Portrait photography can produce amazing results and a skilled portrait artist can make a decent amount of money for their work. Lighting is key to creating good portraits. Short lighting is one of the techniques employed to create a specific effect, namely, the shortening or slimming of the face.
Short lighting can also be used to create dramatic interest in texture, such as wrinkles, scars, or facial hair. Not every portrait subject will benefit from short lighting.
What is short lighting & How To Do It
What is short lighting?
The word short refers in this context to the side of the face receiving the light. If it’s the side of the face that is turned AWAY form the camera position, then it is short lighting.
Some photographers may also refer to it as narrow lighting. For the purpose of this article, we will consider narrow lighting to be for the specific purpose of slimming the face, while short lighting can do that as well as emphasize texture. The same principles apply, just the desired end results may differ.
How does short lighting slim a face? Interestingly, the broad side of the face is the side turned toward the camera lens. So, you actually have a broad view of the face. But since that side of the face is in shadow, it tends to make the entire face look slimmer. Sort of like how wearing dark colors has a slimming effect of your body as viewed by others.
With the side of the face turned away from camera being more brightly lit, it draws our attention to it. Since there is less area showing towards the camera position, it looks slimmer than the larger, darker portion of the face.
You might say it’s an optical illusion, the slimming or shortening effect of short lighting.
The other aspect of short lighting is emphasizing texture. This occurs due the directional nature of side lighting. In classic side lighting, the light is 90 degrees to the side. Deep shadows and bright highlights are the hallmark of side lighting.
With short lighting, the direction of the illumination can vary quite a bit. Several parts of the lighting and posing set up will change just how deep any shadows or how bright any highlights are. It’s not just how far to the side the light is placed. The position of the facial features and how high or low the light is will also have a bearing on the amount and depth of texture shown.
How to setup up short lighting
Short lighting can be one of the simplest lighting configurations possible. It can be accomplished with only one light. It could even be done without any artificial light at all. Short lighting can also include simple multi light set ups.
Place your camera in front of the subject with them facing the camera position. Have your subject turn their face a little bit to one side or the other.
Now, whatever direction their face is turned, it’s that side of the subject where we will place our light. The light can be placed at several different spots to the side of the subject and camera. The important thing is that the light falls on the side of the face turned away from the camera lens.
Sunlight coming through a window can be our main light. That’s why I said we actually may not require any artificial light at all. You will have to carefully position the subject and camera in order to achieve the desired result.
As you place the light in the desired position, go ahead and move it around some to see how it changes the shadow on the other side of your subject’s face. Moving the light closer to the camera lightens the shadow and minimizes texture. Moving it more to the side and even somewhat behind the subject will deepen the shadow and increase texture.
Changing the height of the light will also affect the shadow and texture. Place the light at level, above eye level, and also slightly below. Take note of how the height of the primary light changes the shadow shape and depth.
You can also add in other lights while still maintaining the desired effects of short lighting.
Fill light or lights are placed on the shadow side of the subject. They fill in light, reducing shadows. Fill lights are always lower power than the main light, otherwise the fill would become the main light.
In order to get a ratio where the fill is lower intensity than the main light, variable power settings can be used. If your lights don’t have variable power, you will need to physically the light in order to achieve the desired ratio.
The inverse square law is used to figure out how far away from subject position to place the light. This law of physics relates to photography in a very simple way.
Light falls off rapidly the further away you move the light. If you start with the light at one foot away from the subject, moving the light to two feet away will result in only 25% of the light now falling on the subject.
Video: Peter Hurley – How to Understand the Inverse Square Law – Photo Lighting Explained
Much easier to see than to say. If your lights have variable power, simply twist the knob.
Hair light, back light, background light, and eye catchlight can all be added to whatever configuration you are using for short lighting. The simple set up is one key light and perhaps a fill light or reflector.
Best uses for short lighting
In its purest form, short lighting is best for emphasizing texture. So, the portrait subject matter would be a subject that benefits from showing texture.
Video: 2 Portrait Lighting Setups For Men
For many photographers, this brings up the thought of those interesting faces. Faces with years of wrinkles, interesting features, perhaps even masculine lines. In order to see some examples of this, take a look at the portraits of Yousuf Karsh, Edward Weston, and Irving Penn.
That’s not say that glamourous images aren’t possible with short lighting, because they are. The photographer will need to pay attention to camera position, the subject’s posing, and light placement in order to get the best result for that particular subject.
Short lighting can also be used for product photography, macro photography, and fashion photography.
Short lighting will also depend on the subject
Since short lighting will have the dual effect of slimming the subject and calling attention to texture, not every portrait may even appreciate your diligence in using this fascinating lighting technique.
As mentioned earlier, it’s those classic interesting faces that come to mind first with regard to short lighting. Glamour subjects can also benefit from short lighting. What are curves, after all, if not a form of texture? Especially in black and white, short lighting is great for glamour portraits.
Video: Boudoir Photography with Lindsay Adler – Defining Curves with 2 Lights
What are other types of portrait lighting?
For amazing results in portrait photography, learning how to use the basic lighting techniques is important. Some other techniques are:
- Rembrandt
- Butterfly
- Beauty
- Broad
- High Key
- Low Key
Rembrandt lighting is named after the Renaissance artist Rembrandt who made such fantastic use of the technique. It’s a form of short lighting but with a very specific shadow placement. Rembrandt lighting requires that a triangle of shadow formed by the subject’s nose intersects with the triangular shadow formed on the cheek by the short lighting.
Video: Why REMBRANDT Lighting Matters | Photography Tips
Butterfly lighting is also named for the shape of a shadow, in this case a shadow that more or less resembles a butterfly shape. This lighting technique is very flattering for most subjects and can also help minimize weight.
Beauty lighting has little to no shadow effect, relying on the soft light and good posing to accentuate the natural beauty of a subject.
Broad lighting is the opposite of short lighting. In this configuration, the side of the subject that is getting the most light is the side turned towards the camera. This technique is not commonly used for portraits as it tends to emphasize weight and roundness, things many portrait subjects would rather minimize.
Video: Broad Light vs. Short Light … Do you know the difference?
High key and low key lighting refers more to exposure techniques than to an actual lighting configuration. Exposing for the details in the highlights of a scene or for the shadows in a scene is what makes the difference.
Video: High Key & Low Key Lighting: Ep 42: Digital Photography 1 on 1
Advanced lighting techniques can be simple
Finding out how to use basic light placement and control will open up new doors of photographic endeavors to photographers willing to learn them. The lighting arrangements can be as complex or simple as you need them to be. Just try them out, see how much they add to your personal photographic expression.
For more information on lighting, you can see my guide on the best lights for food photography!