alittlenews

That is a pretty obtuse title now isn’t it.  What I am trying to say is that you can vary the look and quality of light from fixed sources by simply changing your position relative to the light source or sources.  This is really useful when you are lighting a big room with moving subjects.  This is exactly the situation I came across when I shot this fashion show showcasing prom dresses and suits for teens.  The show was done with local teens who are not naturally runway models and was a fund raising event.  This means there was no sophisticated lighting scheme like you might run into at a professionally done show.  Every year, Ebony puts on a big show in Huntsville.  If you cover that thing you just have to show up with the camera.  They have a choreographed lighting setup and pro runway models.

In this case; however, you set your own lighting scheme.  With this large room and using two lights, it made sense to set the lights in such a way that they would cover the entrance, which was the most distant point from my initial shooting position, and the exit, which is where I began shooting.  The lights crossed somewhere near the middle of the room which was essentially the center point on the runway.  With this set up, I get a variable light ratio that is hotter on one light at the entrance, balanced with two lights in the middle, and hotter on one light near the exit.  I now have three different lighting looks without ever varying the camera position.

When I do vary the camera position, I create a much more varied palette of light in both quantity and quality.  This can really work in your favor when all the models are basically doing the same thing.  With amateur models, you can count on them moving quickly through the room without a whole lot of flourish.  You have to work quickly with each model and you are only going to get one or two looks from each.  By varying your shooting position and your timing you can give yourself quite a few different types of images from an event that is very visually repetitive.

Obviously, you can apply this technique to a whole lot more than fashion shows.  It works in many different set ups.  Just think of using one light on a human face.  Place the light straight in front of the subject.  With your camera position also straight in front of the subject you get a boring, flat look.  Now move your camera in either direction horizontally and suddenly you begin to get a different character of light.  You can move all the way around to the back side of the subject and have back  lighting, at the 90 degree position you have rim lighting and at any other forward position you have some degree of modelling on the face.  Now raise or lower your camera position and you get still another look.  Raise or lower your light and your get still more variation.

Essentially, you need to think in three dimensions when you are lighting and shooting.   Use movement, either you camera position or your light position, to turn the ordinary in the extraordinary.  Photography is an exercise in geometry any day.  It is especially true when you are lighting something or someone.

Eds. Note:  I failed to add individual descriptions to the photos below.  Just look at the varied camera angles and the difference in the light.  Some subjects are very evenly lit.  Others have some degree of rim lighting or it is obvious that one light is dominant over the other light.

Photos copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and not necessarily those of my employer.