How would I create something like this?

[325Ti]

Been trying to take more artistic portraits and want to achieve an image with half the face light but the other half in darkness.

All my attempts so far have failed - any advice welcome

[mike80]

Flash on a remote to the side you want lit is a good starting point.

[DIW35]

Dark room, single light off to one side to light one side of the face and leaving the other side in shadow. Expose for the lit side.

The stronger the light source, the deeper the shadow will be, giving a greater degree of difference between the light and dark sides.

[Morbid]

Although having a dark room has already been mentioned, take a shot without the flash firing (or turn the light you are using off). The image should be completely black. Introduce the flash/light and adjust the flash/light until you get the desired affect. Flash would be my recommended route as you have more control over the output. As well as adjusting the flash you can move it. Further away gives less light, nearer...well I'm sure you can work that out.

Good luck!

[RobDickinson]

You don't really need a very dark room just not super bright, you can blast an average rooms ambient away with flash power. Keep the shutter speeds fast (synch speed)

[325Ti]

[Morbid]

Flash off to the side and slightly in front, F8 and 1/250 (to get the background black). Would look better with the flash higher I know, but this was just a quick test and the flash was on the floor. The room lights were on, so as Rob points out you don't need complete darkness (would make focussing tricky!).


IMG_6750 r by Ian J Bradshaw, on Flickr