Monster Lighting

Monster Lighting

These are two poses from a Studio Session with our wonderful Model, Jovis. We were experimenting with our lighting set up. We had a large soft box at around 45 degrees and really low and had Jovis on a black sheet with a black backdrop. This first shot is what would be described as “Monster Lighting”. It is somewhat uncomplimentary, harsh and unnatural shadows under the eyes, nose and kinda creepy. One can execute this effect by having a strobe very low to the model and the shooting from down below. This can be effective to create high drama, but not for a glamour shot!

Sweet

This shot we simply reoriented Jovis so that the light flowed over her. All of the harsh shadows disappeared, and this is a killer image. The lighting set up did not change, only the perspective of the photographer!