Lighting- High key.pptx.................

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1. High Key lighting:

2. What is it? How do you create it? High key lighting is where a scene is brightly lit to create little to no shadows or contrast. High key lighting creates a clear atmosphere as there is no mystery or hidden elements of the photo since there is no shadows and everything is clear. For example, on a low key lighting photo, if half the face was covered it would portray that there was another side to the person that we didn’t know however because high key photos do not have any shadows the meaning behind the photo is clear. The main requirements of a high key photo is to have the lighting and model however to make it not look like a passport photo it is good to have props or have planned facial expressions or poses to bring the photo to life and add some meaning. When I created a typical high key photo, I used 4 lights to make sure that there was no shadows on my body or in the background behind me. It is very important while prepping for the photo to make sure that the framing is correct as you want to eliminate as much white space as possible. It is also important to remember that you can zoom in and out using the camera lense to eliminate the white space or get a close up of the face while keeping the focus. When taking my high key photos, I had my shutter speed at 1/125, f-stop at 22 and ISO 100. Once the model is in place and you are happy with the camera framing and lighting then take as many photos as you want. It is ok to get the model to change their pose or facial expression slightly to get a variety of photos before moving onto the next pose.

3. Research- Planton: When I was looking through different photographers' high key portraits, Planton stood out a lot with his style. For example, the first picture the lighting makes the models face very lit up and bright. I think this adds a lot of character to the picture as you can see all the detail in his facial expression from the lines under his eyes and his beard. Also, the fact, you can see the reflection in his pupils of the bright light being shone into his eyes adds emotion to the picture as it feels to me that you can read the models thoughts. I think this photo was created with a single light in front of the model, directly behind the photographer because the face is very evenly lit and symmetrical. I also think there must have been at least a couple of other lights to light the background to stop shadows from being cast there too, I like the second photo too because I think it is interesting the way the model is posed and how the photo was taken at an angle to make the leg look very disproportioned compared to the model's head. This makes the photo seem strange as it is not what we see through the naked eye. Another thing I like about this photo is the model being tilted. This makes me subconsciously look at the photo at an angle instead of straight on. The photo being in black and white is a nice effect too as I feel like it is a big contributor to how disproportioned it feels as most people do not see others naturally in black and white. I think this photo was created with 4 lights, which is typical for a high key lighting portrait. With 2 photos in the front to stop any shadows on the model and then another 2 photos facing the background to stop any shadows on the backdrop.

4. Research- Solve Sundsbo: Another photographer whose work caught my eye was Solve Sundsbo. I particularly liked the first photo because of the personality that the model gives out just through a photo. For example, I love how it is in black and white because you can still clearly where was more colourful than other places like how her lips and eyes stands out but how her hair must be a lighter colour as it almost blends in with her bright face. I also like the pose the photographer decided to go with as I think the hand pulling the eye back also adds more interest to the photo especially with the ring too. I think this photo was created with only 2 lights, one directly in front of the face to make her skin and hair so bright but another to the side to illuminate the hand as there is no shadows there. However, what is interesting is the background is dark which is not a typical feature of a high key photo which makes it unique. I like the second photo too because it had a high risk to turn out like a passport photo however you can clearly see the contrast on the models face and neck. I like the big contrast of his light face compared to his dark clothes but also his glasses. His glasses being darker makes the harsh line between his neckline and skin seem less harsh because it adds contrast in a different part of the photo. I think this photo was made like a typical high key portrait photo with 4 lights. 2 to either side of the model and another 2 shone into the background to avoid the backdrop being darker.

5. Researched photos we would like to recreate:

6. Researched photos I recreated:

7. My unedited shots:

8. The photos before editing and what I did: When I went to edit this photo, the first thing I did was change the white levels again because the background looks greyer then white. By moving the white further down it made the background whiter like a typical high key background. I then went in with the dodge tool and went around the model head and body to really enhance that pure white that I was looking for. After this, I got some peer feedback, and I went to change the white levels further up because they pointed out that the hairline was beginning to blend into the background so that brought the hair back again to make it look more natural. I was beginning to become happier with the photo like this but also wanted to try and use the burn and dodge tools to enhance certain parts of the face. I did start to overdo it under the nose and on the chin so went into my history to undo the bits where I went too far. I then used the sponge tool to clear up any remaining marks that you could see. When I used the sponge tool, I selected it so it would desaturate the picture and changed the flow to 20% so it was not too drastic. This got me my first version of the photo. After this, I tried the black and white filter as I did with the rest of all my photos, and I began to really like it more so made a second version . Before editing: What I did:

9. My photos after editing: First version: Second version:

10. The photos before editing and what I did: When I was looking through all of the rest of the photos that I took, I loved all of them however I knew when I started editing this one, I wanted to make multiple different versions to see how far I could push the photo. The first thing I did was made a levels layer and I moved the white marker to make the white in the picture stand out more. After I did this, I used the dodge tool to lighten up the marks in the background. Because this didn’t fully work, and they were still visible I got the paint brush tool and turned it to 100% white and painted over them. I then got some advice from my teacher to increase the contrast which enhanced the white features even more to suit the typical style of a high key photo. This got me the first version of the photo . I then decided to see what it looked in black and white as that suited a lot of the other photos I had edited, and I really liked it so that got me the second version of my photo . The black and white version gave me an idea to use the dodge tool but before I made any further changes, I created a copy of the background layer so if I made any mistakes then I could easily undo it without my whole edit being altered. I then went in with the dodge tool and heavily enhanced the skin. I also enhanced he hair which really helped since it is blonde under the black and white picture. Once I felt like I had gone far enough and anymore would have ruined the photo I used the burn tool to bring back the outline of the shoulders and clothing to bring back the models outline which made the third version of my photo. Before editing: What I did:

11. My photos after editing: First version: Second version: Third version:

12. Evaluation of my final edit: From researching and taking high key photos, I have learnt a lot. For example, I have enhanced my skills further since editing my low-key lighting pictures by playing around more with the levels. In this photo, I am proud of how far I pushed the photo with the dodge tool and didn’t stop at what looks natural. When taking my high key photos, I was learning how key it has to have good quality lighting. I learnt how to set up soft boxes and where to place them to eliminate shadows. In this photo, I made sure I had good lighting illuminating the face otherwise when I was using the dodge tool it would have blurred and made the facial features not be a prominent part of the picture. Another thing I considered during the shoot was the composition of the photo. Framing is essential to making sure that there is no blank and dead space in the photo where it is not intended as well as making sure the model is doing something interesting to make the photo as appealing as possible.