When you take a portrait, the most important technical detail to watch is how many light sources there are, and where the light comes from. That determines what parts of the face or body are lit and what parts are in shadow, and of course that helps set the “mood” of the photo. Because this exercise requires just one light source, the portrait you end up with should have a dramatic mood, with part of the face in total darkness.
This exercise should help you become aware of light. To do this assignment you should have been given some class instruction on bracketing exposures.
Step I
Load a normal roll of 100 ASA film, about 12 exposures.
Step II
Set your ASA to 200, since this assignment will be taken indooors, or at least partially indoors.
Step II
Go to the back of MLC, by the loading dock and place someone right at the back door, so that the light comes in and hits their face. This needs to be done as early as possible in the morning, because the sun is low in the sky relative to that doorway at that time. Be sure to place this person so that at least half of his or her face is lit, and half falls in the shadow.
Step III
Meter carefully, so that you do not “contaminate” the reading with background light from outside. Meter so that you read half of the lit face and half of the unlit face.
Step IV
Remember that shots taken below 125th second may come out blurry and worthless. If your shutter speed needs to be set to, say, a 60th second, brace the camera or borrow a tripod and cable release.
Step IV
Take 12 images of the person. Take upper-torso shots. Vary the poses to experiment with the different effects of light hitting the face and body.
Step V
Bracket your exposures every three shots. This means that one shot will be “normal,” one will be underexposed by one stop, and one overexposed by a stop. Normally, we bracket using f/stops rather than shutter speed, but don’t forget the effect of changing f/stop on your depth of field.
What should you see?
A dramatic image of someone half in light and half in darkness, with just a few details visible in the shadows.
What is the general rule?
A single light source gives the most dramatic, “mysterious” shots. Even when there is more than one light source, one needs to dominate. The other is just there to fill in some of the shadows.