A Post By: Oded Wagenstein
What is a catch light, and why you should have it in your portraits?
A very popular technique in portraiture – a catch light is a spark of light in your subject’s eyes. This spark will help you to draw your viewer’s attention to your subject’s eyes, making them full of life and, well, sparkling.
For this portrait, I made recently in Cienfuegos, Cuba, I used the light from the setting sun to create a catch light, even without having the subject looking up.
To create a catch light, all you need is a source of bright light to reflect in your subject’s eyes. This source can be artificial, like a flash, or natural, like sunlight. In this article, I will focus on creating catch light in portraits using natural light.
Creating a catch light – indoor
To create a catch light in an indoor location, all you need to do is to make sure there is a visible source of light, which will be reflected in your subject’s eyes.
Position your subject near an open window or door, during daylight, and make sure there is a direct line between the source of light and the subject, without blocking objects like furniture. Your subject does not have to look directly into the source, as it might be too dazzling or uncomfortable. The important thing is that the light source must be visible as a reflection in the subject’s eyes.
I met the lovely Nagina at her home in a small village of Roma people, outside Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Although she was only 10; she was very busy caring for her small brothers, along with few other neighbors’ children. She asked me to take her photo, and I was drawn to her gaze right away, choosing to go for a close-up portrait. The house was completely dark, except a large window, which was position at a 45-degree angle to her face, which created that catch light in her eyes.
Good to know: The closer your subject is to the light source (open window or door) the larger and more dominant the spark of catch light will seem.
Creating a catch light – outdoors
For achieving the best results in an outdoor shooting, all you need to do is aim your subject to look at the largest light source – the sky. DO NOT instruct the subject to gaze at the sun, even for a brief moment, as it can lead to pain and damage to his or her eyes.
If you do not want to stage your subject, or if there is a language barrier, a great technique of aiming your subject’s gaze up, is by simply positioning yourself a bit above your subject. While they gaze it your lens, the sky (behind you) will reflect in their eyes. This is why I photograph many of my outdoor portraits at an angle, which is a bit higher than my subject.
Mordecai is Jewish Orthodox, from the old city of Jerusalem. I was very surprised that he agreed to be photographed, even with joy. To give a spark to those amazing eyes I told him to look into my lens, while I positioned myself slightly higher than him, and the lovely skies of holy Jerusalem were reflected in his eyes.
Good to know: On a sunny day, I recommend positioning your subject in the shade, as gazing at sunny skies might be uncomfortable.
Creating a catch light – while using a reflector
Using reflectors in portrait photography is a wonderful technique, that can help you to create catch lights in almost any situation, indoor or outdoor, sunny or cloudy.
Not only do reflectors allow you to create that spark of catch light almost anywhere; but they will allow you much more control, over the intensity, color, and direction of that spark.
A pocket size silver reflector was the best tool for the job for this portrait, photographed in a very hot afternoon in Armenia.
Good to know: Reflectors come in many sizes and colors. For the best results, use a small pocket-sized silver reflector. Why? Because you do not need anything larger or heavier. Those small reflectors are the perfect weapon of choice, for creating a catch light in close-up portraits. Position the reflector just under the chin of your subject. You can hold the reflector with your left hand, or ask the subject to hold it.