REMBRANDT LIGHTING 



BY FELIX RAYMER 



O DOUBT one of the 

 most attractive lightings 

 known to the photo- 

 graphic operator, as well 

 as the home worker, is 

 the Rembrandt effect 

 of light. These effects of 

 light are quite different 

 from any other made 

 by the studio worker, and in nearly all 

 cases please the customer, for they appeal 

 to the artistic feeling of all. In addition to 

 this there are few subjects that will make 

 the best pictures in this lighting. Subjects 

 of a blonde type or of children are as a 

 rule better for this class of work, as the 

 brunette having very dark hair makes it 

 especially difficult to get detail in the deep- 

 est shadows. 



We will suppose our window to be three 

 feet wide and six feet high. This, I think, 

 is about the usual size of windows in the 

 living rooms of our homes. There is gener- 

 ally a shade of dark material that can be 

 drawn from the top down to the bottom of 

 the window. This shade should be removed 

 and the- fasteners which hold it in place and 

 in which it revolves should be placed at the 

 bottom of the casing, and the curtain then 

 inserted. In the centre of the curtain should 

 be fastened a cord, and this cord run 

 through a pulley that has been placed at the 

 top of the casing, so that when the cord is 

 pulled it will raise the curtain up to the top 

 of the window if desired. This is simply to 

 reverse the curtain. By this means the 

 lower half of the window can be shaded, if 

 desired, and I have found that it is seldom 

 the lower sash is of use in portrait-making. 

 We will now take up Rembrandt lighting 

 in easy steps, as we did in a preceding article 

 on plain lighting. I will ask that a close 

 study be given the illustration of the little 

 girl that accompanies this article, so that 

 one may be perfectly familiar with it, as I 

 will refer to it frequently in the course of my 

 paper- 

 First — Draw the curtain on the window 



up to the top of the lower sash. This closes 

 off the lower part of the light, and prevents 

 too much contrast between the light side of 

 the face and the shadow side. 



Second — Seat the subject directly oppo- 

 site one of the side casings - of the window, 

 so that the window is in front of her. Here 

 it will be well to refer to the little pen sketch 

 of the window and room, so as to fully 

 understand our meaning. My reason for 

 having all of the light fall on the subject 

 from the front is that the more light we have 

 from the front, the softer the effect of the 

 entire lighting. And the Rembrandt effect 

 of light is such that we have to work to the 

 end that we secure softness. Its natural 

 tendency is toward contrast. We must 

 overcome this natural tendency and to do 

 that we shall have to get all the light possi- 

 ble falling on the subject from the front. It 

 might be well for the reader to try moving 

 the subject backward and forward under the 

 light, and notice the difference in its effects 

 as she is moved back, so that the light falls 

 from the front, and as she is moved up so 

 that a part of it falls from the rear. 



Third — Place the subject the ,same dis- 

 tance from the • light that it measures in 

 width. If the window is three feet wide the 

 subject should be three feet from it. If 

 more, the subject should be placed accord- 

 ingly. 



Fourth — Request the subject to turn her 

 back to the light, and face out in the room. 



Fifth — Cause the subject to turn slowly 

 back toward the light, and when she has 

 reached the point where a sharp little dart 

 of light comes into the shadow eye bid her 

 stop. 



Sixth — Now study the effect of light as it 

 falls on the face. Look at the eyes, and if 

 there is a little dart of light in both of them 

 they are all right. But if there is a dart of 

 light in the light eye and not in the shadow 

 eye it is because the subject has not been 

 turned far enough to the light. If there is a 

 dart of light in the shadow eye and not in 

 the light one it is because the light eye is 



