Mastering (trying to) light

Mastering light is vital to any photographer and the only way to do it it's by experimentation (specially if you are self thaught like me). Today I grab a bust - it was the one thing I had that resembled more like a person - and decided to play around with natural and artificial light.

1 Image - Natural light coming from a window on the left side.
2 Image - Natural light coming from a window on the left and some aluminium foil on the right side to eliminate the shadow.

And because I don't believe in doing everything the traditional way, I tried some cardboard as a reflector on the 3 image. If you look closely the difference is very minimal but sometimes that's all you need.

3 Image - Cardboard as a reflector on the right side.
4 Image - Natral light on the left with no reflector on the right.

Then, I tried a black background to give a more dramatic effect to the images. Although, it wasn't enough, so I place a lampshade without the "abajur", on the right side (5 image), and on the left side (6 image).

The light is a bit harsh but the idea is there.

 Last but not least, I put the lampshade behind the subject in order to make it  stand out against the background.

These are just some basic ideas to lit your subjects in different ways in order to achieve different styles. The aluminium foil and the cardboard are just "on budjet" tips, if you are a beginner.

I hope this post help you  , let me know if it did on the comments below . Thank you for visiting !

Enjoy !