I’d like some ideas on playing with lighting on my model’s face please

Sylvie Seymour, Gibraltar

Answer

Jace replies

Warm, soft lighting can be created in a lot of different ways. Sharp lighting as created by the sun during the midday hours reflects in the skin a bit differently than softer lighting created at different times of day or by other sources of light.

In this example I chose my light source to be an artificial light, such as a light bulb. This type of lighting will not only be warm but, since it’s also diffused, there won’t be many sharp shadows being cast on the face, which creates a nice, soft mood. Another important compositional aspect to keep in mind when creating a scene like this is colour contrast and balance. To focus on the warm lighting there needs to also be cooler shades present to really push the warm overall atmosphere.

The girl’s face in our example will be the warm section and her hair will contrast that with a nice cool colour scheme. This example was created using Photoshop using both hard and soft Round brushes.

Here our model is under the hard midday sun. This lighting has a strong visual impact with its cast shadows and bright highlights, but no mood… This example is the same figure, but under an artificial light such as a light bulb, candle or fire. The...