From the course: Portrait Photography: Ten Styles with One Light

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Judging the quality, direction, color, and contrast of light

Judging the quality, direction, color, and contrast of light

From the course: Portrait Photography: Ten Styles with One Light

Judging the quality, direction, color, and contrast of light

- When we're talking about portrait lighting, there's really four significant characteristics of light you should be concerned with. First of all, there's the quality of light. How hard or soft is it. There's the direction of light. Where's it coming from? Is it flattering your subject. Do you need to turn your person into it more? Pay attention to the direction of the light. There's also the color of the light. You know, what settings you need to use in your camera to make it the right color, or what should be your main light to flatter your subject in the right color of light. And then there's the contrast. And by contrast, I mean how bright is the bright side of your subject's face compared to the darker side of their face. This contrast between the light side and the dark side helps determine the mood, and also the appropriateness of a picture. I wouldn't want to do a business headshot that's extremely bright on one side and very dark on the other. It's a much more even contrast…

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