This portrait of Jasmine was taken in the popular Freak Alley in downtown Boise Idaho. To create three-dimensional lighting for dramatic portraits I usually use trees, rocks, or bushes in natural locations to block unwanted light on one side of my subject. If I’m in a city environment, I can use man-made structures like buildings, alleys, or even a parking garage for the same purpose. However, in Freak Alley we have a city block of wonderful art created by dozens of artists that I wanted to use as backgrounds. Therefore, I had to fall back on artificial methods, using a 42” black gobo near Jasmine to create the subtractive lighting effect. The alley runs East/West and I took the image close to sunset (7:30pm in June).
The critical decision I had to make was which direction to face my subject. To decide, I evaluated the quality of light in each direction. When I had Jasmine face left the light appeared dull. When she faced right I saw her come alive with a sparkle in the eye and a nice glow on her face. So, East light won the moment. Next, I had my wife, Kathi, hand hold the 42” black gobo just out of camera frame (camera left) to block the Western light resulting in dramatic sculpted shadows on Jasmine’s face.
In this second image of Jasmine, I chose to have her stand in a small alcove so I could use the artwork as a background. Positioning her face toward the North sky gave her great light in her eyes and the little wall that she’s leaning on subtracted enough light to create a soft shadow on her face.
If you would like to see the entire session check out the video below.
