Assignment 3 One Light Portraits

1. 

In this portrait, a single light source with no diffusion was placed overhead and to the front and left of the subject. Using a bare bulb without diffusing the light created a darker overall image with more contrast from light to dark. The inverse square law in demonstrated as the light is brightest on the left side of the face and quickly falls off to black on the right side of the face. Specular highlights are created by the light reflecting off of the eyes, cheekbone, and nose of the subject. The goal was to achieve "Rembrandt lighting" by creating a small triangle of light under the eye on the shadow side of the face, dark and saturated shadows, and quick fall off from light to dark. 

2.
This portrait uses a single light source with diffused and reflected light. A large sheet of diffusion material was placed overhead and the light source placed directly over the subject. Using the diffusion material in this way created a larger light source. Diffusing the light helped to soften and evenly spread the light across the subject. A silver fill card was used underneath to reflect light back into the shadow areas. The card had to be placed at a specific angle in order to reflect the light in the right direction, demonstrating that angle of incidence = angle of reflection.