Question 1 – Written assignment

• Name three lighting sources and their functions.
• Name two light modifiers and explain the difference between them.
• Draw a diagram of and describe the three-point lighting setup.

Three lighting sources:
Natural light – such as the sun and the moon, where no equipment is used to create light.
Flash lights – such as the flash on your camera. Can also be separate from the camera. Flashes when a picture is taken.
Continous lights – shines continuous and is a larger power drain. Also less mobile than flash light.

Light modifiers:
Reflectors – is used to cast directional light towards an object.
Umbrellas – is used to soften the light and spread it over a larger area.

Key Light – the main light source – used to light the subject.
Fill light – used to fill inn dark shadows and soften them.
Back light – placed behind the subject to highlight their shoulders and hair.

Question 2 – Research Assignment

• Draw three studio setups for the following subject matters and list all the equipment that you would use to light your subjects:-Portrait-Fashion-Beauty

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In a magazine or on the Internet, find one fashion shot, a beauty shot and a portrait shot and explain how you think the lighting was set up in each shot.

Fashion – in this image I believe there was used a strong key light from the models left side, and possibly a soft box from the models right side to soften the shadows just a little.

Beauty – in this image I think there were used a key light with a soft box high up from the models right side, and a soft box from her left, without any light from the back.

Portrait – in this image I think there were used a key light with a oft box from the front, on the models left side, a fill light from her right and a back light from behind her left shoulder.

Question 3 – Practical assignments

Take some portrait shots and pay specific attention to the lighting you use. I would like to see a shot with soft lighting and one with more dramatic, harder lighting. It would be beneficial to hire studio lighting, but if you can’t, you may use natural light, reflectors and your camera’s flash.

I did not have access to to professional lighting, but I felt I learned a lot from using natural light as you can see from the two images I have chosen to share below.

This is Aslan, a lion at Dyreparken (Zoo in Kristiansand, Norway). As I spent this last week on vacation with my children, I was happy to find Aslan such a beautiful model for my portraits. It was a rather sunny day, but there were some clouds that softened the light. In this case the sun lit Aslan at an angle from behind, showing off his mane.

This is a photo of my daughter in sharp sunlight in the “golden hour”, just before sunset. Hard shadows hide her right side, yet the strong light bring out the color of her eyes and hair.