Contents:
NYIP offers 10 great online photography courses to choose from.
Student Login. Request Info.
Professional Photography Course Trustpilot. Complete Overview. Course Outline. Lesson 4.
Limited-Time Special. Request Info Enroll Now.
Watch Course Video. What you'll see in the descriptions that follow is how we build up the lighting one-by-one in a multi-light setup. In fact, sometimes it might be your only light.
The main light is the one that defines the most prominent light and shadow areas on the subject. With the main light in place, the turn of your subject's head further determines the lighting pattern produced. Always have the information you need to shoot great portrait photographs.
If you'd like to learn more about positioning the main light, this video will explain the classic lighting patterns used in portraiture. Flash photography is discussed, but the examples are shown with a continuous light.
The Fill Light With the main light coming in from one direction, strong shadows are cast on the areas of the subject receiving less direct light or no light at all. This creates strong contrast, especially when your main light source is relatively small and striking your subject directly, without some sort of diffusion modifier.
Contrast can be reduced in a controlled way by filling-in the shadows with some added light. This can be accomplished with a simple white panel or reflector angled to reflect some of the main light back onto the subject , or with an additional light, striking the subject with less intensity than the main.
Fill lighting can be created any number of ways. The Hair Light Another good tool to add dimension to your portraits is the hair light.
This light is often positioned high above the subject and focused to just strike the top of the head, and sometimes the shoulders. This light creates a highlight that visually separates the subject from her background.
Variations on the hair light include kicker lights that create highlights on one or both sides of the subject's form. The Background Light While the three lights described above complete the traditional three-point lighting scenario, other lights can certainly come into play, including one or more background lights. Just as with any lighting setup, the background light is something you can introduce into the scene, or it might already be a part of the environment you're shooting in.
Either way, the background light generally serves to add interest and atmosphere to the portrait. Left: Main, fill, and hair lights used.
Right: Background light can help add interest to a portrait. Light Placement For the following continuous lighting examples, I used a watt tungsten light source as my main light, and two clamp lights fitted with compact fluorescent lights as my fill and hair lights for simplicity, the illustrations feature clamp lights in all three lighting roles. They were hung and mounted on standard light stands. Place The Main Light First With your subject in place, generally facing the camera, you'll want to place your main light just above her head and to one side.
Look at where the shadows fall and adjust the position of the light until you like what you see. For basic portraits, shorter shadows are best and you'll get those by moving the light closer to the front of the subject's face rather than far off to one side. Lower, rather than higher light positions will also create shorter shadows.
However, we don't want that light coming in straight from the front of the subject, because if the shadows are too short, there will be less visual information defining the subject's features. So, find a good mix of light and shadow and start from there. As discussed earlier, and as you'll see when working with your main light, even small turns of the subject's head can drastically alter the look of the shadows.