Today’s DSLR photo tip is about the eyes in portrait photography. We will do a bit of review on the catch lights and fill in a few miscellaneous facts that weren’t mentioned in our previous portrait photography lighting articles. Then we will attack the photo nemeses – eyeglasses glare!
First let’s mention the catch lights. I’ve previously discussed how vitally important they are. Without them, your subject’s eyes look dull, lifeless and totally unappealing.
Ideally the catch light should be round. This tends to be the most natural and visually pleasing shape (reflections of the sun are round and we are used to seeing the round shape). The shape of your catch lights is generally only a problem if you are using a square reflector or diffuser. If you are going for a contest winner, you will want to retouch your catch lights to make them round.
Be careful of the number of catch lights! Your fill light or reflectors will add additional catch lights to the eyes. You only want ONE in each eye. Retouch to remove any extras.
Lastly, the catch light (ideally, provided by the main light) should be at the 11:00 or 1:00 o’clock position. Knowing this, will help you determine how high to place the main light.
It should be at about 45 degrees from the axis between the camera and the model and high enough to be slightly above their head.
Every face is different, so watch the shadows and catch lights to determine the right placement for the lighting pattern. Shadows to determine the light pattern – catch lights to determine the height. It could be 40 degrees or it could be 55 degrees along the axis and slightly above the head to way up there! One size does NOT fit all.
By the way – on a totally unrelated photo subject – if you are doing a still life of a watch, the hands should be at the 11:00 and 1:00 positions. Check out the ads you see for watches, that is almost ALWAYS their position! If you ever try to get a photo gig – or enter a contest – showing a watch or clock face and your images show the hands in another position, the buyer will immediately know you are an amateur!
Glasses… Reflections in glasses can kill a portrait faster than just about anything else. Here are a few pointers.
The first thought that many of us have is to just take the photo with the subject not wearing glasses. This can work – or be a problem.
If they normally do not wear glasses (they may habitually go without them or they may usually wear contacts) go ahead and shoot without them. If the subject normally DOES wear glasses and you shoot without them, no one is going to like the portrait. They won’t look natural.
Plus, their eyes will often look slightly unfocused giving them a confused look.
Rule of thumb – if they show up for the portrait session wearing their glasses, leave them on. If they are not wearing glasses, but look like they normally do… put them on!
Since the lights are generally higher than the subject’s head, one way to avoid glare from the glasses is to raise the part of the stems going back to the ears. The hooked part will be raised half an inch or so above the ear. This tilts the front lenses down and can eliminate the glare.
If it doesn’t eliminate the glare, you may have to raise the lights. Be careful about tilting the glasses too far. It looks odd if you do.
Lastly, you can actually take the lenses out of the frames and have them wearing the empty frames. This is a method touted by photographers for decades!
For most eyeglass frames, it is easy to remove and replace the lenses with one of the eyeglass screwdriver kits. It would be worth your while to get one and keep it in your camera bag.
Be cautious though, if you break or scratch their glasses, you could end up buying them some new ones. You WILL drop the screws, have extras. They can be hard to find.
Today’s DSLR photo tip is about the eyes… both catch lights and eye glasses. Make sure your catch lights are the right shape and in the right location – and watch for glare in your model’s eyeglasses.
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Dan Eitreim has been a professional photographer in Southern California for over 20 years – his data base exceeds 6000 past clients, and he says that learning photography is easy, if you know a few tried and true strategies.