Light Source: Lighting Portraits (page 2)

You can master light selection and placement in a few hours. The real artistry comes in sculpting the subject. If you're lighting Gwyneth Paltrow, you can't lose; but most subjects need a little help to look their best. Here, then, are just a few common problems and some solutions.

• Wide or fat face. To slenderize a face without exercise, highlight the center of the face, from the eyes to the chin, and let both cheeks fall off into shadow. Use a spot key light with the barn doors framing light off the cheeks, plus two very soft fill lights, one on each side. To preserve the illusion of key side/fill side, place one of the fill units closer to the subject than the other.
• Narrow or skinny face. Do just the opposite of the previous technique: Use double profile keys to bring up the cheeks and keep the intensity of the front fill just bright enough so the subject doesn't look under-lit.
• Glasses. The simplest way to lose light reflections from glasses is by tilting them slightly downward on the wearer's nose. The next method is to raise all the lights until they bounce toward the floor rather than at the lens. Be careful, though: if you raise the lights too high, you'll exaggerate eye sockets and nose and chin shadows. Finally, try a polarizer. Reflections in glass are what polarizers are meant for, and you can often kill the highlights completely.
• Bald heads (a sensitive subject with me). If the old Ron Howard trick (a trucker's cap) is inappropriate, try these: when keying with a spot, use a barn door to frame light off the chrome dome. Sometimes, extra diffusion on the key light will soften the glare. Next, minimize rim light. Too much light from high and behind shines up the scalp nicely and picks out the pathetic remaining hairs so viewers can count them. Last of all, try lower camera angles. The less scalp seen, the smaller the problem.
• High-contrast subjects. Folks with light complexions wearing dark clothing can be tough to expose, but the solution is easy: don't wear black clothing. Darker complexions, especially beautiful brides in blinding white dresses, can give conniptions to contrast control circuits. In addition to framing off as much bright clothing as practical, there are several tricks to use here.

First, try an Obie light: a small on-camera lamp that kicks up exposure on the face just a bit. Often, this is all you need.

When using spots for lighting, try graduated screens, with one layer covering the whole ring, a second layer stopping at the two-thirds line, and a third layer going only one-third of the way. By putting the three-layer third at the bottom of the beam, you cut down the light on the bright dress, increasing it gradually on the face (or reverse this process for darkly dressed light-skinned people).

The other way is to use a graduated neutral density filter, which achieves the same effect. Darker flesh tones can also cause shiny reflections, so go for soft, diffused lighting that brings out natural facial tones.

• Wrinkles and Blemishes. To minimize age lines, acne scars and other facial artifacts, you have three weapons. First, keep lighting soft and contrast low, since canyons and craters create shadows.

For the same reason, concentrate on frontal lighting over cross lighting, which also exaggerates lines and pits.

If all else fails, use diffusion on the lens. Tiffen, for example, makes lens filters with different levels of diffusion. Be moderate, though: using too much diffusion results in a portrait that looks like if was shot in a steam bath.

Good shooting!

Always use a well set-up monitor to check your lighting. A monitor allows you to see changes to your lighting setup in real time. Monitors help you adjust light position for angle, intensity and contrast. For example, if the fill side shows details in the shadows (like a collar) and the key side doesn't burn out the highlights, the contrast is about right.

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