Low key Lighting Advice

donkeymusic

donkeymusic

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Hello,

Was just looking for some advice on low key lighting, have concentrated my time on the hi Key lighting which i think i have sussed. The next step was for me to invest in a a black paper roll to try Low key lighting.

So the setup was key light to light the subject, background lights were switched off. Took some shots of the family pet, but the background appeared gray rather than black.

Was just looking for some suggestions as to where i am going wrong with this technique. from the example added.

petphotography.jpg


Thanks
 
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You really need to post an example.

Without even seeing an example though, I'm guessing that you allowed light to reach the background - you must have done. Black background shots (and low key shots) require either a lot of distance between subject and background and/or for the lights not to point at the background.

Also, black paper is shiny and isn't ideal as it will always reflect some light. The very best material is genuine black velvet (expensive) or black muslin is a good, and cheap alternative.
 
Hi Garry,

Thanks for your reply, i have added an example of a test shot to show what i mean, further reading this morning, shows that the key light should been off to the side so the light isn't directly hitting the background, not sure if this is correct??

I may need to move the key light further back as well to try that, i did just use it where it was set up for my high key tests.

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Thanks
 
Your example is exactly what I expected.
The light needs to not reach the background at all. In these shots from one of the Lencarta lighting workshops (NSFW) there was a strip softbox to each side and behind, to provide interesting lighting that didn't reach the background.
I may need to move the key light further back as well to try that
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No, the effect of doing that will be the opposite of what you want, if you really must have a light in front of the subject it needs to be as close as possible, so that there is a substantial fall off of light between the subject and the background.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Your example is exactly what I expected.
The light needs to not reach the background at all. In these shots from one of the Lencarta lighting workshops (NSFW) there was a strip softbox to each side and behind, to provide interesting lighting that didn't reach the background.
No, the effect of doing that will be the opposite of what you want, if you really must have a light in front of the subject it needs to be as close as possible, so that there is a substantial fall off of light between the subject and the background.
Click to expand...

Would a smaller softbox be more suitable for the key light?

i will have to check your link when i get home this evening, to see what you refer to.

In terms of studio setup, if i had two lights hitting the white backdrop i could use these to light the subject from slightly behind and to the side??
 
The size of the softbox won't make that much difference, it's all really about the rate at which light loses intensity over distance. This thread about the inverse square law says it all really, although it wandered off topic a bit. A smaller softbox would help a little in that the light fall off is more pronounced and, more importantly, because it is smaller it should be possible to get it closer.

In terms of studio setup, if i had two lights hitting the white backdrop i could use these to light the subject from slightly behind and to the side??
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Yes, as in this shot from another Lencarta lighting workshop. (this one is work safe). In this shot the subject was close to the background (OK, maybe a bit too close) and so maybe a bit more light than was intended ended up on the background, but the principle is the same.

In an ideal world, absolutely no light will reach the background, and to do this the lights need to be pointing forward enough to stop any light reaching the background but not enough to cause light to hit the lens and create flare. In the first (NSFW) example I stuck honeycombs onto each softbox, which does a perfect job. If you don't have honeycombs you will need more distance and less angle.
 
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donkeymusic said:
Thanks for your reply, i have added an example of a test shot to show what i mean, further reading this morning, shows that the key light should been off to the side so the light isn't directly hitting the background, not sure if this is correct??
Click to expand...
My understanding of low key lighting is where you illuminate something to create a high contrast ratio across the subject to accentuate the shape of the object. I don't think it's to do with lighting or not lighting the background, but the lighting ratio across the subject. For example, I'd call this (if it appears - if not, it's the second picture here: http://aryasmediastudieswork.blogspot.com/2010/09/one-tree-hill-mise-en-scene.html) low key:

Lucas+Victim+Scene.jpg
 
Andy,
That definition is nearly right. In fact, it's where all tones are darker than mid grey, and high key is the opposite. It has nothing to do with the colour of the background.

But with the internet, there's all sorts of rubbish published and people tend to misuse the terms high key and low key in their tutorials and people pick up on this and think that low key and high key means black background and white background.
 
I know the traditional definition of high and low key is as explained above, but I don't think it's realistic, and hence why is gets misused. Nobody shoots pictures like that, including the examples in Garry's link.

Bearing in mind that almost all subjects contain a range of tones from light to dark, another way of describing the traditional terms might be over-exposed and washed out, and under-exposed and far too dark - as in the example above.

What I think is more realistic and relevant is to say that high-key refers to the majority of tones being light, and with low-key the majority are dark. In practise, this means either a light background and soft shadows, or a dark background and stronger shadows. But in both cases, skin tones always looks best when they are at least somewhere close to where they should be, ie on the lighter side of mid-grey.
 
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Richard,
I agree with what you say, in practical terms. Just one small point though - my first link was actually an example, not of low key lighting but of rimlighting, where the subject is lit from the side and behind and so none of the light reached the background.
This example is really both low key and rimlighting
blackisbeautiful_red.jpg
. The background here was actually a white wall and the model was pretty close to it, but photographed dark because no light reached it, other than a bit of light spilled from one of the softboxes

Edit: It looks horrible here :( looks fine on my computer
 
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donkeymusic said:
Hi Garry,

Thanks for your reply, i have added an example of a test shot to show what i mean, further reading this morning, shows that the key light should been off to the side so the light isn't directly hitting the background, not sure if this is correct??

I may need to move the key light further back as well to try that, i did just use it where it was set up for my high key tests.

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Only if you move the subject forward as well.
 
Triggaaar said:
I would also call that low key, but that's not what you've said above:
So, which definition are you going with?
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Does it really matter?

My definition is correct, but I think that Richard's definition is perfectly OK too, and probably more practical.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Does it really matter?
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Well it's hardly life or death, I wouldn't get upset about it. But since this is a photography forum, and as you said, there is a lot of misinformation on what is high key and low key, it's worthy of a discussion.

My definition is correct
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Which one, that's all I'm asking. On the one hand you've said "In fact, it's where all tones are darker than mid grey, and high key is the opposite.", but then you've posted an example of low key where some tones are brighter than mid grey.
 
As far as I understand it that is neither low key or high key. It's a picture of a child on a White background.
 
In my understanding it's Low key because it has a high key/fill lighting ratio. The background colour or brightness has no baring as to whether it's high or low key!
 
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onform said:
Why mid key?
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onform said:
In my understanding it's Low key because it has a high key/fill lighting ratio.
Click to expand...
That's just not my understanding of it, I take low key to mean that most of the subject is in shadow. That example is a fairly typical, nicely lit shot, with a modest amount in shadow. I would class Garry's shot as low key, and anything between low key and high key is mid key. I may have read misinformation on the subject, but that's how I understand it.
 
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