Harsh light and skin tones

Every now and again we like to do light tests where we experiment with different lighting  techniques. This particular light test was based on a few photo's that we we had seen with very harsh light which left skin and facial hair rough and textured in the final photo but as usual there were many other experiments taking place as we tested harsh skin tones.

#1 Contrasted photo with post contrast removed

 

 We took this with a second light source to enhance the contrast from the sun coming behind. The end goal was to experiment with the lighting but the contrast removal was done later to test the contrasted effect.

 #2 Lens Flare with flash highlights

 

Commonly when lens flares take place there is so much light from behind that everything in the photo gets washed out. In this photo we accounted for the flare while still creating harsh light from the front. The highlights on the face to enhance the moister was intentional to bring in the harshness of the projected situation.

#3 Secondary light source brighter than the sun.

The sun was bright on this evening but our goal was to eventually impose a war scene. This test was to bring our light source to mimic that of a flash grenade. The resulted effect was attention brought to the side arm.

#4 Silhouette and flare

 

Removing secondary light allows for a perfect sunflare while still capturing the war time feel.

#5 Mystery in the shadow

While intentionally hiding most of the subject the goal in this photo was to highlight the toughness of the model. The best way to do so was to bring out facial structure and the lack of shaving while adding mystery.