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This week's art class:
Still Life Lighting
Seeing and noticing the different kinds of lighting can go such a long way in both enjoying your painting process and enriching it. In this lesson, we are going to look at different kinds of light, and the elements that they bring into play.
We'll also continue to dig further into how to create highlights, shade, reflected light and shadow. |
Step OneLook at the examples on our Pinterest board. Notice how the lighting effects the still life. Feel free to pin other still life pieces that reflect a certain mood you are interested in expressing in your piece.
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Notice how the changes in the lighting can impact the mood of a painting. Some of my favorite pieces have been because a certain moment was communicated with the lighting. While the subject matter has an undeniable impact on the mood and emotions of a piece, color and lighting can at times have an even greater impact.
On a sunny day, the sky above is a bright, clear blue. This makes you think of a happy day of things to come. If pinks or oranges are present in a sky ,we think of the calm and relaxing nature of a sunset. If misty purples and grays are dominant, we may get a sense of an ominous or broody mood. Although we are painting a still life, the lighting still effects the mood in the same way that it would a landscape. |
Natural Lighting
Light coming from outside or from a window.
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 Natural light only
Our first type of light for the still life is from natural lighting, a.k.a. sunlight. Sunlight can add lots of strong highlights, bold shadows and beauty. It's my favorite light to paint with. Look at how the face of the cheese is illuminated.
Experiment by setting up your still life scene in a window, on your back porch, or even taking it outside. In this set up, the window is shining light in from the left side. Strong side lighting is generally the most desirable because it can really show the subtle shifts in value quite well. Also you can get long, dramatic shadows in your scene with side lighting. |
Incandescent Lighting
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 Incandescent lighting with windows closed only source from overhead lightbulbs
Incandescent lighting is basically light that comes from electric light bulbs. It is artificial light that can have many different temperatures depending on the type of bulb.
Generally speaking, these cast a yellow-white warmth. In the picture on the left, the light is coming from only overhead light bulbs. The face of the cheese grater has fewer highlights as does the cheese. |
Ambient Lighting
Commonly called, general lighting and can come from a mix of sources.
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 Ambient lighting using natural
window and incandescent light bulbs
The 3rd is called, ambient lighting. Ambient lighting (or general lighting) serves as the primary source of illuminating a room. The ambient lighting can be made up of light from the windows as well as light fixtures. It provides lighting without too much glare or a specific lit direction.
You can see that the lighting from the window on the face of the grater is now back. Light is hitting our objects from multiple directions so the cast shadows will be less distinct. Multiple light sources can make it challenging to see patterns, highlights and shadows clearly. I often limit ambient light sources and try to create strong light from a single sources such as a window, a small lamp or a flashlight. |
Look at the 3 images below. Notice the way that the different lighting affects this little, simple scene. Compare these images to the ones above and pick out which ones use which light source. It is not shown very clearly in these examples, but a good principle to note is that warm light casts cool shadows and cool light casts warmer shadows.
You're ready to get started
- First choose a subject for your still life. Arrange it remembering to consider the composition lessons we've learned.
- Next, lightly draw your scene. If it is helpful to you, start by using those perspective skills.
- Plan ahead what direction your light source is coming from.
- Experiment by trying natural window light, incandescent light from a light bulb and lastly a mixture of both providing all over ambient lighting. Decide what look you like best by noticing the shadow and highlight shifts.
- Mask off any hard highlights that you want to be sure to retain. These will typically be the items on hard surfaces like glass and metal.
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Paint a light wash of colors into the subjects, keeping it lighter around your highlight areas. Remember that soft highlights are found on soft materials such as a peach, fabric and wood.
Hard highlights are found on hard, reflective surfaces such as a Christmas ball, a jar or beads. Hard highlights are also found on wet items like a scoop of jelly, water or shiny candy. |
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Once your first wash is dry, go ahead and put in your second wash of color. Darken up the inside or shaded parts of your cups, bowls or whatever objects you are using. Use those surface shape methods to make the shapes look real.
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Now go a step darker with your darks, making sure that they are in the 8 to 9 range of the value scale.
Put in additional detail and add in more darks for accents. Don't be afraid to punch in that contrast! |
The rest of these videos have sound so make sure yours is turned up.
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Look to see what parts of your scene are in shadow. In my case it was inside of the grater and under the handle. I also note that the right outer side of the handle is mostly away from the light. I darken those areas up more.
Don't forget to leave that little 1/8" for the depth of your objects. (they are not paper thin) |
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Notice what reflected colors of light might be bouncing between your objects. Often color from one object bounces onto another in subtle ways.
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While letting one of your layers dry, add in your shadows. Remember that these will become softer and lighter as they go away from the subject.
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A few final tips...
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