Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. Copyright © 2003 – 2009 Kenji Tachibana Side, Beauty, & Catch Light Light

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Side, Beauty & Catch Light P hotography: Draw with light My usual recommendation is to use sidelight. Its the recommended method for drawing form and texture. And sidelight also tends to bring depth (dimension) into an image. Although, over doing the sidelight will cause important subject detail to be lost into the shadows. Therefore, the exact amount of side lighting is directly tied to your story intention.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Side, Beauty & Catch Light S ilverback Gorilla: He would agree that sidelight is making him look strong. Females of his kind swoon over the catch light in his eyes. Sidelight also shows off his soft hairs which contrast well against the pitted boulder behind him, his environment.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Side, Beauty & Catch Light F ace & Light Direction: He is facing towards the light, which makes the lighting more frontal on his face. There is also a modest secondary light source on the left side which comes from the bounce (reflected) light source.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Side, Beauty & Catch Light T he Lady: She loves him but shes holding her tong about her feelings. The side light is doing a nice job of drawing her beautiful profile. And check those gorgeous catch light in her eyes and wonderful wrinkles.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Side, Beauty & Catch Light M ind Your Own: He doesnt find gorillas attractive. He loves his own kind…. But sidelight has no prejudice. It even makes him look charming. Oops, I am only assuming that it is a he based on the beard on his face.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Side, Beauty & Catch Light E dge Lighting: Extreme sidelight was Used to draw skin texture For this lighting class example. The sidelight in this case is coming from the top. There is white card just below the hand bouncing back fill-light to separate the hand from the black Background. It also helps to make the fingers look round. By using reflected (bounced) light, the image retains the single light source look & feel.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Side, Beauty & Catch Light New Terms: 1.Bounced light – light reflected off of any surface. White is the most often used Reflector. But silver, gold, or even black might be used. Color reflectors are also used. 2.Look & feel – a phrase used by image makers to talk about the overall visual effect of an image. Example –I want a grungy, industrial, or an elegant look & feel. Please try to visualize grungy, industrial, and elegant.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Side, Beauty & Catch Light Detail: Tells all Notice how the extreme sidelight, which happens to be coming from the top, draw every tiny fold and wrinkle in the skin. The light came from an ordinary household lamp with an adjustable head as shown. Because the light source is The same size as the hand, its a broad-source light.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Side, Beauty & Catch Light Beauty Light: A 6x4 soft-box (extreme broad- source) light positioned above the camera with an additional 2x2 white reflector below the camera softening the light and opening up the shadow. The light height is higher than normal because its not a portrait. The story is about the skin. Front light used to tell the flawless skin story. It flattened the texture making the skin look smooth. Thats what the client Vidal Sassoon wanted in this skin care product ad shot.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Side, Beauty & Catch Light Conclusion: Tendencies and requirements Side light is great for creating strong texture and dimensionality in an image. Front light is flat and tends to hide texture. Combining flat front light with soft broad-source can be used to make skin look beautiful. Catch light is a must for portraits. Although many commercial people-shots are not about capturing people. Catch light can easily take attention away from the product being sold. Image making is always about telling a story…

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I x End