Week 11 BOC: Self-Portrait

For this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge, I was assigned to take a self-portrait. Which is similar to the very first Weekly Photo Challenge, but this time with a brand new image showcasing myself in a “new light.” It was very interesting taking these photos, since this technique is still new to me. Though challenging, I feel as if the results for this photo came out very well. I would love to continue to use, and someday even learn to master this technique of lighting.

The technique that I used to make this picture is called Low-Key Lighting. It is a way of lighting that lets the photographer be able to make one side of the model vanishes into darkness. This affect can give off many different emotions, depending on the photographer’s vision for the shoot. So, since I find this technique very interesting, I decided to have a self-portrait of myself with the low-key lighting. I had he help of one of my fellow photography friends, who directed me in the poses that I should do during the shoot.

The lighting set up for this shot is very simple. It only takes one strobe light to get the affect of low-key lighting. It is best to have the light place directly the left of right of the subject or model. For this shoot, I had the light facing directly to the left of me. I angled my head slightly to the left and kept my body facing towards the camera, which was not too far from me. I had all of the lights except the strobe light turned off. This eliminated any chances of getting any weird lighting affects anywhere else in the photo. I also chose to wear darker clothing to make the affect of the low-key lighting pop even more.