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enter image description here

I was trying out the same shot but was unable to achieve such lighting on the subject. Also My background becomes visible If I start playing around with the exposure. i.e. if my exposure is balanced I can see the background, if I under expose my shot the subject becomes dark. What kind of settings are used to get a snap like this ?

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    \$\begingroup\$ FWIW it seems likely that the background was made dark by editing - this is not certain but the massivelyt gamma-upped version seen here suggests so. \$\endgroup\$
    – Russell McMahon
    Dec 4, 2015 at 11:13
  • \$\begingroup\$ Also, by replacing the black background which has RGB values of 2,2,4 with pure white with a colour difference tolerance of 1 (so only essentially identically coloured pixels atre replaced, you get the same pattern as in the gamma-upped version showing where the background has been "pasted" with black. See HERE \$\endgroup\$
    – Russell McMahon
    Dec 4, 2015 at 11:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ Just to be clear: when you say "smooth", you mean the effect where the subject is illuminated but the background us dark, as you describe? Or do you mean something additional by that? \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Dec 4, 2015 at 12:35
  • \$\begingroup\$ @mattdm I meant the lighting on the subject is so clear but the background is not visible. But, when I try it out I even get the background. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kartheek Palepu
    Dec 4, 2015 at 13:03
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Russell, do you think that's selective editing, or a global curves adjustment? \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Dec 4, 2015 at 13:29

2 Answers 2

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It is hard to tell with this small version, but the image might be a composition of two images. If there were several candles lighting the person I would expect multiple shadow lines, eg. from the arm. One could also have a look at the catchlight in the eyes in a high-res version.

To get the background dark enough, in addition to the other suggestions, you need to shut out all other light. You can expose a shot without the candles for the highest exposure to know what your limit is. Then you can add candles to illuminate the subject as much as needed. the background should almost not be affected since the light intensity falls off proportional to 1/r².

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    \$\begingroup\$ +1 for the catchlight in the eyes, that's a great place to look for clues on lighting setup \$\endgroup\$
    – laurencemadill
    Dec 4, 2015 at 16:57
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    \$\begingroup\$ It could have been a single image, there are least 8 candles there, possibly more behind, so slow enough shutter and sitting very still it's obviously achievable. It looks like most of the candles are (at least approximately) on a plane parallel to the camera, with the exception of one that seems to be quite a way forward, so this may explain why you don't have the multiple shadow lines on the upper arm/shoulder \$\endgroup\$
    – laurencemadill
    Dec 4, 2015 at 17:02
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Be sure to have a real black background behind your subject, and then be sure that your subject is quite distant from it. Now, by exposing correctly on your subject's skin, you should obtain the result you like.

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    \$\begingroup\$ IMHO you do not need exactly black background. As far as it is not illuminated and you have enough distance to it you can use any neutral background \$\endgroup\$
    – Romeo Ninov
    Dec 4, 2015 at 6:52

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