Studio Photography: Low-Key

Low-Key

Low-key lighting is when only one main light source and usually a black background is used to light the subject.  It works very well on male subjects and helps to give them a dark, masculine and sombre look. Although, I have seen low-key lighting work just as well on female subjects.  Low-key lighting is fairly opposite to high-key lighting.  There are more shadows and darker tones, helping to create a contrast in the image.  Low-key lighting can create drama and highlight the skin tone and contours of the face, which adds to the personality of the subject.           

This is a classic Hollywood image of Johnny Depp, and one I thought that demonstrated low-key quite well.  You can tell one light source was used to light one side of his face but it also appears that another low light may have been used to create a contrast between his hairline and the background.  It's not a very serious look but still works really well to highlight his strong masculine features.      

To create our low-key image the studio was set up with a black background and one poly board to block off light from one side and another two placed at an angle to allow in only a narrow band of light.  The lighting was very much controlled because of the poly boards and reduced any spillage.    

The first image is of one of my female classmates.  This image demonstrates how this type of lighting can work with a female subject and convey a similar sort of message to the male one.  The lack of smile on the subjects face shows the serious side her to her character.  It's quite an atmospheric image and works really well because of the outline of the hat follows through to the outline of her face.  The reason I didn't choose this image is because of the lack of eye contact and so it doesn't hold my attention long enough before I want to move on.         

I chose this image for my final submission because  for me it represents low-key extremely well.  It also helps to have a subject who's good at making faces and so happened to make the right face in this situation.  I really like the way the light has caught his eyes and falls down nicely from his face to his hands and down his arms.  There's a lovely line which helps to guide your eyes through the image.  The strong eye contact holds the viewers attention and the look in his eyes makes you question what they're trying to tell you.  Utilising selective lighting and using dark shadows as primary elements, this low-key light set up has helped me to create an image that looks very mysterious and atmospheric.      

Finally I decided to include this image I took prior to doing my single portrait shoot. This was done as a test shoot so I could experiment with the lighting before I had my model in the studio.  For this I used a single light which has helped me to create a low-key image.  It has all the qualities of a low-key image - a sense of drama, atmosphere and a sombre feel to it.  I'm very pleased with this image as I felt a lot more confident playing around with the lights to get what I really wanted.  It shows how practise can really make you perfect - although not quite perfect in my case!