Photograph the Face: Lighting, Posing, and Postproduction Techniques for Flawless Portraits 9781608956876, 1608956873, 9781608956883, 1608956881

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Photograph the Face Lighting, Posing, and Postproduction for Flawless Portraits

Jeff Smith

Amherst Media, Inc.

Buffalo, NY

Jeff Smith is a professional photographer and the owner of two very successful studios in central California. His numerous articles have appeared in Rangefinder, Professional Photographer, and Studio Photography and Design magazines. Jeff has been a featured speaker at the Senior Photographers Inter­ national Convention, as well as at numerous seminars for professional photographers. He has written seven books, including Outdoor and Location Portrait Photography; Corrective Lighting, Posing, and Retouching Techniques for Portrait Photographers; Professional Digital Portrait Photography; and Success in Portrait Photography (all from Amherst Media®). His common-sense approach to photography and business makes the information he presents both practical and very easy to understand.

Copyright © 2014 by Jeff Smith. All rights reserved. All photographs by the author unless otherwise noted. Published by: Amherst Media, Inc. P.O. Box 586 Buffalo, N.Y. 14226 Fax: 716-874-4508 www.AmherstMedia.com Publisher: Craig Alesse Senior Editor/Production Manager: Michelle Perkins Associate Editor: Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt Associate Publisher: Kate Neaverth Editorial Assistance from: Carey A. Miller, Sally Jarzab, John S. Loder Business Manager: Adam Richards Warehouse and Fulfillment Manager: Roger Singo ISBN-13: 978-1-60895-687-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2013952530 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or otherwise, without prior written consent from the publisher. Notice of Disclaimer: The information contained in this book is based on the author’s experience and opinions. The author and publisher will not be held liable for the use or misuse of the information in this book. Check out Amherst Media’s blogs at: http://portrait-photographer.blogspot.com/ http://weddingphotographer-amherstmedia.blogspot.com/

Contents Introduction

Unique Faces Require Unique Approaches . . . . . . . 6 A Custom Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Two Important Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Rule #1: Even Problems Are Part of the Person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Rule #2: Sales Are Tied to Self-Image . . . . 10 Do Learn the Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 About This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1. Professionalism Is Key . . . . . . . . . 12 Beware of the Word “Easy” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Be Up for a Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Don’t Practice on Clients; Do Practice with Real People . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Invest in Your Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Do Pick the Right Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2. Basic Portrait Goals . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Set the Stage for Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Previsualize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Understand Your Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Make Conscious Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Don’t Let Ego Stand in Your Way . . . . . . . . . . 20 Develop a Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 What All Clients Want . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 1. Beautiful Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2. Shape-Defining Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3. An Emphasis on the Face . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Do Consider Contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Do Know What’s Important . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 What the Individual Client Wants . . . . . . . . . 22 The Purpose of the Portrait . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 The Client’s Self-Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 How to Talk with Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Choose the Right Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Traditional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Casual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Glamorous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Guide Clients to Good Decisions . . . . . . . . . 27

Change the Inspiration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Change the Wardrobe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Change the Portrait Length . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Do Shoot Closer Views for a Larger Face SIze . . 29

3. Analyze the Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 The Standard of Beauty Defines Our Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 1. Slim the Face and Figure . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 2. Enhance Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3. Emphasize the Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Do Choose Makeup That Reflects the Subject . . 32 4. De-emphasize the Ears and Nose . . . . . . 32 5. Reveal the Contours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 6. Play Up Youth and Health . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Accentuate the Positive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4. Pose the Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Initial Posing Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 1. Consider the Image Style . . . . . . . . . . . 36 2. Understand the Connection to Lighting . . 37 3. Control the Camera Height . . . . . . . . . 37 4. Frame the Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 The Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Catchlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Do Watch for Distortion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Position of the Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Eye Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Do Support the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Reflective Poses and Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Eyes Follow the Nose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 One Eye or Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 The Nose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

table of contents 3

The Ears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Do Watch for Glare on Eyeglasses . . . . . . . . . 43 Mouth, Lips, and Expression . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Mirroring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 The Perfect Smile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 The Head Tilt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 The Traditional Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 The Real Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Don’t Go Too Far . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Hair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Guys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 The Neck and Chin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Hair (and the Lack of It) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Long Hair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Thinning Hair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Do Get Everyone Involved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5. Portrait Lighting Fundamentals . 54 Have a Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Light Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Main Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Fill Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Background Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Hair Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Accent Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Broad Lighting vs. Short Lighting . . . . . . . . . 55 Light Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 1. Soft/Diffused Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 2. Hard/Directional Light . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Controlling Light Characteristics . . . . . . . . . 57 Size Relative to Subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 The Distance to the Subject . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Light Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Skin Tones & Light Characteristics: Think Like a Painter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

6. Metering, Testing, and Training Your Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Why Meter? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Improved Accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Improved Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 How to Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 The Main Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 The Other Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Light Ratios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Consistency and Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 The String Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Run Lighting Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 1. Photograph Subject One . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 2. Photograph Subject Two . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 3. Print and Evaluate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Add Fill Light to Control Contrast . . . . . . . . 67 When to Add Fill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 How Much Fill Is “Right?” . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Flash Fill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Reflected Fill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Develop Your “Camera Vision” . . . . . . . . . . 70

7. Good Lighting Is in the Eyes . . . . 72 Position the Main Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Angle of the Main Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Do Watch for Eyelash Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Height of the Main Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Catchlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Balance Uneven Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Unwanted Multiple Catchlights . . . . . . . . . 74 Boost Eye Color with Reflected Fill . . . . . . 75 Outdoor Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Lower the Angle of the Main Light . . . . . . 76 Common Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Don’t Work Too Close to the Edge . . . . . . . . . 76 Practical Example: Portraits on an Overcast Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Get It Right in the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

8. Studio Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Camera and Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Tripod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Light Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Light Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 4 Photograph the face

Don’t Overlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Control the Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Softboxes and Halos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Do Feather the Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Strip Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Parabolics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Barn Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Black Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 The Hair and Accent Light(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Light Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Positioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Lighting Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Traditional Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Basic Setups: High Key, Low Key . . . . . . . . . . 92 Butterfly Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Do Pick the Right Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Ring Light Portraits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Spotlit Portraits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Diamond Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Corrective Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

9. Location Lighting: Indoors . . . . . 98 Benefits and Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Camera Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Decide on the Light Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Window Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 1. Watch the Angle of the Light . . . . . . . . 99 2. Consider the Size of the Window . . . . 100 3. Factor in the Time of Day . . . . . . . . . . 101 4. Add a Reflector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 5. Don’t Ignore the Background . . . . . . . 101 Studio Lights with Ambient Light . . . . . . . . 102 Direction of the Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Balancing the Flash/Ambient Exposure . . 102 Do Try Bouncing the Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 My Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 1. Determine the Purpose of the Portrait . . . 104 2. Prepare the Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 3. Choose the Locations and Lighting . . . 104 Don’t Underestimate the Effect of Furniture on Posing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 4. Manage the Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Do Plan for Group Portraits . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

10. Location Lighting: Outdoors . 106 Natural Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Time of Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Evaluating the Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Don’t Go for the Gold (Reflector) . . . . . . . . . 107 Reflected Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Do Work with an Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Add Strobe Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Do Try Dragging the Shutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 My Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 1. Find the Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 2. Position the Main Light . . . . . . . . . . . 111 3. Check the Transition Area . . . . . . . . . . 112 4. Think and Customize . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 A Few More Suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

11. Postproduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 The Skin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 The Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 The Hair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Whitening the Teeth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 The Nose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 The Chin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 The Ears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Age-Related Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Who Pays? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Efficiency and Profitability . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 conclusion

Giving Life to a Piece of Paper . . . 123 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 table of contents 5

Introduction

Unique Faces Require Unique Approaches Learning Objective

T

Understand how a customized approach enhances success.

here are over seven billion people on this planet and every one of them has a unique face. The width and length of each face varies considerably, as do the structure and contours created by the cheekbones, the jaw, and the forehead. The noses and ears are also unique to each face and help define the look of the individual. Above all, the eyes and mouth of each person help reveal their unique identity and mood. That being the case, wouldn’t you think that portrait photographers would have almost count-

less lighting styles or strategies in place to deal with all the differences between faces? Unfortunately, most photographers use the same lighting week after week—apparently expecting that what looks great on a fair-skinned, blue-eyed woman with classic European features will somehow be just as flattering on a darker-complected, browned-eyed woman with classic African features. Both woman are beautiful, but they are also different—and the way you light them should be, too.

Each person’s face is unique—and your approach to showcasing it in portraits should be just as individualized. 6 Photograph the face

A Custom Approach Portrait photography is one of the most personal and customized products in the world, yet many photographers approach their sessions without regard to the individual client’s tastes, the subject’s unique appearance, or the expectation of the final portrait based on the client’s self-image. Sometimes it helps to look at other professions to see the flaws in our own, so let’s consider a couple examples. I love motorcycles. I just sold my Harley and I am planning on having a custom bike made. This isn’t a cheap process—but, to me, the level of importance of my motorcycle ranks somewhere between my sons and my dog . . . so you might say it’s a very important and personal thing to me. Knowing how important this motorcycle is to me and the amount of money it will cost to build, do you think the craftsman who designs and builds my bike will just call me in, take a deposit, and then inform me I will love whatever he designs and builds, simply because he is an artist? I don’t think so. Most creative businesses learned long ago that art is in the eye of the buyer not the creator. Maybe you can’t relate to motorcycles. Let’s look at wedding cake decorators. Wedding cakes have become very important to brides, and designing them is truly an artistic profession. A wedding cake is very personal, so it has to be customized to the taste of the client. Can you imagine a cake decorator in today’s market just telling the bride and groom, “I’m an artist, so you will love anything I decide to create for you.”? Wake up! All creative professionals need direction from the client in order to deliver a product that will sell.

Selling is easy when you understand the client and deliver what they’ve asked for.

As with professionals in other creative fields, direction from the client helps us produce a product that will sell.

“All creative professionals need direction from introduction 7 the client in order to deliver a product that will sell.”

Two Important Rules Some of the direction you get will be gathered by talking with your client about their specific needs and tastes (this will be covered in chapter 2). However, there are some important factors underlying the practice of professional portrait photography that clients won’t consider (or won’t want to acknowledge). These are covered in the following two rules. As the professional, it’s up to you to make sure these rules are followed.

Rule #1: Even Problems Are Part of the Person Even if part of the face has a problem, that problem is part of what makes up the look of the person you are photographing. Especially when it comes to the eyes and mouth, changing the subject’s face changes their appearance into one that friends and family won’t recognize. That’s the case whether we’re talking about changes from a plastic surgeon’s knife, distortions from a photographer’s improper use of lighting, or overenthusiastic postproduction enhancements by a retoucher—even if, to your tastes, those changes represent an improvement. We have all been shocked by the before-andafter pictures of Hollywood celebrities who have undergone plastic surgery. Good plastic surgeons realize that you can alter the body and some parts of the face without most people noticing the specific enhancements, but when the eyes and mouth are altered to even a moderate degree, everyone sees it immediately. Kenny Rogers is an excellent example. All of his career, he had eyes that were partially closed. (I suffer from the The eyes and smile are key factors that differentiate us. If you mess with them, you can quickly make the subject unrecognizable. 8 Photograph the face

same thing. When I was younger, people said I had “bedroom eyes,” which to this day I don’t understand . . . nor do I really want to!) When Kenny Rogers had his eyes worked on, the surgeon made the eye openings larger by lifting the upper lids—and suddenly Kenny Rogers didn’t look like Kenny Rogers anymore. Years ago, way before digital photography, I photographed a senior with dark circles under her eyes. The darkness was so deep that makeup couldn’t hide it completely. When she ordered her portraits, she looked at her images and said, “I love them, but I want my circles removed

“Changing the subject’s face changes their appearance into one that friends and family won’t recognize.” completely!” I told her it would be better to soften them than to remove them. She insisted, though, and when the portraits came in, she felt that the retouched images did not look like her. So that’s our first rule: Problems can’t be eliminated, only softened.

For portraits to sell, clients have to look like the best possible versions of themselves.

introduction 9

Portraits that meet your client’s needs and desires will pretty much sell themselves.

Rule #2: Sales Are Tied to Self-Image Ready for rule #2? Here it is: You can’t sell a portrait if the subject’s depiction in it doesn’t match (or at least come close to) the subject’s self-image. Self-image makes your job as a photographer much harder, because it is not your perception of the client that matters, it is the client’s—unless, of course, you don’t care about money and profit! When my two sons wore braces in high school, I would go to their appointments with them. As I was waiting, I saw many patients react strongly on the day they got their get their braces taken off. The majority of them hated the way

their teeth looked—even though, in reality, they had beautiful smiles and teeth. After one look in the mirror, many of these young people asked the orthodontist to put the braces back on. The reason? To this point in their lives, they had only seen themselves with crooked teeth and with braces on, so that’s what had formed their selfimage. None of them had seen themselves with perfect teeth. While the rest of us saw their new smiles as improvements to their appearance, their self-image was changed. Like most people, they were not comfortable with that change—at least at first. Our subjects’ self-images can work against us as photographers. This is especially true with a subject whose appearance has been transformed by the gradual effects of aging. How many men do you photograph who are nearly bald but act surprised when they see “some bald guy” in their family portrait? How many women have you photographed who now shop at the larger-size clothing stores but seem surprised when their portraits don’t show them looking like they did in college? As we age, our minds protect our egos a bit, preventing us from having to deal with the real image of ourselves. (You younger people might call this denial—but as you get older, you’ll come to refer to it as peace of mind.)

✔ DO Learn the Rules

10 Photograph the face

If you master the two rules in this chapter, you’ll be on your way to creating portraits that people want to buy. This is different than producing “art” you have to sell. Too many photographers embark upon portrait sessions as though they are creating personal art for their own collection. These same photographers wonder why they spend their short careers trying to sell people “art” that they really don’t want to buy. Once you learn how to depict your subjects’ faces accurately and in ways that reflect their self-image, your clients will want to buy your work, because the portraits will suit their needs and desires.

About This Book The purpose of this book is to teach you how to determine the correct posing and lighting to use for different clients in different situations, making each client look their best while producing an end portrait that mirrors their self-image. Please read this book with an open mind. Many “professional photographers” get so caught up with

the “photographer” side of the equation that they never master the “professional” part (see chapter 1 for more on this). Building a successful, profitable business as a photographer relies as much on understanding people’s tastes and self-images as it does on mastering the proper techniques of lighting, posing, and postproduction.

introduction 11

chapter one

Professionalism Is Key Learning Objective

I

Learn how to develop your skills effectively, ethically, and efficiently.

f you look at any artistic profession over the last fifty years, chances are good that the profession has evolved and moved forward. The end product has become better and the process used to create it has become much more complex to

deal with the evolving tastes of the clients. Cake decorators, florists, and interior decorators (just to name a few) have all challenged themselves and elevated their professions to new levels.

Beware of the Word “Easy” While some photographers are continually elevating the level of photography they offer to their clients, others seem committed to making photography easy rather than great. I regularly see program titles for younger photographers that emphasize an “easy” strategy for producing portraits. Photo-educators who used to teach complex lighting styles for award-winning photography are now showing people how to sync up three speedlights with the camera’s automatic metering system so you never have to think again—provided, of course, you don’t mind producing photos that are only slightly better than the consumer could take themselves. If someone can bake a cake at home that looks 80 percent as good as the professional bakery, they will save the money and do it themselves. If you want clients to invest in your work, you can’t look for the easy way. 12 Photograph the face

✖ DON’T Practice on Clients The key to learning lighting is to test your setups and to practice using new ones. This should be done on your own time using friends, family, or other subjects who have agreed to pose for test sessions. It should never be done during paying sessions. When clients give you money to create portraits for them, they have a right to expect that you already know what you’re doing; they’re not paying for you to practice on them.

✔ DO Practice with Real People

Learning to create compelling, flattering images isn’t easy—but nothing worth doing ever is.

As digital-camera quality and ease of operation improves, the quality of photos that consumers can take continues to increase toward that critical point. At the same time, you have photographers looking for ways to create photos as easily as possible. Do you see the problem here?

Be Up for a Challenge I receive countless e-mail messages from photographers complaining about not being able to charge more, but when I review their work I understand why. If I were a consumer putting together a wedding, organizing a family portrait, or looking for senior portraits of my child, I would look at the quality of that “professional” photography and seriously think about saving a bunch of money by going down to Costco, buying a camera package, and doing it myself. As professional photographers, to remain profitable we have to produce work that the general

To get the most from your test sessions, photograph people who look like your paying clients, not like models. One reason many photographers become frustrated is that they practice only on perfect people. During these sessions, they produce decent images—but, to be honest, a first-year photography student can produce good portraits of perfect people. Here’s the problem: one of these photographers shows his perfect-subject images to friends who, naturally, make comments about how talented he is. The feedback encourages him to start working with clients and charging for his services. Unfortunately, his first client doesn’t look like a model—she is an overweight housewife who wants a sexy picture for her husband. Completely untrained and totally unprepared for a session like this, the young photographer blows it. Not surprisingly, the techniques that worked so well with a skinny model make the more average woman look ridiculous. Instead of accepting his responsibility for the poor outcome of the session, the photographer blames the woman for being overweight. When he talks to his photo buddies, he makes comments like, “I’m a photographer, not a plastic surgeon— what did she expect?” With that, the circle of unhappy photography customers grows. And that’s professionalism is key not just a problem for the photographer who13 initially failed his subject, it undermines client confidence in our entire profession.

consumer could never imagine how to create. We can’t sell out and look for the easy way. Everything in my life that I am proud of was hard—and its difficulty is what made me proud.

The hardest job is also the one I am most proud of: being a father. I could have done what was easy. I have worked hard my entire life, so I could have said what everyone else who wants parenting to be easy says, “I just don’t have the time!” But these weren’t just any kids, they were my kids and they were going to have the same opportunities that I had growing up in a loving home with a great father—a father who practiced what he preached. It wasn’t easy, but it was amazing.

Invest in Your Education My photography career is something else I am very proud of. When many of the photographers I began my career with were looking for the fastest way to get from rookie to hanging out their shingle, I committed to studying with those who were great at photography and had learned how to make huge sums of money selling what they were so good at creating. Professional education is something you will never regret, but it must be a quality education. Many photographers today think that YouTube is a wellspring of information for the aspiring photographer, and in some ways it can be. Many successful professional photographers have videos/tutorials on YouTube—myself included. Unfortunately, the vast majority of what I have seen are videos by less experienced photographers demonstrating concepts they don’t completely understand themselves. They are trying to teach people who know only slightly less than they do. Whether you are college-trained or self-taught in photography, the quality of your education

14 Photograph the face

“Professional education is something you will never regret, but it must be a quality education.”

If you take the time to educate yourself and practice, you won’t need to hide behind your Photoshop skills. You’ll have nice images straight out of the camera.

(and ultimately your photography) will depend on the quality of your teacher. In the student/ master relationship, which is the way photography and most things in the Western world are still taught, the student rarely surpasses the master. In a class of a hundred, maybe one student has the ability and the discipline to surpass the master. Realizing that fact, you need to study from the best teachers you can find. If you are going to be 80 percent as successful as the master/mentor you select, shouldn’t you select someone who is incredibly successful rather than some college kid who knows only slightly more than you do?

✔ DO Pick the Right Teachers Too common today are weekly “support groups,” where photographers who know very little can teach the ones who know nothing at all. You have young photographers offering to be mentors to even younger photographers, which is simply crazy. If you take advice from students, you will forever be a student; if you learn from a master, you too can someday become a master. There is an old saying that has never been truer than in photography today: “Never take advice from anyone who isn’t where you want to be.”

Poor teaching can actually be worse than no teaching. Practicing poor techniques only creates bad habits that you will spend a lifetime trying to overcome. Each year, as the season for yearbook sessions at the studio rolls around, I look for professionalism is key 15

16 Photograph the face

photographers who can assist me and/or shoot yearbook images. These photographers also help me with dances and proms. When reviewing the applicants, I look for training in exactly what I do (which almost never happens) or someone who has never worked in a studio. The biggest screwups in my career—the real “are we going to lose this school?” moments—have come when working with photographers who knew just enough to be dangerous. Once, I had to deliver all of the images from a dance in a three-quarter-length composition because one of the photographers noticed the area above the background was showing, revealing the ceiling above. Without considering that this would be cropped off in a 8x10-inch print, he zoomed in and framed the setup perfectly in the

“Practicing poor techniques only creates bad habits that you will spend a lifetime trying to overcome.” viewfinder. And, yes, this was after being told to never touch anything once it had been set up by me because we print everything exactly the same (so all the setups/images have to match). I could share more horror stories about overconfident photographers who screwed up simple tasks, but I will just finish by saying this: Find the best teachers you can and practice only what you know will make you better in the long run. professionalism is key 17

chapter two

Basic Portrait Goals Learning Objective

Determine clients’ desires and help guide them to a successful outcome.

I

n this book, I will mention money and profit quite often. I love photography, but I can break even staying home and watching television. I take pictures to earn a living. For most of my readers, this is a profession (or they want it to be), so making money is a necessity. As young photographers, we sometimes feel that photography is so much fun we’d do it for free . . . but then life has an ugly way of teaching us that we (and our families) need money to survive.

“When a client tells you what they have in mind, you should be able to visualize exactly what your version of that image will look like.”

Set the Stage for Success There is no “one way” to succeed in this profession. There are, however, some key factors that will help turn the odds in your favor. Previsualize. Is a portrait created in the camera or in the mind of the photographer? I believe Don’t spend your career struggling for each sale. If you learn to create what your clients want, the images will sell themselves.

18 Photograph the face

that portraits should be created in your mind before you ever pick up a camera. Too many photographers—and this goes for both seasoned pros and newbies—rely on the law of averages, taking way too many images in the hopes that something looks good. When a client tells you what they have in mind, you should be able to visualize exactly what your version of that image will look like and exactly what you’ll need to do in order to produce the portrait that both you and the client have in mind. Visualization is the first step in creating a portrait by design, rather than by default. Understand Your Market. In business, what works well in one area doesn’t necessarily work in another. There are differences in clients’ tastes

basic portrait goals 19

✖ DON’T Let Ego Stand in Your Way Some photographers decide that they can tell clients what is good. This usually lasts right up until they are confronted by one who asks, “Why did you take the portrait this way?” As the client leaves the studio (with their money still in their pocket), it suddenly becomes clear that there is a higher authority. Creating images that clients like (and will buy) will take some practice. I am not saying that you should “sell out.” However, if you want to consider only your own tastes, you should make photography your hobby, not your profession.

Study what works for your clients in your market and filter new ideas through that knowledge and experience. Developing a recognizable style is a key factor in profitability.

and beliefs, the population of the city or town, and countless other factors to consider. I have tried many ideas during different stages of my business—things that seemed like a great idea when I learned them at a seminar but then flopped when I tried them at home. You can’t rely on photographers who know nothing about your business or your potential clients to guide and direct your studio. Take in new ideas wherever you may find them, but then filter those concepts through your own experience, judgment, and knowledge. Make Conscious Decisions. Take control of every aspect of your work and make conscious decisions based on what you need to do to create salable images. This includes your choice of 20 Photograph the face

The eyes are the first thing people look at in a portrait—and the first thing I consider when lighting.

equipment; your decisions about lighting, posing, clothing, and background selection; and the decisions you make about your business’s marketing and branding. If you analyze your unique market and make decisions designed to create the product that’s best suited to it, you’ll be amazed at the difference it will make in your customers’ satisfaction and your bottom line. Develop a Style. Style is another important profitability factor. With an off-target style, you can struggle for each sale; with a well-conceived one, you can create images that sell themselves. Many photographers spend their careers trying to convince clients to buy images that were created to suit the photographer’s tastes, not to fulfill the client’s expectations. Successful photographers determine what sells, then learn to enjoy and improve on that style.

What All Clients Want Unless you plan on giving your work away, you have to know what paying clients are looking for. Then, you have to be able to create it in the camera. So what do the viewers—and more importantly the buyers—of portraits want to see?

1. Beautiful Eyes We are taught that the first thing people look at in portraits is the subject’s eyes. The eyes are the windows to the soul—but if they aren’t lit and posed properly, the windows are closed. Every source of light on a person’s face produces catchlights in the eyes. These reflections give life to the face. Knowing that the eyes are the most important element in a portrait, I consider the eyes first when lighting any portrait.

2. Shape-Defining Shadows The next characteristic paying clients are looking for is shadows. If you study fine paintings or photographs, you will notice that the illusion of depth we see in them is not produced by the lightest areas of the portrait but by the darkest. Darkness draws our eye to the light. Darkness gives a lifeless canvas the illusion of depth. basic portrait goals 21

3. An Emphasis on the Face A common misconception is that our eyes are drawn to the lightest area of a portrait. In fact, our eyes are drawn to contrast. Look at the two images below, taken against a white studio background. In the first photo, everything is white or nearly white; her tan skin then becomes the darkest area in the portrait, and that’s where your eye is drawn. In the second photo, the same subject has a black shirt on. In this sea of white, the black shirt is the darkest area in the photograph—and that’s where your eye is drawn. Now, knowing that our eyes are drawn to contrast, where should the area of highest contrast be? Where do you want the viewer of an image to look first? The answer is the face.

What the Individual Client Wants To get beyond basic portraiture, you need to do the things all clients want, but also identify what your specific client expects from the session. This includes understanding both the intended audience for the images and the subject’s expectations for how they will be presented in the images.

✔ DO Consider Contrast In the left photo, the area of greatest contrast is the face, so it is the first place your eyes land. In the right image, the black shirt is the area of greatest contrast and steals attention from the subject’s face.

22 Photograph the face

✔ Do This

✖ Don’t Do This

✔ DO Know What’s Important This is so important that it bears repeating: No matter what your portrait style is, you have to direct the viewer’s attention to the subject’s face. Every­thing in a portrait should be selected to help achieve that end—and this includes the lighting and shadowing, the clothing, the posing, and the background.

The Purpose of the Portrait. Imagine that a young woman comes to your studio for a session. All you know is she wants a portrait of herself. Without finding out the purpose of the portrait, you are shooting in the dark. She might want a business portrait, a portrait for her husband, or an image for her grandparents. Even when the client defines the purpose of the portrait, you should ensure you’re both on the same page. Imagine a woman calls to have a “sexy” portrait taken for her husband. I want you to envision what poses, clothing (or lack of it), and backgrounds you would use to photograph this woman. Do you have the images in your mind? Good. Now, when she gets to the studio, you find out her husband is a minister. Are there any images in your mind that might be appropriate for Pastor Bob? Adjectives like sexy, happy, natural, and wholesome represent different things to different people. Before you decide how to photograph someone, you had better understand what these things mean to them. The Client’s Self-Image. Almost every person has something in their appearance that they would change if they could. There are two general types of problems that you will come across when working with your clients: imagined problems and real problems. The “imagined” problems are normally found in attractive, photogenic clients. Sometimes, the person who has these problems is the only one

Everyone has things about their appearance they’d rather not see in their portraits. If you understand those concerns in advance, you can address them during the session.

who can actually see them. A typical imagined problem is something like, “One of my eyes is smaller than the other,” “One of my ears is lower than the other,” or “My smile seems crooked.” The “real” problems are the issues that almost every one of us has. We are never as thin as we would like, we think our noses are too large, our ears stick out too much, and our eyes are too big or too small. These problems are easier for most photographers to address because they are more easily identified as things that need to be disguised in the final portrait. We may sympathize with real problems more than imagined problems, but all of a client’s problems need to be softened if the session is to be profitable. How to Talk with Clients. I have spent a great deal of time training my staff to obtain all of this information from clients and pass it along to me as seamlessly as possible.

We have an information sheet filled out for each client, listing the reason the portrait is being taken, who the portraits are being taken for, who will be in the portraits, and the basic tastes of all of the listed people. Our staff members then ask specific questions to get clients talking about their ideas and what their perfect portrait would look like. They also bring up the fact that many people have concerns about their appearance and that there are many ways to hide, correct, or soften problem areas if we know about them. One way to get people to open up is to ask questions that require only a yes/no response. For example, instead of asking them to list their least favorite features, you could say, “A lot of women worry about the size or shape of their nose. Is this something that concerns you?” Additionally, we have each client look though sample books targeted at the types of images they

“All creative professionals need direction frombasic portrait goals 23 the client in order to deliver a product that will sell.”

are taking. They select the ideas they like the best and my assistant writes it all down. The client sheet is put into the client envelope and, while the client is shown into a dressing room, one of my assistants relays that information to me. At this point, I know the purpose of the portraits and who they are being taken for. I have a basic understanding of the tastes of the people involved and the ideas selected from the sample books. With all this information, I now Clients review sample books and choose looks they like. These inspire the images we create during their session.

24 Photograph the face

have a clear idea of how to design images that are perfectly suited to the purposes of the client. This is the missing step in most photography businesses. I am good, but I can only create what the clients wants if I know what it is. You are good—and you too can create what the client wants if you take the time to find out what it is. Neither you nor I are good enough to give the client what they want without first finding out what that is.

Choose the Right Style Once you find out the purpose of the portrait, you can determine the right style and start making choices about the clothing, background, lighting, posing, and expression needed. Traditional. Traditional portraits reflect power, and to some degree wealth, respect, and a classic elegance. They are often used for business, yearbooks, people of power, and people of distinction. The posing is more linear, with only slight changes in the angles of the body. The expressions should be more subtle as well. Laughing smiles are definitely not appropriate. But at the same time, serious expressions need to be relaxed. Most people taking traditional portraits aren’t comfortable doing so, and therefore have a tendency to scowl. This needs to be avoided. Casual. Casual portraits are relaxed and look comfortable. This style is perfect for images being given to a loved one, like a sibling or parent. Casual poses are resting poses. The arms rest on the legs, the chin rests on the hands. The back is posed at more of an angle. It is common to use the ground to pose on, lying back on the side or even on the stomach. Often, the hands or arms are used to support the face. In casual poses, the expression should be warm or at least pleasant. For most adults, a relaxed smile is perfect.

Traditional images look a bit more serious than other portraits. Casual images are relaxed and show the subject as friends and family are used to seeing them.

basic portrait goals 25

Glamorous. Glamorous portraits make the subject look as appealing and attractive as possible. I am not talking about boudoir or having the client in little or no clothing. You can pose a fully clothed human being in certain ways and make

them look extremely glamorous and appealing. If you finish the pose with the right expression, often with the lips slightly parted, you will have made the client’s romantic interest very happy.

Glamorous portraits are more dramatic and designed to make the subject look alluring to a romantic interest.

26 Photograph the face

Guide Clients to Good Decisions While it’s important to listen to what the client wants, it’s also important to know when they are wrong. Clients are paying for your expertise, so when you see someone has made a choice that isn’t in their best interests, you need to guide them in a better direction. This could involve a new image concept, a wardrobe change, or a different composition—whatever results in a more flattering and salable portrait. Change the Inspiration. Often, clients will love a sample portrait but then hate how they look that same pose/setting. You can usually solve this problem before it starts. For example, if a bride with short hair selects an inspiration image of a bride with long hair blowing in the wind, she will likely be unhappy with the results if you attempt to re-create the image directly. Instead, think of ways to modify the overall look to fit her unique situation and be honest about the changes. (“With your short hair, it would be hard to create exactly the same look—but I have some ideas to get a similar feeling . . .”). Change the Wardrobe. Here’s another scenario where asking yes/no questions can move things in the right direction without embarrassing the subject. While our consultation materials recommend against sleeveless clothing, many ladies arrive with sleeveless tops and dresses. The minute I see them, I explain, “Sleeveless tops are fine.” This doesn’t make the her feel like an idiot for not following the guidelines. Then I continue, “The only problem is that a lot of ladies worry about their upper arms looking large or hair showing on the forearms. Does that bother you?” Either she will smile and say “Yes” or she will say “No.” By phrasing your question carefully, you can make it easy for them to voice their concerns without being embarrassed.

It’s up to you to make all the little tweaks that make a scene or pose work best for the individual subject.

Lots of women are concerned about their upper arms. Switching to a top with sleeves instantly resolves any worry. basic portrait goals 27

Waist-up portraits inherently hide the hips and thighs (a part of the body women typically dislike) and provide a larger facial view, which enhances sales (see facing page).

Change the Portrait Length. The hardest spot to be in occurs when a client wants to do a pose that you know she or he should avoid. For example, when I see a heavier girl arrive with a stack of shoe boxes, I know I am going to have a problem and I need to say something the minute I show her into the dressing room. I first explain, “Many ladies go shopping to buy a matching pair of shoes for every outfit. Since they bought them, they want them to show in their portraits. The problem is that when you order your wallets for family and friends, the full-length poses make it very hard to really see your face that well.” (This gets the girl to accept that not all the poses should be done full-length.) Then I continue, “Most women worry about looking as thin as possible. The areas that women 28 Photograph the face

worry about the most are their hips and thighs. This is why most of the portraits are done from the waist up, not to show this area.” Next I ask, “Now, are there any outfits that you want to take full-length, or do you want to do everything from the waist up?” She will usually say she wants everything from the waist up. This avoids telling her she can’t take full-lengths, or being brutally honest and telling her she shouldn’t take them. Fortunately, it is not so much what you say as the way you say it. For every problem and potentially embarrassing situation there is a way to handle it without making yourself look unprofessional or seeing your client turn red. Most importantly, handling it (rather than avoiding it) will put you on the path to creating portraits the client will thank you for—and buy!

✔ DO Shoot Closer Views for a Larger Face Size Scenic portraits (those with a small subject against a large, beautiful background) have become more popular in the last few years—at least in terms of what photographers talk about and display. I can appreciate the beauty of scenic portrait showing someone else’s family . . . but when it’s my loved one, I’m going to have the same complaint most clients do: “I can’t see their face!” (This is usually followed by “. . . and I am not going to buy that.”) I am not saying that you should ignore clients’ requests. My photography has always been and will always be directed by what my clients truly want and buy. To allow your photography to be directed by anything else is futile in a business structure. However, you must also realize the natural tendencies of your clients and take close-ups along with any scenic. Offering some shots with an increased face size will ultimately make the client happier and increase your final sale. Unfortunately, I have a sneaking suspicion that the proliferation of scenic portraits has less to do with satisfying clients than with making the photographer’s job easier. With a smaller face size, the quality of the lighting is less critical—in fact, with a sufficiently amazing skyline, people might not even notice that the lighting on the face is actually pretty bad! If you truly have all your clients plunking down their hard-earned money for large wall portraits (large enough to really see the faces), then I say keep doing what you are doing. However, if you are hiding the faces in the landscape to disguise the fact that you’re not in control of the lighting, you’re headed in a bad direction. Even clients who request scenic or full-length portraits often end up purchasing closer views because they offer a nicer view of the face. Shoot the setup multiple ways to ensure you have maximized the potential sale.

basic portrait goals 29

chapter three

Analyze the Face Learning Objective

Observe the subject’s features and decide how best to flatter them.

T

o do your job effectively, you must analyze each client’s appearance. You have to put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself, “If I were them, what would I want to change? What would I not want to see in my portraits?” or “If I were them, what would I think were my best attributes? What would I want to emphasize?” It is pretty easy to assess a person’s face and observe any significant issues that need to be addressed. If you look at a person and think “Wow, what a nose!” that’s probably an area you should do something to soften. However, there are broader and more nuanced aspects to people’s appearances that should also be at the forefront of your thought process.

The Standard of Beauty Defines Our Objectives Consider that we all live within a standard of beauty set for us by our culture—by the models and actors used in our fashion magazines, advertisements, television programs, and movies. That is the benchmark to which most of us compare ourselves. In one way, this works against portrait and wedding photographers because we are expected to create gorgeous portraits of people who generally don’t look quite like the “ideal.” However, it also provides us with some 30 Photograph the face

“If I were them, what would I think were my best attributes? What would I want to emphasize?” important guidelines to use when analyzing each client’s face and determining how best to pose and light it. (Note: At this point, it is enough to notice these problems—and any others that will keep your clients from purchasing the portraits. Approaches for correcting these issues will be covered throughout the rest of the book.)

1. Slim the Face and Figure A slim appearance is part of today’s standard. If you could make your clients’ faces and bodies appear thinner, more in keeping with the current standard of beauty, don’t you think you’d probably have a greater chance of selling your images? In my experience, 97 percent of portrait subjects (even ones who are already trim) would like to look slimmer. Therefore, my posing and lighting styles tend to focus on achieving that objective.

For both men and women, societal standards of beauty determine how we think we should look.

For example, you will notice that the neck/chin area is hidden in many of my portraits. This the first area to show signs of weight gain (and age), so it’s an area of concern for both male and female portrait subjects. For clients with average to round faces, posing and lighting can be used in harmony to create a narrower, slimmer view of the face that makes subjects feel better about their appearance.

2. Enhance Symmetry According to our standard of beauty, a symmetrical face is ideal. No one’s face is perfectly symmetrical, and slight differences in the right and left side will never be noticed by the average person. Significant differences between the right and left sides of the face, however, should be minimized or hidden using posing and shadowing. It is not uncommon to encounter clients with one eye that is slightly smaller than the other, one ear that is lower or larger than the other, lips that are different from left to right, or noses that are crooked or have uneven nostrils.

3. Emphasize the Eyes As noted at the start of this book, the eyes are at the top of the list of what clients care about in their portraits. They should

Lighting and posing techniques that slim the appearance are appreciated by all portraits subjects—even those who are already trim. analyze the face 31

Clients love to see an emphasis on the eyes—and almost everyone lists their eyes as one of their favorite attributes, so it’s a safe point of focus in terms of the subject’s self-esteem.

look bright, well-rested, and (unless you’re going for a reflective look) engaged with the viewer of the portrait. Bags or discoloration under the eyes should be minimized and the eye color (particularly if it is a lighter one) should be emphasized. The shape of the eyelids and eye openings varies considerably from person to person, as does the amount of the iris that shows to the world (and your camera). The reflectivity of the eye itself also varies widely, leading to the forma-

tion of more or less distinct catchlights (bright highlights) on the eyes. These are all factors you will need to consider when evaluating a client and devising a plan for their portraits.

4. De-emphasize the Ears and Nose Big noses and prominent ears are definitely not part of today’s beauty ideal. Though few will admit it, most guys do worry about their nose being larger than they’d like. Women are not

✔ DO Choose Makeup That Reflects the Subject Makeup is another factor that affects the salability of your work. Most women over the age of fifteen have a way to apply makeup that is “their unique look.” Bad or good, this look is how they are used to seeing themselves and typically how they should wear their makeup for their session. Familiarity is an important part of all of our self-images. What we get used to is how we see ourselves and how we think we should look. If you change what is familiar, we think we look strange—even if we actually look better. That said, we do have a staff makeup artist available for our clients. The best subjects for the makeup artist are those women who do not normally wear makeup (so they have no set style) but want to look their best. Women who are very fashionable and/or wear a lot of makeup are the worst candidates; their style is already very defined. Makeup does two important 32 Photograph the face things. First, it draws attention to a woman’s eyes. Second, it adds color and vibrance to the face. The lips and cheeks always photograph better with color added—provided it is the correct color. Mascara is by far the most important part of eye makeup, making the eyes stand out. Beautiful eyes translate into beautiful portraits—and that translates into money in the bank!

“Women want to have the appearance of high cheekbones—but without looking like they have chubby cheeks or no eyes when they smile.” prone to large noses, but if a young lady has one you will most definitely want to minimize its appearance. Both men and women often feel selfconscious about their ears sticking out too far.

5. Reveal the Contours Beautiful faces are not just ovals, they also have nice contours. Women want to have the appearance of high cheekbones—but without looking like they have chubby cheeks or no eyes when they smile. Men also want to see nice cheekbones, along with a strong jaw line. These subtle contours not only make the face attractive, they make it more recognizable to viewers.

6. Play Up Youth and Health For both men and women, youthful vigor is an important ideal. In terms of the faces in portraits, this means that people generally want their skin to look clear and free of wrinkles. If the teeth are to show, they should look straight and white. People do not want their lips to look wrinkled, thin, or dry; these, too, are signs of aging.

(top) Contours reveal the individual beauty of the face. (bottom) Smooth skin, full lips, and white teeth are all among our standards of beauty. analyze the face 33

Making real people look great is all about accentuating the positive. The right pose and lighting can help transform our everyday subjects (above) into icons of beauty (left)!

Accentuate the Positive In addition to the ones alluded to above, there are a lot of other concerns—some part of the face or body that falls outside of what society says is the “norm”: a large Adam’s apple; a too-long or too-short neck; breasts that are too large or too small; a waistline that doesn’t taper in from the chest and hips; a waistline that tapers in too much making the hips look huge; too large of a butt; too flat of a butt; thighs and legs that are too large (or too thin, or too long, or too short); 34 Photograph the face

feet that are too large or too small; and even toes that are not perfect! To some photographers this may seem overwhelming. How are you supposed to make all that look good? Here’s the good news: I have never met a single person who had all these issues. Even lessthan-photogenic people have redeeming qualities in their appearance. That is the idea here: minimize the imperfections and accentuate the assets. If your client is overweight but has beautiful eyes, minimize the signs of weight and put the

“Even less-than-photogenic people have redeeming qualities in their appearance.” focus on those eyes. If a woman taking a portrait for her husband has weathered skin on her face but shapely legs, soften the facial lighting and accentuate her slim thighs, calves, and ankles.

to toe and identify anything that wasn’t right— before taking the shot! The same is true for finding and correcting client’s problems; with some practice, it just takes an attentive eye and a few seconds of your time.

Practice Like everything you learn, this process will take some time in the beginning, but you will get faster and faster at analyzing what you need to conceal and what you need to accentuate. Eventually, you’ll find that you can sum up a client’s problem areas in a matter of seconds and quickly develop workable solutions to minimize them. When you sit someone down with the main light turned on, you will immediately start to see what that person’s strengths and weaknesses are. You will note how wide the face is, how well the subject’s eyes reflect light, and identify flaws like unevenly sized eyes, large noses, or prominent ears that need to be hidden. Based on these observations, you’ll be able to make decisions about what side of the subject the main light should be placed on, what poses you can use to hide this individual’s flaws, and which of the client’s outfits would give you the most to work with (in terms of disguising problem areas). Think back on when you started in photography. When reviewing your images after a session, you would find that the subject’s feet weren’t right, that their hands looked funny, or that their clothing wasn’t lying properly. In time, you learned to “scan” the subject quickly from head With practice, you’ll learn to quickly identify strategies to make each client look their very best. analyze the face 35

chapter four

Pose the Face Learning Objective

Adjust the position of the face to minimize flaws and emphasize assets.

T

he face is the most important part of any portrait. However, the face has many parts— and sometimes it feels like some of the parts are working against each other to make your job as hard as possible. For example, imagine you are photographing a person with a large nose and a wide face. Turning the subject a little away from the main light will increase the shadowing and make the face appear thinner. Unfortunately, it will also deepen the shadow on the side of the nose, making it appear larger.

Initial Posing Considerations Before deciding on a pose designed to maximize your subject’s assets and minimize their flaws, there are some other factors to keep in mind. These components of the overall image must be carefully weighed during the posing process.

1. Consider the Image Style Your approach to posing the face will depend on the style of portrait you are creating. In tradi-

(top) In traditional portraits, the head is supported by the neck only. (bottom) In casual portraits, the head is often supported by the hands or arms. 36 Photograph the face

tional poses, the face is positioned with only the neck for support. Casual poses capture people the way they really are when they are relaxed, so the head will often rest on the hands, arms, or shoulders. Glamour poses are posed for a sensual feel, so the shoulder will often be raised toward the chin (also slimming the view of the shoulder) or the hands may be lifted to the neck, face, or hair.

2. Understand the Connection to Lighting The posing of the face is linked to lighting. Posing that will work with soft lighting and a low lighting ratio will look ridiculous with a harder light source or a high lighting ratio. For traditional portrait lighting styles or spot lighting, you would have the face turned more toward the main light for impact. Using butterfly or ring lighting, you would have the face looking directly at the camera. With most Americans being overweight, it’s often a good thing to make the face appear thinner than it really is. For these subjects, the best view of the face is when the body is turned toward the shadow side of the frame and the face is turned back toward the main light source. This stretches out everything from the shoulder up and gives the face a leaner look.

3. Control the Camera Height The angle of the face relative to the camera is important. It used to be that every client was photographed sitting down and the camera on a camera stand was slightly higher. Why? So the photographer didn’t have to bend over, of course! Then some forward-thinking photographers started to realize that by raising the camera (the angle Facebook made famous) or lowering it, you can create different looks for different cli-

Turning the body away from the main light, then turning the face back toward it elongates everything from the shoulder up for a leaner look.

Elevated camera angles can be very flattering and appealing—but only when the face is also turned up toward the camera to maintain an undistorted perspective.

ents. Unfortunately, some photographers don’t realize that, in most cases, you have to raise or lower the face as you raise or lower the camera position in order to avoid dramatically altering the appearance of the face.

4. Frame the Face The face needs to be framed—especially as the camera is brought closer. There is nothing worse than the “floating head” look where only the pose the face 37

face is showing without any framing/support from the shoulders, arms, and/or hands. When the shoulders are not going to be in the frame, or if the subject has an extremely long neck, the face needs to be supported to look its best. You can bring the hands to the neck or cheek to create a base for the face to visually rest on. (This correction can also help conceal a common problem area: the neck and chin.)

The Eyes The eyes are the single most important part of any portrait. Even when you do everything else right, if you don’t take the time to make sure the eyes are beautiful you reduce the beauty of your client, the appeal of the portraits to the viewer, and how salable the images will ultimately be. Unfortunately, most photographers don’t really Especially in closer views, rasing the hands or arms to frame the face prevents the dreaded “floating head” look.

✔ DO Watch for Distortion When creating a pose in which the subject appears to rest their face on their hand, do not allow the subject to place any weight on the hand. As seen in the inset photo, this will distort the face. Instead, the hand should just barely touch the face.

think about posing the eyes. They look at the face as a whole, but it is each part individually as well as the sum of the parts that make a good pose. A good working strategy is to pose the eyes (which would of course include the face) and then adjust the lighting to the pose. Catchlights. The eyes give life to the portrait, and it is particularly the catchlights that give the eyes life. They attract the viewer of the portrait to the eyes and are one of the primary goals of any professional photographer. Whether you’re working outdoors or in the studio, check 38 Photograph the face

the eyes with each and every portrait you take. If you don’t see nice catchlights, a lighting or posing change is needed. For more on this, turn to chapter 7. Position of the Eyes. There are two ways to control the position of the eyes. First, you can change the pose of the eyes by turning the subject’s face. Second, you can have the subject change the direction of their eyes to look higher, lower, or to one side of the camera. Typically, the center of the eye is positioned toward the corner of the eye opening. This enlarges the appearance of the eye and gives the eye more impact. This is achieved by turning the face toward the main light while the eyes come back to the camera. This works well for all eye shapes, except for people with bulging eyes. When this is done on bulging eyes, too much of the white will show and draw attention to the problem. Eye Contact. The point at which you ask the subject to focus their gaze in respect to the position of the camera’s lens also, in essence, poses the eye. First and foremost, the subject should always be looking at someone, not something. There is a certain spark that the eyes have when they look into someone else’s eyes; this is often absent when they are looking at a spot on the wall or a camera lens.

Changing the direction of the subject’s gaze dramatically alters the feel of a portrait—and sometimes not in flattering ways.

Positioning the iris—the colored part of the eye— toward the corner of the eye opening (left) gives the eye more impact than showing it centered (right).

To do this, I put my face where I want their eyes to be—usually directly over the camera. This puts the eyes in a slightly upward position, increasing the appearance of the catchlights. If the camera position is too high to make this possible, I position my face on the main-light side of the camera, never beneath it and never to the shadow side of it. Both would decrease the catchlights. A common mistake that my new photographers make is getting their face too far from the camera. This makes the eyes of the subject appear as if they are looking off-camera—which is fine, but only if that is the intention and not a mistake. When the eyes of the subject look into the lens (or very close to it), the portrait seems to make eye contact with the viewer. This type of portrait typically sells better than portraits that have the subject looking off-camera in a more

pose the face 39

reflective pose. Reflective posing does, however, work in a storytelling portrait—a bride glancing out a window as if waiting for her groom, a senior glancing over the top of a book and thinking of the future, new parents looking down at their baby and thinking of how many diapers they are going to have to change before that kid is pottytrained. Well, maybe not that last one—but you get the picture. An overwhelming majority of our senior clients prefer the intimate feeling of eye contact as opposed to the more reflective portraits where the eyes look off-camera, but this is our clients.

Most of my clients prefer images in which the subject is making eye contact with the camera. However, some also enjoy the more reflective quality of a subject whose gaze falls off into the distance.

40 Photograph the face

As the face moves from the three-quarter to profile view, the eyes should follow the nose.

You need to offer both styles of portraits and discuss with your clients what is right for them.

Reflective Poses and Profiles Very few clients’ faces have the perfect shape that will make a profile pose salable. If that’s the case with your subject, opt for a semi-profile where both eyes are showing. In either case, when the eyes look off-camera, there a few rules that need to be followed. Eyes Follow the Nose. First of all, the eyes should follow the same line as that of the nose. It looks ridiculous to have the eyes looking in a different direction than the nose is pointing. This goes for poses with the subject looking just offcamera, as well as for complete profiles. One Eye or Two. As you turn the face away from the camera, there comes a point where the bridge of the nose starts to obscure the eye farther from the camera. At this point, you have gone too far. Either you go into a complete profile, showing only one eye, or you bring the face back to provide a clear view of both eyes. If you

✔ DO Support the Camera Because I want to the subject look at me not at the lens, I like to keep the cameras in all of my shooting areas (as well as outdoors) on a camera stand or tripod. (Note: If you have seen video clips of me on YouTube handholding a camera outdoors, this was because the uneven terrain made using a tripod impractical.) Another reason to use a camera support is that you can see the moment of capture. Many photographers shoot way too many images of each pose, then spend their home hours editing down to a decent number for the client viewing. With the camera on a support, you see each shot as it happens. Shoot six smiling, four not smiling, and your pose is done—go on to the next one. Every push of the button costs your business money (maybe not in proofing costs, but in editing costs).

Profile poses need to be used selectively. Not every subject has the perfect facial structure that makes a profile pose attractive.

opt to show both eyes, bring the face far enough toward the camera that the tip of the nose does not extend past the line of the far cheek. Lighting. Another common mistake photographers make with this type of posing actually concerns the lighting. Many photographers don’t move their main light as they rotate the subject away from the camera. However, your main light should remain at a consistent angle to the subject as you turn them toward the profile position. If you normally work with the main light at a 45 to 50 degree angle to the subject’s nose, the main light should stay at that same angle relative to the nose as you rotate the face away from the camera. This keeps the lighting consistent and doesn’t destroy the shadow contouring of the face.

“Your main light should remain at a consistent angle toface the41 pose the subject as you turn them toward the profile position.”

The Nose The nose is not my favorite part of the body (especially since mine is on the large side—an affliction I share with many men). The two controls you have over the nose are the highlight on the top of the nose and the shadow created by the side of the nose. How big the nose looks will be determined by the size of the shadow the nose produces. To reduce a larger nose, turn the face more toward the main light source in traditional lighting or raise the intensity on the lower light/ reflector for butterfly-style lighting (see chapter 8 for more on this).

Shadowing calls attention to the shape of the nose. Notice the difference between these two portraits.

✔ Do This When the subject is looking directly at the camera, the ears are prominent.

✖ Don’t Do This

Turning the face to an angle and providing less tonal separation reduces the visibility of the ears.

The Ears Ears seem to be of two types: either you don’t notice them at all or they are glaringly obvious. Women with larger ears tend to use their hair to cover them up. With short-haired men, however, even ears that look like they could fly away with the owner will be right out there for everyone to see. Men will also have no problem showing oddly shaped ears—right up until they see them in a portrait, that is. To reduce the prominence of large ears, turn the subject’s face toward the main light source 42 Photograph the face

to hide one ear and prevent the outline of the ear showing on the side of the head. Reducing the fill will reduce how noticeable the visible ear is, hiding its size in shadow. When only one ear is the problem, simply hide it behind the face on the main light side. While you can use Photoshop to correct ear problems (see chapter 11), these corrections are time-consuming and much better to deal with in the camera room.

Mouth, Lips, and Expression Expression sells photographs. You can have the perfect pose and the perfect lighting, but if the expression doesn’t meet the client’s expectations, you won’t sell the portrait. A smile reflects happiness; as a result, smiling photographs outsell non-smiling photographs at a rate of four or five to one (with the exception of glamour poses). Photographers often prefer to shoot non-smiling portraits—but since they aren’t the ones buying the portraits, who cares what they prefer? I typically take ten shots of each pose; six to seven are smiling and the other the three to four are not. Mirroring. Many photographers have a problem getting their subjects to achieve pleasant expressions. Often, the problem comes from not understanding the concept of “mirroring.” When you smile at a person, they smile back;

✔ DO Watch for Glare on Eyeglasses Eyeglasses will always be a problem if you don’t advise your clients to get empty frames from their eye doctors. Antiglare lenses make life a little easier, but whenever there is glass in a pair of frames, you end up lighting and posing the subject to make the glasses look good, rather than to make the subject look good. One technique used to reduce eyeglass glare is to angle the frames of the glasses so that the lenses point slightly downward and the frame lifts slightly above the ears. This usually reduces the glare and the change of angle isn’t noticeable from the perspective of the camera. It isn’t an ideal solution, but it is more manageable than spending a fortune on enhancement to remove the glare.

“Smiling photographs outsell non-smiling photographs at a rate of four or five to one . . .”

Smiles show happiness, so they are far and away the best-selling expression.

pose the face 43

When you want a smile on the subject’s face, you should smile and speak in an upbeat voice (left). When you want a more serious expression, use a more subdued voice and don’t smile (right). Most portrait buyers prefer relaxed, happy expressions.

when you frown at a person, they frown back. People will instinctively mimic the expression that you, as the photographer, have on your face. Our attitudes and outlooks on life set our expressions, and sometimes this gets in the way of making our clients look their best. We had one photographer who smiled all the time. He was great at getting clients to smile, but he would frustrate clients when it came to creating nonsmiling poses. Many clients would get mad and ask how they were supposed to be serious while they were looking at his big goofy grin. Conversely, a photographer we had before that couldn’t smile to save his life. He would look at the client with a deadpan expression and, with a monotone voice, say, “Okay, smile big now.” As you can imagine, the clients’ expressions suffered as a result. Mirroring isn’t just about visual cues; it also involves the way you speak. When you want a smile, speak with energy and excitement in your voice; when you want a relaxed expression, soft-

en your voice. Understand the expression your client wants, then take control and make sure that you shoot the majority of poses with that expression. The Perfect Smile. The right smile depends on the client’s age. With babies and small children, parents love laughing smiles. With children, moody, more serious expressions are salable. With teens and adults, the best expressions are usually more subtle—happy, but subtle. While squinty eyes are cute on a baby, not many adults really want to see themselves with no eyes, huge chubby cheeks, and every tooth in their mouth visible. Large smiles also bring out every line and wrinkle on a person’s face. Adults are always self-conscious about crow’s feet, smile lines, and bags under the eyes—all of which are made much more noticeable by huge smiles. While retouching can lessen these lines on the face, the retouching often reduces the lines too much, resulting in subjects that don’t look like themselves.

44 Photograph the face “Crow’s feet, smile lines, and bags under the eyes are made much more noticeable by huge smiles.”

pose the face 45

✖ Don’t Do This

✔ Do This

The broad expression when people first smile (left) isn’t attractive when frozen in time; a moment later, the expression relaxes into a much more flattering smile (right).

With smiles, timing is important. It is easy to get a subject to smile, but then it is up to you to decide when the perfect smile occurs and take the pictures. When most people first start to smile, it is enormous. If you take the shot at this point, you end up with a laughing or almost-laughing smile. Once your client has a smile like this, you must watch and wait. A moment after a person smiles that laughing smile, the expression starts to relax. It isn’t that big a change, but it is the difference between a laughing smile and a smile that is pleasing to an adult client. I start off with an explanation before photographing anyone. It goes like this: “Your smile looks most beautiful when you are out with your

Even when the expression is non-smiling, it should be relaxed and not stern or anxious.

46 Photograph the face

Tilting the head changes the look of the portrait and the subject.

friends and they say something funny. You burst out laughing—and because you’re not thinking about your smile, it looks natural. The minute someone thinks about their smile they try to control it. That could be because you worry about having the perfect smile or your mother turns into the ‘smile cheerleader’ and tells you ‘Don’t smile like that!’—but either way it won’t look natural.” (This warns mothers about making the subject feel self-conscious or nervous). I continue, “Just look at me and even if you burst out laughing, stay in the pose and let me capture your smile when it looks it best.” Finally, I add, “After I take some of the smiling poses, we will do some expressions that are not smiling—notice I didn’t say serious! When some people are being photographed and I say, ‘Now relax your smile,’ it’s like all the life leaves their face and they press their lips tightly together. The only time that people who know you see you with your lips pressed tightly together is when you are upset—so they will say you look mad in all your non-smiling poses. Just relax your expression and take a breath through your lips.”

“To get great expressions, you have to appeal to and connect with the client in front of you.” As a professional photographer, you must find your own way to create the expressions your clients prefer. Your approach will be different with small children, with seniors, and with adults. I know of a children’s photographer whom seniors say is goofy because his camera-room style is slapstick and animated. It appeals to children, but it annoys the more mature high school seniors. To get great expressions, you have to appeal to and connect with the client in front of you.

The Head Tilt Tilting the head adds a pleasing shape to the body and puts the eyes on a diagonal line that is effective in terms of the composition. Unfortunately, I have never seen one aspect of photography that so many photographers leave school doing so pose the face 47

The real rule of head tilting is that there is no rule. Do what looks best for your subject—especially when photographing women.

badly. I have seen everything from young ladies who look completely awkward, to guys who look like they were just involved in a car crash that broke their neck. The Traditional Rules. While many students will accept that there are different ways to light, pose, and photograph a subject, a lot of them 48 Photograph the face

are convinced that there is only one way to tilt the head of each gender—and it’s precisely the way their teacher told them! According to this rule, a woman is always supposed to tilt her head toward her higher shoulder and a man is always supposed to tilt his head toward his lower shoulder. I have had some truly talented photographers work for me, and that is the one obstacle I have had to overcome with almost every one of them. The Real Rule. The real rule of tilting the head is that there is no rule. You don’t always do anything in photography—especially nowadays. If you are photographing a woman, you don’t tilt toward the high shoulder and you don’t tilt toward the low shoulder; you tilt toward the shoulder that looks good.

Don’t Go Too Far. If you notice the head tilt, it is tilted too much. When photography students learn about tilting the head they tend to overdo it, creating a “broken neck” pose. No one will notice if you don’t tilt the head, but everyone will notice if you tilt it too much. While some fashion photos show extreme head tilts and unusual camera angles/tilts, these are things you should practice extensively in sample sessions before offering the look to paying clients. Hair. When photographing a woman with long hair, I look to the hair and not the gender to decide the direction the head will be tilted and the direction in which the body will be placed. Long hair is beautiful, and there must be an empty space to put it. A woman’s hair is usually thicker on one side of her head than the other.

The tilt will go to the fuller side of the hair and the pose will create a void on the same side for it to drape into. This means she will sometimes be tilting toward the lower shoulder. Guys. Guys typically aren’t gender benders when it comes to posing. Men typically do look better tilting the head toward the lower shoulder or not tilting it at all. But again, the pose and the circumstance dictate the direction the head is tilted or whether it is not tilted at all. The easiest way to learn about the head tilt is to first pose the body. Turn the face to achieve the perfect lighting and look. Then stop. If the person looks great (as about 80 percent of clients do), take the image. If the subject is very uncomfortable and starts tilting their head in an awkward direction, correct it. It’s that simple.

When posing men, be sure to keep the head tilt subtle and natural looking.

pose the face 49

The Neck and Chin The neck really isn’t posed and it really isn’t part of the face, but there are a few points that should be shared about this area. First of all, the neck is the first to show weight gain and age. Because

this is such a concern for most clients, especially women, you will notice that a great many of my portraits hide this area from view. A high-neck sweater is one option, but a problematic neck or double chin can easily be hidden by having your subject rest their chin on their hands, arms, or shoulders. For a more glamorous look, have the subject raise the shoulder closer to the camera toward her chin. Many casual and glamour poses naturally conceal the neck and chin area.

50 Photograph the face

Even thinner people can suffer from a double chin. For these clients, posing the body toward the shadow side of the frame and turning the face back toward the main light will stretch the loose skin and reduce the size of the double chin. Unfortunately, when you do this with some subjects, the little cord-like tendons in the neck will pop out, making the subject look like Jim Carrey doing his Fire Marshal Bob routine on In Living Color (if you don’t remember this character, then trust me—it’s not an appealing or flattering look). If this happens, cover the neck area with clothing or obscure it from view using the pose. If the subject has a major problem in the neck/chin area, you may need to resort to the “turkey neck” pose. To do this, have the subject extend their chin toward the camera (to stretch out the double chin) and then bring the entire face down to further hide the neck area. The turkey neck is effective for reducing the size of a double chin, but it can also hide the bulge that appears (particularly with heavier gentlemen) when the shirt collar is a bit too snug.

Lifting the shoulder closest to the camera creates an appealing look (and helps hide the neck/ chin area, if that is a concern).

Hair (and the Lack of It) Hair is an area some photographers don’t think they need to worry about. Many photographers think this is the client’s responsibility. I will be the first to say that if you have no idea about hair styles, you are better off leaving it alone. However, hair is a part of the image that will determine whether the portrait sells or doesn’t. It is my thinking that you should learn how to make it look good—or at least show the client a mirror before you start shooting.

✖ Don’t Do This

Stretching the chin forward effectively reduces the appearance of a double chin and is not obvious from the camera position. pose the face 51

✔ Do This

Long Hair. There are three major parts of the hair we need to be concerned with. The first is stray hairs or curls extending out beyond all the rest of the hair. The second is bangs that hang in the subject’s eyes (to a point where they create

a shadow or reduce the catchlights) or separate and show large splits between the sections of the bangs themselves. The third concern is where to put hair that is longer than the shoulders; you must decide how to show the hair without obscuring the face. Typically, you don’t want long hair to be behind the shoulders on both sides. Long hair is beautiful and requires constant maintenance. If the subject has gone to all that trouble, she will want her hair to show. (The exception would be for professional portraits in which a very conservative look is needed.) As I start to pose the client, I look at the way the hair flows. Typically, the hair and bangs flow to one side. This is the side of the hair you want to see, so I make sure this side of the hair is on the shadow side of the frame (so we see more of it when the subject’s face is turned toward the main light). If it isn’t, switch the side of your main light and it will be! I then turn the body toward the shadow side of the frame opening up

For subjects with long hair, tilting the head toward the fuller side of the hair gives the tresses a place to drape and prevents shadowing on the face.

52 Photograph the face

✔ DO Get Everyone Involved I suggest having a parent or spouse in the camera room. You are selling an experience—an experience of a lifetime for many people. The more excited you can get everyone about this experience, the more they will buy! When Mom sits in a waiting room waiting for her daughter to have her senior portraits taken, she is not excited—if anything, she is rather irritated. Irritated people don’t spend nearly as much as excited people do. Having a parent or spouse in the camera room also makes the subject more comfortable in most cases. If the person is annoying the subject, the subject (not the photographer) should ask them to leave. I include the mother in everything that has to do with my seniors. I want them to be involved—and I want their help if any issues should arise. For example, if a girl wants to wear something she shouldn’t because of her weight or some other issue, the mother can tell her without embarrassing her. If a senior boy refuses to smile, a mother can give him the stink-eye and get him in line. For boys who have hard time smiling, I have the person with them in the camera room stand right next to the camera and have the guy look at them. This usually makes the guys smile—and it works especially well when the person is a girlfriend or wife!

the area for the prettiest part of the hair. Whether the hair is long or short, always look to the hair for the direction the body should be placed. This also keeps the bangs from producing a shadow over the eyes. Another hair-related concern is whether to have the hair up or down. In my opinion, long hair should always be down. Unless a woman has a perfect facial structure, photographing her with her hair down will almost always look better. Finally, in a normal session you simply don’t have the time to allow a woman to curl or straighten her hair. When this comes up, we just ask the client how she normally wears her hair. We feel that’s what she should go with for her portraits since it’s clearly what she is most comfortable with. This works unless the client says she normally wears ponytails or pigtails—in that case, you might want to suggest something else! Thinning Hair. For subjects with thinning hair (and this is not just a problem for men anymore), you will need to hide the top of the head in shadow or obstruct it from view in the images. In the studio, make sure to separate the subject with background lights so that no hair lights are

✖ Don’t Do This

✔ Do This

When photographing a subject who is bald by choice, turn off the hair light to prevent the top of his head from glowing. Combine this lighting trick with a lowered camera angle to help disguise the problem for clients who are not bald by choice.

needed; outdoors, adding a black gobo overhead can actually darken the top of the head to de-emphasize it. Posing and camera position can also help in hiding the problems of thinning hair. By lowering the camera angle and adjusting the face to a downward angle you can minimize the view of the area that has thinning hair.

pose the face 53 “Unless a woman has a perfect facial structure, photographing her with her hair down will almost always look better.”

chapter five

Portrait Lighting Fundamentals Learning Objective

Master the terms and concepts common to studio and location lighting.

I

n subsequent chapters, we’ll look at approaches that are specific to lighting the face in the studio, at indoor locations, and on outdoor shoots. However, there are some common terms and concepts that will apply to all portrait lighting. We’ll take a look at those in this chapter.

Have a Plan

One common thread is the need to previsualize— which I can’t emphasize strongly enough. You might not expect it, but in his classic book Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll put forth some important advice for photographers. Here’s the exchange I’m talking about: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where—” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

The same basic rule applies when selecting the tools you will use to create the portraits you have envisioned: you have to know where you want to go before you decide how to get there. 54 Photograph the face

Light Functions In any portrait lighting setup, there are one or more lights falling on the subject. It is up to you to control the characteristics, direction, and intensity of any light source you choose to use. Main Light. The main light produces the pattern of light and shadow on the subject’s face. It may be the only light in the scene or it may be part of an array of lights. Either way, it is critical to understand how this one light shapes the look of your image—and how it can be modified to create a variety of looks. Fill Light. The fill light adds light on the shadow side of the subject, lightening (but not eliminating) the shadows so that the camera can capture the more subtle tonal variations you want to see in a professional image. Background Light. When you turn on your main light, you raise the quantity of light on the subject. The area behind the subject, however, will then appear darker in comparison. To attain a balanced exposure, you can add a background light to increase the illumination on the background. This is important for separating subjects with dark hair/clothing from dark backgrounds. Hair Light. A lack of separation between the subject and the background is one thing that cli-

In broad lighting, the main light is placed on the side of the face that is more visible to the camera.

In short lighting, the main light is placed on the side of the face that is less visible to the camera.

ents hate. In addition to adding a background light, creating adequate separation may also require the addition of a hair light to produce highlights on the top of the subject’s hair. Accent Lights. Accent lights are used to direct the viewer’s eye to a certain area and add luster. For most of my portraits, I use at least two accent lights (one on each side of the background and at a height slightly higher than the subject’s head level) to accent the hair and side of the body.

Broad Lighting vs. Short Lighting The shape of the subject’s face will often suggest the best general placement for the main light (or, in the case of outdoor lighting, the best placement of the subject relative to the light). There are two basic scenarios for using directional light, which is good for revealing the contours of the face. These are broad lighting and short lighting. To produce broad lighting, the subject’s face is turned so that it is at an angle to the camera. The main light is then placed on the side of the portrait lighting fundamentals 55

“Short lighting tends to be popular for all face shapes and sizes, since almost everyone appreciates a slimmer look.” subject’s face that is more visible to the camera (the “broad” side of the face). Because this places highlights on a large part of the face, it’s a good option for subjects with normal to narrow faces. For short lighting, the subject’s face is turned so that it is at an angle to the camera. The main light is then placed on the side of the subject’s face that is less visible to the camera (the “short” side of the face). Because this places highlights on a narrow part of the face, it’s a good option for subjects with normal to wide faces. The physical shape of the subject’s face is only one consideration, of course. Short lighting tends to be popular for all face shapes and sizes, since almost everyone appreciates a slimmer look. Creatively, you may opt for broad lighting to communicate a more open, friendly look. Short lighting, on the other hand, tends to create a look that is more dramatic.

Light Characteristics We have three areas of lighting that we must control. The highlights, the shadows, and the transition areas in between. Contrary to popular belief, the most important area to control is not the highlight, nor is it the shadow. It’s the transition area from one to another. The area where the highlight starts darkening to the darkest part of the shadow is what defines a professional portrait. This is the area that brings a flat piece of paper into the third dimension. Educators often talk about the quality of light produced by a light or light and modifier. I always thought this was confusing, as the term “qual56 Photograph the face

ity” can also be used to refer to something that is “better” than others. In the studio, I have used everything from a spotlight to a cheap umbrella to light my clients’ portraits. Working outdoors, I have used soft light from the open sky as well as direct sunlight to produce the look I wanted. No single light source had a “better quality” than another. They all worked beautifully for the portrait I wanted to create. However, each source did have different characteristics when it came to this all-important transition area. When you conceptualize your portrait, you’ll need to decide how that transition area should look. Then, you’ll need to choose a main light source that produces light with the characteristic you want. Let’s take a closer look at this so you can learn to identify and create the right lighting for the kind of portrait you want to shoot.

1. Soft/Diffused Light Light is called “soft” or “diffuse” when there is a gradual transition from the highlight area of the image to the darkest shadow. In portraiture, soft light diminishes the appearance of lines and wrinkles. It also produces less shine on the subject’s face than hard light. Most traditional portraits are made with soft light because it is flattering—and more forgiving of poorly placed light sources. When I was a new photographer, I thought I should use the softest light possible. I was wrong. With a main light source that is too soft, the light lacks directionality and contrast, and the final image looks flat. It lacks the “pop” that you want in professional images.

2. Hard/Directional Light Hard light is characterized by hard, sharp shadows and high contrast. There is a quick transition from highlight to shadow. When controlled, hard light can yield dramatic looks. The Hollywood photographers used hard light for their classic, high-contrast black & white portraits.

Controlling Light Characteristics So, what determines whether a given light source will produce hard light or soft light? Let’s look at the basic tools we have for controlling this characteristic. We’ll come back to this discussion in chapter 8 when we look at studio lighting. Size Relative to Subject. The characteristic of the light is dictated by the size of the light relative to the subject. The larger the light is in relation to the subject, the softer the light will ap-

Regardless of the size of the modifier, as the distance between it and the subject grows, the light on the subject becomes progressively harder.

pear; the smaller the light source is in relation to the subject, the harder the light will appear. This means that, placed at equal distances from the subject, a large light source (like a softbox) will produce softer light, while a small light source (like a spotlight) will produce harder light.

How large or small your main light should be depends entirely on the look you want to create—that’s why previsualization is critical.

portrait lighting fundamentals 57

Some of the light modifiers I use in my studio sessions.

The Distance to the Subject. Note the phrase “relative to the subject.” Any light source can be made harder or softer by adjusting its position relative to the subject. A light source close to the subject will be relatively large in relation to the subject and produce softer light. The same light source will be small relative to the subject (and produce harder light) if it is moved farther away. A good example is the sun. The sun is huge, but it is so far from us that its direct light is very hard. Light Modifiers. Given that we have limited space in most shooting environments, it is often most practical to change the characteristic of the lighting by changing the physical size of the light, rather than the distance to the subject. This is where light modifiers come it. There are many modifiers available that will allow you to create the degree of softness or hardness you desire in your portrait. When picking a main-light modifier, you need to select the one that is right for your image. This has nothing to do with what I or another photographer might use. It’s all about the style of light you want to offer your client. 58 Photograph the face

There are many modifiers available that will allow you to create the degree of softness you desire in your portrait. The majority of traditional portraits are made with softboxes; these offer flattering light for portraiture and are more forgiving if your placement isn’t perfect. Halos, stripboxes, and ring lights are also popular. Like modifiers designed to diffuse light, light modifiers that create harder, more directional light have subtle variations in design and functionality, but all produce harder light than a softbox. The light sources include spotlights, parabolics, and beauty dishes. Accessories like barn doors, grids, and snoots can also be used to produce more directed light.

Skin Tone & Light Characteristics: Think Like a Painter Before we dive further into lighting the face, I want you to envision something. Pretend you are still a portrait artist, but instead of a camera, you use oil paints and a canvas. Painters can use a white canvas or they can use a black canvas. Let’s start with a white canvas—picture it in your mind

and choose a few colors to start. Got it? Now, imagine starting with a black canvas. Would you use the same tones of paint you picked for the white canvas? Would you even use the same style of painting? On the white canvas, the canvas itself produces your highlights; with your paint, you’d mostly be creating shadows and transitions to white. On the black canvas, the canvas provides the shadow; with your paint, you’d be adding the highlights and transitions to black. How does this apply to photography? Faces are our canvases—and, like the painter, we work with lighter canvases and darker canvases. In fact, my clients’ skin tones range in tone from almost translucent to a very dark brown. Unfortunately, photography instructors too often teach portrait lighting as though we all have one canvas on

“Faces are our canvases— and, like the painter, we work with lighter canvases and darker canvases.” which to paint—as if canvases of all colors could be painted the same way. This leads to a great deal of confusion when photographers try to deal with all the different shades of canvases we encounter when running a portrait business. Just like the artist’s canvases, dark skin tones require light to highlight the areas that we want to see; light skin tones require us to create darkness or shadowing to bring depth to the face.

Dark skin tones require light to highlight the areas that we want to see. Light skin tones require us to create darkness or shadowing to bring depth to the face.

portrait lighting fundamentals 59

You must know how to adjust your lighting for every client who sits before you.

Now, if you think about it, doesn’t common sense also tell you that a darker canvas would go from highlight to the darkest shadow faster than a lighter canvas? Of course! There are fewer shades from highlight to shadow on a darker complexion. Therefore, lighting darker skin requires softer lighting or more fill light to reduce the intensity of the shadows and produce a nice transition from highlight to shadow. Lighter complexions can handle harder light or less fill. 60 Photograph the face

What this means is that you must know how to adjust your lighting for every client who sits before you. We are not department store photographers with one super-homogenized lighting technique for every client. Remember: If you want to charge a professional price, you must create a professional product! Some of you are thinking right now that you bought the wrong book. You are thinking to yourself, “Hold on now—in that other guy’s book, he said all I needed was three speedlights and the camera would do most of the work!” If I were a young photographer in today’s market, I would be tremendously annoyed at how everyone wants to dumb-down our craft. If you want to have a long, profitable career in this business, you should be demanding instruction that’s not all about the “easy” way; you should be demanding techniques that will help you be part of moving this profession forward, not relegating all the important decisions to the camera! Knowing that our canvases change with each new face we photograph, the idea that three automatic speedlights are all you need to create salable portraits of any subject is crazy. It won’t happen—at least not consistently. If you want to take five-hundred shots during a bridal session, spend hours in Photoshop editing and retouching, and come away with a few salable images, it might work for you . . . but that’s a business plan that will probably end up with you in another profession sooner than later. That approach uses up the one resource in the world you cannot buy more of: time. Sooner or later, you will run out of time—and I am willing to bet that will happen before you have enough money to pay your bills!

“If I were a young photographer, I would be tremendously annoyed at how everyone wants to dumb-down our craft.”

chapter six

Metering, Testing, and Training Your Eyes Learning Objective

Achieve consistent exposures and lighting from session to session.

Why Meter? Whether you are using studio lighting, existing interior lighting, or natural lighting outdoors, metering the light is the best way to control the highlights, the shadows, and the transition area in between. Improved Accuracy. Since digital photography, metering has become a little bit of a lost art. Too often, photographers now rely on their digital camera’s built-in metering systems and the LCD preview on the back. In my opinion, the instant preview has done more to set professional photography back than anything else. While it is a very convenient feature, many younger photographers have started using it instead of developing a reliable metering and testing system. The preview is not designed for that. It is not large enough for critical viewing nor does it have the same characteristics as the image you see when you output a print. Improved Control. Metering and testing your lighting gives you the opportunity to produced refined results for each client and to create your own style of lighting. Measuring the quantity of light from each source and comparing it against the others allows you to visualize how

This device is called a light meter. I realize that sounds like a joke—but it almost isn’t. Believe it or not, looking at a test frame on the back of your camera is not the same as metering/controlling your lighting.

the image will record on your camera. This is an opportunity to design something unique—to showcase your tastes, flatter each subject, and establish a lighting style that you own.

How to Meter The Main Light. In any lighting situation (studio or outdoors) you have a main light source. Typically, this main light source is placed bemetering, testing, and training your eyes 61

Your aperture setting should be determined by your desired depth of field, not whatever your light source’s output happens to be.

tween 45 and 90 degrees off the camera position. In this position, the main light will illuminate the mask of the face from one side, while creating shadowing on the opposite the side of the face. To meter the main light, turn all the other lights off and point the light meter (with the diffusion disk over the sensor) toward the main light. Take a reading. Then, adjust the power of the main light source to give you the f-stop you want to photograph with. This is a choice that you make to produce the desired depth of field (the softness or clarity in the background) and to control any ambient light in the scene. There is no magic f-stop setting to make every shot come out correctly; you must know what you are trying to achieve and set the lighting to accomplish this. 62 Photograph the face

The Other Lights. Once you get the main light adjusted to produce the correct f-stop, meter every other light you will be using and adjust them one by one relative to the main light reading to get the amount of light you want. That statement is important, so I’ll repeat it: Test each light in the setup to get the amount of light you want. As the photographer, you should decide on the f-stop you want and then adjust the light accordingly. You should not just meter and say, “Oh well, what the heck? Looks like I’ll be shooting at f/11.” If you want the background light to appear the same as it does to your eye in room light, it should meter at the same f-stop as the main light. If you want to lighten or darken the background,

adjust its output up or down relative to the main light. For the accent and hair lights, I usually opt for a setting that is 1/2 stop less than the main light for subjects with dark hair or skin; I set it at 1 stop less than the main for subjects with blond hair or fair complexions. The settings you choose are up to you as the artist. I meter each of these lights separately and then all together. The reading of all the lights together should not be more than 1/2 stop less than the main light reading. I also make sure these lights are easy to adjust or to turn off.

Light Ratios Another reason to meter is because it allows you to understand and express your lighting in concrete, objective terms. Light ratios describe the metered intensity of the main light relative to the metered intensity of the fill light. If a portrait is said to have a 4:1 ratio, then the highlight side (lit by the main light) is four times brighter than the shadow side. This is where things get tricky. You might think, “Well, if the highlight side is four times brighter than the shadow side, there must be 4 stops more light falling on it.” Not true. When you adjust your light so that your meter reads 1 stop higher, you are actually throwing twice as much light on the subject. Therefore, you only need to adjust your light so that it meters 2 stops higher than the fill to create a 4:1 ratio. When you have a 3:1 ratio, the main light is outputting light that, if metered, would be 1.5 stops higher than the fill light. Higher ratios indicate a greater difference in intensity.

Higher light ratios (top) have more shadowing and tend to look dramatic. Lower light ratios (bottom) have less shadowing and a more open, friendly look. metering, testing, and training your eyes 63

There are a lot of variables to consider when thinking about lighting ratios (the amount of fill relative to the main light). First, the ratio changes as the subject’s skin tone lightens or darkens; darker skin goes from highlight to the darkest shadow faster than light skin does. That means that, to immediately know what ratio of lighting

to use, you would have to test all the skin tones reflected in your client base. Lighting ratios also change with the type of lighting you use. While a fair-skinned person being lit with a softbox might look great with a 3:1 ratio, that same 3:1 lighting ratio will not fill the shadow properly if you change the main light from a softbox to a parabolic—or even if you add a grid to the softbox. The harder light will produce heavier shadows and require more fill (meaning a lower lighting ratio, like 2:1). (Note: The sheer number of variables involved here is one reason why my fill source of choice is so often a reflector. More on this later in the chapter.)

Consistency and Efficiency It wouldn’t be practical to go through this entire process for every setup, with every client—especially in a busy studio. You want to develop a system that you can tweak for each client without reinventing the wheel each time. Young photographers don’t always understand the importance of consistency in lighting. They like winging it, because they think it is in some way “artsy.” Unfortunately, this “artsy” approach is the very reason that so many photographers have such a hard time with studio lighting. They never take the time to properly set up and test their lighting to establish a standardized working environment. Trust me—I understand this. When I first started out, I would either focus on the client and position my lights where I thought they should be (which produced images that were all over the place in the terms of exposure) or I would drive my client crazy by metering each light for each shot. What seemed like a free and To work efficiently (and profitably), you want to develop systems that you can tweak for each client without having to reinvent the wheel each time. 64 Photograph the face

creative approach was actually making my life a lot harder. I soon realized an important fact: only when you have done away with the variables and are able to predict exactly what the outcome will be are you free to be creative and truly use light to enhance a subject.

The String Approach The first time you work in a space, you will have to go through the metering process I just described. As you test each light, though, tie one end of a string to each stand and cut the string off at the distance where the client will be positioned. If you follow this process for each light, it will be unnecessary to meter each time you change subjects or poses. You simply check the distance of each light with the string. (Note: Do your measurements while you are waiting for the client to finish changing so you aren’t holding strings up to a client’s face. Measuring to the middle of the posing stool will be just fine!) You can get creative with this and have marks on the string for different distances. I used to have three markings for my most common settings. For example, I metered my lighting for a 3:1 lighting ratio when the main light was placed Using a string, it’s easy to keep each light at the right distance from the subject for the effect you want.

Knowing how to create predictable, controlled results is the key to using light to flatter a subject.

at a distance that was the full length of the string from the client. Then, I placed a red dot at the spot on the main-light string that gave me a 4:1 lighting ratio. This was an effective way to get consistent exposures without metering each light for each background or pose change. Some photographers use a variation of this approach, putting marks or duct tape on the floor to make sure their lights are the correct distance from the subject (or background) to produce the desired setting. metering, testing, and training your eyes 65

“It sounds so simple—almost elementary—but very few photographers take the time to test their lighting completely.” Run Lighting Tests Now, you can start to test your main light positions and see the effects on the face. You will move the main light around the subject going from 45 to 90 degrees to see the lighting effects. For this test, enlist a couple models with different skin tones and facial features. Keep exact notes of what you are doing and (as described previously) mark the floor if you are working in a permanent shooting area or use a string to measure the distance. It sounds so simple—almost elementary— but very few photographers take the time to test out their lighting completely.

duct tape on the floor under the center post of your light stand. Repeat this procedure until your light box is at least to the 45 degree position, with all your marks on the floor.

2. Photograph Subject Two Once you complete this testing with your first test subject, get a second test subject with the opposite skin tone—meaning that, if you were working with a dark-skinned person, the second person should be fair-skinned, or vice versa. Repeat the complete process (which will go faster since the floor is already marked).

1. Photograph Subject One

3. Print and Evaluate

To test your lighting, start with a single main light source and no other lights on. Place a lighttoned (not white) background behind the subject so that you will not need additional lights for separation. Have all the room lights turned off in the camera area and the windows blacked out; you must be able to see your light to control it. Put a test subject in a basic pose and give them a tabletop to lean on so they don’t get uncomfortable. Ask them to wear a medium-gray top (white fabric will reflect light up and act as a fill-light source; black fabric will take light away through subtractive lighting). Start with your main light at a 90 degree angle to the subject, then adjust the height as discussed in section 25 and take a shot. Put a piece of duct tape under the main post of your light stand. Then, move the main light 6 inches closer to the camera position, leaving it at the same height, and take another shot. Again, put

When you have taken all the images, make a print of each test image—a big enough print that you can really see the lighting. Terrible lighting might be overlooked in a wallet-size print or even in a larger print where the face size is small, but with an 8x10-inch, 11x14-inch, or larger print (with a larger face size) you can easily make the distinction between good lighting and bad. Use the same printer or lab as you use for your clients. The reason we only use the main light for this series is to get back to the basic lighting structure. We don’t want additional light sources to mask what is fundamentally bad lighting. Once you’ve completed these tests with the main light only, you can proceed to make test prints that incorporate fill light—and all the other lights. For each test, study the lighting to see if the fill source, background light, hair light, and/or accent lights produced the look you wanted; if not, adjust and re-print.

66 Photograph the face

Once your lights are metered and tested, you have a starting place for each session. You have created a constant from which you can grow—a reference point from which to make all the refinements in light positions, heights, and power settings required to tailor the effect to the individual client. You should test and retest your lighting as your skills and talent grow. You must know your lighting and be able to reproduce “your lighting style” anytime, anywhere. Once you have fully developed your basic lighting style, you will be able to make changes and grow as an artist. Testing, practicing, and training your eyes to see is an ongoing process that will really never end—at least if you are lucky. I started studying photography at fourteen, did my first wedding at sixteen, and opened the studio I have today at twenty-two. Even though I have been at this for quite a while, I still test and refine my lighting. I learn new techniques and incorporate them into what I am already doing to take my lighting to a new level.

Add Fill Light to Control Contrast In the previous exercise, shot with a main light only, you probably noticed that the shadowing on the face was too dark—even on your fairskinned subject. Shadows can be used very effectively to hide flaws on the body, but when it comes to lighting the face, excessive shadows are distracting. To create images that our clients will buy, we frequently need to fill (add light to) the shadow areas. When to Add Fill. Not every shot will require fill. I never add fill automatically; I look at the subject posed in the scene. When I am shooting in a bright or high-key area with a fairskinned person, the white surroundings all reflect

There’s no secret recipe for the perfect amount of fill. You want enough shadowing to shape the face, but not so much that it looks distracting (or creates the need for excessive postproduction).

so much light that they provide plenty of fill with no help from me. In other scenarios, when the shadows are too heavy, I add the appropriate fill. How Much Fill Is “Right?” When it comes to creating great lighting, we all want the secret formula—that lighting recipe that works with every client, every time. We want to get on the fast track to lighting success. If all of our subjects had sun-kissed, Caucasian skin tones and none had a long nose, deep-set eyes, or any other such metering, testing, and training your eyes 67

Pairing a Halo main light with a softbox on the floor for fill gives me great results for a variety of session types.

issues, we could use fixed light ratios as the standard for our setups. In the real world, our clients’ features and colorations differ wildly, so we need a variety of different lighting ratios, depending on the shade of skin and the configuration of the subject’s face. Unfortunately, nothing works every time with every client. Flash Fill. You could use flash to fill the shadow, but I find that’s actually overly complicated in a lot of cases. Because the amount of fill light needed for each person will vary depending on their skin color, their facial structure, and the color of their hair and clothing, using flash for fill can become a bit of a guessing game. This is why I use a reflector for fill much of the time. I 68 Photograph the face

say “much of the time,” because with a group of twenty people, I need the power of flash to fill all that space—but, once again, in a group of twenty people the lighting is less critical than in a singlesubject image with a larger facial size. I also use flash fill for my more glamorous portrait setups, as seen above. Reflected Fill. If you want to use a reflector panel to fill in the shadow areas, you have a few choices to make. Reflectors are available in white, silver, or gold. I suggest that you avoid using gold reflectors, because the color of the light on the subject will be altered. If you want to see a warmer glow on the skin, it would be best to make that change in Photoshop.

The choice of white or silver reflector will depend on two factors: what you own and how far the reflector needs to be placed from the subject. In the studio, I have a 6-foot silver/white reflector. I use the white side when I want soft fill light and the reflector can be placed close to the subject (like in a head-and-shoulders pose). The silver side is used when I need a higher volume of light to fill the shadows or when the reflector must be placed farther away from the subject (like in a full-length pose). The silver side produces a harder, more specular look in the fill light. I always use the silver side of the reflector when photographing a subject with very dark skin and when a dark-haired subject is dressed in

very dark clothing. The slight shimmer from the silver adds extra dimension to these darker tones. The size of the reflector is also important when you are creating precision lighting. Working with a 6-foot reflector is great when you want to fill the shadows over the length of a standing subject’s body, but when you want to fill only the face, leaving the rest of the body in shadow, a small reflector is a better choice. There are a variety of tools available on the market to help you position your reflector, so you won’t need an assistant to hold it for you (unless one’s available!). I often lean a rigid reflector against a light stand or hook the cloth hand grip over the top of a light stand. I control the amount of fill by adjusting the distance of the reflector from the subject and observing the results. This is where training your eyes becomes so important. You need to learn to see as the camera does. You need to be able to identify the subtle differences between the correct amount of fill, too much fill, or too little fill for the look you are trying to create. A silver reflector was used for fill in this window light portrait.

metering, testing, and training your eyes 69

Develop Your “Camera Vision” Training your eyes to see the way a camera sees is a bit of a lost art in this digital world (and, no, the LCD preview isn’t a replacement). Developing your “sight” is a learned process through which your mind basically converts the world you see into the world the way the camera sees it. It takes practice and patience but the rewards are huge. Back in the days of film, I had an employee I had spent a lot of time training. He was getting to be a really good photographer and a real asset to our studio. However, he would never catch it Training your eye to see more objectively—more like a camera—is critical to getting portraits right at the time of capture.

70 Photograph the face

when a flash misfired or when a background light was turned off (when he thought it was on). As a result, we would end up having to reshoot these images. I asked him if he could see the moment the image was taken—that fraction of a second when all the flashes popped and the image was created. To my surprise, he could not. This is a problem with being taught instead of learning. When you are taught, you are spoon-fed the needed information to fulfill the task at hand. When you learn something, you have to look for the answers—as well as the right questions! Yes, I can see the moment an image is created in the studio—as many photographers can. Developing “camera vision” is a must for using reflectors or natural light in your portraits. In the studio, it makes the difference between the right amount of fill and too much or too little. Outdoors, it saves you huge amounts of time retouching out what you didn’t notice before the shot was taken. The only way to develop “camera vision” is to constantly review what you photograph. Study your images and look for what you missed. What were the differences between what you thought you were photographing and what the camera actually captured? When I started in photography, I practiced outdoors while waiting for sessions. I looked for a spot I thought had perfect lighting, then I would take a shot to review when it came back from the lab. I would then look at what was captured. In the beginning, I missed everything. Bad lighting, hot spots from direct sunlight—a few times I even missed small pieces of trash in the scene! My awareness started changing. Soon, I could spot problems in a scene with a quick glance. The same was true for problems with my clients; stray hairs, wrinkles, bra straps, unbuttoned shirts, and unzipped pants instantly caught

“What were the differences between what you thought you were photographing and what the camera actually captured?”

As a professional photographer, you must take responsibility for everything in the frame—the pose, the lighting, the styling, everything!

my eye. We are capable of amazing things when we challenge ourselves to learn them. While this training isn’t easy, it is necessary if you want a long-term career in professional photography. Practice while you are waiting for clients to show up, looking for scenes or spots you think are perfect. Here’s a place where the LCD screen is very useful: take a photo and look at the preview on the back of the camera (make sure to enlarge it so you can see the details). You can also use the LCD preview to help spot problems with your client’s appearance. Take a quick photo as the first shot, then enlarge it and check them for any posing, clothing, or hair problems. As professional photographers, we are responsible for everything that is within the final image. Years ago, I was on an outdoor shoot and waiting for one of my seniors to change her clothing.

While I waited, I watched another photographer at the same ranch interacting with his client. The young lady was a beautiful woman a few years out of college. He instructed her to sit on a rock near the water. As she did, her pant leg raised revealing her white socks. It was so obvious that the client even noticed and asked him, “Are my white socks going to show?” He responded, “Of course they are going to show. If you didn’t want them to show, you shouldn’t have worn them!” It is no surprise he left photography to work with his father in another industry. People come to a professional to take care of everything. Can you imagine a doctor saying, “Well, why didn’t you know that would ruin the surgery?” Or a lawyer saying, “If you didn’t want to get audited, you shouldn’t have done that.” No way. As the professional, it’s all on you. metering, testing, and training your eyes 71

chapter seven

Good Lighting Is in the Eyes Learning Objective

Position the main light correctly by watching its effect on the eyes.

✔ DO Watch for Eyelash Shadows Often long, thick eyelashes act like the brim of a baseball cap. Instead of creating a shadow on the forehead, however, they lessen the intensity of the catchlights in the eyes. As you would with a hat, lower the light enough to get light under the obstruction.

T

he eyes, more than anything else, are the best indicator of proper lighting. Whether inside a studio, at an interior location, or shooting outdoors, you should always look at the eyes for the final check of your portrait lighting. Without distinct catchlights in each eye, catchlights in the proper position and of the proper size, the face is not lit properly. This is especially critical when the portrait features a larger facial size. You might be able to get by with less-thanperfect lighting on the face in a full-length pose or a scenic portrait, but you can’t hide it in a head shot. This is why you must always check the eyes before finalizing your lighting.

Position the Main Light With studio light sources (either in the studio or on location), I adjust the height and angle of the light while looking into the subject’s eyes. This sounds really confusing, but it isn’t. Everyone’s face is different and you will simply need to adjust your lighting for each client in each pose. Angle of the Main Light. Once I have the subject posed, I adjust the angle of the main light. The greater the angle of the light from the camera position, the more it contours the face from side to side. This also increases the shadowing of the side of the face and the size and quality 72 Photograph the face

As the angle of the main light changes from nearly straight-on (left) to more of an angle (right), the contouring shadows on the face increase—including the shadow of the nose.

of the transition area. However, as the angle increases, the nose shadow will also grow, making it look larger. Slowly move the main light around the subject until the shadow of the nose becomes a problem, then gradually move it back until you have the best lighting for that person. Subjects with smaller noses can be photographed with the light at a greater angle to increase the transition area from highlight to shadow; for subjects with larger noses, use a shallower angle. Height of the Main Light. The higher the main light is placed, the more it contours the face from top to bottom, but the less it will illuminate the eyes. Once it reaches a certain height,

you will lose the catchlights and dark circles will appear under the eyes. To adjust the height, I raise the main light to a point that is obviously too high, then slowly lower it until the catchlights are in the right position in both eyes. Some clients have no circles under their eyes and eyes that reflect light really well; for these subjects, the main light can be positioned higher to bring out more contouring of the face. For other subjects, a lower angle will provide the best results. I normally end up with the bottom of the main light modifier at about the shoulder height of the subject. The angle is between 60 to 70 degrees from the angle of the camera. good lighting is in the eyes 73

Catchlights

✔ Do This

✖ Don’t Do This

Eyes, just like faces, are completely different in how they reflect light—this is another reason you need to adjust the light for each client, rather than expecting one setup to work for everyone. Balance Uneven Eyes. If you have observed that the subject’s eyes are not evenly sized, this is the time to deal with that. To do that, simply adjust the main light and the posing of the face so that the catchlights appear to be the same size. Much of the reason a portrait viewer notices eyesize difference is because the catchlights in one eye are less noticeable or smaller than the catchlights in the other eye. If the catchlights appear even, the eyes will appear more even. Pay attention to how the catchlights change with the pose, since this often diminishes the appearance of the catchlight in one eye more than in the other; adjust the main light as needed for each pose. Unwanted Multiple Catchlights. While looking in the eyes, you can also spot any problems with your lighting by looking for any light striking the face with enough intensity to create

(top) Mentally divide the pupil and iris into quarters. The catchlights should appear in the upper quarter of each iris. They should be of a medium size, not pinpoints of light, but also not so large that they overwhelm the eye or obscure its color. (center) Without a distinct catchlight in each eye, the eyes are lifeless. This problem is caused by the absence of a main light source, or the use of one that is so large that it produces an even illumination across the entire eye. If you see this, look for more direction in your light source. (bottom) Using a small, intense main light (such as on-camera flash) produces a tiny catchlight. The result is a very harsh, unappealing look on the face. It’s simply not a professional approach.

74 Photograph the face

✖ Don’t Do This

unwanted catchlights. I don’t subscribe to the lighting theories of the 1970s that dictated “correct” portraits would have just one catchlight in each eye. Personally, I often use a lower reflector to add a secondary catchlight for a more glamorous look—but this is a choice I make based on my own and my client’s preferences (see next section). It is not the results of a misplaced light or light spilling out of a the side of a unsealed softbox. If you detect catchlights being created by such sources, correct them before you start shooting. At interior locations, unwanted multiple catchlights can be caused by large windows and intense interior lights. While you want to light the room the way it is seen to the eye (which usually means with curtains open and interior lights on), you may have to block windows or ambient light sources from hitting the face. Boost Eye Color with Reflected Fill. Once you’ve placed the main light as described, you’ll see the eyes start to come alive. But don’t stop there! At this point, the eyes are only illuminated from one point: the main light. With just this light, the eye color will only be visible with lightblue eyes; any other eye color will be lost. I want to see the color in every subject’s eyes, so I often bring in a second source of light from below the subject to light the lower part of the eye. This can be a reflector, a piece of foamcore board, or a softbox. The intensity of this light should be less than the main light, because the main light should produce the predominant catchlight. The ratio between these two lights varies depending on how reflective the subject’s eyes are. Usually, the lower light/reflector is metered at 11/2 stops below the main light. If the main is f/16, for example, the lower accent light would read f/8.5.

Adding reflected fill from below (here, with a tri-fold reflector) pumps up the eye color for a nice look.

“Once you’ve placed the main light as described, you’ll see the eyes start to come alive.” This can change to a 1-stop difference if the subject’s eyes don’t reflect light well. The subject’s eyes are the true indicator of good lighting. When you see catchlights in the correct position and secondary catchlights in the lower part of the eyes (with visible eye color showing in at least half the eye), you will know that you have created a salable portrait. good lighting is in the eyes 75

Outdoor Sessions When shooting outdoors, you generally work with an enormous main light source: the open sky. The studio equivalent of this is a flash bouncing off a huge, white wall close to the subject. With this type of main light, you would need to place gobos around your subject for the proper highlights and shadows for portraiture. Lower the Angle of the Main Light. Fortunately, nature provides everything you need to create a beautiful outdoor portrait: shade. Trees, covered walkways, and porches not only block the overhead light from the open sky, they lower the angle of the main light on the subject. When the angle is correct, you’ll see beautiful catchlights appear in the subject’s eyes—just as you do when lowering a studio light into position.

✖ DON’T Work Too Close to the Edge

Most photographers place the subject too close to the edge of this obstruction. When you do this, you still block the overhead light, but you don’t lower the angle of the light from the open sky enough to create beautiful lighting. If you’re not seeing a nice catchlight in the right position, have the subject back up farther underneath the overhang. This will lower the angle of light and create the lighting effect you are looking for.

The subject’s distance from the edge of the overhang determines the angle of the light.

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“If the catchlight is too low, you usually have a sunlit object or grassy area in front of the subject.” Common Problems. If the catchlight is too low, you usually have a sunlit object or grassy area in front of the subject that is overpowering the light from the sky. Conversely, if you see a catchlight directly under the eyelid and lacking intensity (often accompanied by “raccoon eyes,” or slight circular shadows under the eyes) there is too much light coming from overhead. When you are working at midday, intense light reflects off of everything and can create too many little catchlights. Usually, one of the catchlights is more intense than the rest. You can eliminate the excessive catchlights by turning the subject or placing a gobo to block the light from those sources.

Practical Example: Portraits on an Overcast Day Unlike most of my outdoor sessions, I used natural light throughout this entire session with a young lady, her horse, and her mother. It was shot on an overcast day with very soft light. My objectives were to create shadowing and reduce the size of the huge main light source. This is one of the hardest types of lighting to deal with outdoors. Looking at the catchlights in the girl’s eyes, you see a continuous highlight from side to side. This is a clear sign of flat lighting from a very large light source. I would normally turn the subject toward the shadow side of the frame

Without fill, the contouring was too pronounced on this girl’s face. Turning her more toward the light and adding a reflector opened up the shadows for a much better look (top and center). In the zoomed-in view of her eyes (bottom), notice the long, horizontal catchlights from the overcast sky.

to increase shadow and reduce the width of the main light source. However, in this case I liked a flatter lighting style; creating more shadowing on this little girl’s face brought out contours that I didn’t like. These would have required retouching to remove; it was better to simply eliminate them at the time of capture by turning her more toward the main light source. When I added the mother to the shot (page 79), I had a choice. While the little girl looked better with flat lighting, the mother looked amazing with the normal amount of shadowing. This was a simple choice, because the person making the buying decision would be the mom. good lighting is in the eyes 77

78 Photograph the face

The mom looked great with a little more shadowing, so I turned her body into the shadow side of the frame and brought her face back just enough for the look I wanted. The girl, who looked best with flatter lighting, was turned more into the light.

If Mom looks striking in a portrait, that is the portrait she will buy. Happily, I was able to balance the light and make them both look great. I simply had Mom turn her body more to the shadow side of the frame, then I had the little girl face more toward the main light. This resulted in more shadowing for the mom and less for the girl. (The horse had no say in the buying process and wasn’t very cooperative, so for those shots— Nice lighting on the horse was a secondary concern; it was most important that the little girl be well lit in these images.

seen below and on the facing page—we made do with the light that best suited the little girl!)

Get It Right in the Camera You can, if you so desire, use Photoshop to make the catchlights appear as they should and fix the effects of light spilling out in unwanted areas. However, Photoshop cripples many young photographers. Jumping into the deep end is the best motivation to learn how to swim. You will never learn to light a portrait properly if you go into every session thinking you can fix the problems created by your ignorance or laziness. If you want a true litmus test of the quality of your work, show it to a client right out of the camera. That’s how we operate at my studio; we go right from the session to the viewing room—without any pre-touching or editing in any way. Therefore, I strive to make each capture at least 90 percent as good as the final image will be. If clients buy your unedited images for a professional price, you are well on your way. If you show your clients unedited images and their reactions deflate your ego, you will be humble enough to learn how to become a real professional photographer and demand better quality from yourself. good lighting is in the eyes 79

chapter eight

Studio Lighting Learning Objective

Use modifiers and light positions to customize each client’s portraits.

Equipment I don’t receive free equipment or money from any equipment manufacturers. Here’s the honest truth about gear: learn to use what you have to achieve the look you want; don’t waste money trying to buy equipment to produce a look you don’t understand. Knowledge, not equipment, is the key to great lighting. All that money most photographers spend endlessly updating their equipment? I put it in the bank. Camera and Lenses. Not that it matters, but many photographers ask: I shoot with a Canon 5D. Yes, it is an older camera, but it does the job I need it to do. When it wears out or doesn’t do the job anymore, I will buy another one. My camera is a tool, not a toy. You could give me an old, crappy 35mm camera and I’d create beautiful, salable images for any subject I photographed. (On the flip side, you could equip an unskilled photographer with the world’s finest equipment and never see a salable shot.) I shoot almost all my portraits with a 70– 200mm f/2.8 Canon lens. Most of the time in the studio, I shoot at f/5.6 or f/8; outdoors, Studio lighting offers the ultimate in control—control you can use to flatter your client and create a look that meets their needs for the portrait. 80 Photograph the face

“Being able to make direct eye contact with my subjects improves the quality of their expressions.” I’m almost always wide open at f/2.8. I photograph most clients during business hours, which are not ideal for outdoor lighting. At f/2.8, the shallow depth of field helps soften the contrasty backgrounds that you find during those midday hours. (More on this in chapter 10.) Tripod. In the studio, I almost always shoot from a tripod/camera stand. Being able to make direct eye contact with my subjects brings life to their eyes and improves the quality of their expressions. As noted in chapter 4, I mirror the expression I want them to have, making smiling and non-smiling expressions more genuine. I typically position my face just beside the camera on the main light side of the camera. Light Sources. Studio lighting requires a professional-quality light source for lighting the face. Speedlights are not adequate for consistently creating professional-quality portraits with larger facial sizes. You can get attachments for these small flash units that improve the characteristics of the lighting, but they still don’t offer the level of reliable control required to achieve the very best results at every session. If you were going to take a studio photo of the President of the United States and you had an unlimited budget for studio and equipment rental, would you show up with a few speedlights and shoot on automatic? No way. So why would you settle for that with the clients whose purchases you rely on for your livelihood?

To achieve optimal results, your light positions and light modifiers need to be adjusted for each subject and each session. studio lighting 81

I know that some of you are already drafting me e-mail messages about the beautiful portraits you’ve created using nothing but speedlights. I’m not saying it can’t happen, just that it won’t happen at every session, every day, with every client. Most speedlights have no modeling light, so your placement of the lights is a shot in the A Halo main light (above the subjects) was paired with fill from a softbox (on the floor) for this portrait of a father and daughter.

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dark; it’s pretty tough to make critical lighting decisions for a specific face when you’re shooting blind. No one is that good at light placement. Additionally, you have the limited access to attachments, substantially lower power, and a very small flash tube to contend with. Most of my lights are Alien Bees; they are wellmade lights that have stood up to all the abuse I have given them. I have tried many brands and found these lights to be the best value. Light Modifiers. My main light modifiers for the more traditional portraits are Westcott Halos. I use a medium Halo for my head-and-shoulder areas and a large Halo for my full-length areas. I switch to the larger modifier when moving the light to a great distance in order to maintain the same light characteristics (the size of the light relative to the subject; see chapter 5) as in the head-and-shoulders setup. Should you not have the budget for two modifiers, you can maintain a consistent look by simply placing a large light

“Young photographers tend to worry too much about lighting and not enough about shadowing.” box at a consistent distance to the subject whether you are shooting a full-length or head-andshoulders portrait.

Don’t Overlight

Young photographers tend to worry too much about lighting and not enough about shadowing. Shadowing is so important because it creates dimension and reduces the width of our clients—which, as I’ve noted, is part of attaining the standard of beauty (see chapter 3). One of the primary jobs of the photographer is to produce portraits that align with the client’s selfimage, and shadowing will do more to help you create attain that goal than any other tool. For more traditional portraits, I choose a light source that is hard enough to (without fill) leave the shadow-side ear nearly black. This is important. If your main light is so soft that (without fill) the ear on the shadow side is only slightly darker than the mask of the face, you are working with flat lighting. The only way to produce a portrait with highlights, shadows, and a nice transition area is to start with enough shadow. As we have discussed, the larger the transition from highlight to shadow, the more depth and dimension the portrait will have. The only way to achieve this consistently is to use an “overshadow and fill” approach (rather than an “overlight”

A Halo main light (above the model) was paired with fill from a softbox (on the floor). studio lighting 83

“This allows me to light only the areas of the subject to which I want to draw the viewer’s eye.”

Control the Light

strategy). While there is always a point where the shadowing is too extreme to be filled and produce a salable portrait, a much more common problem with the portraits in today’s marketplace is overlighting and a lack of contrast. Happily, if this is a problem you face, you can correct it with the lighting equipment you already own (well, unless you have none). For example, if you have a large, very soft light source like a Halo, you can get better shadowing simply by moving the light further from the subject. Position the main light at a greater angle to the subject, then have them turn their face toward it to light just the mask of the face. At this point, there will be adequate shadowing to work with. It may require a little fill, but it’s workable.

Softboxes and Halos. When it comes to softboxes, bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better— even if those large boxes do seem pretty impressive. With a main light source that is too soft, the light lacks directionality and contrast, and the final image looks flat. It lacks the “pop” that you want in professional images. Very large boxes are great for lighting families or larger groups, but for single subjects they can put light where you don’t want it; for a controlled effect when photographing single subjects, I sometimes use a small or medium softbox for full-length poses. This allows me to light only the areas of the subject to which I want to draw the viewer’s eye. There are other ways that you can manipulate your softbox to make its light a little softer or harder. If you are using a softbox with the flash head facing the subject, the light will be harder than it would be if you aimed the flash head at the back of the box (so it bounces off the back of the box before passing through the diffusion

Dark shadows add a sense of strength and drama to the image.

Lighter shadows still provide contouring but make the image look soft and fresh.

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Creating softly lit portraits that still have good texture and depth requires careful control of the large light source.

panel). Directing the light through just a single diffusion panel produces a less diffuse quality of light than you could create by adding the second diffusion panel supplied with most softboxes. With all else being equal, a softbox with a silver interior will produce harder light than a softbox with a white interior. If the light is too contrasty for your tastes, add inner diffusion material or replace the outer diffuser with a thicker fabric. I prefer a softbox with a silver lining and a thinner front diffusion panel. This fits my style of photography and the tastes of my clients—most of whom are high school seniors and like portraits with a bit more contrast and a higher color saturation.

✔ DO Feather the Light If the light from your softbox is too hard, you can create a softer effect by using just the light from the edge of the softbox, rather than the harder, more direct beam of light emitted by the full front panel of the modifier. This technique is called feathering. I tend to select softstudiothan lighting 85 want boxes that produce more contrast I typically and feather the light to soften it. Feathering is a great technique that allows you to create workable light from sources that would not otherwise be usable.

To create this portrait, I paired boxes with different types of front panels (convex at the top, recessed flat-front at the bottom).

Much more important than the shape of the light box is the type of front panel it has. Most softboxes have a flat front panel. On some units, that panel is recessed, meaning the front panel isn’t flush with the very front edges of the light 86 Photograph the face

box but inset 2 to 3 inches. The resulting lip around the perimeter directs the light more efficiently, reducing stray light rays from the sides of the main beam of light.  The second type of front panel is the convex front panel, which curves out past the side walls of the light modifier. The Halo and Starfish series lights are known for this type of front panel. (The downside of modifiers like the Halo and Starfish is you can’t use any attachments.) One isn’t better than another; each is suited to a specific purpose. A flat front panel, especially a recessed front panel, gives you more control over your light. The beam of light falls precisely where you place it and falls off (fades in intensity) very quickly so it doesn’t spill light anywhere you don’t want it. A light with a convex front panel produces very broad, soft, and beautiful light— especially when it’s feathered. If you want lots

of gentle light to pour all over your subject, this would be a good type of modifier to choose. Personally, I prefer the harder, more controlled lighting from the recessed-panel boxes; I think it looks more interesting. However, we also have less-experienced photographers working at my studio, especially during the yearbook deadlines. For these photographers, the Halo offers a very forgiving light source and ensures they can consistently produce professional-quality yearbook photos. Strip Lights. I love to use a larger strip light (basically a softbox with a very elongated, rectangular front) as a main light source. Its narrow beam of light is so unusual that I find many uses for it. I use strip lights during boudoir sessions, fashion-oriented senior sessions, and even for elegant portraits of women. In addition to its unique look and shadowing, the narrow beam provides an especially flattering main light for women, who are often worried about looking slim.

Since the characteristics of this light are different from a standard square softbox, you will have to test your lighting until you feel comfortable and confident in its placement. Most of the time, I work with the strip light at about a 70

A strip light was positioned vertically to light the subject’s face and hand, letting the body fall into shadow.

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degree angle to the subject. If the strip light will be used alone, I place it so that the subject’s face is basically in the middle of the strip light. I also tip the top of the light down toward the subject. If I’ll be adding a separate fill source, I place the strip light so the top of the subject’s head is at the same height as the middle of the box. For this setup, I position the strip light flat to the subject. Sometimes, I even use the strip light from a lower angle with a softbox over the camera for a modified butterfly lighting look. Parabolics. A flash unit fitted with a parabolic (metal) reflector is the tool of choice as a main light source for most traditional portraits made

with harder lighting. These reflectors come in a variety of shapes and sizes as well as different interior finishes, each of which will affect the light quality. There are also a great number of accessories that can be attached to the parabolic reflectors to allow enhanced control over the light (snoots, grids, etc.). You can even modify your parabolics by changing the finish of the interior or putting diffusion material over the end of the reflector. The best part of using a parabolic for your main light is the amount of control it offers. When you can add light precisely where you want it, you can create a dramatic portrait—something like the “old Hollywood” look. Barn Doors. Barn doors give you amazing control, while also adding more contrast to the light from the parabolic (or beauty dish). To me, barndoors are a must for the type of work I do. I want control over where my main light strikes the subject, something that is especially imporHard light—when it is carefully controlled—can be used to create very dramatic and appealing portraits.

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Adding barn doors to the main light reduces the size of the light beam.

tant in boudoir, fashionable senior sessions, or elegant women’s portraits. Being able to keep the light off a pale upper arm, a heavier thigh, or a not-so-flat tummy makes a huge difference in the client’s satisfaction with her portraits. Grids. Grid attachments (also called honeycombs) help control the spread of the light. Grids are not adjustable, so they don’t give you the flexibility of barn doors, but they do eliminate “skew” rays spreading out from the sides of the light. Another major difference between barn doors and grids is that barn doors don’t change the characteristic of the light beam, they just control its size. Grids actually make the light appear harder and more contrasty. Grids are rated in degrees (e.g., 10 degrees, 20 degrees, 30 degrees, etc.). The lower the degree rating, the narrower the beam of light. Black Panels. Black panels, or even a small reflector with a black side, come in handy as gobos—holding light off some feature that the subject would rather not see in their final images (like the top of a head with thinning hair).

Adding a grid to the main light reduces “skew” rays.

“When you can add light precisely where you want it, you can create a dramatic portrait.”

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The intensity you require from your hair light will change depending on the subject. Black hair requires much more light to highlight than blond hair.

The Hair and Accent Light(s) Light Modifiers. For hair lights, some photographers use a strip light with white baffle material over the front of the box. This type of light is very soft, so it will add gentle accents on the hair and shoulders but produce little luster on the hair. This type of light might be a good hair light for a bald man, but typically we associate healthy hair with shine. The same is true for clothing made of lustrous materials, like leather. We expect to see highlights on the leather to define that it is, in fact, leather. Another problem with a strip light is the lack of control, both on the subjects and in your ability to keep light rays from hitting the camera lens. To add control and contrast to a strip light, 90 Photograph the face

many photographers add a grid or louvers to the front panel. This does help with control—and the added contrast produces more of the look a separation light should have. Personally, I prefer a grid spot for a hair light. It’s cheap, controlled, and produces crisp highlights. I add barn doors to the standard size reflector for my accent lights. This control is very important. Remember: many of your clients have parts of their body to which they’d prefer you not bring attention. Barn doors give you both vertical and horizontal control, so you only illuminate what the client’s ego can handle seeing. Positioning. I often see photographers putting the hair light right above the background, angled back toward the hair. This means that the light is also angled back toward the lens—especially when the camera is moved closer to the subject. I see other photographers putting the hair light directly overhead, creating problematic highlights on the top of the forehead as well as in the hair. The correct position for the hair light is just behind and above the subject—high enough to allow the beam of light to be angled downward to avoid light hitting the lens.

could have been much more creative and beautiful if it weren’t for a client insisting on a certain style of portrait for a certain need. Art is in the eye of the buyer, and as professionals we create the portraits that the client wants us to create. Traditional Lighting. Many photographers tend to get bored when it comes to discussing “traditional” lighting styles—but those that wish

Lighting Styles Lighting has to be selected for the client’s end use. If a woman running for political office comes to you and wants her portrait taken, you probably shouldn’t use a glamorous style of lighting. That would be as inappropriate as suggesting she wear a low-cut top—it’s not really the proper look for a political official. There are times, many times, when a client’s needs overshadow the beauty of the final image. Often, I create portraits that Traditional lighting flatters the subject and is appropriate for a wide variety of end uses. studio lighting 91

Basic Setups In the studio, I typically work with five lights in the low-key areas and two lights in the high-key areas. I also use a Westcott trifold reflector in most of my portraits to reflect light up onto the subject’s face from the main light. In full-length areas, I will replace this trifold reflector with a large softbox.

High Key In the high key area, the second light illuminates the white background and floor. This light is set to meter ½ stop less than the main light. Back in the days of film, creating seamless white without shadow or the appearance of texture was quite an art, but with

One-Light Setup

Two-Light Setup

Main light, reflector for fill.

Main light, reflector for fill, background light.

Three-Light Setup

Four-Light Setup

Main light, reflector for fill, background light, and hair light.

Main light, reflector for fill, background light, hair light, and one accent light.

Main light, reflector for fill, background light, hair light, and two accent lights. A five-light setup viewed from the camera position.

Five-Light Setup digital, a quick action can eliminate everything from marks on the floor to light falloff on the back wall.

Low Key In the low-key areas, I work with a main light, background light, and hair light. The hair light is placed

to remain in this profession for very long should get a little more excited. Overall, 90 percent of portrait sales come from these styles, so you should master traditional styles like Rembrandt lighting and loop lighting before ever thinking of other styles. Traditional lighting flatters the subject and is appropriate for a wide variety of end uses. This is lighting that looks great but doesn’t call a lot of attention to itself. Most of the lighting I use in my studio falls into this category—but with a bit of a fashion-

over the background and pointed toward the back of the subject’s head with a snoot or grid to avoid lens flare. I add accent lights on each side of the background to draw attention to select parts of the body or face by adding highlights.

able edge, since a majority of my clients are younger (high-school seniors). For each session, I create what I consider traditional portrait lighting, then work with some more creative styles to have some fun and offer my clients images that my competition can’t. Butterfly Lighting. Butterfly lighting (also known as Paramount lighting for its frequent use in early Hollywood portraiture) is quite flat and usually requires posing the face directly at the camera, so it isn’t a good choice for anyone studio lighting 93

out the contours of the cheekbones, the impact and color of the eyes, and the luster on the lips. I also use butterfly lighting for small families in the studio—especially when photographing a younger, more stylish group of siblings. Traditionally, butterfly lighting has your main light over the camera and in front of the subject (it’s helpful to put it on a boom; otherwise, you will constantly be shooting around the stand). A second light is then placed below the camera and in front of the subject. Since both lights are directly in front of the subject, the only shadowing is vertical and quite subtle. Typically, I use a Halo or softbox as my main light above the camera, adding another softbox under the camera. When I use a rectangular softbox for the upper main light, I almost always work it in a horizontal position. This gives me a little more room to shoot through between the upper and lower lights, as well as more lighting width to cover groups and families. I also like to use butterfly lighting with a strip light either above or below to alter the lighting characteristics—especially in boudoir and modeling sessions. To bring out more of the cheekbones, I sometimes switch the over-camera softbox to a parabolic, beauty dish, or even a grid spot. Each source produces different effects for the different shapes of my subjects’ faces.

With the right subject, butterfly lighting can be a very flattering choice.

whose face isn’t quite symmetrical; it will make such imperfections very noticeable. Since all of the face will be lit, it’s also a poor choice for someone who already feels their face looks too wide. Butterfly lighting can, however, really enhance the look of certain individuals, bringing 94 Photograph the face

✔ DO Pick the Right Style Not all styles of lighting are the best choice for all scenarios. Butterfly lighting would be perfect for a boudoir session, fashionable senior shot, or stylish woman’s portrait. However, if the woman were displaying a large portrait of herself in an elegant room of an elegant house, I would select a more traditional style of lighting. While there are no hard and fast rules, you have to use common sense when making these decisions—and make the selections that fit each client’s end use, not just the style of lighting you happen to like the best.

Ring Light Portraits. The light from a ring light is so distinctive that portraits lit with it have a very pronounced style. Fashion and advertising photographers use a variety of main lights, and we should follow their lead. Our clients look to fashion magazines and advertising for their cues about beauty, style, and self-image, so these are the images that have set the standard of beauty and style in our clients’ minds. Ring lights (large versions of the lens-encircling lights used in macro photography) are a common main light source in fashion photography and produce a very smooth, shadowless look. The effect can be beautiful for the right face. The hardest part of using a ring light is getting used to the correct working distance for each type of composition. The size of the ring light is what will determine this. The light is in the right spot when the catchlights it produces appear in the iris (the colored part of the eye). You definitely don’t want to see them in the whites of the eyes. If the light makes a ring in the iris, you are prob-

“The hardest part of using a ring light is getting used to the correct working distance for each type of composition.” ably too close to use a telephoto lens and avoid distortion of the subject’s face. If the catchlight looks like a large, solid softbox with no hole in the middle, you have placed the light too far away for its size. The most impressive part of the light from a ring light is its effect on the eyes. It can look amazing. However, you can’t see this effect when you use the light for full-length compositions (because the face size is so small). For that reason, I typically use ring lights only for closeups. It isn’t an easy light to work with—so if you aren’t going to clearly see the eyes anyway, there are better main light choices.

The most impressive part of the light from a ring light is its effect on the eyes.

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Spotlights produce a distinctive look with strong, heavy shadows.

Spotlit Portraits. A spotlight produces the hardest lighting of all and a distinctively artistic look with strong, heavy shadows. One of my favorite ways to use this light is simply to pose the subject leaning against a white wall with a single spot illuminating the subject and background. Whether this shot is made as a full-length or head-and-shoulders portrait, the look is striking and yet simple. The lighting effect isn’t right for everyone, but it’s a consistent seller. A spotlight directs the portrait viewer’s eye right where you want it. I often use a small spot

“The lighting effect isn’t right for everyone, but it’s a consistent seller.” 96 Photograph the face

to light just the mask of the face with a slight falloff around the “edges” of the face. With a spotlight, you have to test the amount of fill light used so that you soften the hardness of the shadows a bit but do not negate the dramatic look the spotlight produces. Diamond Light. The desire to accentuate my subjects’ eyes led me to develop what I call a diamond light. Because the important points of the facial plane form a diamond shape, I cut out a diamond in a black sheet of paper, put it on a mount for a projection box, and project the diamond-shaped light pattern onto the face at a slightly greater intensity than the standard mainlight source. If the projection box is focusable, make sure the diamond pattern is out of focus so there are no distinct lines from the gobo. The effects are beautiful. It’s not right for every subject, but it creates a distinctive, fashionable look that

is perfect for some subjects. (Note: A few years later, I was watching a television show and saw a Playboy photographer using the same technique to add a glamorous look to the face of the young

lady. So much for my “original” idea! Photographers have probably been using a variation on this lighting idea since before I was born.) Corrective Lighting. To disguise problems areas through the liberal use of shadow and very selective highlights, I shoot corrective-lighting images in an area that is entirely black. Even the props and furniture are black (or very dark). This ensures that no light bounces off the walls or items in the room, so I can put light and shadow exactly where I want it. I switch to smaller, more controllable main lights (like a small softbox with louvers) for these images and apply pinpoint fill with a reflector. To learn more about this approach, see my book Corrective Lighting, Posing, and Retouching for Digital Portrait Photographers, now in its third edition (Amherst Media®).

I cut out a diamond in a black sheet of paper, put it on a mount for a projection box, and project the diamond-shaped light pattern onto the face.

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chapter nine

Location Lighting: Indoors Learning Objective

Use available light as-is or augment it for flattering portraits.

Benefits and Challenges Today’s professional photographer is more likely to work on location than in a studio. In fact, many photographers do not even have access to a studio unless they rent it. When you venture out of the studio, you lose the control that a studio provides. Therefore, portrait lighting inside a business or home requires skills that the average studio-trained photographer might be missing. When working on location, look for large windows to use as your main light source. Position the subject’s face at an angle to the window.

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The benefits of going to your client’s home or office are huge. People feel relaxed and photograph naturally in a place they are used to. Additionally, there is no better way to create a portrait

Instead of adjusting the position of the light relative to the subject, adjust the position of the subject relative to the light to create the looks you want.

that reflects the style and tastes of the subject. If you sell wall portraits (everyone should), it’s hard to create a portrait that can’t be displayed in the room where it was shot. If you photograph a family in their living room, you can bet the portrait will look great displayed in their living room. The colors and overall style will always match perfectly.

Camera Settings When I photograph interior portraits, I use a lens with a large aperture, f/1.8 to f/2.8, and shoot wide open. This helps with the overall low ambient light levels and softens the hard lines typically found in the backgrounds. I also want to work with a shutter speed no longer than about 1/250 second; at a slower speed, any movement it will cause softness in the eyes and ruin the portrait. For quality purposes, I choose the lowest ISO at which I can attain the aforementioned aperture and shutter speed settings.

Decide on the Light Source Your first consideration in lighting a home is whether you will be using studio flash or windows as your main light source. The interior itself often makes this decision for you. Some interiors simply have little or no window light—or don’t have a window/door near a usable background. If you use window light, you will position your client based on where the usable light is best. If you use studio lights, you will choose where to photograph your client based on the aesthetics of the scene (background, foreground, furnishings to pose on, etc.).

Window Light Windows and doors function like softboxes for your main light source. When positioning your client for the best lighting relative to the window, think of how you would position them relative to the main light in a studio situation. Here are some key factors to keep in mind:

1. Watch the Angle of the Light Too often, young photographers place the subject in the middle of the beam of light from location lighting: indoors 99

✖ Don’t Do This

Subject in the middle of the window.

✔ Do This

Subject at the far edge of the window.

With the subject in the middle of the window, the light on the face is nearly split and there is too much light behind them. Placing the subject closer to the far edge of the window creates a much better look.

the window. This creates a split light effect on the face. Just as a main light in the studio, the window should be in front of the subject (more toward the camera) so the edge of the window light skims across the subject’s face rather than the middle of the light beam striking the subject with additional light falling in front of and behind the subject. 100 Photograph the face

2. Consider the Size of the Window Windows, like softboxes, come in all shapes and sizes. Larger windows produce a pleasantly soft lighting effect when the subject is placed further from the window. Smaller windows producer harder light. In many modern homes, a wall of windows produces usable portrait lighting deep into the home’s interior.

When placing the subject close to a window that is very large, you can use shades, blinds, and/or curtains to reduce the overall size. Sheers, behind curtains, can also diffuse and reduce the amount of light coming through the window.

“In many modern homes, a wall of windows produces usable portrait lighting deep into the home’s interior.”

3. Factor in the Time of Day Selecting the correct time of day for a session inside a home or other interior location is the same as selecting the best time of day for an outdoor location. You want the sun positioned in the most usable place, typically on the side of the house with the fewest windows. You will find some interiors are easier and some harder to work with depending on the position of the home relative to the sun.

as a fill I use silver. If you don’t have a “store bought” reflector, buy a large piece of foam-core board. Leave one side white and use adhesive to cover the other side with aluminum foil.

5. Don’t Ignore the Background The light fall-off from the window used for the main light will usually produce a very dark

4. Add a Reflector Get used to working with fill light. Even with a large window, the light fall-off to the shadow side of the frame can be very noticeable because of the darkness of the interior rooms. Some of you are reaching for your speedlight for fill, but put it back in the holster. Shooting with a speedlight will make it impossible to see the very subtle shades of tonality as the window light goes from highlight to shadow. Reflected fill is a more practical and consistent option. In my opinion, a silver and white reflector is a must for producing quality portraits with window light. When I use the reflector for fill, just like in the studio, I choose the white or silver side based on the amount of light I need and the characteristic of the light I want. If I can position the reflector near the subject, I typically use white. If the reflector has to be positioned further from the subject or I want a harder light Reflected fill is easy to control with window light. location lighting: indoors 101

Color-balanced with a gel and diffused with fabric, the added light balanced well with the window light.

interior. This is counterproductive, given that you are normally photographing the subject in their environment to show it. Choosing a shooting area where windows also light the background will produce a natural look that is appealing to the subject, since it shows how they see the interior space every day. If the space includes lamps or overhead lighting systems, be sure to include these “natural” lighting sources (they are natural to the client’s eyes) in the background.

Studio Lights with Ambient Light Once you pull out a studio light on location, you have just complicated your lighting. Direction of the Light. Whether the studio flash is for the main light or to add illumination in the interior of the home, its placement has to be determined according to the natural light patterns of the space. If you place a studio light as a main light source on the left side of a room where the natural light comes from the right, the portrait will look odd. Look at the windows and ambient light sources in the space and use them as a guide. While you won’t reproduce the exact lighting (nor should you even try), you can produce an overall look that is close enough to appear natural to the home or business owner. Balancing the Flash/Ambient Exposure. Once you introduce flash to an ambient-lit scene (indoors or out), you balance the existing light with the artificial light you are adding. This isn’t always as easy as it seems. When blending natural or ambient light with flash, it’s easiest to think of it this way: your f-stop controls the intensity of the light from the flash; your shutter speed controls the intensity of the ambient light. This gives 102 Photograph the face

you the ability to control the ambient light with the shutter speed without affecting the lighting from the flash. (Note: The ambient light is also affected to some degree by the aperture setting, but that isn’t our primary control when balancing these two sources.) This means that in a mixed-light situation (with natural light and flash) you can brighten or darken the ambient light by increasing or decreasing the shutter speed. This is the basis of the “dragging the shutter” technique, which simply means using a slower shutter speed to increase the amount of ambient light. This technique works as long as at least one of the flash units is

✔ DO Try Bouncing the Light For studio lighting in an interior, I usually prefer to bounce the light off a wall to create a very large, soft, main light source. I find a wall close to the natural area of illumination and bounce my flash off it. I position the light relatively close to the height and angle of a normal main light source in the studio, but I don’t use a reflector or any modifier. This creates a broad beam of light the main light source, and the light coming out on all the other sides of the head will brighten up the room. With one strobe, you have created a soft main light source and raised the ambient fill level.

used for the main light source. Because a room is static, you can drag the shutter for prolonged periods of time and not get a soft image. That doesn’t work with a person, however; people are far from static. When dragging the shutter, don’t forget to turn the modeling light off before making your exposure; like the ambient light, the modeling light will pick up intensity with increased shutter speeds. When darkening a background, be sure not to exceed the fastest shutter speed at which your camera will sync with the flash. Adding a studio light allows you to use whatever background you like. location lighting: indoors 103

My Process Here’s my process for doing an interior session.

1. Determine the Purpose of the Portrait People all have many sides. A woman can be a loving daughter, a devoted mother, and a passionate wife. In addition to that, most of us also have a professional side—so that same woman might be in politics or a business leader. To ensure an adequate sale, you need to know which aspect she wants depicted. When I photograph someone in their home, I often strive to increase my sale by producing portraits that are appropriate for several different people in their lives and reflect multiple aspects of their personality.

2. Prepare the Equipment I have done these types of portraits for a very long time, so I just come prepared for any situation. I bring six studio flash heads and stands, a main light modifier (typically a large Halo) and at least two barn door attachments for the lights. I almost never need this many lights, but I never want to be forced to sacrifice quality because I didn’t have the proper equipment on hand.

3. Choose the Locations and Lighting When I first started taking portraits in environmental settings, I would scout the home or office several days before the session, planning where Fulfill the client’s objective for the portrait—but don’t neglect to provide good variety as well.

✖ DON’T Underestimate the Effect of Furniture on Posing Home furnishings are usually designed for comfort more than style. It is hard to create a professional portrait of a subject sitting on an overstuffed sectional. Even if I am photographing someone in a head-and-shoulders pose, I want the person to feel somewhat comfortable, so I will often have them sitting on a overstuffed piece of furniture that will not show. I have them roll over onto their hip and cross their legs with their upper body resting on the arm 104 or Photograph face and gives a more professional look. of the chair sofa. This isthe slimming I also bring along a simple stool that’s a comfortable height for even a short person to touch the ground. This allows me to have the subject seated anywhere I want, using any background or scene in the home, while providing more comfort for them and an easy working height for me.

to photograph the client and locating usable windows and doorways for main light sources. Today, with a lot of experience under my belt, I can quickly go through a home and determine the scenes and light sources we will use. When looking at a scene, keep in mind that there is a big difference between an interesting background and a distracting one. It is especially important to avoid objects or lines that appear to be protruding from the head or face. In the interior of a home, this can be challenging. This is why I often use a larger aperture to completely soften the background. You also need to select a scene that provides separation to any important areas, like the hair or any clothing that the subject might want to see. If you have to brighten a background with studio lighting to eliminate tonal mergers, look for the natural light direction in the room and place the light to amplify the natural light patterns. Once I have looked through the home or business and decided what areas I will use, I check out the surrounding grounds. Variety is the key to a large sale. If there are nearby areas that will provide a more interesting look than the interior scenes, I will use them instead.

✔ DO Plan for Group Portraits While most of the images in this book are of single subjects, the interior of a home or business provides excellent opportunities for photographing families and professional groups, as well. In terms of lighting, the challenge here is to achieve adequate shadowing without that shadowing spilling over to another person or appearing uneven from the main light side of the frame to the shadow side of the frame. Trying to make the light completely even from left to right often produces flat lighting—if we don’t use what we know about lighting to our advantage. With groups, the main light source (whether it’s a window or a strobe) will have to be more toward the camera position than when you are working with a single person. However, you can use light fall-off and the tone of your clients’ complexions and clothing to balance the lighting from one side to another. In the average group, the darkest-skinned person in the darkest clothing should be placed closest to the main light because they are much less reflective than a fair-skinned person in lighter clothing. In addition, the main beam of light should be angled toward the people furthest from the main light source. The subjects closest to the main light source should be illuminated by the edge of the light (what are called the “skew rays”). Using these principles, you can produce a portrait that has good shadowing and yet is evenly lit from one side of the group to the other.

4. Manage the Session Whether in the studio or on location, we allow a set number of scenes and clothing changes for each type of session at each price. I never want to tell a client no, so we do offer additional scenes and clothing changes—but we discourage them by setting a very high price. By listing exactly what a session includes and clearly noting the price of add-ons you reduce the potential for conflict. I don’t mind taking the time to do an additional look, if we have allotted the time and if the subject understands the fee.

However, if you don’t establish policies to show you value your time, your clients will see that as a green light and take full advantage. The other benefit of listing everything is that it controls us—the photographers. We all have impulse control problems. If a subject looks amazing, we all feel like we should take dozens of images of that same exact setup. If you let your impulse control run wild, you’ll end up spending your weekends editing images instead of playing with your kids. location lighting: indoors 105

chapter ten

Location Lighting: Outdoors Learning Objective

Create studio-quality facial lighting in a natural-light environment.

L

ighting the face outdoors can present big challenges for photographers young and old. This is a reason why so many photographers look for an easier way to light portraits outdoors and are tempted into using an on-camera speedlight. While it can be challenging, there is no reason to

turn to the dark side! There are many better ways to light a portrait outdoors. (For a complete look at outdoor lighting, check out my book Step-byStep Lighting for Outdoor Portrait Photography, also from Amherst Media®.)

Natural Light Time of Day. Natural light is easy to work with, provided you shoot just after sunrise and just before sunset. At these times of ideal light you can simply use the rising or setting sun as your main light source. The light rays from the sun are softened as they filter through the atmosphere—and as the sun grows more intense, you have elongated shadows to pose the subject in, with your main light source being the sky in the direction of the rising or setting sun. Outside of these ideal times of day, shooting with natural light means hiding your subject from the harsh rays of the sun in pockets of shade. In that case, you also have to contend with substantial differences between the intensity of the light on the background and the more subdued Finding pockets of shade is the key to nice facial lighting outdoors. 106 Photograph the face

The catchlights in the eyes really tell you everything you need to know about your lighting.

lighting on your shaded subject. Often, this constrains you to using the area directly under a tree with little or no background showing. On a normal day, this directionless type of intense lighting is the hardest to use effectively. This brings us to the biggest problem with outdoor lighting: paying clients don’t usually want to get up at 5am or stay out until late in the evening to shoot at those “ideal” times of day. My clients want to be photographed during business hours, which is precisely the time of day when the natural light is at its least flattering. To achieve success, you really have to be able to

“see” the light; if you can’t see the light, your results will be less than professional. Evaluating the Light. Seeing the light is simply a training process. Go to a scene and look at the indicators of light direction. Look at the leaves on the tree, look at the highlight and shadow on a white column, or look at the eyes of your client.

✖ DON’T Go for the Gold (Reflector) I never use gold reflectors and you shouldn’t either. If you have a gold reflector, sell it on eBay and buy a silver/white one. Gold adds color to your light—and most of the time you will have to take it back out. The idea of using a gold reflector is to add a healthier look to the skin, but gold is too yellow to do this. To make the average pale client look healthier, you would need location lighting: outdoors 107leads an orange-ish enhancement; adding yellow only to a jaundiced look. The best solution to color temperature is to just color balance your camera and keep your lighting color true and consistent.

The catchlights in the eyes really tell you everything you need to know about your lighting. If you see two intense catchlights of equal size in the eyes, you have more than one main light source. Even if you like light coming from below the subject (as I do), if the catchlight in the lower part of the eye is as intense as the main light in the upper eye, it is additional main light source, not a secondary light source as it should be. The eyes will also tell if your main light source is too large or too soft. If you see a catchlight that looks like a line extending from one side of the eye to the other, you have flat, frontal lighting with little or no shadowing. If you choose this lighting for a reason, it’s fine—however, this is typically not an appropriate outdoor main light source. To reduce the size of the main light and add some shadowing, use a gobo (black panel, etc.) to block some of the light from hitting the subject, or simply turn the subject away from the large main light source until the light is skimming across their face. Reflected Light. The lighting system I use outdoors relies on the sun being bright and shiny. (If you live where the climate tends to be more overcast, you don’t have to worry about backgrounds being burned up in the first place during the midday hours. Instead, you’ll want to concern yourself with creating shadows.) On sunny days, I use direct sunlight reflected off a silver/white reflector for 98 percent of my outdoor portraits. Using a reflector isn’t a new idea, but it’s also not an easy way to light a portrait—unless you follow the steps I’ll give you. Two reflectors were used to illuminate my backlit subject. If your subject is particularly light sensitive, ask them to close their eyes. Then count to three, guiding them as you say each number. “One. Okay, start smiling. Two. And three—open your eyes.” 108 Photograph the face

“Feather the main beam off the subject and use just the softer edge of the light, which won’t make the subject squint.”

When I teach programs about lighting with reflectors, the first objection I hear from photographers is that reflectors make their subjects squint and they complain about their eyes watering. Indeed, if you blast the subject with a direct beam of reflected sunlight, they will squint— heck, they will probably get a suntan! To soften the light on the face, feather the main beam of light off the subject and use just the softer edge of the light, which won’t make the subject squint. Feathering the light provides a usable, predictable, and completely adjustable main light source. It also raises the overall illumination around the subject, which (in most cases) boosts the fill level. Since both the main light and the fill light are from the same source, the color temperature stays consistent throughout a session. The color of the reflected sunlight might change slightly in several hours, but not enough to adversely affect a single session. I use a white reflector for softer light when working close to the subject. However, the softness of white material makes it harder to see the direct beam of sunlight; that makes it more of a challenge to feather the light. Silver reflectors are easy to feather. Even in direct sunlight, you can easily see the beam of light off a silver reflector— and when you can see it you can control it.

✔ DO Work with an Assistant The one and only drawback to my outdoor lighting approach is that it works best with an assistant. You can purchase stands and mounts, but wind turns these contraptions into lethal weapons. In any case, as a professional photographer you should never be alone with a client—especially not in a remote setting. All it takes is one person to accuse you of doing something inappropriate and your photography career is over. If the $8 an hour you need to pay an assistant makes a difference in your profit from a one-hour session, being sued might not be your biggest worry; your prices might need to be adjusted.

location lighting: outdoors 109

Add Strobe Lighting In order to photograph clients when they want to be photographed, it’s useful to be able raise the amount of light on the subject to balance them with the intensity of the light on the background. I tend to avoid using flash outdoors for portraits with a larger face size, but it’s very useful for full-length images and group portraits where the face size is reduced and critical lighting is, well, less critical. Using flash outdoors is kind of a guessing game, just like using it in the studio for fill. My approach is usually to use the strobe as a main light with the natural light as fill. To make the portraits look natural, the main light must come

✔ DO Try Dragging the Shutter Strobe can also be useful in lower light. Wedding photographers use this technique to produce some really beautiful scenic portraits by setting a flash to illuminate the bride and groom, then dragging the shutter to pick up the colors from a skyline after sunset. If it is dark enough, the bride and groom can actually walk off the scene while the shutter is open and not be recorded because the ambient light level is so low.

from the same direction as the natural light—not the top of the camera. I set the main light no more than 11/2 stops above the reading from the ambient fill-light source. If you exceed this, using natural fill, it will be obvious that the person was lit by something other than natural light. If the background is really bright and you have to get the shot, you can add a second studio light for fill. Then, you can darken the background by increasing the shutter speed as much as your camera’s maximum flash sync speed will permit. Depending on Adding flash for the main and fill lets you balance the subject against any background.

My first step when shooting outdoors is to select the background I want.

your lighting setup, the increase in shutter speed might also darken the overall photo (if you are working at a larger aperture). This needs to be accounted for in your overall settings.

My Process My process is so easy, it will blow your mind. (Are you ready to have your mind blown?) Working with this lighting system you must rethink the way you select the scene you pose your subject in. Here’s what I do:

1. Find the Background Most photographers choose a scene by looking for a usable light source. Since I create my own main light, I look for a scene with a usable background. I look for an attractive scene where the sunlight comes from behind the subject. This has several advantages. First, putting the sun behind the subject makes the light function as a hair/ separation high light rather than creating dis-

tracting sun spots on the client’s skin. Second, if there is any foliage in the scene, backlighting will bring out the vibrant green color. Third, positioning the light behind the subject provides the best coverage of direct sunlight to reflect back to the subject.

2. Position the Main Light With the sun at their back, I look at the subject to determine where the main light (in most cases, a reflector bouncing the backlight onto the front of the subject) should be positioned. Typically, I turn the body toward the shadow side of the frame for its slimming effect, then rotate the face slightly back toward the main light source— but, again, this must be decided for each subject. Perhaps the subject’s hair falls better in one direct than the other and will look better on the shadow side of the frame where there is a void for it. Maybe I notice that the subject wears nothing but low-cut tops, in which case I know the location lighting: outdoors 111

cleavage area would look better with the body angled toward the shadow side of the frame. Perhaps she’s wearing a long skirt with a slit up one side that should show; to do this, I would place the main light on the side of the slit, turning her body toward the shadow side of the frame and turning her face back toward the light. Once I’ve determined the right angle, I position the reflector at the same height as I would put the main light in the studio. Too many photographers sit the reflector on the ground and angle the reflected beam up toward the subject. This creates a freakish kind of horror lighting. When shooting with a telephoto lens, the reflector should be about the same distance from the subject as the camera. Positioning the reThe final step is always to think carefully about the look and customize it for your client.

flector too close to the subject makes feathering the main beam off the subject more difficult and greatly increases the intensity of the main beam. As I watch from the camera position, my assistant finds the direct beam of sunlight and positions it completely over the subject’s head, slightly to the highlight side. At this point, there is no reflected light on the subject. After I adjust and refine the pose, I have my assistant slowly start lowering the beam of reflected light until I start to see distinct catchlights in both eyes. The moment I see those catchlights appear, I have the assistant stop. The main light is in position. Placing the catchlights in the eyes establishes quite a few things. First, I know that the eyes are properly illuminated, which is the most important aspect of facial lighting. Second, when I see the catchlights from the camera position, I know that the reflected light has overpowered all other light sources; it is functioning correctly as the main light.

3. Check the Transition Area At this point, I take a second to look at the mask of the face, evaluating the shadow area and the transition area to the highlights. Most of the time, the beam of light not only brightens the mask of the face, but it also adds light to the entire scene, thereby raising the light in the shadow area as well. I can increase or decrease this effect by refining the position of the reflected beam of light. If the beam of light is more directly over the subject’s head, the shadow area will be lighter. If it is adjusted toward the main light side of the frame, the shadow area will be darker. Typically, I have my assistant position the beam of light more toward the main light side for fair skinned subjects, because they have the most reflective skin and I don’t want to lose 112 Photograph the face

A Few More Suggestions Although the focus of the book is lighting the face, it would be short-sighted of me not to add a few suggestions about working outdoors. Unlike in the studio, there are no constants that you can count on, only shifting variables that you must look for and use to your benefit. If you’re shooting during business hours, when most clients want to be photographed, you even have more variables to control. 1. Train Your Eyes for Contrast. Direct sunlight causes intense highlights and shadows. The camera doesn’t have the tonal range of your eyes, so what looks like a usable background to the untrained eye will record as glaring hot spots and nearly black shadows. 2. Shoot Wide Open. During the midday hours, I almost always shoot with my 70–200mm f/2.8 lens wide open. I want pinpoint focus on the subject, but everything behind them should be so soft that those glowing highlights and dark shadows all blend into a more attractive background. I rarely do wide-angle portraits at these hours because of the background issues.

the shadowing. For subjects with suntans or an olive complexion, I tend to place the beam of light overhead; their skin is less reflective and the shadow area usually needs to be brightened. For very dark skinned people, the main beam of light is typically more toward the shadow side of the frame, since their skin goes from highlight to shadow so quickly.

4. Think and Customize The best part of this light system is that it requires you to think. The minute you stop thinking about how you are creating your photography is the minute that the buying public can create the same end product. If all you have to

3. Line Up the Shot. A vital technique for dealing with the midday background situation is what I call lining up the shot. With my scene selected and my subject placed and lit, I make small camera movements raising and lowering the camera or adjusting it slightly from side to side to get the best background I can find behind the subject. (This isn’t to hide large things like stop signs, parked cars, or other people; those things should have been accounted for before you posed the subject.) At the last outdoor seminar I led, I was amazed how many photographers shot every subject from the same height and never tried to improve the background by moving from side to side. Of course, a few people thought they had to climb a tree to get a unique perspective; while they were misguided, at least they weren’t lazy! 4. Don’t Settle. And that brings us to a final point— one that applies to both studio and location portraits: don’t settle for what’s easy. When a client pays for your service, they deserve your very best, not just what’s most convenient for you.

recommend you is good equipment, you are not long for this profession. While you do have to think, this is a simplified lighting process that anybody with a basic understanding of photography can master in time. Another benefit of this lighting system is that is it forces you to set your lighting with each new pose for each new subject. It forces you to take the time to make the lighting right for each subject—because is “close enough” isn’t something pros should accept. All lighting (especially in larger facial portraits that show critical lighting mistakes so easily) should be adjusted to make that person sitting before you look as good as humanly possible. location lighting: outdoors 113

chapter eleven

Postproduction Learning Objective

Correct common problems—without compromising your bottom line.

O

nce you’ve done everything in your power to pose and light your subject in a way that corrects any areas of concern in their appearance, you can go on to consider how digital imaging can further improve your images. However, there’s a mantra I want you to memorize first: “I

am a photographer. I make money with a camera. I consume time with a computer.” Of course I want the images I present to my clients to be as beautiful as possible, but I want to achieve that goal efficiently. If you put into practice the techniques I have presented throughout this book— if you do your job when shooting—you’ll be amazed at how little time you’ll need to spend correcting problems in Photoshop.

Objectives The look I want for my portrait clients is smooth skin with no blemishes, blotchiness, or shine. I want the darkness under the eyes eliminated and the darkness on each side of the bridge of the nose lessened. I feel the eyes must “pop,” so I want both the main and secondary catchlights enhanced to draw the eyes of the viewer to the eyes in the portrait. I like a more glamorous look in my images, which is reflected in my style of retouching.

The Skin When retouching, we start off with the Clone Stamp tool set at 23-percent opacity. Why 23 Basic retouching involves just enough work to smooth the skin and accentuate the eyes. 114 Photograph the face

We start off using the Clone Stamp tool to blend the skin. Once the problem areas are softened, we correct any shadows areas that are too heavy or off color. The final step is to enhance the catchlights with the Dodge tool. We count the number of clicks on the first eye and then duplicate them on the second eye to avoid a noticeable difference between the catchlights.

✖ before

percent? I like it better than 22 or 24, to be honest—but as long as it’s in this area, it really doesn’t matter (now, 33 percent would matter). We start at the top of the face and work down. Typically, we start off with the skin between and slightly above the eyebrows. It is a middle-tone skin color and is good for lightening the darker areas and darkening the shiny areas. Rather than trying to remove individual blemishes, I like using a large, soft-edged brush to blend large areas of skin. We select the Clone Stamp, press Opt/Alt, and click to sample the area to be cloned. While holding down the left mouse button, I start making sweeping motions across the skin. For general smoothing, one sweep is enough. For problem areas that have shine or bad texture, multiple passes are needed to blend away the problem. I look at retouching as a way to correct flaws both in the client but also in the photographic process. Despite all the benefits that digital offers, it also has shortcomings. Digital doesn’t work well with oily skin that reflects light. Shad-

✔ after

“I want the images I present to my clients to be as beautiful as possible, but I want to achieve that goal efficiently.” ow areas also tend to pick up colors other than the skin tone, getting darker and darker as the shadow recedes to near black. Even when the subject has a beautiful skin tone, the shadows will often have a greenish appearance, and normal shine on the skin will often glow. These are problems that need to be corrected. A simple swipe from the Clone Stamp tool and the greenish cast is lessened by adding in skin color. Because we use a lower opacity, the shadow isn’t drastically lightened. There are other shadow areas and areas of the skin that can appear too dark and need to be corrected, as well. These are the shadows on each postproduction 115

side of the bridge of the nose and under the bottom lip (with a subject with full lips). You may also need to adjust the skin color all around the Most of the time, you can make uneven eyes (A) look the same size by matching the catchlights in the eyes. Even though the opening of each eye will still be a different size, if the catchlights look identical, the problem will be less visible. If this doesn’t work, the next option is to use the Liquify filter to enlarge the smaller eye. As you do this, you may notice that it distorts the upper or lower lid of the eye (B). If this happens, use an area from the uncorrected eye to replace what has been distorted (C).

A

B

C

116 Photograph the face

mouth and chin. Since the main light is closer to the top of the face than the bottom, the skin in this area often appears slightly darker and needs to be lightened to match the rest of the face. After retouching the entire face with a large brush, I go back to any areas that need a different size brush and more or less opacity. When the skin is smooth, the blemishes eliminated, and the shadows corrected, I move on to the eyes.

The Eyes

To enhance the eyes, I use the Dodge tool (at a low opacity) to lighten the whites, then remove excessive red veins using the Clone Stamp tool. Next, we move on to the catchlights. I use the Dodge tool, setting it to 50 percent and Highlights in the options bar at the top of the screen. I select a soft-edged brush that is approximately the size of the main catchlights. I position the brush over the first catchlight and count the number of clicks needed to make the catchlight as bright as I want it. I then go to the other eye and repeat the same number of clicks over the second main catchlight. This way they appear to have the same brightness. You can use the same process when a client has one eye that appears to be smaller than the other. Typically, the reason the eye seems smaller is that you see more of the main catchlight in the larger eye; in the smaller eye, some of the catchlight is usually hidden by the top eyelid. If you enlarge the catchlight in the smaller eye to match the size and brightness of the catchlight in the larger eye, both eyes seem to be the same size.

The Hair We also check for things like spaces in a young lady’s bangs or a strand of hair that is completely out of the place (99.9 percent of the time I fix

✖ before

✔ after

Stray hairs, especially when lit from behind, are a nasty correction to make. The technique is easy enough; use the Clone Stamp tool to clone the background over each strand of hair. The problem is knowing when to stop. You must follow each hair back to a point where it intersects with another hair. If you take out every last stray hair, it looks unnatural.

it before I take any photos, but every once in a while something slips by!). A few seconds with the Clone Stamp tool can fill in missing hair or remove a strand of hair that was overlooked. Another commonly requested correction is the removal of stray hairs. We always look for this problem while photographing, but some hair styles just naturally have hairs going in directions they shouldn’t. The process of retouching a stray hair isn’t difficult. I use the Clone Stamp tool, but this time with a high opacity and a hard-edged brush. This is because I want to completely cover the problem hairs with the background and do so without affecting any of the other hairs. There are two problems that photographers often run into with this type of correction. First

of all, they don’t remove the stray hair or strand at a point where it looks natural. To avoid creating a chopped-off look, you must follow each stray hair back to a point where another hair or hair strand crosses it. This leads to the second problem, which is quoting enough time for the correction to be done properly. We can give most quotes without even examining the image. With hair, however, what may look like a five-minute job often takes twenty minutes or more. This is especially true when the hair is highlighted from behind and the strands are glowing.

“A few seconds with the Clone Stamp tool canpostproduction fill in missing 117 hair or remove a strand of hair that was overlooked.”

✖ before

✔ after

Probably the most requested correction in portrait photography is to whiten the subject’s teeth.

Whitening the Teeth Without a doubt, the most commonly requested enhancement is for the teeth to be whitened— everyone wants to have that “perfect smile.” White teeth should appear white if your images are properly color balanced; however, some people’s teeth are not white in the portrait because they are not white in person. This simple correction is billed to the client. The average quote is for fifteen minutes. The correction usually takes less than five minutes, but we have the extra time if needed. To whiten the teeth, we use the Sponge tool, which removes color. We use it at a lower opacity to avoid making the teeth look unnatural— because no one’s teeth are completely devoid of color. Once the teeth are whiter, they typically need to be lightened. To do this, we simply select the teeth and brighten them slightly. Any visible

✖ before

plaque is then removed with the Clone Stamp at a lower opacity and, again, reduced but not eliminated. You can use the same technique to lighten the dark areas that appear between the teeth. The basic rule here is to undercorrect rather than overcorrect. Teeth are an area of the face that is best left alone, so the less you can do with them the better. It is very easy to make teeth look unnatural. When corrected, the teeth should have a bit of color and appear slightly brighter— not noticeably bright or pure white.

The Nose As noted on page 42, the nose is defined by the shadows on the sides of it and the highlight that runs down the center. To reduce the apparent size of the nose, reduce the shadows. The best time to do this is by posing and lighting the cli-

✔ after

While shadows are our friends when hiding flaws, they can also create problems on the face. The shadow on the side of the nose often needs to be softened to avoid drawing attention to the size of the nose. A shadow that is too prominent can also make the eye socket appear deeper on the shadow side of the face than on the highlight side. To correct any shadow, use the Clone Stamp tool (set to a low opacity) to blend in a natural skin color while lightening the shadow. And remember, it is always better to undercorrect than overcorrect.

ent carefully when taking the image. If you need to retouch the image after the fact, use the Clone Stamp tool, set to a low opacity, and clone lighter skin from the cheek onto each side of the nose. As the shadows diminish, so will the apparent depth of the nose—but don’t overdo it. You can also make the nose less noticeable by reducing the brightness of the highlight that runs the length of it, as well as the highlight that usually appears at the end of the nose.

A

The Chin A common weight-related correction is to make a double chin less noticeable. You’ll recall we covered techniques for minimizing this concern with lighting and posing (see pages 50–51). If you need to address this issue at the retouching stage, the first step is to soften the line that separates the “natural” chin from the “double” chin. Without this fold, the double chin is less noticeable. The next step will depend on the shape of the double chin. If the double-chin area is small, you can often quickly fix the little bit of saggy skin by using the Liquify filter and selecting a tool to push the skin up. The success of this will depend on the area around the saggy skin. If it is just more skin, chances are no one will notice the distortion; if, on the other hand, the client has on a high-collared shirt or blouse, this procedure may not be possible. If this is the case, you will need to clone over the saggy skin while maintaining a natural look. This typically requires smoothing out the hills and valleys. If you think of retouching this way, it makes it easier to know what needs to be cloned. Weight problems, as well as age, create hills and valleys in the skin/body. Hills are usually only noticed because of the valley or the shadow created in the valley. If you soften or eliminate the

B

C Both men and women have problems in the under-chin area (A). Using the Liquify filter, the lower part of the face (the chin and jowl area) can be reshaped (B). After some additional blending with the Clone Stamp tool, the result is natural looking and more flattering (C).

shadow in the valley, often you never notice the hill. You will find that not all double chins are fixable—at least not in an amount of time that can reasonably be billed to a client. postproduction 119

✖ before

✔ after

If you have to deal with correcting the ears after the shoot, the Liquify filter will help. With some subtle work, a better look is achieved.

The Ears The ears are usually best handled while shooting (see page 42). If you have to deal with correcting the look of the ears after the shoot, the Liquify filter will help. To begin, select the subject’s entire head, then go to Filter>Liquify. A full-screen dialog box will appear with a preview of the selected area. Using a large brush, nudge the outer line of the ears inward toward the head, reducing their size.

Age-Related Concerns In older clients, extra skin under the chin is related to the widening of the face on either side of the chin that occurs as we age. To remove the

✖ before

120 Photograph the face

double chin without thinning the face in the jowl area would make the client look completely unnatural. Wrinkles are part of a mature person, so they need to be softened, not eliminated. Often, the subject’s eyes will need enhancement to whiten the whites and bring back the sparkle the eyes once had. The skin on the neck also needs to be smoothed, softening the cords that often become visible with age. When dealing with mature clients, we also brighten and whiten their teeth (unless they have dentures, which obviously don’t age). In a portrait of a mature person, all of these areas need to be addressed in order for the cor-

✔ after

If we just eliminate wrinkles, it looks unnatural. Look at each area that is affected with age. The skin needs to have the lines softened, not eliminated. The eyes typically need to have the whites retouched and the catchlights enhanced. Our faces tend to widen as we age, and this needs to be addressed. We automatically whiten the teeth and soften the neck area. Only when you address all these areas do you come up with a complete enhancement that looks natural.

rection to make sense visually. This would be considered standard retouching when working with mature clients.

Who Pays? Who will pay for the time it takes to retouch or enhance your images? The answer to that question could determine whether or not you are in business five years from now. In part, this decision should be based on how you price your work. If you charge $100 to $200 for an 8x10inch print, you will probably include all the needed retouching and enhancement in that price. If you price your work in the $40 to $100 range for an 8x10-inch print, you would probably want to include basic clean-up for acne, lines, and circles, then bill out any major enhancement costs to the client. If you price your 8x10-inch prints from $15 to $40, hopefully you don’t include much retouching at all; at that price, there’s not enough profit to cover the time involved (unless, of course, you sell thirty 8x10-inch prints of the same image). In our studio, we work with high-school seniors, who have traditionally been offered a lower price per 8x10-inch print because they purchase a package. (I didn’t come up with the idea; I just have to live with it and find a way to make the best profit I can.) Because of this, we include an “image fee” for each selected pose to cover basic cleanup of the face—eliminating acne, softening lines and wrinkles, and removing the darkness under the eyes. The fee is the same whether the person has one zit, no zits, or a face as red as a beet from acne scars. The client does not have the option to eliminate the fee if they don’t want retouching. We also display posters in each sales area showing what normal retouching covers and ad-

Our image fee, a charge clients cannot waive, covers basic cleanup of the face and skin.

ditional corrections that are available at a cost. To fill in the time after the session and before the image presentation, we have a video running that explains the image-selection process, emphasizing that it will be easy and fun. It also explains retouching, noting that the images they are about to see are not yet retouched, describing what normal retouching is, what image fees are, and showing the available special effects options, like vignettes and black & white. By taking all of these steps to inform our clients, we have greatly postproduction 121

reduced the conflicts that can arise from retouching. This is why, when a pose needs correction, they don’t argue about who’s paying for it. Most of the time clients will ask, “How much will it be to whiten her teeth?” or “How much will it be to remove that hair?” If digital retouching is requested, we show examples of similar corrections made for other clients (to give the client a realistic expectation). A complete explanation of the process is given and a total time and fee for the correction is written on the slip before the client signs it. If the correction is complex, we set up a time for the client to come in and view a test print to ensure they are happy with the correction before we print out the order and complete the correction on all the poses they have ordered. Digital correction is no different than any other service you offer in your studio. You have to establish prices that make it profitable, ex-

✔ DO Educate the Client I can’t stress enough the importance of educating your client about the portrait-buying process. I talk with many photographers complain about their “ridiculous clients.” Yet, when I ask what they did to educate their client about whatever issue created the problem, there is always a122 long pause or a completely Photograph the face dismissive comment. While this may be your thirty-thousandth session, often it is your client’s first—so teach them how to have a successful experience with your studio.

“I do everything I can to use Photoshop as little as possible.” plain to the client how much you charge, and then monitor the actual time you take doing it to avoid reducing your profit.

Efficiency and Profitability I think like a businessperson, so I do everything I can to use Photoshop as little as possible. As I was writing this section, I went onto my Facebook account. It was about 8:45pm here in California. I had finished my last session at 4:00pm and walked out of my studio without a care in the world. My staff finished the last order at 6:00pm. We were all totally off work—free to enjoy our families and lives—and the money from the day’s sessions was ready to go into the bank the following morning. However, three photographers were posting that they had just finished editing the day’s sessions—and these photographers were all from time zones one to two hours later than mine! It’s no wonder so many photographers are completely stressed out. There is no single right way to run a business, but there is a single way to evaluate your success: look at how much of your time it took to create a certain amount of profit. (And, yes, you must count the time you work at home. That is the most expensive time of all—because family therapy and divorce attorneys don’t come cheap!) Total your time, then divide the total sale by the total hours. Doing this will quickly put the use of Photoshop into perspective. Again, we are photographers. We make money with our cameras. We consume time—and lower our billable sales per hour—with our computers.

conclusion

Giving Life to a Piece of Paper E

verything we recognize about a human being is contained in the facial area. We are who we are to everyone we know based on that little part of our body. All the personality, all that makes us unique, our very soul, is seen through the face. Accordingly, your ability to make a living in this profession isn’t about creating landscapes with people in them; it depends, to a large degree, on how well you light and pose this one little area. Remember that it doesn’t matter how you think a final portrait should look. What matters is creating products that suit the intended end use and closely resemble the subject’s self-image. If you do achieve those two objectives, your sales process will be easy because you’ll have created the products they want. I also urge you to practice often and on nonpaying clients. When someone provides you money for a service, they don’t intend to help

fund your education. Even a bag-boy at a grocery store gets trained before he starts working with customers. Learn what you need to in order to consistently produce, in the camera, portraits that are 90 percent as good as the final images. At that point, you’ll be ready to start charging for what you do.

“All the personality, all that makes us unique, our very soul, is seen through the face.” Finally, remember that the subject’s face should always be at the forefront of your decision-making. Whether it’s a close-up, a fulllength, or even a scenic portrait, posing and lighting the face properly is mandatory.

conclusion 123

Index A

Adam’s apple, 34 Advising clients, 23–24, 27–28 Aging, 33, 44, 120–21 Arms, 27 Assets, emphasizing, 34–35 Assistants, 109

B

Baldness, 10, 53, 89 Breasts, 34

C

Camera height, effect of, 37 Camera selection, 80–81 Camera stand, 41, 81 Casual-style portraits, 24–25 Catchlights. See Eyes, catchlights Cheeks, 33, 41, 44 Chin, 30, 38, 50–51, 119 Client information sheet, 23–24 Clients, 10, 21–29, 71 advising, 27–28, 71 expectations, 21–29 self-image, 10, 22–23 talking with, 23–24 Close-ups, 29 Clothing. See Wardrobe Communication, 23–24, 27–28, 71 Composition, 29 Contouring. See Shadows Contrast, 22, 67–69, 113 Customization, 6–7

D

Decision-making, 20–21 Distortion, 37, 38 124 Photograph the face

E

Ears, 23, 31, 32–33, 42–43, 120 Education, investing in, 14–17 Ego, overcoming your, 20 Exposure. See Metering Expression, 24–26, 41, 43–47 connection to portrait style, 24–26 directing subjects, 46–47 mirroring, 43–44 number of shots per, 41 smiles, 43, 44–47 timing, 46–47 Eye contact, 39–41 Eyeglasses, 43 Eyelashes, 72 Eyes, 9, 21, 23, 31–32, 34–35, 38–41, 43, 44, 72–79, 95, 108, 112, 116, 120–21 catchlights, 38–39, 72–79, 95, 108, 112 catchlights, multiple, 74–75 circles under, 9, 32, 44 color, 32, 39, 75 crow’s feet, 44, 120–21 follow the nose, 41 glasses, 43 importance of, 21, 31–32, 34–35, 38 in profiles, 41 in reflective portraits, 41 iris, visibility of, 32, 39 lashes, 72 lighting, 72–79 position, 39 reflectivity, 32 retouching, 74, 116 size of, 23

(Eyes, cont’d) squinting, 44 uneven, 31, 74

F

Face, emphasis on, 22, 28, 29, 37–38 Feathering the light, 85 Fill light, 66–69 flash, 68 how much, 67–68 reflected, 68–69 when to add, 67 Framing, 37–38

G

Glamour-style portraits, 26 Group portraits, 105

H

Hair, 10, 49, 51–53, 54–55, 89, 116–17 lighting, 54–55 long, 49, 52–53 retouching, 116–17 thinning, 10, 53, 89 Hands, 37, 38, 51 Head tilt, 47–49 errors, 47–48 excessive, 49 hair, direction of part, 49 male subjects, 49 traditional rules, 48 Hips, 34

I

Indoor lighting. See Location portraits, indoor Inspiration, changing, 27

J

Jaw line, 33

L

LCD screen, 61 Lens selection, 80–81 Lighting, 29, 37, 41, 42, 53, 54–113 bald subjects, 53 bouncing the light, 103 broad, 55–56 characteristics, 56–57 connection to posing, 37 consistency, 64–65 contrast, controlling, 67–69, 113 corrective, 97 distance to subject, 57–58 feathering, 85 hard, 56–57 in close views, 29 indoor. See Location portraits, indoor metering. See Metering modifiers. See Light modifiers outdoor. See Location portraits, outdoor positions. See Light Positions previsualization, 54 profile portraits, 41 ratios, 63–64 ring, 37 short, 55–56 soft, 56–57 studio. See Lighting, studio styles. See Lighting styles testing, 66–67 window, 99–102 Lighting, outdoor. See Location portraits, outdoor Lighting, studio, 80–97 basic setups, 92–93

(Lighting, studio, cont’d) light positions. See Light positions modifiers. See Light modifiers overlighting, 83–84 sources, 81–83 styles. See Lighting styles Lighting styles, 37, 42, 55–56, 91–97 broad, 55–56 butterfly, 37, 42, 93–94 choosing, 91, 94 corrective, 97 diamond light, 96–97 high-key, 93 low-key, 93 ring-light portraits, 95 short, 55–56 spotlight portraits, 96 traditional, 91–93 Light modifiers, 68–69, 75, 76–79, 82–83, 84–89, 90–91, 94, 95, 96–97, 100, 108–9 barn doors, 88–89 beauty dishes, 88 black panels, 89 front panel design, 86–87 gobo, 96–97, 108 grids, 89, 91 Halos, 82–83, 87, 95 parabolics, 88 reflectors, 68–69, 75, 76–79, 100, 108–9 ring lights, 95 snoots, 88 softboxes, 82–83, 94 strip lights, 87–88, 90–91, 94 Light positions, 54–55, 67–69, 72–79, 90–91, 112 accent, 55, 90–91 background light, 54 fill light, 67–69, 75, 76–79

(Light positions, cont’d) hair light, 54–55, 90–91 main light, 54, 72–79, 112 Light ratios, 63–64 Light sources, studio, 81–83 Lips, 31, 33 See also Expression Location lighting, See Location portraits, outdoor or Location portraits, indoor Location portraits, indoor, 98–105 background, 101–2 benefits, 98–99 bouncing the light, 103 camera settings, 99 challenges, 98–99 light sources, 99 process, 104–5 studio light sources, 102–3 time of day, 101 window light, 99–102 Location portraits, outdoor, 76–79, 106–13 catchlights, 76–77 contouring, 76–79 contrast, 113 dragging the shutter, 110 overhead light, blocking, 76 process, 111–13 reflected light, 76–79, 108–9 strobe lights, 110–11 time of day, 106–8

M

Makeup, 32 Market, understanding your, 18–21 Metering, 61–69, 102–3 accent light, 63 background light, 62–63 hair light, 63 index 125

(Metering, cont’d) light ratios, 63–64 main light, 61 strobe plus ambient light, 102–3

N

Neck, 30, 34, 38, 50–51, 119 Nose, 23, 30, 31, 32–33, 41, 42, 119–20

O

Outdoor lighting. See Location portraits, outdoor Overlighting, 83–84 Overshooting, 41 Overweight subjects, 10, 13, 28, 30, 34, 37, 51, 89

P

Painter, thinking like a, 58–60 Photography support groups, 15 Portrait length, 28 Portrait styles, 24–26, 36–37 casual, 24–25, 37 glamour, 26, 37 traditional, 24–25, 36–37 Posing, 24–26, 36–53 camera height, effect of, 37 chin, 50–51 connection to lighting, 37 expression. See Expression eyes, 38–41 framing the face, 37–38 hair, 49, 51–53 hands, 37, 38, 51 head tilt, 47–49 neck, 50–51 profiles, 41 reflective poses, 41 shoulders, 38, 51 to match portrait style, 24–26, 36–37 126 Photograph the face

(Posing, cont’d) turkey-neck, 51 Postproduction. See Retouching Practicing, 13, 35 Previsualization, 18, 54, 58–60, 70–71 Problem areas, 8–9, 22–23 discussing, 23–24 imagined, 22–23 real, 23 softening, 8–9, 23 See also Assets, emphasizing Professionalism, 12–17, 70–71 Profile portraits, 41 Purpose of the portrait, 22, 24–26

R

Ratios. See Light ratios Reflective poses, 41 Reflectors, 68–69, 75, 76–79, 100, 108–9 Retouching, 9, 41, 43, 44, 69, 74, 77, 79, 114–22 chin, 119 cost of, 121–22 crow’s feet, 44, 120–21 ears, 43, 120 excessive shadows, 77 eyeglasses, 43 eyes, 74, 116 hair, 116–17 minimizing, 9, 41, 44, 79, 121–22 nose, 119–20 skin, 69, 114–16, 120–21 teeth, 118 wrinkles, 120–21

S

Sample books, 23–24, 27 Self-image, client’s, 10, 22–23, 32

Shadows, 21, 33, 41, 42, 43, 58–60, 76–79, 83–84, 112–13 ears, 43 excessive, 77 facial contouring, 21, 33, 41, 58–60, 76–79, 83–84, 112–13 nose, 42 See also Light ratios Shoulders, 37, 38, 51 Skin, 33, 34–35, 44, 58–60, 69, 114–16, 120–21 Standard of beauty, 30–33 contours, 33 eyes, emphasis on, 31–32 slimness, 30–31 symmetry, 31 youth, 33 Studio lighting. See Lighting, studio Style, developing your, 20 Styles, portrait. See Portrait styles Symmetry of face, 31

T

Teeth, 33, 44, 118 Traditional-style portraits, 24–25, 36–37 Tripod, 41, 81

W

Waist, 34 Wardrobe, 27, 28, 50 chin, concealing with, 50 shoes, 28 sleeveless tops, 27 Weight. See Overweight subjects Window light, 99–102 Wrinkles, 33, 44, 120–21

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