Prompting for creatives

Member lesson

Light as the subject of a prompt

Lesson 4 of 13 in Prompting for creatives.

5 Lighting Concepts Every Cinematographer Needs To Know · In Depth Cine
Motivated Lighting Examples by Roger Deakins — Cinematography Techniques Ep. 4 · StudioBinder
Lesson

Ask a working photographer what makes a picture and you will get an answer about light long before you get one about the subject. Generative models were trained on their pictures, so the same thing holds: describing the light moves the image further than describing the thing.

A small plain cup sits on a table. A very large square softbox hangs high on the left, and the cup's soft shadow stretches far to the right, where the picture fades into deep darkness.
The cup is small; the light is the subject. Say where it comes from and what it leaves dark.
Member

The rest of this is for members.

You have read the opening of this lesson. The rest of it comes with a membership.

One membership covers all four courses and Brands.

  • All lessons in the four Learn courses
  • All brand breakdowns in the Brands section
  • All quizzes, flashcards and crosswords
  • An AI teacher on every lesson, for up to 60 questions a day
  • All course material published during the membership

Price

Membership is from $12 a month on the Yearly plan, which is charged at $144 once a year. Lifetime access is $59, paid once.Membership is from ₹200 a month on the Yearly plan, which is charged at ₹2,400 + GST once a year. Lifetime access is ₹3,999 + GST, paid once.

Check what stuck

Members only

You can't take this check yet.

Members answer these 3 questions and keep the ticket for this lesson. Every lesson has one.

  1. Question 1, locked

    Which of these words means this? “The main source. Its size, distance and direction decide most of what a picture looks like.”

    • Negation
    • Key light
    • Provenance record
    • Style token
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Hard or soft. Decided by how large the source is relative to the subject, and nothing else.”

    • Quality of light
    • Model version
    • Indirect injection
    • Default negative
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Light the scene explains: a window, a lamp, a fire. Reads as real because it has a reason.”

    • Model version
    • Motivated light
    • Indirect injection
    • Default negative

Elsewhere in the library

Hear about new courses.

Leave an email and we will tell you when something new lands. We do not write often.