Layer Three: Accent Light
Lesson 7 from: Editorial Portrait Photography for High School SeniorsDan Brouillette
Layer Three: Accent Light
Lesson 7 from: Editorial Portrait Photography for High School SeniorsDan Brouillette
Lessons
Class Introduction
15:18 2How to Make Senior Photos Stand Out
05:48 3What is Lighting in Layers?
16:49 4Build a Lighting Foundation
18:28 5Layer One: Main Light
06:17 6Layer Two: Fill Light
08:29 7Layer Three: Accent Light
04:29 8Layer Four: Additional Light
11:46Outdoor Lighting Examples
15:56 10Outdoor Lighting Equipment
03:34 11Outdoor Lighting Camera Settings
09:31 12Outdoor Camera Settings Examples
14:32 13Outdoor Lighting Q&A
12:44 14Live Shoot: In-Studio Lighting
20:52 15Live Shoot: Metering
04:17 16Live Shoot: Large Soft Light Setups
12:13 17Live Shoot: On Camera Flash
14:07 18Live Shoot: 2 Light Set-up
16:29 19Live Shoot: Accent Light
05:06 20Live Shoot: Hard Light
11:30 21Live Shoot: Create White Backdrop
08:32 22Introduction to Direction
28:42 23Live Shoot: Photo Booth Direction
11:13 24Live Shoot: Basics of Direction
19:34 25Live Shoot: Beauty Dish Close Up
08:22 26Live Shoot: Subtle Cues through Direction
19:33 27Location Shoot: Senior Introduction to Shoot
11:33 28Location Shoot: Use Location to Your Advantage
29:43 29Location Shoot: Create Scenarios
19:50 30Location Shoot: The Walk Plus Variations
10:50 31Location Shoot: Outdoor Lighting
15:18 32Pre-Session Consultation
12:35 33Prep Clients for Purchase
06:47 34Get to Know the Client before Session
08:04 35Decide Clothing Options Prior to Session
13:14 36Client Interaction
09:14 37Pre Session Consult Q&A
12:35 38Image Workflow Overview
15:41 39RAW Editing Workflow
27:29 40Basic Photoshop Editing
13:58 41AlienSkin Exposure Color Toning
26:27 42Marketing to Seniors Overview
05:18 43Marketing to Seniors
16:24 44Alternative Income in Any Market
03:57 45High School Posters as Marketing
10:38 46Seeing Moments Differently
17:27Lesson Info
Layer Three: Accent Light
So, the next layer is accent lights. Those are also known as edge lights, hair lights, rim lights, et cetera. It's basically any light that is accenting something that your main light and your fill light aren't touching. So, everybody knows that hair light is coming from above to light someone's hair. A lot of times with shots of athletes, you'll want that edge where it shows muscle definition and that type of stuff. You'll use an accent light from behind to kinda give that look that you see in a natural sports moment of a basketball player in an arena where they have the light coming from behind them and it's providing that accent. So, those can be placed a lot of different places, it's kind of depending on the goal of your image. They can be placed anywhere, but a lot of times they will affect other things that you don't want, so I usually select something that's more controlled. If you're using a big soft box for your main light, I'm not gonna use a big soft box as an accent light f...
or a number of reasons. One, I probably don't have room behind the subject to put a big soft box. Two, I don't want that light spilling everywhere, I want it accenting a certain spot, and those are the main reasons. So, a lot of times what I'll use for an accent light is something like a strip box, so maybe a soft box that's 10 inches wide and 30 inches tall. Something that's narrow where I can really aim it, it can stay out of the way, and a lot of times, more often than not, I'll put a grid on those lights to really control it because an accent light, when seen through your lens, can cause lens flair, so you wanna keep it out of the lens, unless you're trying to do it on purpose which can provide its own effect. So, it's just being aware of why you're placing the accent light where you're putting it and how it's affecting the shot. The other thing, similar to your other lights, is how specular do you want that accent light? I did a shoot a couple years ago for the Minnesota Vikings. It was all football players in their gear after practice so they had, you know, looking a little sweaty, had a glisten to their skin and they wanted it to look like they were sculpted, so I thought, alright, this is gonna be a situation where we're gonna use harder light, so I used, basically, just small seven-inch reflectors on my lights with grids. That gave a really specular quality to the light, it also controlled it so it wasn't causing a bunch of lens flair. Whereas if you're, I had a shoot with a bunch of attorneys recently and we needed to separate them from the background, that was why we were using an accent light, so we could separate suits and hair and everything else from the background, and that didn't, I didn't want them to look like football players because they didn't, so I wanted to use something that was softer so we used a 10-by-36 inch strip light with a grid on it to give nice, soft light, but still accent them from the back and give that separation from the background and accent their hair and other features. So, they can be placed anywhere, but they usually need to be controlled. Alright, and the last part, like I said, use grids or smaller modifiers to aim the light where you want it to go. Here's an example. This was a senior. One light from your guys' left, there was no fill light here, we wanted that shadow. You can see, earlier when I was talking about falloff, look at his face versus the bottom of the frame. You can see how it went to dark, so that tells me that light must have been pretty close to his head and not really far away because that falloff, but the main point of this image is, on the other side, his left, our right side, you can see that accent light, so I wanted to show off kinda that, you know, a little more aggressive look, so I used a bare-bulb flash behind. And the other thing to know, earlier when we talked about lighting ratios, these can be measured the same way with a fill light. You can measure your light coming from the side of your main light or turn around and measure where your accent light's coming from, and if those light powers are the same, you know, that's like a one-to-one ratio of your main light to your accent light. So, sometimes with, the guys with the Vikings, we actually went more than, it was like a one-to-two ratio. We really pumped up those accent lights so it was just blasting in light, where the photos of the attorneys, it was subtle, it was almost two stops below. Was just a little touch of light to give them that separation, but I didn't wanna blast them with light like this guy. So, it just depends on what look you want.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
pete hopkins
awesome teacher and awesome technique. after soooo many webinars, it's really great to see someone break it down to the bare bones of lighting with exceptional quality results. i can listen to Dan all day. no pretense, no over the top emotional pleas, no drama! did i say awesome!!!! Plus, I'm a huge fan of the B! and B2 systems. Freedom is key. Now I can shoot anywhere, anytime. Thanks Dan.
user-2f7caa
This is by far the best class on senior photography I have found on creativelive. Dan explains the technical aspects in an easy to understand format. He does a great job going through studio shots, outdoor shots, editing and marketing. He's given me some great ideas and inspired me to be more creative. I am going to rewatch the lighting set up for the "hero shot". It's super cool!
Tristanne Endrina
Dan was great. His class was very comprehensive but easy to follow. The slides he used weren't flashy. Instead, they were simple and he went at a good pace. I left feeling like I could really pull off the lighting techniques he taught. I'm excited to put what I learned into my photography. :) Thanks, Dan.
Student Work
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