Setting up Shots

Safe use of tripods

A tripod is an important peice of equipment when going out to do photography, modern tripods are light and portable, and often come equiped with things to help you set up, such as spirit levels and ajustable angles and hight.

Uses:
Long lenses - large lenses are dificult to steady with your bare hands, and can add a bit of weight to the front of your camera, knocking you off balance, their long focal length magnifies any vibration caused by the camera shutter, or the wind. So a tripod can help you get the those steady shots, with no worry about blury pictures.

Slow Shutter Speeds - Slow shutter speeds make it very difficult to get a focused shot, as it's almost impossible for someone to hold the camera perfectly still for a prolonged amount of time, so a tripod is a must for a sharp picture.

Camera placement - Tripods can help you get a shot where it would usually be difficult for the photographer to get into, for example, inches off the ground where the photographer would need to kneel down, also allowing the user to comfortably take photos above his or her eye level.

Consistent comera position - When using a tripod, it frees you from the camera, meaning you can move around and ajust things in the shot, while keeping the camera in the exact position that you wanted.

Digital Cameras - When using digital photography a tripod can help improve the quality of pictures from lower end camera, as with cheaper cameras you can get issues like shutter lag. Digital cameras also need a slower shutter speed in general and are more suseptibal to blur, so a tripod is a must when working in a studio.

Studio Lighting Techniques

Paramount Lighting
Paramount lighting, also refered to as butterfly lighting or glamour lighting is a traditionally feminine lighting pattern that makes a symetrical butterfly-like shadow beneath the subjects nose, it tends to emphasize high cheekbones and good skin. It is less commonly used with men because it tends to hollow out cheeks and eye sockets too much.

Setup - The key light is placed high and directly in front of the subjects face, parrallel to the vertical line of the subjects nose, the fill light is placed at the subjects head height directly under the key light, the hair light, which is always used opposite to the key light, should light the hair only and not skim onto the subjects face, and the background light is used low and behind the subject.

Loop Lighting
Loop lighting is a minor variation to paramount lighting, and is typically used for subjects with avarage, oval-shaped faces.

Setup - The key light is lowered and moved more the the side of the subject, so the the shadow below the nose is a small loop on the shadow side of the face, the fill light is also moved being placed on the oposite side of the camera from the key light and close the the camera-subject axis. And the hair and background lights are used in the same way as they are in the paramount lighting setup.

Rembrandt Lighting
Rembrandt lighting, also known as 45-degree lighting is charactarised by a small, triangular highlight on the shadowed cheek of the subject. The lighting takes its name from the famous Dutch painter who used skylights to illuminate his subjects. This type od lighting is dramatic. It is most often used with male subjects and is commonly paired with a weak fill light to accuntuate the shadow-side highlight.

Setup - The key light is moved lower and farther to the side than in loop and paramount lighting. In fact, the key light almost comes from the subjects side, depending on how far from his head is turned from the camera. The fill lighrt is used in the same manner as it is for loop lighting, the hair light, however, is often used a little closer to the subject, for more brilliant highlights in the hair.
A kicker is often used to delineate the sides of the face and to add brilliant highlights to the face and shoulders, the background light is in the standard position.

Split Lighting
Split lighting occurs when the key light illuminates only half the face. It is an ideal slimming light, it can be used to narrow a wide face or nose. It can slo be used with a weak fill to hide facial irregularities. For a highly dramatic effect, split lighting can be used with no fill.

Setup - The key light is moved farther to the side of the subject and lower than in other setups. In some cases, the key light is acvtually slightly behind the subject, depending on how far the subject is turned from the camera, all the other lights are used normally.

Profile Lighting
Profile lighting is used when the subject's head is turned 90 degrees from the camera lens. It is a dramatic style of lighting used to accent elegant features. It is used less frequently now then in the past, but it still produces a styleish portrait.

Setup - The key light is placed behind the subject so that it illuminates the profile of the subject and leaves a polished highlight along the edge of the face. The key light will also highlight the hair and neck of the subject. Care should be taken so that the accent of the light is centered on the face and not so much on the hair or neck. The fill light is moved to the same sife of the camera as the key light and a reflector is used to fill in the shadows. A optional hair light can be used on the oppsites side of the key light for better tonal seperation of the subjects hair from the background, and the background light is used normally.