Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Light—Science & Magic Hunter-FM.qxd 12:1:07 9-27 PM Page i Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Hunter-FM.qxd 12:1:07 9-27 PM Page ii Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Light– Science & Magic An Introduction to Photographic Lighting Third Edition Fil Hunter Steve Biver Paul Fuqua Amsterdam • Boston • Hiedelberg • London New York • Oxford • Paris • San Diego San Francisco • Singapore • Sydney • Tokyo Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier Hunter-FM.qxd 12:1:07 9-27 PM Page iii Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Acquisitions Editor: Diane Heppner Publishing Services Manager: George Morrison Project Manager: Paul Gottehrer Assistant Editor: Stephanie Barrett Marketing Manager: Christine Degon Veroulis Cover Design: Alisa Andreola Interior Design: Gene Harris Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK Copyright © 2007, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo- copying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, E-mail: permissions@elsevier.com. You may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage (http://elsevier.com), by selecting “Support & Contact” then “Copyright and Permission” and then “Obtaining Permissions.” Recognizing the importance of preserving what has been written, Elsevier prints its books on acid-free paper whenever possible. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Application submitted British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN-13: 978-0-240-80819-2 ISBN-10: 0-240-80819-3 For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at www.books.elsevier.com 07 08 09 10 11 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America Hunter-FM.qxd 12:1:07 9-27 PM Page iv Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. v Contents Chapter 1 How to Learn Lighting 3 What Are “The Principles”? 4 Why Are the Principles Important? 4 How Were the Example Subjects Chosen for This Book? 5 Do I Need to Do These Exercises? 6 What Kind of Camera Do I Need? 7 Should I Shoot Film or Digital? 8 What Lighting Equipment Do I Need? 10 What Else Do I Need to Know to Use This Book? 11 What Is the “Magic” Part of This Book? 11 Chapter 2 Light: The Raw Material of Photography 13 What Is Light? 14 How Photographers Describe Light 17 Brightness 17 Color 18 Contrast 19 Light versus Lighting 22 How the Subject Affects the Lighting 24 Transmission 24 Direct and Diffuse Transmission 26 Absorption 27 Reflection 28 Chapter 3 The Management of Reflection and the Family of Angles 31 Types of Reflection 32 Diffuse Reflection 32 The Inverse Square Law 36 Direct Reflection 37 Breaking the Inverse Square Law? 38 The Family of Angles 39 Hunter-FM.qxd 12:1:07 9-27 PM Page v Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. CONTENTS vi Polarized Direct Reflection 41 Is It Polarized Reflection or Ordinary Direct Reflection? 45 Turning Ordinary Direct Reflection into Polarized Reflection 46 Applying the Theory 47 Chapter 4 Surface Appearances 49 The Photographer as Editor 50 Capitalizing on Diffuse Reflection 51 The Angle of Light 52 The Success and Failure of the General Rule 55 The Distance of Light 57 Doing the Impossible 59 Using Diffuse Reflection and Shadow to Reveal Texture 62 Capitalizing on Direct Reflection 65 Competing Surfaces 68 Try a Lens Polarizing Filter 70 Use a Still Larger Light 71 Use More Than One Light 72 Use a Gobo 73 Complex Surfaces 74 Chapter 5 Revealing Shape and Contour 79 Depth Clues 81 Perspective Distortion 81 Distortion as a Clue to Depth 82 Manipulating Distortion 83 Tonal Variation 84 The Size of the Light 85 Large Lights versus Small Lights 86 Distance from the Subject 86 The Direction of the Light 87 Light on Side 89 Light above the Subject 90 Fill Light 91 Adding Depth to the Background 95 How Much Tonal Variation Is Ideal? 97 Photographing Buildings: Decreasing Tonal Variation 99 Photographing Cylinders: Increasing Tonal Variation 100 Remember Surface Detail 101 The Glossy Box 102 Use a Dark Background 103 Eliminate Direct Reflection from the Box Top 104 Hunter-FM.qxd 12:1:07 9-27 PM Page vi Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. CONTENTS vii Eliminate Direct Reflection from the Box Sides 105 Finish with Other Resources 107 Use Direct Reflection? 109 Chapter 6 Metal 111 Flat Metal 112 Bright or Dark? 113 Finding the Family of Angles 113 Lighting the Metal 116 Keeping the Metal Bright 117 What Is a “Normal” Exposure for Metal? 120 Keeping the Metal Dark 120 The Elegant Compromise 124 Controlling the Effective Size of the Light 126 Keeping the Metal Square 130 Metal Boxes 132 A Light Background 135 A Transparent Background 136 A Glossy Background 137 Round Metal 140 Camouflage 141 Keeping the Light off the Camera 141 Using a Tent 142 Other Resources 144 Polarizing Filters 144 Black Magic 145 Dulling Spray 145 Where Else Do These Techniques Apply? 146 Chapter 7 The Case of the Disappearing Glass 149 The Principles 149 The Problems 150 The Solutions 150 Two Attractive Opposites 152 Bright-Field Lighting 152 Dark-Field Lighting 156 The Best of Both Worlds 160 Some Finishing Touches 162 Defining the Surface of Glassware 162 Illuminating the Background 166 Minimizing the Horizon 166 Stopping Flare 168 Eliminating Extraneous Reflections 170 Complications from Nonglass Subjects 171 Liquids in Glass 172 Hunter-FM.qxd 12:1:07 9-27 PM Page vii Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. CONTENTS viii Secondary Opaque Subjects 176 Recognizing the Principal Subject 179 Chapter 8 An Arsenal of Lights 181 The Single-Light Setup 182 The Basic Setup 182 Light Size 183 Skin Texture 185 Where to Put the Main Light 185 Left Side? Right Side? 191 Broad Lighting or Short Lighting 192 Eyeglasses 194 Additional Lights 195 Fill Lights 197 Background Lights 203 Hair Lights 205 Kickers 207 Rim Lights 209 Mood and Key 210 Low-Key Lighting 211 High-Key Lighting 212 Staying in Key 215 Dark Skin 215 Available-Light Portraiture 216 A Window as a Main Light 217 The Sun as a Hair Light 219 Combining Studio and Environmental Light 220 Keeping the Light Appropriate 223 Setting Rules? 223 Chapter 9 The Extremes 227 The Characteristic Curve 228 The Perfect “Curve” 228 A Bad Camera 230 Overexposure 232 Underexposure 234 A Real CCD 235 Using Every Resource 240 White-on-White 240 Exposing White-on-White Scenes 241 Lighting White-on-White Scenes 243 Subject and Background 243 Using an Opaque White Background 245 Using a Translucent White Background 250 Using a Mirror Background 253 Hunter-FM.qxd 12:1:07 9-27 PM Page viii Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. CONTENTS ix In Any Case, Keep the Background Small 254 Black-on-Black 254 Exposing Black-on-Black Scenes 255 Lighting Black-on-Black Scenes 255 Subject and Background 257 Using an Opaque Black Background 257 Using a Glossy Black Surface 260 Keep the Subject away from the Background 261 The Histogram 263 Preventing Problems 266 Overmanipulation 266 Curves 268 New Principles? 269 Chapter 10 Traveling Light 273 Choosing the Right Strobe 273 Getting the Exposure Right 274 Letting the Strobe Determine the Exposure 275 Using a Flash Meter 275 Calculating the Exposure 276 Calculating the Guide Number 276 Using the Guide Number 276 Getting More Light 278 Focused Flash 279 Multiple Strobes 279 Multiple Flash 280 Improving the Quality of Light 282 Bounce Flash 282 Feathering the Light 285 Lights of Different Colors 287 Why Is the Color of the Light Important? 288 Nonstandard Light Sources 289 Do the Colors Mix? 292 The Remedies 295 Lights of Different Duration 297 Is Studio Lighting Possible on Location? 299 Hunter-FM.qxd 12:1:07 9-27 PM Page ix Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. [...]... by giving you those tools Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 5 Hunter-Ch01.qxd 9/1/07 2:34 PM Page 6 LIGHT—SCIENCE & MAGIC In addition, we tried to use studio examples whenever possible This does not mean Light—Science & Magic is only a book about studio lighting Light behaves the same way everywhere, whether it is controlled by the photographer, by the building... same book as its first edition First published in 1990, with a second edition in 1997, we would expect a book that is largely technical to have obsolesced in that time After all, when we first wrote Light—Science & Magic, transmitting pictures electronically was a secret craft understood only by a few in the news business Film was a requirement for shooting a picture If a client needed a black-and-white... little impact on how we light the subject Lighting that would have worked with film is likely to work with digital capture Styles of photographic lighting have changed and will continue to do so Light—Science & Magic does not go out of style because it was not, is not, and will never be based on style The book is based on the behavior of light, and its principles will not change until fundamental physics... aesthetic, we decided to recruit a younger third photographer Enter Steven Biver You’ve seen his work many times in national and international publications, and his photographs for the third edition of Light—Science & Magic have brought exciting new energy to the project Critics, we honestly thank you for your questions This book is our answer xii Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove... this watermark Hunter-Ch01.qxd 9/1/07 2:34 PM Page 2 2 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark Hunter-Ch01.qxd 9/1/07 2:34 PM Page 3 1 How to Learn Lighting Light—Science & Magic is a discussion, not a lecture You bring to this discussion your own opinions about art, beauty, and aesthetics We do not intend to change those opinions and may not even influence them very... that grammar and vocabulary Fortunately, photographic lighting is a lot easier Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 3 Hunter-Ch01.qxd 9/1/07 2:34 PM Page 4 LIGHT—SCIENCE & MAGIC to master than a foreign language This is because physics, not social whim, makes the rules The tools in this book are the grammar and vocabulary of light Whatever we say about specific technique... admiration for Robert Yarbrough, a teacher who taught Paul Fuqua x Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark Hunter-FM.qxd 12:1:07 9-27 PM Page xi Introduction Light—Science & Magic is getting to be the classic text on photographic lighting You might challenge that, however, by asking to what extent this book, about a rapidly evolving subject, could ever be considered... much more depth of field that we need less light and less budget to use them well Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 7 Hunter-Ch01.qxd 9/1/07 2:34 PM Page 8 LIGHT—SCIENCE & MAGIC Available lenses determine your camera viewpoint A good selection of lenses allows the freedom to pick the best viewpoint If the camera has the best possible viewpoint, view camera–type... with this problem in this book because every digital camera differs from every Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 9 Hunter-Ch01.qxd 9/1/07 2:34 PM Page 10 LIGHT—SCIENCE & MAGIC other in the decisions its programmers have made If you are a student, the remedy for this is close, ongoing talk with your instructor about what’s happening in your pictures If you are... unconscious and semiconscious information This will make it easier for Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 13 Hunter-Ch02.qxd 11-01-2007 02:22 PM Page 14 LIGHT—SCIENCE & MAGIC us to talk about light with other photographers, just as musicians find it easier to say “b flat” or “4/4 time” instead of humming a scale or tapping a rhythm This is the most theoretical . this watermark. LIGHT—SCIENCE & MAGIC 6 In addition, we tried to use studio examples whenever possible. This does not mean Light—Science & Magic is. Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. xi Introduction Light—Science & Magic is getting to be the classic text on pho- tographic lighting.