I thought it might be fun to kick this category off with an image of my friend Mairi from my last shoot with her. A study in chiaroscuro.
This was an attempt to feather in the light a bit in order to control the falloff better. The actual softbox is quite high, with the lower edge about even with her eyebrows and firing horizontally (not down on her).
I wanted the light to fall quickly away as it moved below her chin and neck.
This was a special image for me personally as it was one of the few times that I had a vision of what I wanted before even setting up the shoot, and I was able to get exactly what I envisioned beforehand.
My first thought on the lighting was Vermeer, and then I looked at the highlighted link ‘chiaroscuro’. Sure enough Vermeer was mentioned. The image, to me, represents the Golden Age of Dutch Painting; very well done.
Thank you! I was also trying a little trick I picked up from watching Dan Winters behind the scenes videos. He seems to be using either a ring flash or a huge soft backlit scrim directly behind him as a low power fill to just slightly lift the shadows. It seems to work.
