For my second case study I focused on capturing portrait photographs to help influence my work later on. This gave me the practice I needed in order to capture the photos in the correct way. I was able to practice the different lighting techniques that would come in handy in the future shoots. I covered all aspects of lighting starting with white background lighting, black background lighting and the use of silhouettes. This helped me develop lighting skills in the studio and showed me how to do thing that I have never tried before.
White Background Lighting Technique
To achieve this shoot lighting I used a soft box in front of a white background, this was the easiest to do as the background was already white, I just needed light to shine onto my subject.
Black Background Lighting Technique
To achieve this technique it required us to set up soft box lighting in front of my subject, the background was white so we had to use the white boards in certain angles in order for the flash to bounce off and create a black background. Looking at my photos now I feel this technique would need more practice as the background isn’t fully black as much as I’d want it to be. The set up was quite easy however it would just need a little more rearranging and adjusting to get the lighting bouncing off of the board correctly to make the background black.
Silhouette Lighting Technique
To achieve this technique it required us to set up a harsh white light facing the white background, every time the shutter was released the back light would flash lighting up the background. As we didn’t have a soft box or any type of lighting in front or facing my subject they weren’t lit up at any point. The background would be lighter due to the flash making any object in front of the light dark, this created the silhouette effect.
Rachel Jacob 