Friday, January 14, 2011

Rembrandt Lighting and Chiaroscuro

At the ArtHop I ran into an interior designer at the 833Gallery who was looking at a piece of artwork that apparently had great "Chiaroscuro".  I just stood there looking at the photograph with her thinking, "What the heck does that mean, Kure-a-what and how do I respond?"  She told me it was the contrasts between lights and darks in artwork as a quick explanation, after I told her I hadn't heard of that term before and that I was new to photography.  She apologized and said she wasn't trying to sound snooty or something along those lines.  And I told her not to worry, that it was great for me to hear this term... something new for me to research.  :)

So, instead of typing everything about Chiaroscuro and Rembrandt Lighting out here...I am going to link this great easy to understand video on YouTube by "The Photoshop Mama".  Take a look HERE if you are interested.

I am going to try to play around with this later this tomorrow and supply a before and after picture.  I know that my before picture will be my 365. picture, since I was trying to go for that contrast between lights and darks.   But with my next attempt I will try to add some Rembrandt Lighting!!!!  Exciting stuff, I know...yes, huge dork!!!!

Before with little light under the eye to the left.


After with light under both eyes and shadow next to my nose.

2 comments:

  1. very cool, jamie! thanks for sharing that link and the term and what you learned. i think it is one thing to just share what we do {shoot} as photographers. but anyone can to that. going above and beyond is to share what you learn and thereby help others learn it too. that is a great use of this thing we call blogging.

    loved this shot on p.w.! can't wait to see what you do next with the contrast playing.

    p.s.
    thanks for your sweet comments and well-wishes/suggestions. i had a bit of concern with this sinus thing, knowing i could not take anything because of the baby. but i will use my netti pot if it comes to it. those always work without fail! and baby-safe, too!

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  2. Oh, that is interesting - something to look into. I've been looking a bit at still life painting for inspiration - it seems really useful to look at similarities between painting and photography. Thanks for sharing!

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