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Family vacation at Disneyland
© Sean Arbabi
All Rights Reserved
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Understanding lighting
By understanding how lighting affects a scene and by learning how to light people, you can improve your portrait images and create more intimate and better-lit photographs.
Vacations in the Florida Keys
© Sean Arbabi
All Rights Reserved
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Harsh Flat Light
A common blunder that occurs when people photograph their family, friends, or general portrait situations is they position themselves between the sun and their subject, with the sun at their back, providing the most light on their subject’s face. (Imagine the sun behind you as you take a portrait of your family in front of you with full sunlight on their faces.) This not only causes the subject to squint heavily - since they are forced to stare directly into the sun - but now the light created on the subject and surroundings is flat and boring.
Ambient or Diffused Light
Instead, try a few different methods when it comes to capturing people. First off, try photographing them in ambient light, that is non-directional light where it is equally intense everywhere, such as shade, the diffused light from an overcast sky, or non-direct light that enters a window. This offers little or no shadows on a face providing beautiful soft light complimentary for most people.
Backlighting
Another method is to turn your subject away from the direct sun allowing their eyes to relaxed while taking their photograph. Called backlighting (the sun at the subject's back), it's an easy way to provide even light on faces while creating a more dramatic feel. Pop in a little fill-flash to brighten the shadows on the face, and now you're working with two light sources (the sun, creating rim light on their hair and body, and your flash creating even light on the face).
Side-lighting
And the last approach is to side-light your subject. This gives them depth and dimension through the highlights and shadows cast on their face (as well as on the setting or landscape). Side lighting can also thin out a face, since only half or part of it is lit, giving the appearance of a more narrow face, but side lighting can also create more shadows showing visible lines or wrinkles in a face as well.Just remember, your lighting can not only help you create a more interesting portrait, but can also determine the look and feel of the image.
About Author / Instructor / Photographer, Sean Arbabi
 Sean Arbabi is a commercial photographer specializing in adventure, lifestyle, nature, & travel - for ad, corporate, & editorial clients. He has had freelance & contracted assignments with over 300 publications and 150 companies worldwide. His recent project, a 225-page book entitled The BetterPhoto Guide to Exposure, published by Amphoto/ Random House, hits shelves January 2009, in the top 50 photo books for months. Credits include American Express, Backpacker, California Division of Tourism, The Daily Telegraph, Endless Vacation, Fuji Film USA, GEO Germany, Inside Sport-Australia, JC Penny, Microsoft, National Geographic Adventure & Traveler, The New York Times, Newsweek, Nikon Inc., The North Face, Outside, Random House, REI, Runner's World, Sports Illustrated, Timex, VisitFlorida.com, Via magazine, & Woodbridge wines. Sean has shot over 200 assignments for Sunset, & authored numerous feature articles displaying his photography. A native Californian, his family moved to Iran in 1972, & after living in Tehran for four years, returned to the San Francisco Bay Area in '76 where Sean makes his home today. In '91, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Commercial photography from Brooks Institute of Photography, & began his business Arbabi Imagery thereafter combining outdoor, on-location, & studio photography. Today, he shoots in 120mm medium format & 35mm, film & digital, & brings a background of on-location, studio, outdoor, & lighting skills & experience to every job. His assignment travels incorporate much of the US, with international locations including Canada, Mexico, the UK, Southeast Asia, & South America. His stock image files, currently 400,000 strong, have been published in ads, books, brochures, mags, newspapers, trade shows, & websites worldwide. Over the years, he's backpacked over mountain ranges, helicoptered above jungles, ridden horseback across plains, rafted down rivers, biked along forest trails, sailed on oceans, & hung over cliffs, all to capture images he & his clients were in search of. Photography is his passion. Sean is a down-to-earth person, easy-going & fun to work with. He takes pride in being a pro photographer & businessperson, & feels lucky to succeed in a career providing so much happiness. In recent years, Arbabi's travel jobs lead him around the US, the Caribbean, Canada & Mexico. Recently, he landed two travel guidebook covers, five magazine covers, a catalog cover, wrote & shot seven feature articles, all the while creating a tv show on photography entitled Photoguru. Sean resides in Danville, CA with his wife & two cutie-patutie daughters. |
