Ok, I saw this picture of Bruce Lee a while back, and it was really cool, at least I think so, and I would like to reproduce it using instead this beautiful girl I know, which I think would be much cooler. As I gather it, the light was coming from one side, so that one side was lit, and the other completely dark. Obviously, the back drop needs to be black, and she needs to wear black, but how can I make this happen with regular household stuff? Would a regular desk lamp work if I could modify the amout of light it put out? Keep in mind I just shot my first roll of B&W recently, and I have a Minolta 400si with a 35-70mm lense

-- Andrew Bartlett (ahbst4+@pitt.edu), March 23, 1999

Answers

First of all, I have not seen the picture that you are referring to, however, I might be able to advise you nonetheless. Your objective is to create an image in which half of the subject is in total darkness. I am a little concerned with the quality of light emitted from a table lamp. You need to diffuse it (possibly with a sheer curtain) so that you avoid harsh tonalities on the subject. You may also find that a desk lamp produces insufficient light intensity to illuminate your subject. You will probably be better off with a flash (either on/off camera) or a tungsten lightsource.

Once you have solved the lighting situation, your next hurdle will be to setup the scene so that light falls only on the subject and not the background. You can accomplish this by ensuring your model is a distance away from any reflective surfaces.

There are a few other considerations to consider like depth of field, accurate metering (to guarantee that black is black)film selection...etc.

I hope this helps.

-- Harold Todman (Htodman@yahoo.com), March 23, 1999.

Yes, I think it should be better you send us the photo you4re talking about before we can advise you about the technic you should use ... but take care of the light, you can4t use a normal bulb light in your photos to get this kind of efect ... this light is too "hot" and your photo will never be the same way ... try natural light, maybe a window and some white paper to redirect the light.

Charles

-- Charles (deepblue97a@hotmail.com), March 23, 1999.

You are asking for a high contrast side lit portrait. To do this you have to predictable control the light on each side of your subject. Fully lit caucasion skin is usually around zone 6 in tone. To get the other side of the face to go completely black you need to get it down to zone 2 or 3. Zone 3 will be dark with some detail. Zone 2 will be pretty much a black hole. So that means that you need to put three or four more stops of illumination on the lit side than is on the unlit side and expose so that the lit side is properly exposed. Using your basic consumer flash with a guide number of 100 (feet), place the flash on the side of the victim at a distance of 12.5 feet and about 30 to 45 degrees to the front of the subject. Set your lens to f/8. Place a white reflector about 1 foot square on the unlit side at about 4 feet. Shut out all the lights in the room after composing and focusing so that the only light is from the flash (no windows, nothing). Take a frame. Move the white reflector out to 6 feet. Shut out the lights and shoot another frame. Move the reflector to 8 feet. Shut out thye lights and shoot another frame. Remove the reflector all together and shoot one more frame. That series will decrease the amount of fill on the unlit side and one of the exposures should give you the result you are aiming for. Tips: work in a totaly darkenable room. Use black cloths to eliminate reflections from walls and ceilings. Try other distances from the flash and fill reflector. Use a desk lamp in a darkened room to get an idea as to how the position of the main light effects the lighting on the face. You will find that having the main light about 30 to 45 degrees infront of the side gives better results than straight off to the side. Finally, since you will have co-opted a semiwilling victim for a while, try lots of different lighting techniques and experiment to see how position and fill effect your results. Good luck.

-- Fritz M. Brown (brownf{DHWTOWERS/TOWERS3/brownf}@dhw.state.id.us), March 23, 1999.