Lighting.

Studio Lighting is something I've pretty much stayed away from until this assignment. I'm a fond lover of natural light and like to use what is naturally available.
This was going to either make me fall in love with studio work or make me dislike it even more.

Having such a well equipped studio at my disposal immediately gave me a little boost of positivity.

I was given a handout by Christian Berges titled: Portrait Lighting Basics. This was explaining a number of lighting setups using a single Key Light.
Using this one single light gave me a really good understanding of how light works.
I know it sounds silly because it's as simple as flicking a switch or opening the Curtains but do we ever try to understand how it actually works?

The first thing to understand is that light only travels in straight lines so if we're to manipulate a light source, it can only be in an angular direction rather than curved.

I tried to make sure I had at least an extra 6 hours a week in the studio, to practice and try to learn more.
A technique I really liked using was the Poly Boards. Putting these on the sides of the sitter can make such a huge difference to their face's structure.
By placing Black polly boards beside the sitter, you can draw in the sides of their face. This gives their face a slimmer look because the light that is usually bounced onto the side of their face is absorbed by the Black.
Doing the same thing but swapping to a white poly board will bounce even more light onto the sitters face.
Having the boards closer or further away also has a heavy effect on the image.

Lighting setups.

Here are a few lighting setups I tested:

Frontal Light.

This is a very powerful light and tends to light the whole of the front of the face. an interesting result of this setup is that it reflects the full light source in the sitters Eyes. You can change the reflection of the light by changing the light you use. Eg. Softbox, Umbrella, ect.

High Frontal Light.

 I find High Frontal to be a very forgiving set up. The light is shone down from higher than the subject. This is then cut by the sitters Cheekbones, giving their face a thinner look.
The reflection of the light source using this setup is positioned at the upper of the eye.

 Rembrandt Lighting (the Rembrandt Triangle).

The famous Rembrandt set up is gives a very mysterious look to the sitter. Only showing one side of the face and a small triangle section of the opposite side. The light source reflection in this case is sometimes only slightly visible in the corner of the Eye.

Slight Sidelight.

This set up gives a three dimensional look to it. Harsh lighting on one side of the sitters face and softly grading into a dark shadow on the opposite side. the light can be moved around the subject to adjust how strong the shadows are.

All images were taken from:
http://www.manfrottoschoolofxcellence.com/2011/04/christian-berges-portrait-lighting-basics-part-1-the-key-light/#.Ute7FfZHAQ4