Lighting photography (Sue)

In this shot I have used a soft box overhead and reflector under the chin also known as clam shell lighting. In doing this I have gotten rid of some of the more harsh shadows which has complimented my subjects light, golden toned skin and has flattered her feminine presence in this photo. I've taken this photo on a manual focus which I adjusted the focal point so it was in the middle of the shot, targeting right on the subjects nose and eye area for the sharpest possible focus from the distance I was standing. I zoomed right into the subject before taking the shots to enable me to get a longer depth on field and blur the background; sharpening my subject. I used a low ISO of around 200, my highest aperature setting (Lowest f/stop number) and a moderately fast shutter speed of around 1/40.

 In these three shots I got closer to my subjects and the light's position is higher facing straight steeper down which I used to blacken the backgrounds behind the subject and pillar. It's been shot with a soft lighting and helps bring out the red tones and blends in the subjects yellow and red skin shades while adding subtle highlights to his hair.

In this shot the I used hard directional lighting from a naked bulb to give the photo more of a masculine appearance, making my subject appear bolder whilst using the yellow lighting to compliment his brown skin heightening the skin texture and colour. I shifted the focus to the left eye and kept my camera settings to manual on camera and lens. I looked through the viewfinder to get a better judgement of the appropriate focus for the right softness of the skin to contrast the heavy shadows.

In this photo I used a naked bulb to project hard light on the left side of the subject and positioned directly behind him to give the shot a rim lighting effect. I used a slightly quicker shutter speed to get more detail on the highlights around him (around 1/60)