Studio Lighting and Portraiture Research

Types of Light: Ambient Light: Light that is already in the scene before any other lighting is added.

Main light: The main light source. As is, where the most light is coming from.

Fill light: A supplementary light. Usually used to brighten dark areas of a photo, such as a shadow.

Diffused light: Light that is softened by some sort of light diffuser. This reduces glare and harsh shadows, giving photos a softer feeling to them.

Ceiling bounce: Light that reflects off the ceiling and comes back down from above. You can achieve this by pointing your light source up or at an angle, so that the light comes back down onto your subject.

Background light: A light source behind the subject of your photo. This illuminates the back of the object.

Hair light: A light used to focus on the hair and its immediate surrounding areas. Used to focus the viewers gaze to the actors hair.

Natural Light: Light from the sun. The cheapest light you can use for your photos.

What is the colour of daylight?: Technically blue, but the way we see it on earth depends on Rayleigh Scattering. Basically, the sun is white, but by the time its wavelengths reach earth, it appears to be a different colour. During day, it scatters violet and blue colours, which leaves us with a yellowlish light. During sunset and sunrise, the sun appears to be more reddish because the blue wavelengths that make the sun yellow take longer to reach earth, which in turn makes the yellow wavelengths also take longer to reach.

What are Tungsten Bulbs?: Tungsten Bulbs, better know as Incandescent Lights, is an electric light bulb made with a wire filament. This wire is heated up in order to produce light. It is one of the most common light bulbs used today, and was one of the only light bulbs used when they first became available to the public. This type of light bulb is one of the most common lighting sources for photos worldwide, with others being the sun, Fluorescent Light bulbs, and studio lights.

What colour do flashes mimic?: There's no definitive answer online, so I will try to guess on my own. To keep it short, camera flashes need to be as bright as possible to properly work. In order to do that, they use the brightest colour in the colour wheel, which is white. Therefore, flashes mimic the colour white in order to properly illuminate the scene you are shooting.

Types of Portraits:

Candid (subject aware): Candid photography is capturing images without a set pose. The subject knows they are being photographed, but they do not know when.

Candid (subject unaware): Similar to the former, but the subject does not even know they are being photographed by someone.

Posed (formal): A photo where the subject is in a set pose. These are usually shot in a studio.

Posed (informal): Same as the former, but instead of a studio, the photos are taken in alternative locations, mostly outside or in some sort of public indoor area.

Self portrait: Also know as a selfie. The subject is also the photographer, taking a photo of themselves. This is most commonly done with a mobile phone.

Photos:

Ambient Light Portrait:

Photo by Craig Currie