I'm interested in finding out how to get those b&w photos that have great light contrast. The ones that look like there was a spotlight used, like the nudes. I am an amateur so please use 'simple' language as I do not know all the industry terms and lingo. Thanks, Karen

-- Karen Parsons (aikido@mciworld.com), April 08, 2000

Answers

Years of practice! Pat

-- pat j. krentz (krentz@cci-29palms.com), April 08, 2000.

Providing specific examples of photos will allow folks to give you specific advice.

-- Chris Hawkins (peace@clover.net), April 08, 2000.

Okay. Like this www.studiojorgen.com/ff020.htm and www.studiojorgen.com/OS060.htm Especially the second one. I really do appreciate any help with this that someone could give me. And I really don't think that 'years of expierence' is going to help me at this point. I just need to know how it is accomplished and will practice until I get it the way I want it.

Karen

-- Karen Parsons (aikido@mciworld.com), April 08, 2000.

Looks like a single light almost overhead. No multiple shadows. An easy way to start is with the mushroom shaped flood/spot lamp bulbs at the hardware store. Put them in one of the simple clamp on brackets and experiment. Without a lot of watts, the exposures will be several seconds long, and you may get movement. The broader the light source the softer the shadow edges will be. If you dont want quite that stark a look, add a second fill light at about half the power set up next to the camera.

-- Tony Brent (ajbrent@mich.com), April 09, 2000.

the harshness of the light falloff is also affected by the distance the light is from the subject, move the light further away to get a softer ratio.

-- mark lindsey (lindseygraves@msn.com), April 10, 2000.

spotlight

First, if you haven't already, email the photographer and ask how he does it. Second, in addition to a single, directional light source, try pushing your film one or two stops. This will give you a greater contrast range, and slightly more grain.

-- jeff (ptera_dactyl@rocketmail.com), April 10, 2000.

Karen, the second example you listed is what the photo people call a "harsh" or "hard" light source. This is because it leaves a hard edged shadow; that is, there is no question about where the shadow ends. Because the intensity of the light doesn't seem to fall off much (say from top of torso to bottom of torso), this indicates that the light was a substantial distance away (certainly at least 8-10 feet above the subject) and possibly a lot farther.

My guess is that he's lit by direct sunlight coming in through a skylight or tall windows (assuming that he's standing and not laying down); the light seems to be limited to a rectangle; this could be restricted by the window frame or tree branches above or someone has partly blocked the window, etc. There's not much light filling in the shadows which tells you the room doesn't have light colored walls to reflect it or light is simply prevented from reaching the light colored walls which might otherwise reflect some fill light in. It's probably printed on just a slightly more contrast than normal paper.

You should be able to roughly mimic this effect without too much trouble. Find a large dim room where a shaft of sunlight comes almost straight down and put your subject right in that bright area. In your example, the model probably leaned his head back out of the light beam. If you want to practice outdoors, you won't be able to restrict the light (ie, make his head disappear) so easily, but you COULD find a dark background and practice with the effect with the sun high overhead. A couple of dark blankets on the ground in front will help minimize fill light. Have fun experimenting.

-- Bill C (bcarriel@cpicorp.com), April 10, 2000.

Bill C has it right. I've got a skylight that gives images with this same sort of light. This guy seems to be fond of "breaking the third wall" and letting you see his set and studio. Careful analysis will yeild plenty of clues. He does seem like a guy who would be willing to talk about his work, his text on the website seems to be very social. (but what's with that guy in the pot... er... "vessel"?).

To duplicate this light artificially would require a powerful point source light (like the sun) given shape by an aperture (like the skylight)... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), April 12, 2000.