I'd never thought having more lights improve the quality of the photographs dramatically. I always thought one source of light is enough for the look I want but whenever I shoot, I still feel like there's something missing.
When it comes to studio setup, you're in control of everything. You don't have to rely on the sun's position depending on the time of the day and stuff since you can do it yourself. But that's the thing, it sounds easy to set up your light but it's really not lol.
When I was doing a lot of self portraits, I didn't have studio lights. I just relied on the good 'ol window for that sweet source of light and if it's afternoon or way too cloudy, then I can't do it since the light source would be too weak. So I've never done any of this studio set up thing before.
I know in general that photographers usually have many lights and they are positioned in strategic ways but I seem to always forget that fact. It's like, I will only learn once I experience it myself if you know what I mean?
Here in these photographs you can see there is a black background and well I was also wearing a black tight dress haha so I needed to put up some lights somewhere else so I wouldn't look like a floating head. Can you guess how many lights there were?
This initially was just a practice of makeup but quickly turned into a lighting practice since I needed to photograph the makeup better for more glitter to show up and also just to match the vibe of the makeup so I went with the dramatic light effect. I thought one source of light will work because I wanted drama and shadows but because of the background and what I was wearing, another challenge came up.
In this photo, I had 3 lights around. One in front of me as a main source in a soft box... one to my right that's pointing down at me from maybe 6 feet, and another tiny light behind me on the opposite side that's pointing towards my hair.
Sounds quite complicated for a beginner, but I now understand, and it looks so good!
This is how it looks like with a light without a diffuser on my right side and just one tiny light behind me (pointing at my hair). It looks very dramatic and harsh but looks kinda flat. Without the big diffused light in front of me, it wasn't enough to fill in the shadows. I mean it still looks nice but needed a gentle push because of what I was wearing.
I was changing the light's position but still can't help but feel flat. This was also after post production, so in the RAW file you can barely see my body and hair haha.
But yeah... I just found the right balance that I like which is the three-lights setup and that is what you're seeing from this photo. The amount of diffusion matters a lot too, which demands your time and energy for an experimentation. :D
Having a softbox makes the shadow softer but imo gives a very "studio-like" vibe since some details are not that sharp but without one, it gives a really nice direct sunlight vibe and the sharpness is just +++ which I like. :D From this photo for example is with a direct one and the one previously had a light with a softbox in front.
Anyway, those are the things that apparently matter that I really didn't think of them as much. Experimenting with lights is really fun and I now get why some people really have a LOT of lights and reflectors in their studio + some random RGB lights too and those attachments that creates an artificial shadow haha.
This is where you'll realize in photography your camera don't matter as much. It's your lights that matter the most. Annnd why so many street photographers are so impressive because they don't control the sun pretty much and have to rely on their creativity and skills to time them all. :P
Light is crucial in photography. It sets the mood, it sets the color tones and can bring out details. But to prevent it from becoming a 'flat' image you really need the shadows.
Very interesting make-up, I love the "Gothic feel" to it. And it looks gorgeous on you. I never could wear something like that with my blond hair and very light skin.
And the reflected light too! Funny thing we always emphasize this in painting and I always forget haha.
Yeah I like this makeup too! I recently found out that this style is what I like better compared to the cute style. Also something I realized is that my makeup look best in a high contrast style since my hair and eyes are dark. Although I think you can pull this off with blonde hair too, but would depend on the way it's applied I think, and the color of your eyes. Avril Lavigne is the first to come up in mind and it looks really good on her. :D
beautiful shooting!😍
Thank you! :D
These are stunning! I love the make up and the darkness (ironic huh!) 🤍
Thank you! The darkness also helped keep the overall vibe to match with the makeup. :D
Yep, it's a lot of effort and trial and errors with lights inside, but outside oh that's an other story, the sun does what it wants
Haha so true! Outside you just change your position and your model's. But outside too the light is so much more interesting since there are a lot of shadows especially during the golden hour.
Oh yes, I like more outside picture, I like a picture being all natural without artificial adjustments hehe
uwaaa so nice.
one time while having my youtube on autoplay I stumble upon "cinematography lighting".
rabbit hole talaga.
photography talaga is post processing noh. di lang talaga picture picture.
Learning cinematography is also really helpful in photography and vice versa. Especially when you learn how they make fake sunlight from the window. :O
Yeah photography nowadays include the editing, most of the time. I still was able to stumble upon those photography purists 10 years ago where they would argue that any editing software that touches the photographs shouldn't be called photography anymore even with slight cropping. Nowadays most of the photography you've seen on the internet are edited and there is nothing wrong with that. It's also an art form and the camera's capabilities are limited too, like it can't just capture landscape and the clouds at the same time while being balanced. Some photographers use lens attachments for that even.
agree!
Experimenting with light is definitely fun! I have set different tone of light in my house and the picture always comes out differently. Your make up reminds me of Mavis the dracula from Hotel Transylvania, were you inspired by her?
Yeees! Same with my room as well haha. The light on the ceiling is just ugly lol.
Actually no, but now I see it. Haha. That could have been an easy halloween makeup look lol. This makeup isn't even a vampire-inspired but when it was done it just gave a very vampy vibe that I just went with it :D
Right? At first I thought because it's still like Halloween-ish vibes you'd go with it. Maybe next year this could be your Halloween make up and costume, just need to add fangs
I'm proud of myself! I actually guessed how many lights correctly. Great job dialing in your lighting and experimenting until you got something you liked!
Haha that's awesome!
Light engineering in photography or videography is very powerful which is clear from your experiment. Thanks for sharing some great shots.
So much!! Especially when you also start playing with colorful lights. I always notice them in movies but it really didn't sink in to me haha. Thank you!
!discovery 35