Lighting is Different

Marvin Mattelson · 03-26-2009, 06:05 PM

Lighting is a very involved subject and I don't have the time to go in great detail but here's the gist of what I see:

The little girl's photo has the light coming from the lower right and the side. Lower sourced lighting looks unnatural because in the natural world the light comes from above. They use this kind of lighting in horror movies, but in a much more exaggerated way. Also, the mouth being open is not appealing.

The little boy's lighting is more from the side. Side lighting can work but not so well when you are looking into the shadow side. Side lighting, the way you have it exaggerates the thinness and pointedness of the face.

Lighting for painting is different than lighting for a photo. Photos are more acceptable because we've come to trust that what the camera sees is real. In a painting all bets are off. I know this is an over simplification but the front of the head should be lit to emphasize the form, with at least 3/4 of the face in light. This rule can be broken but should be for a specific reason. Check out old master portraits and see what they did.

Marvin Mattelson · 03-26-2009, 06:33 PM

Here are some of William McGregor Paxton's portraits utilizing a variety of portrait lighting conditions.

The top, Girl With a Pink Rose, is side lit but looking into the lit side.

The next one, Portrait of Elizabeth Paxton, is 3/4 lit with a second rim light.

The third one, Girl at Table (Detail), is between 3/4 and side lit but you can still see the side plane of her skull (on the darker side) clearly delineated. That avoids the illusion of the narrowing of her facial structure. Compare the cast shadow by her nose with your photos.

The last, Portrait of Louise Converse, is also 3/4 lighting but slightly more frontal. (Side note: For anyone interested, this portrait is currently on view at the Hammer galleries on 57th Street in NYC.)

You can see that Paxton has managed to achieve a great degree of variety in his portraits. One of his axioms was to "always look for a new motif. He is the master!

Christy Talbott · 03-27-2009, 01:12 AM

Marvin, the Paxton images are beautiful, incredibly lush, thanks for posting them. The light is great... another thing I notice is how he's looking down at the women a little so that they are looking up at him making their eyes larger and somehow more compelling- A very flattering way to view women and children. And of course we are used to looking down at children, so it is natural to photograph this way. If you get just at eye level I always feel they look a little too mature.

Well, I hate to work from these photos after I just got a definite thumbs down from you! :-) I told my client I'd like to have a few more choices and would be happy to take more photos. She says she likes these with the exception of the baby's expression (we'd discussed closing her jaw and mouth a touch) . She loves the light on the baby's photo! I kind of like it too, but maybe just because I want to try something different. I'll tell her a more experienced painter than I suggests better reference photos. I just did this drawing of my daughter from a photo I took yesterday. This is the light I almost always use....

Laurel Alanna McBrine · 03-27-2009, 11:28 AM

Hi Christy,

I just wanted to say that your drawing is beautiful - tender and expressive.

Are you going to be drawing or painting the two children in question?

Christy Talbott · 03-27-2009, 05:37 PM

Hi Laurel, thank you very much. The two portraits are to be done in pastel. I'll try to arrange another sitting with them, at the studio this time.

Marvin Mattelson · 03-28-2009, 12:28 AM

I'm flattered that my thumbs up or down would be so significant. My thumbs are no more or less important to anyone, except of course to me. ;-) Some may feel that when it comes to voicing my opinions I'm all thumbs!

Be that as it may, I'm just replying to your query. I feel that the lighting in those photos would be a detriment to you achieving your best result. The fact that your client doesn't like the expression is a good opportunity to give it another shot (pun intended). And while you're there, why not re-shoot both kids.

I think when it comes to kids, the fact they are now familiar with you pointing a camera in there faces, they should be more relaxed. I'm fully confident you will achieve better results.

Your work is quite lovely and I know that you will deliver the goods and have yet another happy client. That said, I think if we portrait artists wants to try a new approach and be innovative, we should do this on personal work. As professionals we have a responsibility to deliver our finest work and in my opinion it's inappropriate to experiment with a client and take the chance of producing less than our best work.

I don't know to what degree you can vary the appearance of a cameo formatted vignette portrait. I think you do as good a job as is possible from seeing what's on your site. Even moving up to head and shoulders is still fairly limited. The larger the format, the greater the opportunity for creating more unique compositions.

I use this fact to entice my clients to go up in size and since most of my clients seem to want me to create portraits that are also significant works of art, it works out quite well. The reason for this, of course, is because of the way I promote myself and particularly because I have portfolio pieces that demonstrate this.

If you want to provide innovative compositions, work them out on your own time, put them in your portfolio and reap the rewards!

Christy Talbott · 03-28-2009, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marvin Mattelson

I think if we portrait artists wants to try a new approach and be innovative, we should do this on personal work. As professionals we have a responsibility to deliver our finest work and in my opinion it's inappropriate to experiment with a client and take the chance of producing less than our best work.
If you want to provide innovative compositions, work them out on your own time, put them in your portfolio and reap the rewards!

This sounds like good advice.

Thanks for the encouragement Marvin, I do appreciate it. I'll take new pictures and post them here later. Maybe I'll try to do portraits from the fist two photos later for myself as a study. If I do that I'll post them here as well- still curious as to how they'd work out!