Priya Bhagra - Light and Shadow

Priya Bhagra - Light and Shadow

Priya Bhagra - Light and Shadow
Priya Bhagra – Light and Shadow

“When you look at the dark side, careful you must be. For the dark side looks back.”
Yoda in Star Wars

I tried to create the light & shadow portrait which gives a perspective of the clean and dark side of a person. Thanks Priya, for patiently waiting while I adjusted the lights every few mins and clicked away. Your pose was brilliant and could not have been more spectacular.

For those who want to recreate this, its very simple, please follow steps below.

Requirements: 1-3 table lamps, camera

Room: Make the room dark by closing doors, windows, curtains etc. You don’t need to make it pitch-dark. But dark enough that it contrasts well against the light from the table lamps.

Subject: Position the model/subject against a wall. This will give the background some texture too, otherwise you can avoid a wall and create a totally black background by positioning the subject/object in the center of the room (basically with enough distance away from the wall).

Lights: Use table lamps on one side of the subject and adjust the light that falls on the subject, I used 2 table lamps one which pointed light upwards from below, and one which points downwards from top which ensures there are less shadows on the bright side of the face (otherwise you will get some shadows on that too). Although this will cause less shadows on the side of the face you want dark.

Camera: And click! I used canon 100mm L series lens, at ISO 800, f/2.8 and 1/80 sec to capture this. Don’t use flash with this of-course!