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left/right light \ B&W kids portrait
Almost all Renaissance and later portraiture uses light coming from the subject's right (viewer's left). This is simply not true. A broad survey of western painting shows only a slight bias toward portraits lit from the left (about a 55/45 split), with some painters favoring left, some right and some exhibiting no preference. In the early days before people read as much as we do these days, heck, before it was common for people to read, it didn't matter which side you placed the light. Today, since most all readers have a natural tendency to enter an image from the left side (this has been shown in studies were they use a laser to map where the eye is directed as it moves across a page. painters and early photographers used northlight studios and I would imagine the side it was placed depended on the shape of the room. Even more interesting is photographic portraiture, which shows a virtually even 50/50 distribution of left-right preference in a survey of fine art and commercial portraiture over the last 100 years. The only exceptions are certain amateurs and camera-club members who are unduly influenced by dogmatic rules telling them that the light must come from the left. use of right light in a commercial image is often a deliberate rule break to cause the eye to stop, commercial imagery often uses deliberately bad composition to cause the viewer to stop and mentally try and balance the composition, usually implanting the item in your brain. the use of a strong or contrasty right light can slow the eye down like a speed bump. at least for me |
#2
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left/right light \ B&W kids portrait
zeitgeist wrote:
Almost all Renaissance and later portraiture uses light coming from the subject's right (viewer's left). This is simply not true. A broad survey of western painting shows only a slight bias toward portraits lit from the left (about a 55/45 split), with some painters favoring left, some right and some exhibiting no preference. In the early days before people read as much as we do these days, heck, before it was common for people to read, it didn't matter which side you placed the light. Today, since most all readers have a natural tendency to enter an image from the left side (this has been shown in studies were they use a laser to map where the eye is directed as it moves across a page. painters and early photographers used northlight studios and I would imagine the side it was placed depended on the shape of the room. Even more interesting is photographic portraiture, which shows a virtually even 50/50 distribution of left-right preference in a survey of fine art and commercial portraiture over the last 100 years. The only exceptions are certain amateurs and camera-club members who are unduly influenced by dogmatic rules telling them that the light must come from the left. use of right light in a commercial image is often a deliberate rule break to cause the eye to stop, commercial imagery often uses deliberately bad composition to cause the viewer to stop and mentally try and balance the composition, usually implanting the item in your brain. the use of a strong or contrasty right light can slow the eye down like a speed bump. My point in making the above comments was that this "rule" has been broken so many times (fully half the time in photographic portraiture and 40% of the time in painting) that it can no longer be considered a rule, if it ever was. Of course, I admit to being skeptical of aesthetic rules, anyway. The most-often-proposed explanation for this "rule", the fact that we read from left to right and therefore our eyes enter an image from the left, has never been very convincing to me. I don't disagree with the perceptual principle involved; I just have no difficulty entering a darkened image that gradually becomes lighter and more revealing as I scan it. Rather like a fade-in in film. James Meckley |
#3
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left/right light \ B&W kids portrait
James Meckley wrote in message ...
zeitgeist wrote: Almost all Renaissance and later portraiture uses light coming from the subject's right (viewer's left). This is simply not true. A broad survey of western painting shows only a slight bias toward portraits lit from the left (about a 55/45 split), with some painters favoring left, some right and some exhibiting no preference. In the early days before people read as much as we do these days, heck, before it was common for people to read, it didn't matter which side you placed the light. Today, since most all readers have a natural tendency to enter an image from the left side (this has been shown in studies were they use a laser to map where the eye is directed as it moves across a page. painters and early photographers used northlight studios and I would imagine the side it was placed depended on the shape of the room. Even more interesting is photographic portraiture, which shows a virtually even 50/50 distribution of left-right preference in a survey of fine art and commercial portraiture over the last 100 years. The only exceptions are certain amateurs and camera-club members who are unduly influenced by dogmatic rules telling them that the light must come from the left. use of right light in a commercial image is often a deliberate rule break to cause the eye to stop, commercial imagery often uses deliberately bad composition to cause the viewer to stop and mentally try and balance the composition, usually implanting the item in your brain. the use of a strong or contrasty right light can slow the eye down like a speed bump. My point in making the above comments was that this "rule" has been broken so many times (fully half the time in photographic portraiture and 40% of the time in painting) that it can no longer be considered a rule, if it ever was. Of course, I admit to being skeptical of aesthetic rules, anyway. The most-often-proposed explanation for this "rule", the fact that we read from left to right and therefore our eyes enter an image from the left, has never been very convincing to me. I don't disagree with the perceptual principle involved; I just have no difficulty entering a darkened image that gradually becomes lighter and more revealing as I scan it. Rather like a fade-in in film. James Meckley How do you account for my extreme discomfort looking at images where the light comes from my right side? |
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left/right light \ B&W kids portrait
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#5
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left/right light \ B&W kids portrait
Michael Scarpitti wrote:
How do you account for my extreme discomfort looking at images where the light comes from my right side? Have you considered the fact that classrooms, in wich most of us have spent a considerable amount of time, have the windows on the left ? (Supposedly because the majority uses their right hand to hold their pen en so as not be in one's own shadow when writing.) After ten to 15 years light from the left would seem natural... grtz rob |
#6
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left/right light \ B&W kids portrait
I had never noticed that! Now I think about it, you are spot on. Funny how this sort of thing can slip by unnoticed through 14 years at school! "rob elsjan" wrote in message ... Michael Scarpitti wrote: How do you account for my extreme discomfort looking at images where the light comes from my right side? Have you considered the fact that classrooms, in wich most of us have spent a considerable amount of time, have the windows on the left ? (Supposedly because the majority uses their right hand to hold their pen en so as not be in one's own shadow when writing.) After ten to 15 years light from the left would seem natural... grtz rob |
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left/right light \ B&W kids portrait
Michael Scarpitti wrote:
How do you account for my extreme discomfort looking at images where the light comes from my right side? A brain tumor, perhaps? James Meckley |
#9
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left/right light \ B&W kids portrait
rob elsjan wrote in message ...
Michael Scarpitti wrote: How do you account for my extreme discomfort looking at images where the light comes from my right side? Have you considered the fact that classrooms, in wich most of us have spent a considerable amount of time, have the windows on the left ? (Supposedly because the majority uses their right hand to hold their pen en so as not be in one's own shadow when writing.) After ten to 15 years light from the left would seem natural... grtz rob Damn! That's it! |
#10
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left/right light \ B&W kids portrait
SNIPS
I seem to recall talking to a portrait photographer, many years ago, and I remember him turning puple at the sight of light from the right. Early beta trials of Viagra? ;-) Lewis Check out my photos at "LEWISVISION": http://members.aol.com/Lewisvisn/home.htm Remove "nospam" to reply |
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