Trippy Video Shows How a Person’s Face Changes Depending on the Lighting

Want to see how much of an effect the direction and color of your lighting has on your portrait subject’s face? Check out this trippy video by Nacho Guzman, who used a moving light and changing colors to cause a woman’s face to look like it’s constantly morphing.

The 2-minute-long clip is a teaser for an upcoming music video of the song “Sparkles and Wine” by French electronic music group Opale.

It was shot using a Canon 5D Mark II DSLR and two lenses (a Canon 24-105mm f/4 and a Samyang 35mm f/1.4). The lighting consisted of two 10×10 centimeter LED lights that were fixed to a ring and rotated around the woman’s face, as well as a string of Christmas light-style LEDs.

It’s a very low budget effort that illustrates how different lighting angles produce vastly different results:

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Guzman says the video is a homage to French film director Henri-Georges Clouzot, who used the same effect in his unfinished film L’Enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot (“Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno”). In it, the rotating lights were used to create a creepy, psychedelic scene showing the mental state of a jealous husband.

(via Vimeo via Xatakafoto)

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