Lighting Terminology by dbwalton
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Description
Lighting Terminology - Lights have names. In the studio, the light that gives shape and substance to your subject is the MAIN light. The light that fills the shadows is the FILL light. The light that lights your backdrop is the BACKGROUND light. That's the basic 3 light setup in this image.
Main - camera right 3x5' softbox with 640WS light behind it.
Fill - a 2x3' softbox camera left with 320WS behind it and trimmed down to just add enough light to light her face.
Background - a 640WS light with a blue gel over it to give the otherwise gray and brown backdrop this rich blue color with hints of red (from the brown) bursting through.
In a render, you can do the same thing. Start with a stage empty of lights, and then...
1) Add and position your main light and get it exactly how you want it.
2) Add a fill light and position it so the shadows are how you want them.
3) Add a light to light your background. Change the color sliders to get the mood you want. Make sure it doesn't spill on to your subject. (Spill, in this case, would be the models skin or hair being lit up by the blue background light.)
P.S. There's a posing tip here too...
In the case of a small busted, large framed woman, light across the chest to create shadow off the breasts. Then, use a narrow strip of light color (in this case her chest), and dark clothing to create an illusion of slenderness.
Comments (1)
ironsoul
A couple of extra suggestions - do a test render with all lights off to check for self lighting mats (this is more a problem with older figures) and also if the scene is in a room or there are large props make sure the mats on these do not reflect back too much light (easier to do with PBR). I don't know how closely the render engines in Daz and Poser intend to emulate a camera (eg ISO, EV range etc), a render engine like Maxwell is more explicit in its intentions in this area IMO. Interesting and informative series, thanks.