The type of lighting used in photography can have a drastic impact on the mood of the image. By selectively lighting a scene and placing certain parts of the image in shadow, a photographer can add drama to an image and an overall darker feel to the photograph. Dramatic lighting takes planning and strategic use of lighting, framing and composition, but it can elevate you images from just okay to something more artful.
Instructions
1. Place a hard key in front of your subject. A standard three-point lighting setup consists of a key light, fill light and a back light. The key light is the main light and is brightest in intensity. A hard key means that the light is set to spot instead of flood, creating hard shadows. Place it to the side of your subject, about 45-degrees from the camera. If you are using a fill light, increase the relative brightness of the key to fill to create a high contrast ratio between the lights. You can even completely remove the fill light to place half of your subject in shadow. This type of lighting is often used in film noir.
2. Place a back light behind your subject. A back light can create a rim of light around your subject for a more dynamic look. Generally, a back light is placed just outside of the frame, above and behind aimed towards a subject. Without any frontal lighting, this can also place the front of your subject in shadow while providing dramatic lighting for the rest of the scene. This will distance the subject from the viewer as the subject is obscured. You can also use the sun as a natural light to accomplish this by shooting with you subject between the camera and the sun.
3. Light the subject from above. Especially when lighting a person, you can instantly create more drama by lighting your subject from above. Placing a light directly above and aiming down towards the subject will put your subjects eyes in shadow and give a darker and more mysterious feel to your image.
Tags: your subject, back light, fill light, subject from, from above
