FREE WORKSHOP ASSIGNMENT 2: LIGHT

THE ARC OF BEAUTY… WITH ONE LIGHT.

THE ARC OF BEAUTY… WITH ONE LIGHT.

We are going to start this out with some lighting work.

There are a few variables that tend to be fixed in the lighting lexicon of food, texture, and still life.

The “circle of beauty”  (or Arc of Beauty) is one of them.

I use from backlight to both sides sidelight. If the light is in front of the food, it is front light and unless that look is part of your style, venture there with supreme confidence or not at all.

I choose not at all. I am not a fan of the look of front light. However, I do like shadows. We will get to them later.

Circle of beauty backlight:

And here is the Circle of beauty side light:

The vertical process remains the same. Whether from the back or overhead, having it be part of the circle of beauty is important. I refer to this one as the arc of beauty since it arches over the subject.

Using a window for light.

One of the easiest ways to use natural light is to use a window in your home or studio.

Here the window is used as a back light source.

Notice how in the backlight situation, a scrim is used to soften and diffuse the light. This can be very important if you have random speculars from reflecting sources in the visibility of your set. It can also come in very handy when the sun comes directly into your room and is not a diffused source. The scrim can diffuse it and make the light more soft and even.

One of my favorite tools is the scrim from inside a 5-in-one. Here I have it clamped to a stand with the sun behind it. The light is very soft on the subject.

There is no size limit to the lighting gear. Here to very large scrims are softening the daylight from outside for a larger set shoot.