P#16: A Natural Light Portrait with Great Contrasts

Using the Light

This natural light portrait is of my dear friend Stuart. Stuart is a multi-talented person. He has been a video editor, he has been a photographer, he's also done special effects for TV shows, and now he's come full circle to what he started off as originally, which is a musician.

Stuart is basically a percussionist. He writes and records his own music. He does everything on the computer. I went to his house and he asked me if I would do some photos for him.

I really just kind of looked around the house and found interesting light. There's this big brass plate that was hanging on the wall in his studio. There's window light off the camera right and I saw the brass plate. I thought, "This is perfect. I'm going to frame him or surround him with the brass plate." (click the image for a larger version)

I turned his head so that his face is pointing directly at the light. I see the full profile of him. It's a very symmetrical natural light portrait. I turned his head so that his ear would light up and the rest of his face is in shadow. The back of his head and his cheek are in shadow but his ear is lit up, which I thought would be very appropriate for a musician.

I also like that his face is lit against the dark part of the brass plate behind him and the back of his head, which is in shadow, is against the light part of the brass plate. I like the contrast of what's going on here and I like all the really warm tones.

All of this is purely natural light. I didn't use a reflector in any of these pictures. It's all a matter of finding the light -- being aware of it and then finding the light.

In Summary

While natural lighting may not be as easy to work with as flash and reflectors and such, it definitely provides for more dramatic photographs. Yes, you have to be more aware of the light and you may have to work a bit to find it, but this natural light portrait is proof that the effort is worth it.