Photographers: one or 2 lights in the model's eyes?

the look will be most natural if only one catch light.

whether you see one or more depends on umbrella placement and camera position.

the most flattering look for erotica will clone the look of natural light and be a moody sexy light, where the use of artificial light is not obvious.

and the best way to achieve this look is to shoot on a subdued lighting set, so model's pupils open up, and shoot with limited DOF to blur out extraneous detail which detracts from the shot.

some lenses can produce beautiful bokeh, some not so good, depends on iris design. (more leaves the better) but if you want really beautiful eye shots you need to use the right lens (ex: 85mm f/1.4 AFD) and setup your light correctly. yes you can use more than one strobe.

and most here would not know why the image is better, but they would say it is "hot".

What he said.

depends on the model... i would setup the lights and you do all the angles and movement with camera, and not move lights to get different reflections and see which you like best

Great post.

I think it boils down to personal preference. latinasojourn talks about shooting in subdued light so the models pupils get bigger. To him this is sexy and erotic - to me it is not. A model with large pupils reminds me of a girl on drugs...whose eyes are dilating and this may be sexy to some but not for me...but I do respect his opinion.

I want smaller pupils so the color of the models eyes comes thru. If a model has piercing blue eyes but her pupils are enlarged (because of shooting in subdued light) we'll see less of the blue in her eyes and more of the pupil and those beautiful blue eyes are going to be less stunning. And, showcasing a womans beautiful eyes are for me just as important as showcasing the rest of her delicious body

So, one catchlight, two catchlights or more...it's all a personal preference really. I know that your just getting started with shooting stills and I might suggest that learning to light and to see light will be much easier for you if you use one light for now. Learn how to master correct exposure, proper hight for the light and working with different distances to increase or decrease contrast on the model. The closer the light is to the model the softer this light will be (assuming your using a softbox as we have discussed previously). The further from the model this light is the more contrastier the light will be.

The absolute worst thing that you could do is put two lights at 45% angles to your model as this is how all amateur shooters start out and this technique will give your work an amateur look. Take a look at the work of photographers who shoot for some of the mens magazines and you'll very rarely if at all see lighting done that way. It's acceptable for the amateur porn industry because your average surfer is looking to blow his load and as long as your light is sufficient to light up the parts of the model that he's intersted in seeing...your good to go. But if you want to elevate your work to a higher-level, I would suggest staying away from the 45% lighting setup. But once again - it's all a personal preference that comes from experimentation and experience.

Since you are just getting started with stills, you should experiment with different looks until you find something that you like. Once you've mastered a certain lighting setup, switch it up and shoot with a different light setup on the next shoot. I do that all the time and it keeps things interesting for me. It's fun to always challenge myself while shooting on location by using differnet lighting setups. Sometimes soft light, sometimes hard light. Sometimes 1 light, sometimes 2 and sometimes more. Sometimes studio flash and sometimes available natural light. Daylight balanced flash is great but sometimes I wanna use tungsten light. There's a whole world of discovery waiting for you now that your shooting stills. The good thing is that your one hell of a fugg'n videographer and your knowledge of shooting video will greatly compliment your still work. You got my number so lemme' know if you have any questions/problems

Now this is what GFY thread should be about!

I agree very informative, thanks guys.

Bump for ExpoVids

I like when they use the circular (O) fluerescent light arround the lens of the camera.. it gives a wikked look on the model eyes

THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!!!!