Description

With out Gentle, there is not any photograph. As virtually each and every photographer is aware of, the phrase “photograph” has its roots in Greek phrases that, in combination, imply “drawing with Gentle.” However what’s much less often stated and understood is the function that shadow performs in growing putting, expressive imagery, particularly in portraiture. It’s via deft, nuanced use of each Gentle and shadow that you’ll be able to transfer past taking pictures merely odd, able headshots into the area of constructing dramatic portraiture that may so powerfully show an issue’s interior essence, be in contact a private narrative, and categorical your photographic imaginative and prescient.

In The Dramatic Portrait: The Artwork of Crafting Gentle and Shadow, Chris Knight addresses portraiture with a novel technique to each Gentle and shadow that permits you to support and lift your personal portraiture. He starts with the historical past of portraiture, from the early paintings of Egyptians and Greeks to the chic remedy of sunshine and topic by way of artists equivalent to Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Vermeer. Chris then dives right into a deep, palms-on exploration of sunshine, shadow, and portraiture, providing a large number of courses and takeaways. He covers:

    • The traits of sunshine: exhausting, cushy, and the spectrum in between
    • The relationships among Gentle, topic, and {background|historical past|heritage}, and Easy methods to regulate them
    • Lights styles equivalent to Paramount, Rembrandt, loop, and split
    • Lights ratios and the way they have an effect on distinction on your image
    • Apparatus: from massive and small modifiers to grids, snoots, barn doorways, flags, and gels
    • A couple of setups for portrait shoots, together with those who make the most of one, , and 3 lights
    • How colour contributes to drama and temper, eliciting an emotional reaction from the viewer
    • Easy methods to means styling your portrait, from cloth wardrobe to background
    • The publish-processing workflow, together with growing the RAW document, maximizing distinction, colour grading, retouching, and dodging and burning for heightened drama and effect
    • How all of those components culminate that can assist you outline your own taste and create your personal narrative