For this dramatic portrait of a blonde woman I drew inspiration from the works of Dutch master painters Rembrandt and Vermeer, among others. Their masterly treatment of light inspired me to create this photo using a single light source. My intention was to create a simple, elegant and dramatic portrait using soft light.
When I worked on this project I was living in Amsterdam. Back then I was studying lighting and portrait photography with Italian photographer Marzia Cosenza. My interest in light led me to study the works of Dutch painters such as Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer. One of the aspects in their work that caught my attention was their treatment of light and shadow. Another aspect that I found interesting was the colors and tones used in their paintings. In particular, I noticed that many of their paintings involved the use of a single light source; typically a window. This observation led to experiment with the use of a single light source.
For this portrait of a blonde woman wearing a black blouse my key light was a 120x90cm softbox. I mounted the softbox on a studio flash and I positioned it at camera’s left, approximately at a 45-degrees angle. This lighting setup is known as a Rembrandt light. It’s called Rembrandt light because it produces a lighting pattern seen in many of his paintings. The signature of this lighting setup is a distinctive triangle of light on the darker side of the subject’s face.