SLR Snapshots to Great Shots Week: Day 2 - Use Rembrandt Lighting


This week's blog is devoted to SLR tips - in honor of the Wiley DVD that I am currently shooting on the new Canon Rebel T1i (available this fall). All the photos were and will be taken with that camera. It's a also to celebrate my new SLR classes on Kelbytraining.com (available now).

Rembrandt Lighting is Nice Lighting

Compare these two pictures, both of which were taken by window light. For the picture on the right, I had my friend, Paula, look toward the direction of light. For the other shot, she was looking away from the window. My point: have your subject look toward the light source (in most cases).

Window light can produce Rembrandt lighting, which is illustrated by the picture on the right. If the shadow on the shaded side of your subject’s face is too dark, use a reflector to fill in that shadow.

When shooting by window light, you’ll need to boost your ISO to prevent a blurry picture caused by camera shake. Or, you can use a tripod.

Take the time to work with the light and you'll get more professional looking pictures – turning your SLR Snapshots in Great Shots.

You can read more about exploring the light is my book, Exploring the Light.

Explore the Light
Rick