There are of course a lot of blogs, websites and articles online about how to light a subject properly for stunning portraits. This small article talks about a very simple technique you can use to achieve rich portrait lighting that makes the facial features of your model come to life beautifully. The technique uses only natural light, of the type that comes through your window.
First of all, in most portraits you will want to achieve different levels of light on the face of your photographic subject. This creates some shadows which make the picture look tri-dimensional. If you make your light very even on the face you will make the face of your subject look flat. There is some movement towards even lighting nowadays, especially in fashion and editorial portraits, but you will see that in that case, the volume on the facial features might be achieved with make up or any other means.
If you are shooting with studio lighting, the way you achieve different levels of light is by placing one lamp at a higher power or closer to the subject (this is called the main light) and a second light at lower power or far from the subject (this is called fill light).
If you are new to photography a simpler way to achive this for practicing is to place your subject close to a large window that lets natural light in. Position your subject in a way that the light coming from the window lights part of the face (it can be most of the face actually) and part of the face and body have shadows. Experiment with different angles on your model (relative to the window) and different camera positions. You should expose to the light on the brighter side of your model (that is, expose to the main light). Be careful that the light differential between the illuminated side and the dark side is not too big, because that can create problems. A light differential of 1.5 points is very good between the main light and the fill light, because that creates a 3:1 contrast ratio that looks very good in the resulting image.
Here is an example of this. The Model on the shot is Finnish Top Model Olivia Kortelainen. We shot this entirely with natural light coming out of the window.
Any photography questions please leave a comment or contact me in twitter at ricardocarreon.
According to The Heritage Foundations Index of Economic Freedom, Mexico is currently ranked in number 41 within the 183 countries analysed for the different aspects that constitute economic freedom. On a scale of 0 to 100 Mexico scored 63.2 with an improvement last year of 2.5 points, which ranks Mexico on world´s top 22%.
The Index of Economic Freedom has ten component scores and Mexico is this year among those who have improved the most. It ranks above the BRICs, just five places behind Spain, and instead 23 places above France, and 33 above Italy.
In the revision of last year, economies are ranked on their economic freedom based on ten different topics: business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, government spending, monetary freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom, property rights, freedom from corruption and labor freedom.
For instance, if we look at business freedom starting a business in Mexico takes an average of 13 days, whilst the world average is 35 days. The overall freedom to start, operate, and close a business is protected under Mexico’s regulatory environment. Business freedom scores 83.
From the 183 economies analyzed, Mexico ranks 41, which means that it is one of the top Latin American countries on the list and a much better place to experience an economically free society, where individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please. With that freedom both protected by the state and unconstrained by the state.
In fact, all four BRIC countries are far behind Mexico and in evident need of reforms to make it easier for their citizens to foster their economy. These are the rankings for Index of Economic Freedom in comparison to BRIC:
Mexico – 41
Brazil – 113
India – 124
China – 140
Russia – 143
Finally, though navigating through difficult times for the whole economic world, Mexico managed to be among the few gainers in economic freedom this year. None BRIC or OCDE country was among that list.