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Stuart Wood Lighting Masterclass - Dec15 Jan 16 - part 2 of 1 2 3

by Stuart Wood Published 01/12/2015

Considering some of the elaborate and time-consuming Christmas cards that we have produced over the years, this one was not only simple in design but proved equally relatively easy to actually produce.

It was shot in my kitchen during a November weekend when the diaries of my now teenage offspring could be coordinated! (It used to be SO easy when they were younger!)

Knowing that I needed only one light source and plenty of black, I employed plenty of black velvet as the background and is the only material to achieve a proper, pure black.

My children were photographed separately in profile looking left to right and this ensured perfect lighting on each of them, without any fear of one causing unwanted shadows upon the other.

Another consideration for photographing them separately was that when faces are close together and lit, they will act as 'reflectors' and fill in areas of the other subject. This usually produces a mutually pleasing effect, but in this case this was definitely not wanted.

To the right and to the back of my children, I placed my LED Icelight. This was placed on a tripod vertically, so that only a narrow 'slit' of light, which is exactly what I wanted, was actually employed.

The subject was sat on a stool and was asked to keep very still and the light was moved around until the perfect results were achieved.

Another important consideration was that while we were lighting the subject perfectly, we also had an extremely bright light shine straight into my lens.

As we know and unless you are encouraging a hazy, ethereal look, flare is our big enemy as it will not only cause brighter areas in the image, but will also severely effect colour, contrast and sharpness that no amount of post production will eradicate.

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1st Published 01/12/2015
last update 09/12/2022 14:59:28

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