Studio lighting is a popular choice for portrait photographers who want complete control over their lighting environment. In a studio setting, photographers can use a variety of lights, such as soft boxes, umbrellas, and beauty dishes, to create the perfect lighting setup for their subject.

Studio lighting in photography happens when a photographer uses an artificial light source to either add to the light that’s already there, or to completely light their photograph. Setups can range from using a single flash that you mount onto your camera, to multiple off-camera lights.

difference between 1-2-3 point lighting

point 1 – key light

usually the strongest point of light and most influence within the area, places to on side of camera or subject.

point 2 – fill light

if are to lights the more stronger one is your key light and the less one is your fill light, which is usually places the opposite side of the key light, which is used to full the shadows created by the key light. The fill will usually be softer and less bright than the key

point 3 – back light

the third light in your kit after setting up the key and fill will become the back light which is also known as the rim, hair, or shoulder light.

The back light is normally placed behind the subject and lights it from the rear.

The back light is the light that makes your shot ‘pop’. Rather than providing direct lighting, like the key and fill, its purpose is to provide definition and subtle highlights around the subject’s outlines. If setup correctly there should be a subtle rim of light around your subject. This helps separate the subject from the background and provide a three-dimensional look.

additional lighting – 4 point light setup

If there is a fourth light available to you then it would become your background or environment light.

The background light is placed behind the subject. Unlike the other three lights, which illuminate foreground elements, it illuminates background elements, like walls or outdoor scenery. This technique can be used to eliminate shadows cast by foreground elements onto the background, or to draw more attention to the background.

This setup would then typically become known as a four point lighting setup.

Rembrandt lighting

is a classic photographic and cinematic technique that creates a dramatic yet natural look by using a single light source positioned at 45-degree angle to the subject and slightly above eye level. it is characterized by a distinct triangle of light on the shadowed cheek, under eye, formed by the interplay of light and shadow. this high contrast effect adds depth and dimension, emphasizing facial features. commonly used in portrait photography and dramatic scenes, Rembrandt lighting evokes a sense of mystery and intensity, making it a popular choice of creating moody, compelling visuals.

Butterfly lighting

is a portrait lighting technique characterized by a small, butterfly shaped shadow directly under the subjects nose. it is achieved by pacing a single light source above and directly in front of the subject, normally a a 30 – 45 decree angle. this setup highlights the cheek bones and creates a smooth, flattering look, making it popular for beauty, glamor and headshot photography.

Chiaroscuro

is an artistic technique that uses a strong contrasts between light and shadow to create sense of depth, volume and drama. originating in the renaissance it was formally used by artists like Caravaggio and Rembrandt to emphasize three dimensional forms and evoke mood. in visual arts, chiaroscuro highlights specific areas of a subject while leaving others in shadow, gilding the viewers focus and enhancing the emotional intensity of the sense. this technique is also widely applied in photography and cinematography for dramatic lighting effects.

fill lighting

A fill light is a the style of lighting which is often used in theatre and film as well as in photography. Often used as part of a three point lighting set up, fill lighting is utilised in order to light up the shadowed parts of your setting – this creates less contrast where you do not want it.

raw photos

best raw photos –

yellow shows chiaroscuro and red is Rembrandt and green shows butterfly

Rembrandt –

in this photo its shows the light technique of Rembrandt lighting, and with in this photo a reflector is used to the shadows don’t completely block out half of the face. Also even with the glasses u can see the triangle and how it dose not effect the lighting.

same for this one but its more obvious that’s its Rembrandt lighting, as can see the triangle more so. And the light was moved more so closer to the camera, like half way between the model and camera.

more Rembrandt raw photos

chiaroscuro –

for this photo you can see that its lighting represents more so like Chiaroscuro, this is shown by that half of the face is lit up and the other half is shadow but u can still see the shadow side cause a reflector has been used.

similar for this photos that it represents chiaroscuro, this is achieved by the light to be beside the model, so that the light on the face is only on one side. and again the reflector is used so that the shadow side of the face is still visible.

more chiaroscuro raw photos

butterfly –

within this photo you can kinder see the shadow under the nose and the lighting is focused above the subject to give this effect.

Editing –

chiaroscuro –

other experiments –

on this photo i edited it into black and white and made the brightness on one side quite bright and on the other side the shadows so that it blends into the background.

Rembrandt –

all edited main photos close up –

tried different experiments –

with this photo I cropped it to seem closer and focused more on the features of the subject.

for this photo I cropped it so was more background and to make photo seem more ominous and makes subject seem really small.

for this photo I tried to see what it would look like in black and white.

Butterfly –

for this I cropped the photo so was made to seem like the subject is really small

with this photo I edited the background so it get rid of the texture and focused on only the subject, made it to a low exposure.

with this photo I edited it in black and white, which made the butterfly effect more obvious.

with in this photo its similar to the last but some of the texture has been taken away.

colour gel experiments

raw photos –

edited experiment’s –

final photos –

Contact Sheet

Image Selection

Above you can see above I used P and X to flag my images to filter out my worst ones from the ok and good ones, next I rated these images 4 or 5 stars as 4 being ok ones and 5 being good ones, finally I gave them the colour yellow or green, green being the best and yellow being good.

Image Editing

This is one example of Rembrandt lighting due to a triangle present under the left cheek, Which resembles Rembrandt lighting. In this photo there is an intense shadow. On the right of the image you can see all I have done is makes some slight adjustments to the texture and contrast and many other things like that.

This is the same image cropped due to lots of negative space on the left side, which will create an unbalanced photo and I decided to crop the image to centre the subject a bit more.

This is the same photo that has been cropped and slightly edited to enhance the Rembrandt lighting more. By being edited the image looks much more clearer.

Contact Sheet

This is my contact sheet for Rembrandt lighting.

Image Selection

Above you can see above I used P and X to flag my images to filter out my worst ones from the ok and good ones, next I rated these images 4 or 5 stars as 4 being ok ones and 5 being good ones, finally I gave them the colour yellow or green, green being the best and yellow being good.

Original Image

This is one example of Rembrandt lighting due to a triangle present under the left cheek, Which resembles Rembrandt lighting. In this photo there is an intense shadow. On the right of the image you can see all I have done is makes some slight adjustments to the texture and other things like that.

Black and White Image

This is the same image cropped due to lots of negative space on the left side, which will create an unbalanced photo and Next you can see I decided to crop the image to centre the subject a bit more.

This is the final black and white image. This is the same photo that has been cropped and slightly edited to enhance the Rembrandt lighting slightly more. By being edited the image looks much more clearer and concise .

Butterfly Lighting

Contact Sheet

Image Selection

Above you can see above I used P and X to flag my images to filter out my worst ones from the ok and good ones, next I rated these images 4 or 5 stars as 4 being ok ones and 5 being good ones, finally I gave them the colour yellow or green, green being the best and yellow being good.

Image Editing

I have done some slight editing to enhance the contrast, texture ,whites and black.

Next ,I’ve decide to crop the image to decrease the negative space on either side , so the photo can looked balanced . I have also cropped the image make the subject more centred.

Final Outcome

Black and White

This is the same image cropped due to lots of negative space on the left side, which will create an unbalanced photo. Next you can see I decided to crop the image to centre the subject a bit more.

Final Photo with an Evaluation

This is the final black and white image. This is the same photo that has been cropped and slightly edited to enhance the butterfly lighting slightly more. The butterfly lighting is present under the frame of her glasses . By being edited the image looks much more clearer and concise .

Studio Lighting

Studio lighting setups give photographers the flexibility to create different looks and lighting effects in their photos. These setups have a big impact on the style and mood of images allowing the desired effects to be created. Ambient or general lighting is a necessary part of any good lighting plan because it provides an overall glow to a room, creating enough light for to move around comfortably and safely. Accent lighting creates a focal point, building upon the ambient lighting of a room by adding dimension while it can be used to draw attention to a feature. Task lighting can be provided by a variety of different sources allowing the lighting to be adjusted for a work space or chosen area. A fill light may be used to reduce the contrast of a scene and record the same amount of detail typically seen by eye.

Studio Photos

Butterfly Lighting Photos

I took these photographs on a white background with a bright light positioned high above the subject to bring attention to her face and the shadows forming on it. I took a variety of differently framed photos with multiple positions to show my understanding of the technique while bringing diversity to the collection of pictures.

Edited Photographs

I decided to edit my photos in black and white while also noticeably heightening the contrast of the whole picture. I did this in order to highlight the shadows in the original photographs by making them more defined and dark. This makes the photos generally more effective as it brings attention to tone and composition.

Colour Gel Experiments

What is studio lighting?

Studio lighting is the use of artificial lighting in order to create a mood or atmosphere by adding to the light that’s already there.

In order to get the most effective lighting and the best photos, i planned to use a studio that had access to different back drops (one white one black) and a plethora of lights , flash lights ,ring lights and more.

I planned to capture split lighting and different coloured lighting and possibly explore rebrand lighting

inspiration

Here is my selection of images from a total of three photoshoots , in each photoshoot i used different models to experiment with how light hits different structures and features on each face

I then took my preferred images and edited them to intensify the lighting

With this image , i cropped the photo to make the subject more central and eye catching , i changed the image to black and white and altered the exposure , contrast , shadows etc. Then i created a ‘mask’ over the eye and increased exposure and contrast to make the iris stand out giving the image a better focus point.

Once again i cropped the image to centralise the subject , i created a mask over the eyes and eyebrows to make them more distinct and then increased exposure and contrast , i decided not to overly edit this image as i didn’t want to take away from the natural context of the contrasting skin