Before And After Pictures - Using Only Lighting

The first photography book I bought way back when was "Painting With Light."

Whether it is sunlight or artificial, it's all about the direction and the reflection.

I hated taking flashbulb shots back then. They were flat and ugly.

Interesting video. I play with the lighting when I set up a still life, to get areas of dark & light contrast where I want them... it makes sense that it would make a difference RE: how people look.

I met someone who had a glam photo shoot done - she was doing belly dancing - & wanted a flyer showing her in a flattering way for party gigs. They put body make up on her for the camera, to create shadows & highlights. Looked great on film... she said when she stood up, she had dark & light flesh-tone zebra stripes -- had to wash off all the makeup before she could go out in public.

Nice post Mike!!!

I think lighting is one of the MOST overlooked factors for new photographers. They simply do not understand how crucial it is, and how much the quality of the image is dependent on it.

shooting mid day, is much different than shooting at dusk. though many of my shots do come from the day time hours. morning light is best usually, at the very least its not harsh. learning how to use the light is hard though, it looks totally different though as soon as you change the angles.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

This photo reminds me of Skinny Photo App from Apple. Kids are going crazy about this App.
Nothing seemed real anymore.

I didn't mean to be off track . In speaking of lighting , It is the most important . How can we identify elements of Art without it.

That was very cool Mike! I guess what is comes down to is we are not photographing a person or object or whatever ...all we are really photographing is reflected light.

Mike your work is full of light, art of light!

I've seen this video before-- I like it in terms of what it demonstrates but also the message at the end that the models shared.

Part of the reason I always have so many photos to sort through after a shoot is because for every photo I take without a flash, I take one with a flash because you never know what you're going to get and it's heartbreaking to get that perfect composition and you have only 1 version of it (with or without flash). Over time though, I find that I'm straying from the flash and instead using an independent light source to light up a photo. Lighting is everything.

And I like what you said, Val, "I guess what is comes down to is we are not photographing a person or object or whatever ...all we are really photographing is reflected light."

without light you don't have shape, and without light you have no photograph. when i make mine i try to add more shadow when shading things in because there wasn't enough of it there. HDR destroys shadow and if you over do it, you lose depth. every scene needs some highlight and low light. direct flash will smash the shadows and make it pale and boring. on trips, i use a flash, but i bounce it off a light bender, which i modified and turned it into a softbox. while it's not super awesome and i still get that forward shadow, it diffuses the light much better than a direct flash. it also makes the camera look huge.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Right from the beginning of my "Vulture Sculpture Enterprise", I had to constantly go, back and forth, from being a "sculptor" to becoming a "photographer"

And Lighting was always not only a factor but a PROBLEM.

It started when I was required to have slides of my work in the application to shows....Where the image had to portray the sculpture in the best light possible...Maybe in a better light than the actual piece.( kinda like a little lie, just to get the thumbs-up from the jury).

It became a frustrating struggle, waiting for the slides to come back, praying that there's enough satisfactory images among the 36...Often not, forcing me to start all over again.

I've even paid a pretty penny having experienced photographers take the slides...Resulting, to my taste,with far poorer portrayal of my sculptures than the photos I took.

And finally, I've had to settle on whatever, in my opinion, comes closest to being "acceptable"

Which has lead me ask, " Can something in the actual 3 dimensional universe,viewed with a moving EYE, be accurately replicated by an instant 2 dimensional image?"



These days, I no longer have to go through the juried show application process...But, I've, now, committed myself to selling my work on line, and that struggle returned.

Thank Goodness for pixels

Although, I still take photos, in what I consider the best lighting..., I do have now the opportunity, right then and there, to make the images more "truthful" by digitally tweaking those photos.

So it goes, so it goes

Is there a program that can add/subtract light to an already exist photo, what changing lighting positions/etc. does for the live shot, as shown in vid?
(Hope I've explained that clearly ;)

i don't think there is. unless you took a sequence of lighting angles in the first place. the only way a program can do it is if you started with a 3D person, and cast virtual lights on it, so it can create the right shadow contours.

as for vulture lighting, i would get or make a light tent. simple white back drop, or if your the fancy type - a print out of a desert background - out of focus. and then place the lights where you need to. for drama i'd place a diffused spot light on it, to create nice shadow and highlight. or you can paint with light, but that gets messy. it's hard to clean up spilled photons.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Jony Ive or Jony Ive a like might be able help. That seems complicated.

Mike,

The problem with the vultures is their gloss..creating all sorts of unwanted highlights.

Way back in the film days..The best results came in a darkened room, aperture closed way down, camera on a tripod with a cable release keeping the shutter remained opened for many seconds

Until recently my only camera, Oylmpus digital, was completely automatic, forcing me use a very neutral background,in bright neutral light to provide the right exposure for the vultures.

Now I have a Nicon D3300.and currently toying with all the manual possibilities.

Whatever the results,though, it's good that I now can tweak the images digitally

And by the way, with shadows, they have generally been unwanted.....Confusing the image, as to what is the vulture and what is the shadow...(Back in the good old film days, I did jazz up the images with shadows and stuff, to catch the juror's eyes when applying to shows).

that's where the diffuser would come in. you do want some highlight, it shows contour. the tough part is that it's nearly all black, maybe a soft light just to light the belly areas. i'd have to play with it.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

I am a big fan of Analog Photography.
You cannot beat the quality of Black and white photo of Analog photography
This is why I am thinking about getting into it.
Main concern is though environmental issues. That is a big concern.

I found out recently when I got back from Venice I had not taken full advantage of the A.M. golden hour and I paid with greyer colors. It was a lot of work trying to make them look better.

Lawrence, When using the curves on the right end of the curves you can add some light, it helps a lot giving light and dimension to an image. You can only take it so far though and some images can not be resurrected. I believe there are programs where light can be added wherever you want it. I have seen a video of one of these editor programs being used, pretty amazing but I have never used this kind of software.

Thanks Mike/Susan.

I think there's a program that can turn a photo (of a face for example) into a 3D image???

Yes I use "curves" often.

I was thinking more of a program that can create actual shadows caused by the new artificial light we add to the image...but I think I'm wishing for too much. ;))

i think photoshop can do that with a gradient of a face. i've been meaning to try that for a hidden mike.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

good idea, Mike....so...by using a gradient mask (or whatever it's called) I can make the lighting in my avatar look like yours...by making the left side darker and playing with it a little on the cheeks etc.