Can someone please tell me what to look up to read about those strange shapes that are so popular in eyes - like those in MAK's Blue in Advanced Portrait?
Umbrella= Roundish
Softbox = Rectangle
Octobox = sawed off roundish
In this case because you can see the black center in the roundish shape, I would guess a silver lined umbrella that he bounced the light off.
It is always fun hearing reverse engineering of the lighting used in a shot based on what the viewer can see reflected in the pupils. "It is clearly and ocotbox overhead and a beauty dish keylight!" and then it turns out to be shot in a tent with a clamp lamp as the only lighting.
Also don't forget ringlights. They leave a very definitive mark that can be seen.
And if you know anything about light you shouldn't think a two light diffused setup was used for what was used with a single bare, but your point is valid. Usually you should be able to get an idea of where to start, at the very least based on the shadow falloff, the specular highlights, and the directionality of the light.
you are referring to "catchlights". there are essential to giving life to portraits.
When i'm trying to figure out how a portrait was lit i always look at the eyes to see what was done. as Cory suggest you can usually see the modifiers used and where it was placed. I'm looking for placement over type and how many, usually you can see the main light(s) and strip lights. Its often time not always easy to tell as i often will enhance or modify my catch lights to give them more life. if i were MAK i would cloned out the black mark from the flash itself and made it all white, i suspect others do the same.
and Derek is right don't forget about ring lights you cant mistake the effect that gives to the eyes.
I'm curious as to why you aren't crazy about them.
I think they make the subjects look creepy and alien which I don't like unless you're photographing a creepy alien LOL
eta after seeing example from my own portfolio - I don't much like the very regular shape I have there (comes from the fact that the light source was a long, narrow, slot window in a fort's outer wall), but don't know how to edit well enough to attempt to change that. I love catch lights. Just not those that put strange and regular shapes in the pupils. I would have liked the ones on MAK's blue much better without the black dot but still would have found them too big and round.
Slightly off-topic, but alluded to above, dissecting the lighting in an image is an incredibly valuable exercise. The first time it was suggested to me I thought it was impossible to do. But I've gotten pretty good at diagnosing how many lights were used and where they were placed. And the catchlights can usually tell you what the light source was and what modifiers were used, if any.
