details about your lighting for this shot.

[Benji]

Originally Posted by RussHeath

Beautiful shot, beatifully lit. Thanks for sharing it.

I had not seen the portrait tutorial WooD posted, so thank you for that too.

I would love to know more details about your lighting for this shot.

Russ,

I tried something different with this shot. My fill light in my high key camera room is bolted to the west wall. Normally I have the subject facing that wall, but for this image I had her face the east (background) wall. This is usually the background and is overlit by one stop to keep it white. So the spill from the background has effectively become my fill light and the fill light is now a kicker. One problem I noticed doing it this way is that the three lights pretty much cancel out the shadows from the opposite light so I enhanced the rather light shadows in Photoshop so she doesn't appear to be floating above the floor. Since the floor cannot be seperately lit (and I have not painted it since about October!) I cloned out some shoe scuff marks and dodged out some slight grayishness.

Benji

[yokolok]

i am just curious -

what does "high key" mean? i know it has something to do with portraiture and lighting but how is it identified? and how is it done?

and as opposed to "low key"?

[smc1377]

Originally Posted by yokolok

i am just curious -

what does "high key" mean? i know it has something to do with portraiture and lighting but how is it identified? and how is it done?

and as opposed to "low key"?

High Key - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_key

Low Key - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-key_lighting

[Benji]

Originally Posted by yokolok

i am just curious -

what does "high key" mean? i know it has something to do with portraiture and lighting but how is it identified? and how is it done?

and as opposed to "low key"?

With all due respect to Wikipedia, I find their explanations are as clear as mud! :-)

I have written a free tutorial on high key imaging complete with example images. http://photocamel.com/forum/tutorial...tml#post290102

For low key imaging the clothing is dark, the background is dark, and the lighting may be dramatic with deep dark shadows. Usually there is nothing white or pastel (above 128) in a low key image. The image below is a low key image.

Benji

[yokolok]

thanks smc1377! that was fast!

and thanks benji!!! am just going through your portraiture rules at the moment...

[smc1377]

Originally Posted by Benji

With all due respect to Wikipedia, I find their explanations are as clear as mud! :-)

I have written a free tutorial on high key imaging complete with example images. http://photocamel.com/forum/tutorial...tml#post290102

Agreed. Some Wikipedia articles are somewhat lacking. You should post an external link on those Wikipedia pages back to your site.

[RussHeath]

Originally Posted by Benji

Russ,

I tried something different with this shot. My fill light in my high key camera room is bolted to the west wall. Normally I have the subject facing that wall, but for this image I had her face the east (background) wall. This is usually the background and is overlit by one stop to keep it white. So the spill from the background has effectively become my fill light and the fill light is now a kicker. One problem I noticed doing it this way is that the three lights pretty much cancel out the shadows from the opposite light so I enhanced the rather light shadows in Photoshop so she doesn't appear to be floating above the floor. Since the floor cannot be seperately lit (and I have not painted it since about October!) I cloned out some shoe scuff marks and dodged out some slight grayishness.

Benji

So you used your entire background as a lightsource? Well that's certainly one way to get a nice big light without buying/making a giant softbox. Very nice.

Would a hard edged focused light coming from up and camera left be a way to get you some shadows on her left that would be a bit more defined? I guess it may cause her to be overexposed at the edges of her shirt, and you don't have much wiggle room with the white on white. Or you could fake a shadow with a well placed gobo on your background wall, but that would probably require her to sit in that pose for an uncomfortably long time to get the size and shape right. I'm just thinking out loud.

Thanks very much for the details, it really helps to understand your setup.

[Benji]

Originally Posted by RussHeath

Would a hard edged focused light coming from up and camera left be a way to get you some shadows on her left that would be a bit more defined?

Russ,

Yes I believe it would, but hard lights are not very kind to the faces of women over the age of about 25. Every wrinkle, blemish, bump and large pore shows up quite distinctly, something all women abhor regradless of age!!! I may try your idea on some one younger however, and possibly tomorrow.

Benji

[glyphon]

could using a soft focus filter de-emphasize some of the negatives from using hard lighting?

btw, i just read through your "good portrait" thread, and my head is swimming. i hope i can remember even a few of those tips next time i'm shooting portraits