Hey all,

I am attending a photography class, and we went through environmental portraits. Having a look through my books at home, I came across this stunning picture from Elliot Erwitt.

https://preview.redd.it/w607lp7w3xxd1.jpg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=48fa510f46a6d745f5eb062241d97c765ff9bc6a

A few elements from the picture above triggered me about the use of light:

• During the class I understood that you can tell a soft light is used when the shadows are not so sharp and definite
• Soft lights are pretty gentle on details

I assume they used soft light, but cannot understand why the contrast around Marilyn hand is so stark.
Would you be able to tell me what kind of lighting setup they utilised to achieve this?

Bonus: feel free to add interpretations to the composition and effects achieved with this lighting settings.