Light Direction & Loop Light
Hello All!
I hope May is going wonderful for each of you...
Let’s jump right into light direction!
Light Direction & Loop Light
Today we are going to talk about what might be my personal favorite quality of light, direction.
The direction of your light, relative to your position and the position of your subject, dictates where the shadows and highlights will fall.
The light direction will give you a variety of looks and you will probably find that you gravitate more toward one than the others. With a purposeful and thoughtful placement of our light, we can highlight texture and form or erase blemishes and lines. We can create dramatic silhouettes or lovely rim-light, all with the direction of light that we chose.
Even if you can not see the light source, you can usually tell which direction the light is falling from by the placement of the highlights and shadows.
Flat light can be created by placing your light in the direction of your camera while split light can be made by shooting with the light source to the side of your subject. Each direction will create a different mood and look.
Specific light directions are used in various well-known and common light patterns Today, we are going to look at a specific light pattern called Loop light.
Loop light has been around for centuries in traditional art and found its way into photography soon after the medium was invented.
Loop light can be created in varying degrees of shadow and light with Rembrandt probably being the most commonly referred to amongst photographers.
Loop light is created by placing your light source at around 45 degrees above your subject and angled at 45 degrees to their face.
Rembrandt light is a dramatic variation of closed-loop, where a very small triangle of light is visible under the eye on the non-light side of the face.
You can also use a variation of loop-light on non-human subjects by setting up your lights in the same way for any subject.
Of course, you won't have a nose or cheek shadow to refer to but I often set up my floral images in the same loop light pattern.
Your turn to go create light that has been sought-after for centuries of image-making!
Happy creating!