Skylight as light source

[Chris Saper]

Lighting your subject only with a skylight as a source can produce wonderful reference material.

I took this photo in my husband's closet (the only place in our house where there was a skylight and where the other ambient light could be controlled). You can see all the clothes pushed over to the side of the closet...I put my own turquoise jacket behind the subject to add a little color bounce into the scene. When I took the photos I had no real definitive idea of the way the painting would end up, and wanted to add color, should I decide to incorporate it later.

My model held a piece of white board to produce a fill light in the shadows, which otherwise would have been inky. Not everyone can pull off being flattered in this overhead "butterfly" lighting, similar to that used in Hollywood head shots in the 40's, but with bone structure like this, it's hard to imagine an unflattering light.

[Chris Saper]

Here's the way the painting turned out. Difficult to see here, but here are fairly strong notes of blue and green in the highlights in the hair.

[Tricia Migdoll]

Hello Chris,

I am browsing the forum to try and find advice on camera settings for this kind of lighting. do you remember what settings you used.?

Lovely painting.