Recently, I was taking pictures of a small group of people. In addition to this, I took two portraits of the new group members. I shot them against a greyish wall, using two umbrellas with YN565 speedlights. The only thing I did in post-processing was to darken the edges of the frame. Is there anything in these pictures you would do differently?
A couple of portraits
- Thread starter Felisek
- Start date
Why? What would it change?
Opinion maybe, but it certainly is the standard norm in portraits, pretty much first rule. Said to look more natural because we are used to the sun being high overhead. It is a little less flat, makes shadow gradients under chin, etc. Main thing, it puts the nose shadow lower, somewhat more under the nose instead of out beside the nose (we are not used to that. 
) Where this nose shadow is distinguishes the standard styles of lighting, like Rembrandt, Paramount, etc. It is why the light stands are 8 to 12 feet tall. 30 to 45 degrees higher than head is a good start.
Start watching the gradient shadows in all the pictures you see, at least the planned shots considered to be photography (esp old movies closeups, promo pictures of the actors, magazines, advertisements, etc.). Ponder where the lights were.
) Where this nose shadow is distinguishes the standard styles of lighting, like Rembrandt, Paramount, etc. It is why the light stands are 8 to 12 feet tall. 30 to 45 degrees higher than head is a good start.Start watching the gradient shadows in all the pictures you see, at least the planned shots considered to be photography (esp old movies closeups, promo pictures of the actors, magazines, advertisements, etc.). Ponder where the lights were.
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Thanks, Wayne. This make sense, will try it next time. And a good idea with watching other pictures, might turn it into a new hobby: lightspotting
Right, it is a hazard. In the movies, you soon get to where you are not interested in who the murderer was, you are instead trying to figure out the lighting angles and ratio.
My notion is the old classic movies spent great effort on the lighting. The closeups of the famous leading stars were planned extremely carefully. Action scenes are hard to plan, they just sort of happen.
EDIT: Oops. I always leave something out. Higher than head speaks only of the main light. The fill light should be very close to the lens axis, which means back by the camera so the camera can see around it. Close to the lens lights what the lens sees, and specifically does not create a second set of shadows.
Here is one try at explaining it: 45 degree Portrait Lighting Setup
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