One of the secrets to lighting is being able to see and feel light. While this sounds simple it is not quite as easy as it sounds. This concept of seeing light also means that as a photographer you can visualize what type of image you want to create with that light. Will a shape or form be accented, will a mood be created, can the film or digital camera capture the range in the image? So with all that said, let's get started and look at how to see the light.

This light pattern was created by an acrch shaped cookie and nothing else. What is a cookie? It is a cut out placed infront of a light to create shadows. A cookie can ve a defined shape such as the archway I used or random cuts that produce an abstarct pattern. Cookies are mostly used on backgrounds to add depth and avoid a flat look. BUT... they can be used un the subject as well.

I positioned Diana in the light and decided that I wanted a right side point of interest. So I metered that area first. I metered, with a gray card, her chest and face only.

Next I metered the heavy shadow areas. These were 5 stops darker that the main reading. I knew that because of this range they would go almost black unless I adjusted. So time to add a fill light. I placed a 36 x 48 soft box so that it illuminated the shadow area and brought the shadows within an exceptable 3 stop range. I still wanted the base to be very dark.

Next I metered the wall where the highlights were created by the cookie. Since the wall and diana's face are at the same distance. The value was the same. Good

The latitude of a film camera is such that I can overexpose only 1/2 of a stop before the highlights get blown away. This is NOT an option in digital so I closed the lens down 1/2 a stop so that in postproduction I would have a little more highlight data to work with.

This image was shot with the intention of going to a sepia type tone but having a bit of colour. So here we go.

After adjusting the image in Bridge using the RAW file converter, it was saved as a Tiff and a duplicate was made. Always work on a duplicate! I duplicated the duplicate and desaturated it in Photoshop. This gave me a grayscale image that was still RGB. This is much easier to play with the tones than a regular grayscale and hold more of the subtlties in the shades of gray.

The next step was to run a sepia tone action and merge the layers. Now go to IMAGE>ADJUSTCOLOR and start tweaking the colour of the tone to where you want it. I decided to add some green for bronze look. When I was satisfied I copied the "bronze" image and pasted it over the duplicate of the original I had made.

The 100% opacity of the new layer obscures the background colour images so.... Select the new layer go to the opacity slider and adjust the opacity down untill just a bit of "true" flesh tone starts to show. TIME TO SAVE!

Save this in layers as "B&B layers". Now with the eraser tool work on the lips and hair to show more colour. Keep the eraser tool set to a soft edege AND 20%. Better to go over an area a few times instead of taking out 100 % at one shot. IF and only IF you are happy with the opacity of the layer and the look of the image, merge the layers. Or better still save the version with the layers and save a merged duplicate

Finally the last piece ot the image. Under Filters >Distort select Diffuse Glow make sure you have your colour palet set to White Black. Adjust the glow untill your are happy and it's done.

I also decided to add grain which I did during the diffuse glow process .

Camera: Nikon D200 @ ISO 100 tones set normal RAW file Lens: Nikon 15-70 f=2.8

Lights: Calumet Elite 2400 WS system

Softbox: Chimera 36x48 Pro Box

Meter: Minolta Auto Spot

Tech: Apple G5 Photoshop CS3