how would i achieve this kind of lighting/photo?

Matt L

Matt L

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Matt
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well i would like to try and take a picture of someone standing under a street light (at night) with just the street light beaming on them and the rest around darkened out/black.

is this even possible? if so how could i attempt it?

Thanks in advance
matt
 
You can do it easily enough.
in my experience, best done in the rain or at least with the pavements wet, to make the most of the reflections. Best done too using a prime rather than a zoom lens, to minimise unwanted flare, especially if the light source is included in the shot. you'll need a good lens hood too.

Take a hotshoe flash with you too, in case you need a low level of fill. Your flash will need to be capable of manual setting.

Inevitably, unless you're using a tripod you will need to shoot at high ISO and just accept that there will be a lot of digital noise, especially in the shadow areas. Fortunately this type of shot normally works best in black & white, so digital noise becomes less of a problem.
 
Yes fast lens & tripod. You may need to do some burning in photoshop to darken the background depending on what the bacground is.
 
If you mean something like this (with a person):



I had it on a tripod with a fairly long exposure (1.3 seconds) but you might get away with doing it for less if you use spot metering.
 
Do you mean something like...

scarlet.jpg
 
Quite a bit more lighting involved in the shot I posted, welly's shot would obviously be easier to replicate..
 
The problem with Welly's shot though is the exposure time.... 1.3 secs! Fine for a shot like this but place a subject in the frame and you'll get subject motion. You should be aiming for a SS of at least 1/60th depending on the lens you use. That is over 6 stops faster than Welly's shot.

PS not saying anything bad about Welly's shot, just that it is not the settings to use for a portrait shot. You would need a little more light - get close to the subject too.
 
What about slow shutter speed for the ambient lighting and off-camera flash to freeze the subject?

Failing that, if the subject is leaning against the lamp post would it not be possible for him/her to be caught fairly sharp?
 
I suppose it depends on the quality you require. If you need sharp as a tack, slow SS won't work very well.
 
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