The Lost Art of Portrait Lighting
January 8, 2009 | Category: Gloucester, VA Photography, Hampton, Hampton Roads Photography, Newport News, VA Photography, Norfolk, Photography Tips, Portraits, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Yorktown
Over the holidays I helped a few photographer friends of mine with lighting techniques. As I was teaching them some of the basics of achieving great portraits, I realized that good portrait lighting is becoming a lost art! Today it’s so easy to get a digital camera. Many people start their own business and become photographers literally overnight without much training or practice. It’s so easy to just put the camera in auto mode start pressing the shutter button. Once they get the pictures downloaded to their computer then comes the fun part by spending hours attempting to fix things in photoshop that should have been done correctly to begin with. Don’t get me wrong, I do understand we all have to start somewhere!
When I started learning photography I concentrated on learning the basics: exposure and composition. After I got a little better I started to learn about posing and I added that to the list. While I was getting better each day, something was still missing. I just couldn’t seem to get that sparkle I was looking for. Then one day I was pointed in the direction to learn about lighting. I learned about characteristics of light, how to recognize and see lighting situations, and most important how to control light. This was the missing link! Lighting was what photography was all about and good lighting techniques will get you great portraits. Learning about lighting allowed me to take my photography from the general snapshot to works of art. Each time I take a picture I’m looking to create a masterpiece with the camera as my brush and the light as my paint.
So where does photoshop fit into the equation? Back in the day the darkroom was where photographer would enhance what they took. They would dodge and burn to get highlights and shadows where they wanted. Other techniques led to other effects. Today I use photoshop as my darkroom. I softly chisel away to reveal the masterpiece underneath. The thing is you must start with a good, well lit photograph in order to enhance the beauty of it. My dad always told me you can’t unscramble scrambled eggs!
The art of portrait lighting doesn’t have to be lost if more photographers would take the time to study, understand, and use good lighting practices. My goal when I show my clients their portraits is to make amazed everytime they see it. As I quote one my clients who told me, “It’s like we’re popping off the page.” I love to hear this kind of reaction and see the emotion and excitement on my clients faces as they relive the experience captured in time.
Facebook comments:
Daniel
on January 12th, 2009Awesome shot man!!!
Ari
on February 17th, 2009Nice shot Mark..did you use one light with shoot through umbrella?
MarkW
on February 17th, 2009Ari,
Very close! The main light was in fact a shoot through umbrella. With just the single light the result were a bit too contrasty so, I also used a flash bounced of a large white wall for fill.
Russell
on February 18th, 2009I sure do love the way you do your one-light photos. I came to your site from the YouTube video on this very subject – and this just reafirms how awsome you can make these shots come out. Truly amazing portraits – honestly, very inspirational for what one can do with a small, home NON-studio, and $100 worth of accessories. Great stuff, and I hope to see more instructional videoas and commentary on this sort of thing. Maybe some insight into what you “see” the light doing, and knowing how it will fall where you need it to for these incredible photos. Especially since these best photos seem to be self-portraits, what you are seeing is with your minds eye, not what youa re seeing in your surrouondings.
Great stuff – keep it coming.
MarkW
on February 18th, 2009Russell,
Thanks for the compliments. I’m glad to see that the videos are helping to inspire. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and has help me come up with some ideas to talk about in my next video! You can expect a new video within the next week or two!
Russell
on February 19th, 2009Great – I am looking forward to it. I really hope you will begin to divulge what some of these lost techniques are, and how you see them when composing..
I must say, I can’t quit looking at your portraits – there is “just something” there that is missing in others. Even in ones that seem to be technically perfect, with full studio lighting and elaborate setups – they just seem “flat”. I must learn why yours look so different.
My wife is begining to think something is a bit odd that I keep staring (and grinning) for so long at a mans face on the internet. LOL
Thanks again
Sebastian
on July 25th, 2009Hi Mark,
I found you through your video tutorials on youtube. Then found my way to your website. I’ll be following your blog from now on! Great photos, I’m really impressed
Especially this one, the portrait lighting is freakin’ gorgeous!
Well, I just wanted to say hi and let you know I’ll be following you.
/Sebastian from Sweden