Objectives.
When lighting a model, you must make many decisions. Often, your objec-
tives will be dictated by the model or the client. A model may want an image
that showcases her facial beauty, one that highlights her long legs, a shot that
shows her potential as a swimsuit model, or one that displays her edgy, high-
fashion look. A client may want soft, beauty images that show the flawless
look produced by their new line of makeup, or a harder image that displays
thedesignandtextureoftheirurban-wear
collection. Whatever the objectives, it is
your job to bring those abstract ideas to
life. A large part of how you will do this is
through the use of lighting—through the
placement of lights (the subject of this
chapter),theselectionoflightsources(see
chapter 4), and the use of light modifiers
(see chapter 5).
Main Light.
When designing a lighting scheme for a
model, one must first consider the mask
of the face (the frontal planes of the face,
includingtheforehead,eyes,nose,cheeks,
and lips). The light that creates the prin-
cipal pattern of light and shadow on this
area is called the main light.
We’vealreadylookedatsomeoftheba-
sics of the direction of light (see pages
35–39), but this is where those concepts
really come into play. Unless you are cre-
ating a silhouette, your main light will be
placed to strike the front of the subject.
But should it be placed directly in front of
the subject? Or at an angle? And if it’s at
an angle, what’s the right angle?
44 LIGHTING TECHNIQUES FOR PHOTOGRAPHING MODEL PORTFOLIOS
3. Light Placement..
3-1.Placing the main light more to the
side of the subject creates facial con-
touring and adds drama to the image.