Light can be very simple

As photographers we have to realize that light is our language, it’s the paint we work with to tell the story.
Now for most photographers light is something they can control as long as it’s something familiar and something that…. well has a label which states what it does.

 

Light however can be so many things, in my opinion (and I really mean this) there is no light source that can’t be used to create a nice image. So during a workshop I got some questions about different light sources and we did a part of the workshop with just one (well actually 3) light source, an old chandelier. The only thing we modified from this chandelier is that we use 100W light bulbs instead of the much lower in power bulbs you would normally use. This helps to keep the ISO a bit lower.
Oh and don’t worry if your camera shoots on ISO1600 or ISO2000, when you zoom in you indeed see some noise, but trust me… when you print or publish for the net you won’t see the noise anymore, or at least it won’t bother you.

 

Now the fun thing about shooting with these kind of light sources is that you really learn to control your light and see what light does, for example placing it closer to the model will give you totally different look than when you place it further away. Today I show you two sets we did with the chandelier. On the first one we had the lights really close to the model while on the last set my assistent actually swung the lights above the model (Manon). As you can see… the same light source but two totally different looks.

Manon Juli 5 2014 (82 of 153)_DxO

Manon Juli 5 2014 (103 of 153)_DxO

Manon Juli 5 2014 (122 of 153)_DxO

Manon Juli 5 2014 (129 of 153)_DxO

Manon Juli 5 2014 (153 of 153)_DxO

And one with a more harsher look.

Manon Juli 5 2014 (133 of 153)_DxO

1 reply
  1. E.P. Hopper
    E.P. Hopper says:

    I really like the look/feel of that lighting. I figured it would be more harsh, but I guess the three bulbs essentially makes it a bigger light source and gives it that wrap around the model’s face?
    How did you meter for the first two where she is holding the light? It seems at that distance she wouldn’t have that much room to move around without changing the exposure.

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