Kevin Kubota's Lighting Notebook

101 Lighting Styles and Setups for Digital Photographers

Kevin Kubota

• Verlag: Wiley
• Jahr: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781118160527
• Auflage: 1
• Thema: Art
• Thema: Photography

Get professional advice from one of the world's top wedding photographers

Creative use of lighting is a hallmark of quality photography. Kevin Kubota has been listed among the world's top 10 wedding photographers by American Photo magazine and named a Legend Behind the Lens by Nikon. This guide features dozens of his unique lighting and post-production recipes and techniques, each illustrated with a spectacular image.

• Author Kevin Kubota enjoys a cult-like following among professional photographers and has earned numerous accolades for his talent
• Includes the author's unique lighting and post-production recipes and techniques that reinforce the theory that good lighting is the key to quality photography
• Presents a number of shooting scenarios with behind-the-scenes setup, a description of the photographer's objective, the equipment used, and the resulting image for each
• Features a companion app that will enable the photographer to search and find lighting suggestions by subject, style, budget, equipment, and other guidelines, all while in the field

Kevin Kubota's Lighting Notebook for Digital Photographers is almost like having the famous photographer sharing his secrets with you one on one.

Chapter 1
A Brief History of the World
(of Lighting)

I was having lunch with Leonardo daVinci one day; this was quite some time ago, and he was sharing his sentiment on the quality of the paintings that he’d seen from historical artists. “They are quite flat, you see.” He explained to me as he wiped some olive oil from his beard, “People are not flat. They are vibrant in form and shape, alive with light and shadow—that which constantly evolves to evoke a visceral impression of the prevailing mood or emotion.”

I had no idea what he was talking about, but I played along, “Um, yah, I was just thinking that myself.” I took a larger than normal bite from my bruschetta and pretended to chew laboriously, giving him time to fill in the blanks in my stead. “I know, right?!” he said after a few moments. “Nobody is really capturing the depth and realism of the human form. And do you know why?” I was still chewing, so he answered himself, “Because they lack chiaroscuro baby!” His eyes were ablaze with excitement as he leaned over the table toward me, fully dousing his beard in the olive oil now. “Without chiaroscuro, there is NO emotion! Viewers are psychologically moved by a painting when the realism of the image allows them to draw upon, and relate, their own experiences deep within their psyche—they become sympathetic!”

“So wait…you mean that Spanish comedienne, flamenco guitar playing, ‘cuchi-cuchi’ girl has something to do with the realism of paintings?” I couldn’t hide my confusion any longer at this point. “No!” he belly laughed, almost choking on his Chianti, “that’s Charo, and she’s definitely not flat, but that’s not what I’m talking about.” He continued slowly, “Key-are-oh-skyoo-ro is the beautiful contrast of light and shadow that shapes a subject, adds realism, and, most importantly, mood!” He slammed his fist triumphantly on the tiny wooden dining table, causing my fresh mozzarella ball to jump to its death on the floor. “Nobody is doing that! Nobody is using chiaroscuro in their paintings! I’m going to start doing it. In fact, I’ve got a painting due for the pope in only 9 months and I need to get started on it now if I’m going to change the world with this concept.”

“Why don’t you just use a digital camera?” I offered up as he gathered himself to leave. “Because I haven’t invented that yet!” He winked and headed for the door and then turned to me one last time, “Oh, can you spot me for lunch? I don’t get paid for my helicopter idea ’til Tuesday.”

And that’s approximately when it started. I can’t say for sure that Leonardo himself initiated the change in how chiaroscuro was used in paintings to depict depth, mood, and realism. But, I’m quite sure he was one of the first to fully embrace and promote it through his art. Of course, the most famous painting of all time, the Mona Lisa, is a perfect example of beautifully executed chiaroscuro.

By modern definition, chiaroscuro means “contrasting effects of light and shade in a work of art”[1] Prior to the Renaissance, most paintings were rather flat, lacking in realistic shading and perspective. When Leonardo and his contemporaries brought this technique into the mainstream, it was really the first hint at photorealism in art. In fact, if you squint your eyes while looking at some of these classic paintings, you’d swear you were looking at a photographic portrait. Then again, I see unicorns and rainbows in the clouds when I squint my eyes, so I guess that doesn’t really prove anything. But you get the idea.

Another classic lighting technique born of the renaissance is the method of light over dark. In a sense, this could be another expression of chiaroscuro, but rather than expressing it as shading on the human form, it is represented as the main subject being lighter than the background. In effect, light objects appear to come forward to the viewer and darker objects recede. Knowing this, artists could make the subject of the artwork appear more three-dimensional and to have more impact as it literally “jumped” from the canvas in visual priority.

A classic renaissance image by Leonardo da Vinci shows light over dark, and where to find enlightenment.

Photographers have used the technique of vignetting to darken the edges of the image, essentially emulating the classic artists’ technique, since the earliest days of portraiture. The goal is the same: make the subject the brightest part of the image so it has the most visual weight. Did you ever notice that when a person with fair skin is wearing black, you more readily look to the face? Today, it’s virtually a given that any photographer with access to a computer will have enhanced his or her images in some fashion by selectively darkening the edges, or parts of an image that are distracting. The same theory can be applied to your photographic lighting, before it moves to the domain of software. By carefully crafting your light, you can create beautiful chiaroscuro—both on the form of the subject and between subject and the background.

Photographic Lighting Styles of the 1930s and 1940s

Let’s move forward in time just a little bit to the 1930s. During this Golden Age of Hollywood, photography began to display a distinct style from the quirky reportage photography of Weegee, to the dramatic and moody film style of George Hurrell. The lighting was crisp and directional. Reporters used flash bulbs to illuminate their subjects, and Hollywood style photographers were using hot lights, or Fresnel lights[2], to focus the illumination into deep, shaping, shadow-casting beams. This single, hard-light style was somewhat dictated by the limitations of the portable lighting equipment available at the time, as in the case of reportage photography. A single flash bulb was the primary light source, and it was usually positioned just above and slightly to the side of the lens or held in one hand slightly farther away, but in the same configuration. This positioning gave the subjects their distinct dark shadow slightly below and to the side of their features.

Hurrell exaggerated this effect and positioned his crisp lights for Rembrandt-style and butterfly-style lighting[3]—as well as many other creative variations of these techniques. Although the signature style of his images suggested the use of only one light source, he occasionally used other lights to enhance the background or to add some shadow fill. While the Hurrell style of photography fell out of favor for a period after his heyday, it has received a resurgence of interest and remains one of the most influential styles of photographic lighting to this day. Although George Hurrell didn’t invent this particular style of lighting, he certainly put his signature on it.

My rendition of a Hurrell-style portrait. See another version of this image in the Notebook section.

The 1930s also began the Golden Age of Photojournalism—and with that, the ubiquitous use of smaller 35mm cameras and the inconspicuousness of natural-light photography. This was very different than the “in-your-face” style of the gritty street reporter and opened the door to an almost “anything goes” style of candid imagery that continued through the 1960s and ’70s and on to this day. With natural-light “journalistic” photography, if the light creates or enhances the mood the photographer is seeking, then it’s good. It was no longer all about perfectly controlled and exposed imagery, it was about freezing a moment in time and connecting the viewer to the image by its shear realism, which was often enhanced by the imperfection of the exposure or lighting.

The au Naturel 1960s and 1970s

In the 1960s and ’70s (as in most cinematic eras), photographic lighting was heavily influenced by cinematography, and one specific influence was Raoul Coutard, a French cinematographer who used primarily natural light in his films. This was a departure from most previous filmmaking that relied on extensive artificial lighting. Coutard’s desire to shoot with handheld cameras and to use or emulate natural light also led him to use bounced light, which was very soft and even in illumination. The photographer would “bounce” artificial lights into the ceiling or wall of a room to emulate or enhance the light that was already there. This natural light style became very prevalent among American cinematographers and photographers of the era as well—and continues to this day.

This image captures the fun, fresh, and natural style of the era.

Although the natural style of lighting became more prevalent in the ’60s and ’70s this was also an era of “anything goes”—in more ways than just photographic lighting! Photographers really began to experiment with composition, light, color, and challenging what was “normal.” Rock-and-roll and fashion photography became a major influence on other photographic genres, and the work of icons like Annie Liebowitz and David Bailey influenced countless other photographers through the following years. Liebowitz, in particular, had a trademark style of using a very large, yet directional light source, which allowed for rich chiaroscuro even in her environmental portraits where the subject is a smaller part of a larger scene. In Chapter 3, we’ll discuss how the relative size of the light source to the subject can affect the quality and depth of the shading.

Bold and Edgy 1980s

Not only were many of our favorite songs born in the ’80s but also that fashion-centric, blown-out, cross-processed high-contrast look in photos, which has recycled itself—unlike mullets and shoulder pads. Nick Knight is arguably one of the best-known “fashionable cross-processors” of the era, and his work is still cutting edge and influential. Lighting was bold. Faces were overexposed. Colors were wacky. It sounds like one of those late nights in an ’80s disco, doesn’t it? Just like music and fashion, ’80s photography was in-your-face and anything but subtle.

I enhanced this image in Photoshop using my cross-processing software to achieve that 80s look.

The New Retro 2000s

Today, it seems, old is new again. Photography trends pull from the past—with Holga, sloppy borders, Diana, and vintage being the buzzwords. Digital photography is no longer new and experimental, but a well-understood and established method for capturing images. It has earned its respect, and the goal is no longer to get the cleanest image possible from digital, but to actually make it look less perfect, and more analog—just like in the early days of photography.

Photographers seem to be rediscovering lighting styles and processing techniques (or their digital equivalents) from the early days of photography. In the 1990s, digital imaging was still proving itself. Photographers either strived for...