Lets Light it Up

Hey there!

Everyone seems to ask me how do I make so much of drama in my pictures and I thought I would share a bit of my learnings. The core to my imagery whether photos or motion pictures is understanding lighting. And I crave to excel in this field with continuous experimentation.

Lets start with the easier option of creating a lighting set up in the studio and then we can scale up and share a few more blogs in the series

One Light Set Up

Here we have single light source to the left of the camera, under strip box to spread a full length soft light on the model. Points to note are, there is no reflector used to fill the shadows from the right of the model. One can add up a reflector with a foam-board or a 5 in 1 reflector to get a softer fill from the right.

Three Light Set Up

Moving the same light an strip box to the right we can create another set up. Although one light is a great set up, having three lights gives you more flexibility to create a separation and dimension to the imagery. The main/key light is under strip box to illuminate the subject. We can use a light source directed on the backdrop with a grid to create a defined gradient in the background. Now a third light defines and separates the subject's head from the backdrop acting as a hair/rim light placed to the left of the camera behind the subject.

Four Light Set Up

Adding another light from the top to the above set up adds up more definition to the model. You can now see the model more poped out. A question to be asked here would be "Why there is black flag on the left of the camera?" and it is there for a purpose. Since you have a back light directed towards the camera, you have to ensure there is no light spill from that source into the camera. The flags work as a handy tool to cut light fall as desired.