Portraits on location, what is the main light?

[Michael Firstlight]

The main light is the light you use to model the light on the subject. The main light always dictates the lighting 'pattern'. The fill light (or a reflector of some type) fills in the shadows - if you use fill at all). All other lights are accent (hair, kicker, etc) or set lights (background, props, etc). For example, if you use a light to model a butterfly pattern, that is you main light (also often called the key light), or, if the light you use is the one that creates a 'Rembrant' lighting pattern, then that is your main/key light. The main light isn't necessarily the brightest light, nor is it necessarily more specular than other lights (a kicker or hair light, for example, can be far more specular than a soft main light. It is a VERY simple rule - it is always the light you use to create the selected lighting pattern. The main light will be the one that sets the first half of the lighting ratio (measuring either units of light for main vs fill or difference in F-stop between the two - the latter of which is the method I prefer). It will also dictate the how hard or soft the overall lighting is on your subject. Here's a basic list of common portrait lighting patterns:

–Broad lighting
–Short lighting
–Loop lighting
–Butterfly lighting (also called Paramount or Glamour) – ideal for great cheeks and perfect skin
–Power lighting (triangular nose shadow @ 90 degrees, deep ratio)
–Halloween lighting
–Split lighting
–Silhouette lighting
–Rembrandt lighting (also called closed loop or modified loop)
–Flat lighting
–Backlighting

If you look up samples of each you can begin to tell where the main/key light was placed to create the pattern.Your shot with the sun is called backlighting - yet another pattern. The strobe is your fill (hence the term fill-flash), unless of course you have a very powerful strobe with HSS that can overpower the backlighting and become the main/key that creates a specific pattern - then it becomes a main and the sun becomes a very bright hair or accent light. Again, it's all about the lighting pattern for the subject and nothing else.

You can even have two main lights, such as when creating a split-lighting pattern, but you have to be very careful; when used incorrectly two mains can create competing shadows and look unnatural (e.g. like two suns). The late, great Monte Zucker had an interesting dual main light setup that was beautiful and was mimicked by other top pros later. It consisted of a medium-to-large softbox as Main #1 camera set at 45-degrees to the subject on one side AND a big 4x6 foot softbox set at 90--degrees on the SAME side as Main #2 - typically set about one or one-and-a-half stops less than Main #1, and a fill (reflector) on the opposite side. The two mains were very close to the subject, creating very soft lighting. Main #1 typically created the Rembrant pattern, and Main #2 was feathered to create a wrap-around effect. Some very famous portrait artists use this unique setup to create very soft, moody character portraits that works exceedingly well for women and children in particular.

Regards,
Michael

 

[Berkeley Mike]

On your beach the sun illuminates from back/side and acts much like a Rim Light, Back Light, or a Hair Light.

The side facing your camera is '"in shadow", with the sky and the sand acting as Bounce Fill for the subject. At this point the sky and the sand are the Main Light for your subject, the sun an accent. As you build-out the lighting scheme, while the flash is fill, once it overpowers the bounce Main light, and becomes the new foundation of the Main Light. The flash becomes the Main light.

In a studio using one main light source, a strong light from behind makes a Rim Light, Back Light, or Hair Light. Large reflective surfaces opposite/in front of that light, on the floor, perpendicular to the floor, and from above, fill your side of the subject. Added flash, bringing the front within a useful ratio with the strong Main Light in back, becomes the new Main Light.

If I am using the sun as a Backlight for separation or accent, the Sky light opposite (or a building) provide Bounce Fill. This is the Main Light. If I use flash to fill it is at a very low power setting just to open shadows that obscure eyes or shadows underneath the chin. It only barely challenges the overall fill but opens shadows, not eliminating them, and makes a Catch Light in the eyes. That flash is a Fill Light. The main light is really the sky and reflective objects in front of the subject.