Studio lighting is what separates many professional portrait photographers from the amateurs. Bad lighting on someone just looks horrible. The right lighting can bring out your subject's best features (and they will love you forever for making them look good). That's not to say that you can't achieve wonderful shots with natural light only - of course this is possible. However, for formal or glamour portraits, the flexibility of being able to control light totally will produce some powerful shots.
A basic studio lighting kit, flexible enough for many different shots, consists of two lights, with umbrellas and/or softboxes. If you are shooting people it is preferable to use studio strobes, which act as a jumbo sized version of your normal on-camera flash. The alternative to this is continuous lighting - think floodlights - which can still be effective, but produce less power overall and have heat and energy usage problems.
This setup can be used in many configurations - a common setup is to use one light on one side of a subject and the other light on the opposite side at half the power of the first light. This setup will give a shot with some shadows to emphasise features, but the shadows won't be very dark - good if you are trying to show the full face or body of the subject.
Another option is to use just one light on one side of the subject, and the second light being either a backdrop light or a hair light. A backdrop light is useful to make the subject stand out from the background, but should be significantly lower power than the main light in most cases. A hair light is usually placed behind or on a boom, pointing at the back of your subject's head. This creates a fringe of light around the edges of hair and clothing, which is a good effect in glamour type photography.
Studio lighting isn't just for professionals, and learning to use proper strobes, umbrellas and other light modifiers can be immensely rewarding! FastLights is New England’s leading lighting and grip rental house. Gear and crew available from 10 locations throughout the Northeast. Open 24/7. For more info about studio lights, studio photography lighting in Hartford and lights for rent click here.
A basic studio lighting kit, flexible enough for many different shots, consists of two lights, with umbrellas and/or softboxes. If you are shooting people it is preferable to use studio strobes, which act as a jumbo sized version of your normal on-camera flash. The alternative to this is continuous lighting - think floodlights - which can still be effective, but produce less power overall and have heat and energy usage problems.
This setup can be used in many configurations - a common setup is to use one light on one side of a subject and the other light on the opposite side at half the power of the first light. This setup will give a shot with some shadows to emphasise features, but the shadows won't be very dark - good if you are trying to show the full face or body of the subject.
Another option is to use just one light on one side of the subject, and the second light being either a backdrop light or a hair light. A backdrop light is useful to make the subject stand out from the background, but should be significantly lower power than the main light in most cases. A hair light is usually placed behind or on a boom, pointing at the back of your subject's head. This creates a fringe of light around the edges of hair and clothing, which is a good effect in glamour type photography.
Studio lighting isn't just for professionals, and learning to use proper strobes, umbrellas and other light modifiers can be immensely rewarding! FastLights is New England’s leading lighting and grip rental house. Gear and crew available from 10 locations throughout the Northeast. Open 24/7. For more info about studio lights, studio photography lighting in Hartford and lights for rent click here.