Jul
30
2013I’m going to keep these specific angles (front, side, and back lighting) super short and sweet. Mainly because I don’t think a lot of words is going to accomplish a great deal. I will be pulling in as many images to illustrate the type of light that I’m talking about and draw just a few conclusions on where I think that lighting type is best utilized. Ready?
Front Lighting
Front lighting falls across the front of your subject. In portraiture, that’s usually the subject’s face.
Front lighting is often soft and flat which means it has very little shadows creating contrast.
I like front lighting with young or romantic subjects where I want a soft feel to the image and little drama.
However, front lighting’s danger is squinting! With your subject looking at a very bright light source, they will often squint 🙁
Here’s a quick look at some front lit imagery.
My lights were positioned on either side of me, producing a flat even light with little shadows except behind the baby.
Yes, that is a leaf plastered in his hair. 🙂 It’s about 4pm so the sun isn’t super high but is still very harsh. He’s standing in just a tiny bit of open shade and facing out toward the sun. Despite the mud, he has a very even light on his face.
This image is taken right around noon. The sun is high above us producing a flat light on the parts of our hands facing up and deep shadowing underneath us. If you have to shoot during full sun and can’t find open shade, laying your subject on their backs looking up is a great option if the sun isn’t so bright that it causes squinting.
The light here is not fully front/flat. It’s coming from above my left shoulder as indicated by the shadowing on the man’s lower jaw. But all and all, this is mostly front lit.
Sneaking in an old Instagram image of me and my baby boy at the clinic. He was so snuggly and feverish during this bout of RSV. As you can see from the reflection in my glasses, the light was directly above the two of us. This created even tones in his hair. You can see that I have turned my face just slightly so that the light is shading the far side of my face, making me slightly side lit.
Assignment
If you have questions or concerns, stick them in the comments and I’ll try to answer.
For a final lighting assignment, I’ll have you take a front, side, and back lit image along with an image or two of using lighting modification and available light. You can start working on that now, or you can wait until it’s ‘due’ as the lighting series finishes up. My goal throughout this series is mainly to get you to notice the lighting you’re using and learn when you may want to move your subject if possible.
Jul
25
2013As a twin mama myself, I get super excited about Greenville SC newborn twin photography. A newborn twin photography session that a friend gifted my family was my introduction to newborn photography. I was so happy to give this session to a new twin mama.
This family’s everyday ordinary is nothing but extraordinary. There are 5 children 4 years of age and under: a four year old, two year old twins, and a set of newborn twins.
Two sets of twins in just over 2 years.
As I finished up my session, Jordan recalled the story of finding out they were pregnant with their second set of twins.
“The nurse knew we had a set of twins already. She calmly whispered, ‘Here’s baby A and here’s baby B.’
“I fell to the floor on my knees and just started crying and exclaiming ‘Thank you, Jesus!’
“Other nurses came in and a bunch of them were crying with me. They told me ‘I’ve never seen a dad so excited about his children.’
“‘Why not?’ I said. ‘Children are blessings from the Lord. I’m such a blessed man.'”
Jordan and Jennifer, it was such a joy to photograph your children. I know your days seem like eternities right now. I know how hard it is to mother twin toddlers and one baby and I can only imagine a four year old, twin toddlers, and twin newborns. Your level of exhaustion must seem endless, but hang on. Your work is holy work as those five blessings grow. Holy work often messy, but more rewarding than any other work.
Jul
23
2013Class Notes
If you’ve been with me since the beginning, I miss you in the Flickr Pool. However, it’s summer. Life is busy and vacations are happening. I get that. Don’t forget to jump in again when life slows down. I really can’t wait to see the summer fun you’ve captured with your lens when things start cooling off again!
If you’re new to my class, welcome! Jump in where ever you want and start posting in the Flickr Pool. Just label your assignment so we know how to give you critique 🙂
Here’s where I’m headed. The rest of the summer will likely be spent on studying using light. In September, we’ll be taking a break from assignments and studying a few informative areas of photography. This will be your chance to catch up and just keep practicing. In October, class members will choose a final project (woo hoo!!) and I’ll talk about photo perspectives with a few little assignments. In November and December, I’ll touch on beginning editing. And during January, I’ll be showcasing each of my students’ final projects (which hopefully ya’ll can get posted in between drinking eggnog and enjoying Christmas cookies).
Now this is a week of really quick definitions and then sweet but short little assignments. We’re studying the types of natural light and how they’re used primarily in portraiture
Full Sun
I typically think of the full sun hours as being between 9 am and 3 pm. The sun is high overhead, bright and harsh, and casts unflattering shadows across noses and eye sockets. Honestly, I try to avoid full sun at all costs: instead I seek out open shade. Truth be told: adventurous preschoolers sometimes make the search for open shade impossible.
Here’s our little case study image. Do you see the deep shadows made by her hat, nose, and up under her hands? All those shadows are a result of the direct intense mid-day sun.
The best thing to do in Full Sun when you can’t find open shade is to look for natural light reflectors that will reflect light back into the subject’s face. Had I turned Aeralind to image left the lake behind her would have been reflecting light into her face to dissipate the shadows some. Natural light reflectors include water, concrete, and sand. If you wanted to modify the light with a purchased reflector that would work as well. Here’s a nice cheap reflector, but I’ve also used white poster board in a pinch! Again, we’ll go over the use of reflectors at a later point.
Full Sun Assignment
Take 1 photo in full sun. Do one of the following (or both for you overachievers):
- Use the shadows created in full sun to emphasize an aspect of your subject.
- Place your subject in such a way that a natural reflector is pushing light back into your subject. It might help to have an obedient subject who will patiently wait while you direct them in circles to find the best angle of reflection. Actually, images of annoyed husbands or wives would pretty much crack me up!
Shade
Open Shade
If I have to shoot during the day, I methodically hunt down open shade. Open shade is full shade, very near where the sun shines. Found under awnings or trees or the shadows of buildings, open shade is best used with a subject positioned so that they are side lit or front lit by the sun. Ready for my incredible graphic skills again? Here goes!
This would be where the photographer and subject would be positioned with either the subject facing fully into the light or turned at an angle to it. Got it?
This is my niece Brooklyn (isn’t she a doll?) playing under the open shade of a twisty slide and facing out toward the sunny parts. She how she’s evenly lit without any harsh shadows. I love open shade during mid-day (or early evening as was the case here).
Beware of Dappled Shade
Open shade is fully covered. It’s ideal and often easy to find. Dappled shade is not ideal. Dappled shade is when light is filtering through shade-creating object. The best example of this is when sun filters through tree leaves. This type of shade produces some parts of the image having shaded light and some portions brightly lit by sunlight. Avoid this for portraits. Use it if you like for dramatic landscapes 🙂
Dappled shade at it’s not so finest. Tree leaves filtering and it looks like a tree trunk across his sister’s back. 🙂
Open Shade Assignment
Find some open shade. Play around. Take some images. Enjoy! 🙂
Golden Hour
Golden Hour occurs twice a day: once about 30 minutes to an hour after sunrise and the second time about an hour an a half to an hour before sunset.
This light is magical. The sun is too low to produce dramatic shadows. The reds and pinks and oranges in the sky produce a lovely golden glow. It’s wonderful for back lit portraits and front lit portraits won’t find your subject squinting. I love everything about the Golden Hour.
Three images taken at Golden Hour on the same day (two by my husband who’s almost mastered the mechanics of manual mode and has no idea how to light images properly…. well, until after he reads this series :-p).
Enough said about golden hour. 🙂
Golden Hour Assignment
Go take images during one of the golden hour periods. Please try to post less than 10 images taken during golden hour, ok? I know it’s a hard task… enjoy that light though. It’s yummy.
Post all your images to the Quiet Graces Free Beginner Photography Class Flickr Pool and leave some critique for the others in the group! Can’t wait to see you begin to paint with light.
Jul
22
2013I’ve only been out of the Eastern Time Zone two times. So it’s sort of a dream come true to announce to you that I’ll be doing some traveling mini-sessions on the Illinois side of St. Louis, MO.
Julia and her husband Brad (that’s them in the photos!) have graciously invited us out to play and to mix a little business with our pleasure by photographing in her gardens. They’re gorgeous! Have a look-see by clicking here.
You’ll notice that this lifestyle family mini-session is only $150 where I’ve mentioned on my Investment page that these would be $200. Next year they will be (both local and if I travel again), but the fall sessions this year will be discounted 🙂 If you’re in Greenville and would love a lifestyle family mini-session, my newsletter subscribers are learning about that date today. Subscribe and you’ll find out, in addition to receiving a free copy of 7 Tips for Real Pictures of your Everyday Beautiful-Mess.
I’m looking forward to capturing these northerners playing in a beautiful garden and making fun of my southern drawl. It’s going to be a blast!
Jul
18
2013Sometimes stories are hard to tell. I’ve procrastinated on this one for a long time because I’m not sure I can bear to tell it. But I am not the Author of this story and I do not know what glory awaits at the final ending.
Stephanie is a single mom. I don’t know all the particulars and they’re not mine to tell, but shortly after the child in her womb began to move, her husband left.
Stephanie worked and mourned and waited. She worked a local ice cream joint that gives free cones to children under a certain height. I remember seeing her long before our session. She smiled as she passed my children a cone. A smile that whispered hope: children are a gift. Hope that I needed on that warm late fall day when my son had likely woken me long before day’s first light.
The Stephanie I met in the studio: she was the same. Quiet patient hope. Smiling gently to her newborn Ethan and thanking Jesus for him as she rocked him to gentle slumber.
I’m showing you this whole session in black and white because it evokes all the emotion I feel thinking back to this day.
