Side lighting hints some sort or incidental knowledge on a subject and could connotate importance. For example a window opening or a door. Also the light could be shining on one person, and leaving out other people so show that that man is more powerful or important. Side lighting can be a lot more interesting and dramatic, especially on monochrome images. It brings out the textures of the skin or an object.
Side lighting can accentuate male features effectively because the light is shone directly to the side of the face and if it is the only light source, it makes the picture look skinnier and slimmer. Side lighting can enhance the jaw line and other male facial features. It can also capture that persons personality in a way, it depends what their facial expression at the time is. Plenty of light will give their features more depth.
Side lighting can enhance and soften female features in different ways. The shadow which is cast from the light and features of the face, bring out all the small and important features of the face, but only if the light and camera are in the right place. If they were to be placed at the wrong angles, the effect would be lost and the picture will look uninteresting and plain, with no shadows. Close ups of women can make their facial features look softened, when side lighting is present. Freckles, dimples, cheekbones or the whiteness of teeth and eyes, will enhance the photograph.
This photograph was one of the first ones we took. The light is being reflected on the side of the face, and casting the shadow on the other side. So that worked out brilliantly for the facial features. However our problem was that the lighting is slightly under exposed and quite dark in the background. Also the framing is quite poor. The modelling and placing of the picture is not effective. The other hand has being missed off and it is an awkward bodily length and in a awkward place in the picture. We did'nt really take our time with this image.
We retook our side lighting image to try and create a more effective picture. This image was took at a lower shutter speed and seemed to work a lot better. Their is a lot more of the body in the picture and is placed in a different position, this being on the left side. The lighting conditions were better because the sun was at it's brightest and we got more shadows on the face, therefore making the features more enhanced, or example the cheekbones and chin. After the image was taken, we reviewed it and thought we could take a much better shot, making the subject a bit closer and maybe even have a meaning.
Our new target was to create a more natural shot. So the hair is being blown by the wind, and there's people in the background, which aren't as lit up by the light as the main subject, therefore making them less important. We also achieved the target of getting more closer to the person and making them more important by placing them in the middle. We kept the focus on automatic, because the manual focus wasn't needed. The side lighting had hit the face nicely and brought out the facial features, for example the cheek bones and dimples. Our problem was that there was too much light on the body and not enough on the face.
