Practical Example: Lighting the Mask of the Face.In the following ex-
amples (images3-3,3-4,3-5,3-6, and3-7), you can see that when the light
is too high or at the wrong angle, the results are very unflattering. Simply by
having the model lift her face to the main light, notice how flawless her skin
becomes. If you flood the face with soft, even light, it beautifies the skin tone
46 LIGHTING TECHNIQUES FOR PHOTOGRAPHING MODEL PORTFOLIOS
3-3.The lighting setup for this shot. The
main light (a small softbox; see chapter
5) was placed at an angle above the
model and remained in the same posi-
tion throughout the series. Only the po-
sition of the model’s face in relation to
this light was changed.3-4.With the model looking at the cam-
era, the main light is too high in relation
to her face. It creates very unattractive
shadows.
3-5.Having the model lift her chin helps,
but now the main light is a bit too far to
the side. It still creates some unattrac-
tive shadows.3-6.With the model’s face lifted directly
toward the main light, the lighting on
the mask of her face becomes more
even and much more beautiful.3-7(facingpage).This is the final cropped version of the image. As you can see, great lighting doesn’t require a lot of equip-
ment—you can use just one light if you know how to use it effectively!