Levin Harris-Thomas: Unit 27 Studio Techniques

Excercise One: Lighting Positions

Key Lighting:

The purpose of the key light is to highlight the form and dimension of the subject. It can be hard (focused) or soft (diffused), and depending on the setup can be placed at different angles relative to the subject. The key light doesn't have to directly illuminate the subject, it may pass through filters, screens or reflectors.

Fill Lighting:

The purpose of the fill light is to reduce the contrast of a scene, and to get the same amount of detail typically seen by eye in average lighting. Using more of less fill lighting will make shadows lighter or darker than usual.

Brief: "Before you attempt the projects associated with this assignment, you are required to complete the appropriate exercises, which are designed to show learning and understanding of the necessary techniques and skills related to working in a photographic studio. Throughout the exercises and assignment you are to produce a range of images that show correct use and understanding of electronic studio flash systems and appropriate digital camera technique. Evidence will be in the form of colour images presented on your blog. These are to show an appropriate lighting diagram as directed."

One Light Photography

Studio Lighting Setup Diagram:

Successful Images:

Edited Images:

Two Light Photography

Studio Lighting Setup Diagram:

Successful Images:

Edited Images:

Project One: Rembrandt Lighting

Rembrandt Research

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born in the Netherlands in 1606. His father was a miller, comfortably off and able to send Rembrandt to the town's Latin school. At the age of 14, Rembrandt began studying at the University of Leiden, but academic life didn't suit him. After a few months he left to begin an apprenticeship as a painter. Leiden didn't offer him much in the way of artistic talent, and in 1624, after three years with a local painter, Rembrandt went to Amsterdam to study briefly with Pieter Lastman. He then moved back to Lieden and set up as an independent painter, sharing a workshop with Jan Lievens.

Rembrandt Style Photoshoot

Brief: "Before you attempt the projects associated with this assignment, you are required to complete the appropriate exercises, which are designed to show learning and understanding of the necessary techniques and skills related to working in a photographic studio. Throughout the exercises and assignment you are to produce a range of images that show correct use and understanding of electronic studio flash systems and appropriate digital camera technique. Evidence will be in the form of both colour and black & white images. All images are to be printed ‘Photo’ quality. Also to be on your blog."

Rembrandt lighting is a lighting technique that is commonly used in studio portrait photography. It can be achieved using one light and a reflector or two lights. Rembrandt lighting is recognized by the illuminated triangle under the eye on the less illuminated side of the models face. I have shown an example of Rembrandt lighting studio set up below in a drawing.

Contact Sheet:

Failed Images:

Successful Images:

Edited Images:

Excercise 2: Lighting Ratios

Light in photography is measured by f-stops. The aperture setting goes up in 1/3 of a stop increments, this is shown in the diagram below.

Studio Lighting Setup Diagram:

Contact Sheet:

Successful Images:

Edited Images:

Excercise 3: Photographer Research

Richard Avedon

Born: May 15th 1923; New York

Died: October 1st 2004 (aged 81); San Antonio, Texas

Richard Avedon was an American fashion and portrait photographer. An obituary published in The New York Times said that "his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America's image of style, beauty and culture for the last half century". In 1944, Avedon began working as an advertising photographer for a department store, but was quickly endorsed by Alexey Brodovitch, the art director for the fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar. In 1945 his photographs began appearing in Junior Bazaar and a year later in Harper's Bazaar. In 1946 Avedon had set up his own studio and began providing images for magazines including Vogue and Life. He soon became the chief photographer for Harper's Bazaar. Avedon did not conform to the standard technique of taking studio fashion photographs, where models stood emotionless and seemingly indifferent to the camera. Instead, he showed models full of emotion, smiling, laughing and many times in action in outdoor settings which was revolutionary at the time. However, towards the end of the 1950's he became dissatisfied with daylight photography and open air locations and so turned to studio photography, using strobe lighting.

"My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph."

"I hate cameras. They interfere, they're always in the way. I wish: if I could work with my eyes alone."

Cecil Beaton

Born: Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton - 14th January 1904; Hampstead, London

Died: 18th January 1980 (aged 76); Reddish House, Wiltshire

Cecil Beaton was an English fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, interior designer and an Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre. He was named to the International Best Dressed list hall of fame in 1970.

Beaton designed book jackets and costumes for charity matinees, learning the professional craft of photography at the studio of Paul Tanqueray, until Vogue took him on regularly in 1927. He also set up his own studio, and one of his earliest clients was Stephen Tennant.

His first camera was a Kodak 3A folding camera. Over the course of his career, he employed both large format cameras, and smaller Rolleiflex cameras. Beaton is best known for his fashion photographs and society portaits, he worked as a staff photographer for Vanity Fair and Vogue in addition to photographing celebrities in Hollywood. He was fired from Vogue in 1938 for inserting some tiny but still legible anti-semitic phrases into American Vogue at the side of an illustration about New York society, the issue was recalled and reprinted at vast expense. Beaton returned to England, where the Queen recommended him to the Ministry of Information. He became one of Britain's leading war photographers, best known for his images of the damage done by the German blitz. His career was restored by the war.

"All I want is the best of everything and there's very little of that left."

"Perhaps the world's second worst crime is boredom; the first is being a bore."

Annie Leibovitz

Born: October 2nd 1949 (age 65); Connecticut, US

Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer. In 1970 she started her career as staff photographer working for just launched Rolling Stone magazine. In 1973, publisher Jann Wenner named Leibovitz chief photographer of Rolling Stone, a job she would hold for 10 years. She worked for the magazine until 1983, and her intimate photographs of celebrities helped define the Rolling Stone look. While working for Rolling Stone, Leibovitz became more aware of the other magazines and learned that she could work for magazines and still create personal work, which for her was the most important. She sought intimate moments with her subjects, who "open their hearts and souls and lives to you".

On December 8th 1980, Leibovitz had a photo shoot with John Lennon for Rolling Stone, and she promised him he would make the cover. She had initially tried to get a picture with just Lennon alone as Rolling Stone wanted, but Lennon insisted that both he and Yoko Ono be on the cover. Leibovitz then tried to recreate something like the kissing scene from the couple's Double Fantasy album cover, a picture Leibovitz loved, and she had John remove his clothes and curl up next to Yoko on the floor. Leibovitz was the last person to professionally photograph Lennon, he was shot and killed five hours later.

"One doesn't stop seeing. One doesn't stop framing. It doesn't turn off and turn on. It's on all the time."

"A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people."

Project 2: "In the Style" Portraiture

Brief: "Before you attempt the projects associated with this assignment, you are required to complete the appropriate exercises, which are designed to show learning and understanding of the necessary techniques and skills related to working in a photographic studio. Throughout the exercises and assignment you are to produce a range of images that show correct use and understanding of electronic studio flash systems and appropriate digital camera technique. Evidence will be in the form of colour or black & white images. All images are to be printed ‘Photo’ quality. Also placed on your blog"

The artist I have chosen is Richard Avedon. I decided to recreate his work because I enjoy his studio portraits and find them really interesting.

Studio Setup:

Dovima in Balenciaga, 1950

Contact Sheet:

Successful Images:

Failed Images:

Edited Images:

Joan Baez, New York, June 18th 1965

Contact Sheet:

Successful Images:

Failed Images:

Edited Images:

Vicomtesse Jacqueline de Ribes, New York, December 1955

Contact Sheet:

Successful Images:

Failed Images:

Edited Images:

Project 4: Still Life Photography

Brief: "Before you attempt the projects associated with this assignment, you are required to complete the appropriate exercises, which are designed to show learning and understanding of the necessary techniques and skills related to working in a photographic studio. Throughout the exercises and assignment you are to produce a range of images that show correct use and understanding of electronic studio flash systems and appropriate digital camera technique. Evidence will be in the form of both colour and black & white images. Your final images are to printed be ‘Photo’ quality, and to be placed on your blog."

Artist Research: Robert Mapplethorpe

Born: November 4th 1946; Queens, New York

Died: March 9th 1989 (aged 42); Boston

Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer, known for his sometimes controversial large scale, highly stylized black and white photography. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-portraits and still life images of flowers. His most controversial work is that of the underground bondage and sadomasochistic BDSM scene in the late 1960's and early 1970's of New York. Mapplethorpe worked primarily in a studio, and exclusively in black and white, with the exception of some of his later work and his final exhibit "New Colours". His body of work features a wide range of subjects, but his main focus and the greater part of his work is erotic imagery. He would refer to some of his own work as pornographic, with the aim of arousing the viewer, but which could also be regarded as high art. Other subjects included flowers, especially orchids and calla lilies, children, statues, and celebrities including Andy Warhol, Richard Gere, Peter Gabriel and Patti Smith.

"I never liked photography. Not for the sake of photography. I like the object. I like the photographs when you hold them in your hand."

"When I have sex with someone I forget who I am. For a minute I even forget I'm human. It's the same thing when I'm behind a camera. I forget I exist."