Window Light :: © Bahman Farzad
Most experienced photographers will agree that one of the most challenging things you will face is setting up for a perfectly lit portrait session. Lighting for portrait photography is extremely difficult, much more so than many people will understand until they have done it for themselves.
There are many options for portrait lighting. All photographers have their own style of photography, and most of them have certain techniques they rely on when lighting and shooting their portrait assignments. Some photographers specialize in studio lighting, and some choose to rely on natural lighting with a few reflectors to help fill the gaps.
No matter what your comfort level is, it is very important that you as a photographer experiment with portrait lighting so that you can be prepared when the assignment comes up.
The Basics of Portrait Lighting
Beautiful portrait lighting is accomplished with one goal in mind: take a photograph that captures the emotion in your model or models. It’s that simple. When you set up for the shoot, you know what kind of emotion you want to convey in each photograph. Set up the lighting with that in mind.
Yasmin :: © fingertrouble
Dramatic Portrait Lighting
Some times the portrait requires really dramatic lighting. In these instances you can experiment with a single studio light, a constant hot light or a strobe, with a dramatic angle on the model. The single light source creates a strong, dramatic direction of light, and by using the reflectors you can reflect some of that light back to the opposite side to help fill the shadows just a bit so that you do not have a complete loss of detail.
Traditional Portrait Lighting
Often times a photographer is asked to produce the traditional studio portrait. This one, in my opinion, is the most challenging. The traditional three-light portrait requires an understanding of the light and camera setup that only comes with experience.
Traditional three light portrait shoots call for just that, three lights which are usually strobes. Most of the time each light is set to varying strengths and distance from the model. The main light is to be placed to one side of the subject and usually higher than head level to direct the light downward and across the subject. This light produces the shadows and contours of the subject.
The secondary light is usually placed to the opposite side of the subject, meant to fill in some of the shadows to create a less dramatic feel to the photograph. This helps reduce sharp shading in the face, which can sometimes make the subject’s eyes look too deep, or their nose look to big. The secondary light is very often placed slightly lower than head level, directing light upward, and is set with less strength and usually a bit further away from the model.
The third light is used differently by different photographers. Many photographers use the third light to directly light the backdrop. Directing this light on the backdrop can really ad a lot to the photograph by controlling the depth of the photo, and the contrast to the model. A direct light on the backdrop will result in a noticeable gradient effect from the center point of where the light is directed to the outer portions of the backdrop where the light is fading out. This gives the photograph a natural vignette look, directing the viewer’s eye towards the middle of the image.
Additionally, most photographers will use reflectors where needed to fill in the shadows that need a little extra help. Reflectors are a staple in a photographer’s world, and with a little practice you can learn to make many of your photographs much better by using a simple white, or gold panel to reflect light back towards the shadows of your model.
Natural Lighting Portrait
The naturally lit portrait is my favorite for a few reasons. One being that you never know what you are going to get until the time comes. Relying on natural light for your portraits will always produce different results, but with a little experience you will learn how to use what you have available to produce the best portrait possible.
Naturally lit portraits can be shot indoors or outdoors, utilizing available sunlight. You will find many beautiful portraits done near a window, utilizing only the light allowed through the window from outside. These portraits can be very interesting and dramatic, often times high contrast and very defined contours and shading. Again, reflector panels can be used to help control the shadows.
Things to remember:
Reflectors are flat panels used to bounce light back towards the subject. These panels are usually white, gold or blue. White produces a neutral light color, gold produces a warm color, and blue produces a cool color. Most portraits utilize a neutral or warm color approach.
Constant lighting, usually known as “hot lights”, are tungsten light sets that supply a constant light sources. These lights are much easier to control, but are very hot and bright, and can be uncomfortable for a model to be in place for too long. The model will often times begin to sweat or squint, which can effect the outcome of the photo.
Strobe lighting is the most common studio lighting setup that we have all seen that produces a number of lights flashing, triggered by a remote controlled by the camera. Strobe lighting is more difficult to perfect and requires a little training and a lot of experimentation to perfect. Because of the reliability and natural color that strobe lighting produces, most professional photographers prefer strobe lighting in the studio.
