Skills Development: Side Lighting

With side lighting, you are going to end up with deep shadows. These shadows may well enhance the mood of some scenes and be quite welcoming and effective, but for most photography, especially that of people, it can have the opposite effect unless you are aiming for a certain mood or look in the image. The face is lit more intensely on one side than the other. Front lighting is often the most pleasing for everyday subjects for example, the light source behind the camera and is the easiest to expose correctly because you don't have to think about shadows etc. However, problems can occur such as bright sunlight making the person squint which wouldn't give the desired effect.

Side lighting can suggest passion and seductivness, it is well suited for young women that have smooth skin and regular facial features. However, it is also effective for men whose rugged character lines should be emphasized. Focusing on just one side of the face can accentuate the jaw line on a man making him look more masculine and shows of the prominence of it.

Front lighting can ehance and soften females features because it makes the face look more pure. When taking a picture from the front, it captures every single feature on a specific spot, in this case the face. It shows all the purities etc. and when the picture is taken, the flash would relect and highlight the main features on the face. These include, the cheekbones, the nose, the brow bone and the chin. When the photo is taken, it enhances these features which makes the person in the photo look a lot softer and more enhanced.

When i took the photos, i found it hard to get just enough lighting because it was either too dark, then you'd move and it would become too light, or it was the other way. Especially on the side lighting photos. To change this, i decreased the shutter speed and then it seemed to take a better photo. To make it even better, i could take the photos at a different time of day or in a different light altogether. Maybe this is something i should take into account later on. At first, the images were blurry so we had to change the focus. I also think that the framing could be a little better in that they shouldn'y be just cut off where they are, before the shoulders. This should be payed more attention to in future also. I think the targets in the future is to take my time when taking the photos, take great care with the lighting that they are being taken in and also review the photos as soon as they are taken to make sure that they are focused and framed right.