By Jetweb
Few people appreciate the artistic side of photography, but like all creative endeavours, studio photography can be turned into a creative outlet for the visual artist. Unlike the painter, the studio for the photographer is not filled with blank canvasses ready to be painted. The photographic studio often looks like the back of a stage production with lights and chairs and pieces of fabric everywhere.
They all serve a purpose and they are the beginning of all the things required for studio photography. Where the painter wants as much natural light as possible invading his studio, the photographer is more likely than going to make the place as dark as possible. Even cover the windows, or go so far as to paint them black.
You guessed it, natural light is not what a studio photographer wants and the reason is simple: he cannot control it. The lights used in studio photography, or other model photography, are pure white. While sunlight is also pure white, the angles at which it might fall onto the subject, could be the exact opposite of what the photographer wants. Often the shadows are the problem and not the light.
Studio lights can be moved around to ensure the subject or model is properly exposed. The camera flash can also be set to work together with the other lights to ensure the correct exposure. Sometimes the photographer wants the background to be exposed at a certain level and then the light can be angled away from the subject onto the backdrop behind.
Not all studio photography involves live models and the lighting effects can be adapted to create specific effects. Coloured lights can create different moods, as they would for people. Overly bright light or high key effects create harsh lines and hard shadows or even no shadows, making for creative results even when photographing people.
The same applies for low-key lighting. Darker and moodier effects are created this way. Whether it is soft light or harsh light, the studio light is the photographer’s paint brush, setup to express in multiple ways the artist in himself.
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