Ideal Rembrandt light

[Alex]

<p>I was shooting some images to create this effect (i'll post a few images soon) and I have a two part question.<br>

First. I've tryed different modifiers to see the effects. A large soft box with a white reflector as a fill gave me a softer look but the triangle was there to be seen. No fill card and no need to say the triangle was a lot more defined. Then I've changed over to an 11" reflector with a white diffuser and and the effect was a lot harsher with the white bounce card and without it the short side of the face was peach black with the exception of the triangle. Although I also tried a 40 deg honey come grid and I got again a different look it was the rembrandt look. So the question is. <strong>IS THERE A PREFERED KIND OF MODIFIER FOR THIS TYPE OF LIGHTING? </strong>or the fact that one gets the triangle on the short side of the face defines the style?<br>

Second I can't seem to be able to locate the triangle right where I want to (I should try a live person instead of my plastic assistant) I like to see the triangle to ride alongside of the noseto the lip and then up. Instead it is a bit center on the chick and if I move the light closer to the camera I get the light to go accross the lips and joints the triangle distroing the effect. What is the prefered hight of the light source? right after you clear the head? higher or lower than that?<br>

Thanks for your feedback<br>

Alex</p>

<p> </p>

[starvy]

<p>Hi Alex,<br>

The following might be a little simplistic for your needs but I found it useful in the past -<br>

http://www.professionalphotography101.com/portrait_lighting/lighting_names.html</p>

[nathan_stiles]

<p>"pitch black", "peach black" probably smells sickening sweet.</p>

<p>Rembrandt lighting it just he position of the light in a portrait-- so the modifiers don't matter. I'm not sure what you consider "Ideal Rembrandt light", so I can't help you with that. The triangle is listed in my academia as a defining feature, but I've seen Rembrandt lighting where the triangle was hardly noticable.</p>

<p>The original light was a north facing window so that Rembrandt got a 45^ direction, soft and diffussed light. The fill would be the ambient light in his room he was painting by. To that effect, a window sized softbox would mimic it the best.</p>

<p> </p>

[tim_ludwig2]

<p>Alex, If you can post those images, it will be easier to try to help, but I suspect you biggest issue is the fill for the shadow areas. In portraiture, always keep the fill as big a source as possible and in line with the subject's nose. That assures no secondary shadows and a gradual fall off of brightness along the planes of the face. Your lighting ratios should be about 3:1 for normal contrast ranges and up to about 7:1 for extreme highlight to shadow contrast for a more theatrical effect. If that's not clear, the highlight is the first number and shadow is the second so you evaluate the ratios by varying the power of the lights and metering each light or electronic flash separately.</p>

<p>Classic Rembrandt lighting places the triangle to include the eye and eye brow as the top/flat surface and the point descending down over the cheek on the shadow side of the face. However, if you actually look at much of Rembrandt's work, one side of the face is often in full shadow. It seems that this type of lighting is basically strong side lighting from a large source (window size as Nathan says) with a heavy shadow on the other side of the face....sometimes with the triangle of light over the eye, sometimes without.</p>

[b_christopher]

<p>Additionally, the Rembrandt pattern doesn't work well on all faces. That is to say, facial structures with low brow lines and nose bridge, or low cheeks, will be tougher to light, if even possible. I understand you're using a mannequin head--if it's made for photography purposes, you should be able to.</p>

[Alan Marcus]

<p>Rembrandt Lighting credited to Cecil B. DeMille, a famous movie director. While shooting a movie, The Warrens of Virginia, in 1915, DeMille borrowed spotlights from the Mason Opera House in Los Angles. He wanted the shadows on the actors faces to appear as they do in nature. DeMille borrowed some spotlights from the Mason Opera House in Los Angles and used them to cast distant shadows to the side of the face by side-lighting from above. This technique is known as Rembrandt lighting. DeMille did not invent this style as we see examples in oils on canvas from the Italian masters. They called the technique Chiaroscuro in Italian and Clarie-Obsure in Latin.</p>

<p>The idea is to position the key light (main) off to the side elevated so it casts a triangular shadow of the nose off to the side pitched downward. The shadow it casts are likely quite dark and thus void of detail when photographed. A fill or reflector is used to mitigate the harshness of the main lamp. The position of the fill is best if it fills the shadows from the camera's viewpoint. The fill intensity to be subordinate to the main by 50% or perhaps half of that (1 or 2 stops dimmer). This preserves the one lamp illusion of the light coming from above to simulate late afternoon sun.</p>

<p>The Rembrandt style is considered mescaline thus it is often used when photographing men. The use of harsh lighting lends itself more to black & white than to color. This is true because with black and white we depend on shadows for separation whereas when working in color, separation is often a natural characteristic known as simultaneous color contrast. In modern times, the use of umbrella and soft-box is favored over more robust lighting such as the Rembrandt.</p>

[igord]

<p>http://www.holland.com/meetings/uk/about-holland/dutch-icons/rembrandt-van-rijn/<br>

http://www.mezzo-mondo.com/arts/mm/rembrandt/RVR005.html<br>

Rembrandt lighting comes very often almost from behind of the model and is placed high.<br>

You can easily emulate it with a small softbox, it gives directional but still softish light with well defined shadows. Use the reflector for fill, or bounce the other lamp off the white panel, or use<br>

just another softbox keeping the light away from the model's face.<br>

You can aslo use window light by covering it with black cloth letting the light only come through the top of the window (I do it quite often), as a reflector you can use a mirror.</p>