The lighting angle

  The aim of this exercise was to take shots using the various lighting positions and angles below

Light Level with the subject - Lit from the front (with the light next to the camera)

due to the size of light modifier being used (a large soft box) it was very difficult to shoot directly from the front so there is a slight angle to the lighting in this photo. The effect of having the light level with the subject and directly in front is to give the image a very flat 2 dimensional appearance.

Light Level with the subject - Lit from the side

With the light at 90 degrees to the subject the face is half in light and half in darkness. the studio wall was acting like a large reflector so the right side of the subjects face is not totally in darkness.

Light Level with the subject - Lit from behind and to one side

moving the light further to the back lights even less of the subjects face but does give more of a feel to the contours of the face.

Light Level with the subject - Lit from directly behind

I really like this effect.  because of the size of the soft box light is almost spilling round the subject  and emphasising the shape of the head. There is definitely a more 3D feel to this photo

Light Down towards the subject at an angle of about 45 Degrees - Lit from the front (with the light next to the camera)

this is a similar setup to photo 1 except the light is above and at 45 degrees. again the top half of the subjects face is fully lit and therefore somewhat flat in appearance but the shadows below the nose and chin give a little shape to the shot

Light Down towards the subject at an angle of about 45 Degrees - Lit from the side

The face is almost 3/4 in darkness and although the shadows show lots of the facial contours it is not a particularly pleasing photo

Light Down towards the subject at an angle of about 45 Degrees - Lit from behind and to one side

Moving the light even further behind the lights even less of the subject and leaves the face almost in total darkness

Light Down towards the subject at an angle of about 45 Degrees - Lit from directly behind

I really like the edge lighting effect in this shot and how the light falls on the subjects shoulders.

Light suspended overhead - Directly overhead

I have never used lighting directly from above before and the effect was unusual again similar to photograph 5 the shadows on the underside of the nose and chin give some shape but in this picture the texture of the tee shirt is much more  emphasised.

Light suspended overhead - From slightly in front

This was my favorite portrait of the day. the texture of the hair and tee-shirt are great, the subject is definitely not flat and the shadows slim the face somewhat. Light suspended overhead - From slightly Behind

Again a lot of the subject is in darkness and it is not a particularly pleasing photo.

Reflection

I was surprised by the different effects created by moving the light around. I have used a single studio light many times but I have not varied the angle and position as much.  I can see by combining numerous lights and angles you could lose a day in creative lighting experiments. It was a great way to spend a couple of hours and we stayed and created a few nice portraits using a single light.

Softening the light

The brief for the exercise was as follows Set up a still-life arrangement, with any object or group of objects. The lighting direction will depend on your subject, and you might like to experiment but, if in doubt, fix the naked lamp more or less overhead, pointing down. (I am assuming that the camera is aimed at a slight angle downwards.)

Using a diffused light source to soften the shadows and highlights take two photographs, one with just the naked lamp, the other with the translucent material held between the lamp and your subject (but out of view). The two exposure settings will be different.

Look at the results, and write down exactly what you see as the differences. Look, for instance, at the strengths (blackness) of the shadows, their extent, and the hardness of their edges. Look also at the highlights, and at the contrast. Finally, was the diffusion an improvement? Record your answer.

To carry out the exercise I hired some time in a studio. I rummaged around the studio to find Items i could use in a still life and then used a single light from above at a 45 degree angle.  To soften the light I shot through a translucent reflector  the results can be seen below.

I should point out that one thing I did wrong was not having the camera on the tripod, this would have eliminated any doubt that differences in the photographs are down to differing camera angles.  The first photo is the "un-softened" direct light shot.  We can see that the the shadows are darker and more defined and also the colours are more saturated than in the second shot. In short the first photo has more contrast.

"A light source has high contrast if its rays all strike the subject from nearly the same angle. Light rays from a low-contrast source strike the subject from many different angles. Sunlight on a clear day is a common example of a high-contrast light source." (Hunter, Fuqua and Biver, 2012, p19). The unmodified light source has a more direct rays off light than the diffused light source. It is not only the shadows which are affected by introducing the diffuser, the reflected highlights also differ between the photographs, in the second shot they are larger and with less defined edges.

I have included a shot of the setup (NB offspring make excellent reflector stands)