There is a style of Photography called the Rembrant Style. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age.He had a certain style for painting the light in his images.
This is a self portrait. You can see that his lighting is special. Photographers have replicated his style calling it the Rembrant Style. The secret of this is to keep half of the face lighted. Added to this is a triangular shape of light on the side which is in shadow.
This is a free stock image that I will be using for this tutorial. It belongs to AngellofFyre
In photoshop you do not have a model or able to set the lights for the effect. All you have is a 2D image.
Let us see if we can give this image a Rembrant Style of lighting.
Step 1 : Unlock the Background Layer by pressing ALT and double clicking the layer. The Background Layer will change to Layer 0.
Step 2 : Click the Lasso Tool.
Step 3 : In the top panel I have set the Feather to 25 pixels.
Step 4 : With the Lasso Tool draw a selection taking care to see that the selection passes through the middle of the face.
Step 5 : Click the Add New Fill or Adjustment Layer icon and select Levels from the pop up.
Step 6 : In the Levels dialogue, drag the White slider at left and the Gray slider in the middle towards the left
gradually. This portion of the image brightens.
This is how the image looks.
Step 7 : CTRL+Click the Mask on Levels 1 Layer.
Step 8 : The selection of marching ants reappears.
Step 9 : Press CTRL+SHIFT+I. This will inverse the selection.
Step 10 : Click back on Layer 0.
Step 11 : Click on the Add New Fill or Adjustment Layer. Click on Levels from the pop up.
Step 12 : In the Levels dialogue, drag the Black slider at the left and the Gray slider in the middle towards the right which will darken the right portion of the image.
This is how the image looks.
Step 13 : Make sure that the Foreground/Background Colors are set to the default Black/White. Press b to bring up the Brush Tool and brush over the pupil and the whites of the eyes.
This is how the image looks.
Step 14 : Click on Layer 0.
Step 15 : Click on the Lasso Tool
Step 16 : Draw a rough triangle with the Lasso Tool on the right cheek.
Step 17 : Click the the New Fill or Adjustment Layer Button and click on Levels.
Step 18 : Drag the White slider at right towards the left as also the Gray slider in the middle till a glow appears on the cheek. Tweak all the Levels Adjustments layers till you are satisfied.
And here is my Rembrant Style of lighting in Photoshop.
Other photoshop tutorials are here
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