LIGHT! WHAT LIGHT?

Norman Phillips fswpp

“What I have concluded is that my images have to excite me first, my client second and print judges last”

Many years ago, while teaching at Twickenham Technical College, some dozen or so students were set a commercial project. Each student had his or her own lighting booth with all the lights they were likely to need. I entered the classroom to discover that every light in every booth was on and the room was a veritable Crystal Palace, flooded with light.

After a few seconds’ hesitation I went to the main switch and threw it. The lights went out and there was the sound of panic or shock among the students. The effect of this action was indeed telling. These young, enthusiastic students were about to learn the need to know how to use one light before they were to use two or more. First one light, then a second, then a third and so on. Each one separately before they were to use any combination of them. Phillips

What’s the relevance of the story on the previous page in the modern era of photography? An overwhelming majority of digital photographers, and many of those still using film, have not learned to see and use light to an acceptable standard and it shows in too many of the images we see in albums, magazines, studio windows and in competition prints.

The now common use of manipulative software, such as Photoshop and Painter, has bred a generation of practitioners who have not learned lighting skills or an awareness of the effect of light. When a photographer recognises a lighting flaw they spend hours in front of their computers attempting to correct it, instead of using the same amount of time learning to both see and use light. Even so, most do not appreciate the use of light and the flaws remain unseen.

One of the falsehoods of such a culture is that flawed lighting cannot be corrected with any of the modern software currently available and it is extremely doubtful that such software will ever correct fundamental flaws in lighting technique. The simple truth is that until we are able to ‘see’ light, we are unable to use it with an adequate degree of skill. This results in images rendered with much less fidelity, impact and appeal than they would otherwise have. It is indeed strange that the most fundamental element in photography, light, is not a priority with so many of my professional colleagues.

A multitude of books demonstrate lighting techniques that will produce acceptable and saleable images, and readers who study them frequently use lighting diagrams as the one and only means of producing effective lighting patterns and saleable prints. I say this with a degree of authority because I have so far written four books on the subject. Each of those four books demonstrates numerous lighting sets that may be used but they were not written with the express purpose of providing lockdown lighting sets, even though they will produce images that will sell. Instead, they provide readers with a starting point for their creativity. Some practitioners use the lighting sets illustrated as the one and only method of producing saleable images. I have been in studios where there are markers on the floor for positioning lighting units for every-day portraiture.

The only justification for creating images with a lock down lighting set that never moves is that the practitioner has not learned to ‘see’ light. As a result he or she does not manipulate the lights for fear of producing an unacceptable image or as one student related, “In case I screw up”. Yet, the most important aspect of lighting technique is that what we create represents what excites our visual senses. When we do not excite our visual senses we fail to be unique and become mundane, mediocre or both.

I return to the event at the college, related previously. To educate my students I implemented a process where each was required to know what each light available would contribute to the required result. In other words they needed to ‘see’ light. It took some weeks before any one of them was able to create a professionally lit image, partly due to the impatience of youth and the desire to get ahead of themselves and produce images, before they learned the process of creating lighting sets designed to obtain a specific result. What is disconcerting is that too many portrait photographers are of the same mindset.

At each of my workshops and seminars that deal with light, I preach and demonstrate techniques that enable delegates to see light and not assume that a given light set is the ultimate answer to their needs. I want my students and delegates to approach lighting with a different perspective than that which they had before.

There is a very important reason for this approach. Each one of us sees images with a different eye and appreciation. We are all individual with varying tastes and sensibilities. No two of us see images exactly the same way and when we create images we need them to represent our unique approach, to our work. If we do not do so, we become clones of each other and, in the market-place, when this happens, the difference is only the price or the individual personality, salesmanship of the practitioner and their client service. Additionally, if we do not seek to be different to our colleague down the street, we are missing the opportunity to provide potential clients with images that excite them too. So it is not about just being better, it’s about being different. If you doubt this aspect of image creation just look at the fine art and fashion markets and see the incredible diversity of taste that is catered for.

In the following discussion I hope to show that there is a wonderful opportunity to create images that are uniquely different simply by seeing light and what it affords us and then to use it to create images that we have pre-visualised.

To illustrate the concept of seeing light, we examine the effects we can achieve with just one light. In the following illustrations ‘A’ through ‘F’, our subject is positioned so that she is presenting a three-quarter face to the camera. In each illustration the soft-box used is positioned so that the top of the box lights not only the face of the subject but also the hair. This requires the top edge of the box to be 8” – 10” above the height of the subject and tilted10 degrees toward the subject.

A matching diagram accompanies each image example.

In ‘Illustration A’, the light is an FJ Westcott 28” x 40” soft box that has just one diffusing screen (scrim). With just one diffusing screen, the light, though softened, is still a little specular.

The soft box is positioned at 45 degrees from both camera and subject. The first thing we note is that the light does not wrap around the subject as much as it does in ‘Illustration B’, which has a second diffusing screen while in the same position. ‘Diagram [A]’

Essentially what will happen when we place a diffusing screen in front of the light source is the light scatters or, if you prefer, it is slowed down and enables it to wrap around. The more we scatter the light the slower is travels to the subject and wraps around a little more. We could compare this to driving around corners at different speeds. The faster we go, the greater the difficulty in turning corners – at excessive speeds, maybe we will not make it.

In ‘Illustration C’, the soft box, with one diffuser, is positioned parallel with both subject and camera. Immediately, we are able to see that there is a longer ratio between highlight and shadow than in ‘Illustration D’, in which we have placed a second diffuser. ‘Diagram [B]’

In ‘Illustration E’, the soft box, with one diffuser, is positioned at the same parallel to the subject and camera, but behind the subject. This is designed to produce a dramatic split-light* impression, with a long ratio between highlight and shadow. Now see the difference when we use two diffusers in ‘Illustration F’. ‘Diagram [C]’. *A split-light describes any facial portrait that is lit on one side of the face and virtually or completely in shadow on the other side.

While we have the soft box in position for illustrations E and F, I have the subject turn to present a profile to the camera and ‘Illustration G’ is with both diffusers and ‘Illustration H’ is with a single diffuser. This placement of the light is ideal for profile lighting and not, as so often seen, with the light directly in front to the subject, which unless the box is what we describe as a strip bank, where the light is narrow, perhaps just 12”, the light over-illuminates the camera side of the face. Diagram [D].

The illustrations so far have demonstrated basic main or key lighting. Now let us consider the use of what is commonly referred to as fill light. The purpose of the fill light is to reduce the ratio between highlight and shadow. There is much discussion about ratios and too often instructors will discuss how we ascertain a ratio by describing the difference between the f-stop of the main light and that of the fill. I prefer to teach the skill of fill light by using our eyes. What we see is what we get and, as discussed earlier, we each have different senses and appreciations for the degree of contrast we prefer, so I will dispense with describing how we come to a 3:1 or 3½:1 ratio because the only time we need to know the formula is when it is dictated by a client or instructor.

Go to page two of light what light

Photo Quote: When I'm ready to make a photograph, I think I quite obviously see in my minds eye something that is not literally there in the true meaning of the word. I'm interested in something which is built up from within, rather than just extracted from without. - Ansel Adams