Digital Photographer
Issue 274
Create catchlights
Use festive lights to create magical reflections in your subject’s eyes and boost your portraits
When taking a portrait, it is important to include catchlights. These are reflections of the light source in the subject’s eyes that can add life, depth and a captivating sparkle. They make your subject look more vibrant and engaging and can turn a mundane portrait into an eye-catching one. The shape and intensity of catchlights can vary depending on the shooting environment.
When shooting in a studio, the most effective way to create catchlights is to direct a light source towards your subject. This can be easily accomplished using a softbox or beauty dish to diffuse light for flattering effects. Similarly, when shooting outdoors, the sun creates natural catchlights, even when the weather is overcast. In fact, on overcast days, the clouds act as a natural softbox, creating gentle reflections in your subject’s eyes.
Catchlights are essentially light reflections and so they offer limitless potential to experiment and create unique light shapes to complement the style of your portrait. At this time of the year, one technique is to use Christmas lights to create unique catchlights, for example in the shape of a Christmas tree or with festive green and red colours.
To create the outline, we need to attach a string of lights to a piece of wood or thick cardboard you may have lying around the home. Stick the lights down with either nails or tape into the desired shape. It’s a quick and cost-effective way of adding a special touch that makes your festive portraits stand out.
BEFORE
Missing sparkle Here, the eye reflection has been created by the window in the room. Though it adds depth to the subject, the photo lacks a captivating element or festive touch
AFTER
Christmas catchlight Ordinary Christmas lights were arranged in the shape of a star and positioned in front of the subject. Using the optimal exposure settings, this created a bright and clear reflection in the subject’s eye
1. Set the scene
Choose a dark or dimly lit room with minimal ambient light as this will help make the reflections stand out more. Gently place the Christmas lights in front of your model, ensuring they are not too bright and are evenly distributed.
2. Stay steady
When working in low-light conditions, place your camera on a tripod to keep it steady. This allows you to use longer shutter speeds, where more light can enter the sensor, and also prevents camera shake, resulting in sharp and well-exposed images.
3. Shoot in Manual
Change to M mode to manually adjust the exposure settings. Use a slow shutter speed, between 1/4 to 1 sec, to allow the light reflection to stand out. Select an open aperture of about f/6.3 to enhance the light and create beautiful bokeh.
4. Select ISO value
Keep your ISO setting as low as possible to reduce the amount of visible noise in the darker parts of the image. However, if the final result shows significant noise, you can correct it in post-production with the Denoise function in Lightroom.
5. Set the focus
To ensure both the eye and catchlight are sharp, go into your camera menu to bring up the available focus options. The eye-tracking feature on Canon cameras, for example, works well and is a great way of ensuring that the subject’s eyes are in focus.
6. Choose focal length
Working with a versatile lens, such as the Canon 24-240mm f/4-6.3 telephoto lens, allows you to rearrange the frame with ease. Work with long focal lengths to achieve an aesthetically pleasing compressed perspective.