Using Studio Flash

Natural light is variable and impossible to control, whereas artificial light provides a consistent and adjustable light source. You don’t have to wait for the right time of day, or for the weather to clear, if you have studio flash or flash guns. Learning to use studio lighting is also great training for on location shooting – visualise where you would place the lights in a studio and find ways to replicate that with whatever light you have available to you.

It’s easy to get started, and basic studio kits are now readily available and affordable – you could get everything you need for under £500 with some careful shopping around. What’s more difficult is learning how to control and modify your light sources to create the kind of shots you envision; it can take years of practice to fully master. Don’t be put off though, as you can get professional quality shots fairly quickly.

Remember to follow the posing guidelines as well as these lighting guidelines for a flattering result.

Positioning the lights

There are several traditional ways of lighting a portrait. Not all of these lighting styles will be possible on all types of face, as different bone structures may block or allow too much light to reach the shadowed side of the face. However, it’s worth practising all of them until you are able to quickly and easily light a subject according to any of them, and then you can start to experiment and tweak them.

In general, portrait lighting is either broad or narrow. Broad lighting occurs when the nearest side of the face is brighter than the far side, which can make the face look wider and heavier. Narrow lighting is when the side of the subject’s face nearest the camera is more shadowed than the far side, making it look slimmer. Unless your subject has a very thin face, it’s likely that they will prefer portraits of themselves that feature narrow lighting.

There are five distinct traditional portrait lighting styles:

– Butterfly lighting:

Great for older subjects, as it disguises wrinkles better than the other lighting styles, and for subjects with high cheekbones, as these will be enhanced further. Position your main light directly in front of your subject, but behind and above your camera’s position, angled down towards your subject. Use a second light below the camera position to fill in shadows, or alternatively use a reflector (the subject can hold the reflector on their lap if you’re creating a close-up shot). The name for this style comes from the shape of the shadow that forms under the subject’s nose, and the gentle shadows on the subject’s cheeks.

– Loop lighting:

For this style, the nose throws gentle shadows to one side and its base, where it creates a ‘loop’ shape. The shadow of the nose shouldn’t touch that of the cheek, otherwise it becomes Rembrandt lighting. To achieve loop lighting, your main light should be slightly above the subject’s…