Lighting for Portraits
Pineapple Portraits!
A quick preview of the kind of lighting we used on our practical evening, but with people rather than a pineapple.
On-Camera FlashIf you like this then waste no more time with lighting. I don't like it because the picture is flat, details don't stand out and it has a horrible shadow . It's even worse on people. We don't want this!
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Butterfly LightingIt doesn't work as well on a pineapple as it does on a face. You can't tell it's butterfly lighting either because a pineapple has no nose to cast a shadow. However, it is a little dark at the base so the second shot has a reflector to lighten the shadows.
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Rembrandt LightingMuch more detail in the surface of the pineapple since the light is falling on it from an angle producing shadows. It's a relatively large light source so the shadows are quite soft and the fall-off is gradual. The second shot has a reflector to bounce some light into the shadows - How much is a matter of personal taste. Notice that the pineapple on the left looks thinner - something that some human subjects tend to prefer. In pineapple circles I guess the one on the right looks nicer.
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Side/Split LightingThe most dramatic lighting - maybe not best suited to shooting a pineapple but you see the effect. Very hard directional light from the side producing very black shadows. One on the left the light is at 90 deg. to the subject, the one on the right about 135 deg. Wait until you see the effect on faces. The high contrast and reduced saturation suggests this would work better in monochrome.
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At the end of the day there's no right or wrong lighting set up, it's just down to personal taste.
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