photographic lighting basics

Functions of photographic lighting:

to enable the photographer to see and focus on the subject, and then to create an image of the subject with a camera
to convey information about the subject such as shape, colour, size, texture and form
to comment by giving mood or atmosphere to a subject and implications of worthiness, value, happiness, misery, honesty, purity, etc.
to give sensual pleasure to the viewer - the “eye-candy” factor:
- in addition to the above factors, use of lighting to modify your image will allow one to adjust image contrast and potentially simplify a confused scene by removing detail in unwanted areas by placing them in shadow or excessive brightness, or by decreasing the impact of busy multiple shadows in a scene by choosing a large light source such as a cloudy day to remove the shadows.

What does light do to a subject?

whenever light falls on a subject, depending on the direction of light, the size of the light source & the reflective qualities of the subject, varying degrees of each of the following parts of the subject will be present:
- highlight:
  - this is the brightest reflection from the subject & it shows the colour and potentially the shape (eg. catchlights on the eyes) of the light source
- highlight / lit area boundary:
  - this region shows shape & texture of shiny & semi-matte subjects
- lit area:
  - this region shows the colour of the subject
- shadow / lit area boundary:
  - this region shows shape & texture of semi-matte & matte subjects
- shadow:
  - unless lit by another light source, this area shows nothing.
direction of light:
- the direction of light on the subject will determine how much of each of these regions are visible to the camera
- front-lighting:
  - subject is lit by a light source near the axis of the camera
  - eg. on-camera flash
- side-lighting:
  - subject is lit by a light source 90deg to the axis of the camera
- half-side lighting or angled lighting:
  - light source is in a position between front lighting & side lighting
  - for portraits, 45deg horizontally and vertically from the face is often used to give a good mix of lit area showing skin tones/make-up, and boundary areas showing modelling & form, with a smaller amount of shadow area for contrast & further shaping.
- top-lighting:
  - is just another form of side-lighting but is generally not flattering for portraits as it casts unwanted shadows in the eyes while the nose and head lighten
  - eg. midday Summer sun
- backlighting:
  - light aimed from behind the subject and towards the camera
  - will result in even matte surfaces gaining highlights thus backlight behind a portrait will create highlights in each hair, but those hairs will take on the hue of the light source rather than their own colour.
  - cause lens flare which lightens dark areas in the image thus reducing contrast
  - if the light source is small & directly hits the lens, it will create flare spots on the image the shape of the lens diaphragm.
  - eg. hair lights or kick lights
  - eg. contre-jour
- thus, if you wish to emphasise the subject's colour, you need to maximise the amount of lit area such as by front lighting, but you will lose textural information
- if you wish to emphasise form & texture, you need to maximise the area of the boundary of the lit area such as by side-lighting the subject but you will lose colour saturation
size of light source:
- small light source:
  - such as sun, flash gun, bare light bulb, headlights of car
  - results in sharply defined shadows, specular highlights
- medium size light sources:
  - such as window light, photographer's soft boxes & reflectors
  - often give the most flattering portraits as softens the harsh shadows while decreasing unwanted specular highlights such as from perspiration
- large light sources:
  - such as a cloudy day
  - results in soft shadows if any and no specular highlights & thus lacks contrast but the loss of shadows is useful for simplifying a busy scene, while contrast can be added in other ways such as by using colourful subjects (to create colour contrast) or wide dynamic range subjects (eg. blacks and whites)
subject surface:
- shiny surface:
  - highlight area is prominent while the lit & shadow areas tend to merge into one
  - photographer needs to consider shape, size & position of the highlights, in general, shiny objects are photographed with a medium to large light source for best effect.
- semi-matte surface:
  - both the highlight & shadow areas are clearly distinguishable from the lit area
  - front-light or angle light to show colour and minimise shadows
  - use a small light source to reduce the size of the highlight area
- matte surface:
  - the surface contains millions of particles reflecting light in all different directions & thus there are millions of minute highlights which are usually too small to be seen
  - the lit area shows the colour of the subject but is largely flat in appearance
  - to show texture, light it using a small to medium light source positioned so the lit area/shadow boundary is prominent.
colour of lighting
- the colour of the lights can be used to create the scene palette
  - see http://strobist.blogspot.com.au/2017/08/developing-framework.html

Lighting the background:

for an even white background using white seamless paper backdrop:
- you need 2 to 4 lights shielded from spilling on the subject and shielded from hitting the camera lens.
- set your lights at approximately a 45 degree angle to the background, one on each side and behind the model, off to the side so as not to flare onto the model.
- meter across the background and adjust until your lighting is even.
- Then overexpose your background by 1 1/2 - 2 stops over the lighting on the subject.
- if you over-expose more than this, you risk causing flare around your subject.
- if you expose less than this, you risk showing any unevenness in lighting.

Studio lighting kit:

an example of what would constitute a good lighting kit for the serious photographer would include:
- 2 300-800ws strobes +/- a third strobe
- 1 med softbox
- 1 sm softbox
- 1 ea reflector - gold, sliver, black, white, diffused
- 2 large diffuser panels (could be homemade)
- 1 spare flash tube
- 2 spare modelling lights
- 5 stands, 2 heavy duty (strobes), 3 light weight (reflectors, etc)
- 2 arms or reflector holders
- 1 pack Rosco Black Cinefoil
- 1 set Color correction gels
- 1 set Colored effect gels (red, blue, orange, green, yellow, etc)
- Misc grip (gaffers tape, clamps, etc)
- optional extras:
  - 1 egg crate for the med softbox
  - 1 set of grids (10,20,30 and 40 degree)
  - 1 wireless TX, 2 wireless RX - for wireless sync but not needed for wireless control
    - eg. “Pocket Wizard” and note that the Sekonic L-558R Dualmaster meter has a with built-in Pocket Wizard Transmitter.

a few notes

a soft box placed 2m from a subject will generally provide light coverage of about 4m diameter with about 1-1.5 stops light fall off irrespective of the size of the soft box when comparing the usual small, medium and large soft boxes.
adding an egg crate to the soft box reduces the coverage by about a 1/3rd and is used to reduce the spill of light
the larger the soft box at a given distance to the subject creates more wrap around light with less well defined shadows
to get a soft wrap around light from a small soft box, it needs to be relatively close to the subject and thus will only provide coverage for a head and shoulders shot.
reflectors can be useful as a fill light, or even as the main light such as when a soft gold one is used on a tanned model outdoors in bright sun with the sun as a rim light.
a beauty dish with tube cover is not as soft as a soft box, but not as hard as a bounced umbrella. It is often used with a grid to provide a much reduced well defined area of coverage.

a few lighting set ups for portraits

see portraiture

front spot 40's glamour style

spot light aimed straight into model's face thereby avoiding shadows on the face apart from the rear of the cheek and under the chin - the spot should not be lighting her arms much
ruby red lipstick, eye lash extensions, natural looking foundation with matte finish, styled hair
add a hair light and a background light, have the model looking off at 45deg to the camera and upwards and you have a classical glamour B&W look with almost no texture on the over-exposed skin

one light butterfly or clamshell Hollywood lighting

place a broad light source such as a softbox or umbrella above the camera, often placed at about 60deg to subject face, or alternatively bounce the light from the ceiling
- “Paramount studio style” is the same but with a harsh light
place a silver reflector in front of and below the subject to fill in shadows under chin and eyes
a small “loop” of nose shadow will be present under the nose
gives a nice cheek lighting with some subtle shadowing on both sides of the face while creating a strong chin line
can exaggerate the appearance of puffy eyes or bags under the eyes

two light clamshell

place a broad light source such as umbrella or softbox on either side of the subject at 45deg
onbe can adjust the lighting ratio to desired effect

loop lighting

similar to the one light butterfly, but the main light is moved to the side a little to give a small “loop” of nose shadow to one side of the face

Rembrandt lighting

the aim here is to create a triangle of light on one cheek with a longer “loop” of nose shadow forming the lower border of that triangle but not crossing the lips
place a light 45deg above and to the side of the subject's face
one can add a fill light to soften the shadows

single large softbox close to subject

a very large softbox placed above to and the side of the subject will provide a nice wrap-around light with enough spill to light the rear white backdrop
can be used for portraits with subject looking towards same side as the softbox

dramatic beauty dish lighting

beauty dish with grid above and to side of the subject and 1-1.5m from subject
see video example by Joe

dramatic split lighting

a light aimed at one side of the subject's face only, usually at subject height
additional fill light to the shadow side as needed

broad lighting

similar to the Rembrandt lighting set up, but the camera is re-positioned to mainly photograph the lit side of the subject's face
this is often used with a rim light to outline the shadow side

one light backlit beauty shots

the light light is used to light a white background
the subject's face is lit either by 2 reflectors on either side of the model (and in front of the camera if you wish to block some flare), or by 2 walls on each side of the model
this will need some post-processing including:
- increase the contrast
- increase the saturation to bring out eye colour
- optionally a nice glow effect which will make the model appear thinner - lighten the background then add a Gaussian blur of about 50 pixels
see video by Joe Edelman

fashion-style with large ring light

see DIY cheap large ring light
a large ring light is designed to give even shadowless lighting with an interesting round catchlight in the eyes if the ring light is large enough and close enough
if the ring light is too small or too far away, the catchlight will only be a small dot, and worse, you will get red eyes if the light is around the lens.
these shots are often done with the subject in front of a wall so that there is a soft-edged shadow all the way around the subject

a few lighting setups for figure work

single broad light behind subject

a single light just above and behind a subject lying down will show lovely sculpting
this could be an umbrella, soft box or strip light

simple overhead broad light

a softbox or umbrella placed overhead as the mainlight
simple fill flash from camera set to -3 stops
can create a nice dramatic effect

single broad light in front of subject

subject can be placed sitting a right angles to the camera and facing the light, effectivly giving a side light from the camera's viewpoint

backlit basic 3 light set up

2 flashes aimed at a white background, each placed equal distances on each side of the subject - set flashes as wide angle as possible to get a diffuse even light on the backdrop
the background light will act as the main light, spilling around each side of your subject in a similar manner to placing a subject in front of a bay window
have the 3rd light placed to form a right angle triangle with the other 2 lights, to act as a fill light facing the subject, perhaps at 45 deg from the subject.
this fill light should be set to underexpose by 2 stops (if using TTL flash with back lights as one group and fill light as another group, set ratio A:B as 1:8)

basic 4 light bilateral side-lighting set up

2 flashes aimed at a white background, each placed equal distances on each side of the subject - set flashes as wide angle as possible to get a diffuse even light on the backdrop, expose to desire tones of the background
2 umbrella or soft box lights, each just in front of, and to each side of the subject to primarily provide a main side light on each side

basic low key set up

2 main lights, preferably as soft boxes, each set to either side of subject and set to under-expose by 1 stop
single background light onto gray background set at -3 stops to create vignette-like effect

Table of Contents

photographic lighting basics

Functions of photographic lighting:

What does light do to a subject?

Lighting the background:

Studio lighting kit:

a few notes

a few lighting set ups for portraits

front spot 40's glamour style

one light butterfly or clamshell Hollywood lighting

two light clamshell

loop lighting

Rembrandt lighting

single large softbox close to subject

dramatic beauty dish lighting

dramatic split lighting

broad lighting

one light backlit beauty shots

fashion-style with large ring light

a few lighting setups for figure work

single broad light behind subject

simple overhead broad light

single broad light in front of subject

backlit basic 3 light set up

basic 4 light bilateral side-lighting set up

basic low key set up