Notes on the light in the last post

I want to mention a couple of things about two of the photos in particular.

If you look at the photo of my daughter with her hands up touching the black, note that the light is coming from her left side. However, there is a reflector to her front that is casting a little more light in on that side and you can see the catch lights in the tops of both eyes because of it. This photo works for me because of her pose. If she were just standing there, our eyes would be drawn to the bright side of her face and the window. As it is, her hands up draw us around her face to the light of her hands and so back to the dark side of her face as well. I like this dramatic look in this picture, and it has to do with both light and composition.

If you look at the photo of my littlest one against the brick wall, the light is coming in from behind her. There is enough window light in front of her to illuminate (but not as strongly) the front of her face, but not enough to put catch lights in her eyes. The reason this photo works for me is that we read a book from left to right, and the lines in the bricks and light not only bring us into the back of her head but continue to draw our eyes to the right so that we actually look at her face and her expression. The direction of her eyes also draw us to the right, so we aren't stopped by the strong light in the back.

The ideal portrait lights up the mask of the face predominantly and you see catch lights in the upper part of the eyes. But the light is also complementary to the subject. Strong, flat light from the front eliminates shadows and makes the face look wider (as with on-camera flash). We want dimensionality to the face. If you study portraits you like, look for where the catch-lights are. You can often tell by the position and shape of them, where they are and the shape of the light providing them. Also look at where the shadows lie - are they particularly dark, light, soft, hard?

Have fun!