Black Girl Picture: Master Side and Split Lighting Techniques.

Okay, so I’ve been messing around with portrait photography lately, and I wanted to try something a bit different. I’ve seen some really cool photos using side lighting and split lighting, so I figured, why not give it a shot? I asked my friend, she’s got beautiful dark skin, to model for me, and we got to work.

Setting Up

First things first, I needed to figure out the lighting. I don’t have a fancy studio or anything, just my living room and a couple of lamps.

• The Key Light:I grabbed my main lamp, it’s one of those adjustable ones, and placed it to the side of where my friend was going to sit. The idea was to get that light hitting just one side of her face.
• Playing with Distance:I moved the lamp around a bit, closer and further away, to see how it affected the shadows. Too close, and it was too harsh; too far, and it wasn’t dramatic enough. I ended up finding a sweet spot about three feet away.
• Split Lighting Attempt:For split lighting, I tried to get the light to hit exactly half of her face, with the other half completely in shadow. It took some fiddling, making sure the lamp was directly to the side and she was facing straight ahead.

Getting the Shots

With my friend in position, it was time to start snapping.

• Camera Stuff:

  I am using a basic digital camera. I played with aperture and exposure setting.

  

• Different Angles:

  I didn’t just stick to one pose. I had her turn her head slightly, look up, look down, try different expressions. The smallest change could totally alter the mood of the shot.

Making It Look Good (Editing)

After I imported the images, I will start to edit them.

• Contrast Boost:I usually bump up the contrast a little. With side and split lighting, you really want those dark and light areas to pop.
• Black and White:Some of the shots looked amazing in color, but others really came alive when I converted them to black and white. It just emphasized the light and shadow even more.

It was a fun experiment! I definitely learned a lot about how light can shape a photo.I think there is much room for improvement.