Illinois, IL

The State of Illinois is a state of the United States of America, the 21st to be admitted to the Union. Illinois is the most populous and demographically diverse state in the Midwest and the fifth most populous in the nation.

With Chicagoland in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and western Illinois, and natural resources like coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a broad economic base.

Illinois is an important transportation hub; the Port of Chicago connects the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River via the Illinois River. Illinois is often viewed as a microcosm of the United States; an Associated Press analysis of 21 demographic factors determined Illinois was the "most average state," while the city of Peoria has long been a proverbial social and cultural bellweather.

Between 1300 and 1400 CE, the Mississippian city of Cahokia had a population of around 40,000, making it the largest city within the future United States until it was surpassed by Philadelphia in the 1800s.

About 2,000 Native American hunters and a small number of French villagers inhabited the area at the time of the American Revolution.

American settlers began arriving from Kentucky in the 1810s; they achieved statehood in 1818. The future metropolis of Chicago was founded in the 1830s. Railroads and John Deere's invention of the self-scouring steel plow made central Illinois' rich prairie into some of the world's most productive and valuable farmlands, attracting immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden.

Northern Illinois provided major support for Illinoisans Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant during the American Civil War. By 1900, the growth of industry in northern cities and coal mining in central and southern areas attracted immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, and also made the state a major arsenal in both world wars.

In addition, large numbers of blacks migrated to Chicago from the South, where they formed a large community and created the city's famous jazz and blues cultures.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Illinois".

Easy Tips For Lighting Photography Portrait Models

by Dan Eitreim

When lighting photography portrait basics, it helps to know the usage of all the assorted lights involved. These techniques are thought of as standard patterns because they get the job done and every photographer should totally understand them...

The main light's use in lighting photography portraits is to provide the overall lighting. This light is the one that you will generally read and use for your exposure settings.

To be a main or key source of light , it doesn't have to actually be an expensive studio strobe. It could be naturally occuring light, the flash on your camera , or even a reflector kicking illumination into the subject .

If you want to make your model appear 3D rather than 2D , your key light should be positioned off to the side so that shadows- on the opposite side of the face - are created.

Based on the strength of your main light, the shadow area could be very dark and intense. Generally, this is not what we want. We will want to brighten the shadow so that features of the face are visible .

Enter the fill light. As before , this can be an extra studio light, ambient light, the camera's flash or even a reflector pushing light from the main light into the shadowed areas.

The intensity level of the second light - as compared to the key light - is what will determine the depth and intensity of the shadows. A standard rule of thumb is to have the second light be about half the strength of the key light.

The 3rd light source is the backdrop light, separation light, or hair light. Like the others it too can be any source of light . This light is used to separate the subject from the backdrop.

This light can be turned away from the model and shone onto the background, or aimed toward the model - turning it into what's called a rim light. Or it could even be situated higher than the model where it becomes a hair light.

This is the standard three light set up used in lighting photography portrait models in most studios around the world.

About the Author

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