How to Capture Light in a Portrait: QUICK CLIP #8

Hey guys, Andrew here with another quick clip and in this quick clip we're going to be talking all about capturing light in a portrait. This clip goes out to Belinda who hit me up on Facebook with this week's request. Let's get started. So I've got three tips for capturing light within the portrait and the first one has to do with actually setting up the right scenario from the outset. Of course it helps making a live sketch but when I'm posing the sitter for the portrait I'm taking light into account right from the start. It all comes down to having the right scenario set up for us to be able to either study from life or to be able to collect our reference and the reference is absolutely key in translating that light from the setup into the painting. So my first tip here for you is to get really quality reference material that exposes for both the highlights and the shadows. Sometimes when we photograph our subjects the camera's only exposed for one aspect of the face either the highlight or the shadow so we must make sure that we take both into account to be able to translate that information effectively into the final painting. So tip number one is have the right setup with a dynamic light situation and get some good reference of your subject. Now my second tip is kind of related to the first one. It's about having a difference between the highlight and the shadow. Now for me often this is a color temperature difference so we're not talking so much about a tonal contrast here but a color temperature difference between our highlights and our shadows. With my portrait of Russell he was sitting under a very cool skylight which in turn made the shadows feel a little bit warmer by comparison. With my painting of David he was sitting under a cool skylight as well but I also balanced this out with a spotlight halogen bulb that was casting some really hot light across the face. And with my painting of Ollie as well he was outside so the sunlight shining off the face was incredibly intense and I balanced this out with some cool reflected light from the open skylight that he was exposed to on the other side. So it's about having a difference between different color temperatures warm and cool and juxtaposing the two to create that engaging sense of light. And for my third tip in capturing light within a portrait it's all about contrast. We must have a difference between the light and the dark in terms of our tonal contrast. Now I've got a little rule that is light against dark and dark against light and I play with this somewhat to create a more engaging difference between the two to allow the sitter to come forward within the painting. Now this was especially true for David Russell and the Stockman. With Russell he's a very light figure overall and I juxtaposed this with a dark background creating that contrast but having him emerge in the painting. With the painting of David I've cast a mid-tone behind the main subject and then contrasted this with the highlight against the face with the spotlight halogen and the shadow on the back side. So everywhere I'm playing with this light against dark and dark against light but it's especially prevalent in the painting of the Stockman where that sunlit edge is contrasted against a dark horse. So I'm using this constantly to create that sense of light and sometimes we can even get a bit of a 3D feel when we use this technique correctly. So there you go guys. My top three tips for capturing light in a portrait are have the right setup and create some really great references to work from. Tip number two is having a difference between your warm and cool colors and tip number three is working with your contrast. Light against dark and dark against light. I hope you found this helpful with painting some portraits in your own studio. Now people who subscribed through my website have had access to bonus clips of which I sent out three this week all about painting portraits. We talked about the live sketch scenario. We've talked about how to create a three-dimensional effect within a painting as well as some detail techniques. If you would like to be a subscriber it's really simple and it's free. All you got to do is go to www.andrewtichler.com fill in the little form on the painting tutorials tab and you're there. As a subscriber you're also going to have access to a bonus giveaway of the Stockman in full for free when you purchase my latest how to paint portraits DVD. Now my how to paint portraits tutorial of the sculptor and the paint maker and the bonus giveaway of the Stockman are over five hours of combined information helping you paint portraits. Imagine having my 13 years of experience as a professional artist there with you in the studio as you tackle your next portrait. But you've got to be quick because I'm only going to be offering the Stockman as a free giveaway for a strictly limited time. So again to get your hands on that free copy make sure you're subscribed through www.andrewtichler.com and I'm going to put that link in the description below. Well there you go guys I hope you found this useful. If you like what you saw hit that like button. If you want to come back for more make sure you're subscribed and as always you can find me on Instagram and Facebook. But also don't forget to subscribe for bonus content and bonus giveaways through www.andrewtichler.com and make sure you share this video if you enjoyed what you saw here. I'll see you again next time.