Professional studio photography lighting part 2: Studio portrait photography

Hey guys. This is the second part of our Professional studio photography lighting series. Last time we discussed some of the most popular professional studio photography lighting equipment and accessories used in studio, indoor, and outdoor photography to better direct and control available or artificial light for high quality, sharp images (for more on that check Professional studio photography lighting part 1: photography lighting equipment). Today we’re taking this knowledge and building on it, learning how to use these stuff in professional studio portrait photography.

Studio portrait photography

The most basic technique used in studio portrait photography is done by placing a medium size light source in front of the model to the side and top. The light source creates a 30º angle with the camera, which is typically placed right in front of the model. Medium size light generally enhances most skin types, and the gradual transition from light to shades will gracefully portray form. This set up usually causes the nose of the model to cast a small shadow towards the lips (commonly known as loop lighting).

Beware not to position your model too close to the light source, as the light drop off will be quite dramatic causing great contrast between light and shadow areas of the model (for more on this check Photography and light: The inverse square law). Placing the model within 2-3 meters from the light is generally acceptable.

Take your meter reading off your model’s face, having models with darker skin tones or dark clothing facing the light so that light drop off doesn’t leave them in the shades.

Moving the light to a 45º angle from the camera, creates what is known as Rembrandt lighting which is a style commonly used in painting and named after former influential dutch artist. The Rembrandt lighting style is very dramatic with the angle of the light and face combining to create an inverted triangle of light around the eye furthest from the light source. The rest of the face is left in the shadows.

Both photography lighting setups will cause catch lights to appear in the eyes of the model at 10 o’clock position. A shoot-through umbrella will cause the catch light to appear as a clear circular shape, a softbox will produce a rectangular or square shape, and a reflecting umbrella will produce a round shape with a black keyhole-like figure in the middle where the lamp head and stand blot out the reflected light (for more on these equipment check Professional studio photography lighting part 1: photography lighting equipment).

To evaluate the difference between the light and shadow parts of your model, use an incident light meter
with a flat diffuser positioned right in front of the lit side of the face and towards the main light. Next take a reading from the shadow side of the face. The difference in stops between the two readings (the light and the dark side) is known as the lighting ratio. One stop difference is a 2:1 lighting ratio. Two stops difference is a 4:1 lighting ratio. Three stops difference is an 8:1 lighting ratio. Four stops difference is a 16:1 lighting ratio. And on and on and on… The greater the difference, the greater contrast your scene will have.

More contrast generally adds more drama to the exposure if done right (something like an 8:1 or a 16:1 lighting ratio). If the contrast is greater than what your sensor can handle, causing either clipped highlight or shadow details, incorporate a fill light in front of the model to the other side of the main light. This will reflect some light from the key light source back onto the darker side of the model, consequently cutting down on scene contrast. This can be as easy as simply placing a reflector on the other side of the main light, to the front of the model.

Also remember the inverse square law we’ve discussed in an earlier post (for more on that check Photography and light: The inverse square law). The further the light source is from the model, the less light fall off is, and the less contrast there is between shadow and light areas of the scene.

If the background is of a middle-tone color, and is more than around 3 stops less exposed than the lit area of the model, it will render almost black. If you want the background to render significantly similar to natural, place 2 background lights (or 4 depending on the size and area of the background) aimed from 45º into the center of the background to match the lit foreground. The background light is typically placed behind the model and towards the backdrop. Take your reading off the lit area of the model, and shoot.

You can also try turning off the background light at the dark side of the model, having only the main light and background light at the same lit side turned on. This will cause the face to beautifully contrast with the shadows (the shadow of the face against the background light behind) on the backdrop. This photography lighting technique is known as “Chequerboard” lighting.

For a pure white background result, place a white backdrop behind the model and use the same above photography lighting technique (2 background lights aimed from 45º into the center of the background). This time though, increase the background’s lights intensity by 1 stop. You can do this either by increasing their power, or moving them closer to the background. Now take a shot. The extra exposed white backdrop will render as a pure white background.

Now if you wanna make a specific mid-tone color backdrop from the above setup, all you need to do is use light gels with the color effect you want. Adjust the background light’s intensity to a 1 stop less power than the main light for a mid-tone color, and more for darker toned colors.

To produce a pure black background for you model, place a black backdrop behind your model. Turn off all background lights and make sure no light from the front (the main light and any fill light or reflectors) reaches the back. You can place flags where necessary to direct any spilt light from reaching the background. Make sure your background is around 2 to 3 stops less exposed than your model’s lit side, and take your shot. The background will look pure black with no details.

Another variation is the addition of a hair light (also called a rim light). This is typically a small light source placed behind the model, right opposite to the main light and headed towards the model’s back. The light should fall on the model’s head and shoulders from behind, and should meter at a 1 stop brighter exposure than that to be used on the main light (also known as key light).

Front fill photography lighting technique

This photography lighting technique is commonly used in fashion photography due to the quality of the flat frontal light that washes away any trace of blemishes or skin imperfection, as the shadows are soft and projected behind the model.

For this technique, you would use a very large umbrella or softbox placed directly behind the photographer and the camera, and right in front of your model. The source should be large enough as to wrap around the photographer and the camera stand, softly illuminating the model from the front.

This photography lighting technique casts catchlights within the model’s eyes appearing as a huge white light source with the figure of the photographer and their stand silhouetted in the middle.

You can use the front fill light setup in conjunction with any of the photography lighting setups described above, and tune your front light down a couple stops lower than the main light’s exposure for very subtle front fill.

This was a lesson in how to make use of different photography lighting equipment, how to use and manipulate them the way you want for professional studio portrait photography results. Next I’m gonna walk you through setting up your camera and lights and how you would go about preparing everything for your photo shoot. Stay tuned =)