How Many Catchlights?

InaGlo

InaGlo

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Glo
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Finally cleared my diary enough to have my first play with my lights. The overall look is pretty 'flat' but for my first outing, Im not too disappointed.
The one thing that does bug me a little is the catchlights in her eyes. Theres two in each eye.... one softbox and one umbrella :lol:
How many catchlights are acceptable and is the obvious shape of the ligthing a big faux pas?
 
Post a pic Glo - let's have a look. I don't think there's a hard and fast answer... it depends.
 
When we did the Portait module on my military course (many moons ago), we were marked on catchlights - we had to use a minimum of three lights, but only have one catchlight showing (as there's only one sun - apparently). That's the old-fashioned way, but these days there's no hard and fast rule. Look at magazine portraits and get some ideas that way.
Incidentally, you can work out the positioning of the lights in images you like from the positions of the catchlights in the model's eyes.
 
When I did some portrait work on a short course, I asked the same question after the "pro" had 2 catchlights in my eyes, The answer I got back was have as many as you like.

So, do as you please, you can always clone one out in Ps ;)
 
I think the old rules have gone (MAIN/FILL/RIM, etc). It is good to learn the rules but breaking them will often give a result that makes a shot stand out.

A friend used to apply tape to his softbox to make the catchlight look light a "window". It was quite effective the way he did it.
 
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