Basic Portrait Lighting: Using a single light
A single light should be the starting point for just about every type of studio shot, even though other lights or reflectors may be added for effect, or to lighten dark areas.
The effect, or quality, of any light depends on its size relative to the subject. If you move a light closer to your subject its relative size increases, the shadows become larger and softer and so do the highlights. Single lights can produce a natural lighting effect - after all, studio photography is nothing more than a convenient way of emulating sunlight, and there is only 1 sun - using just 1 light, with a reflector or two if needed, is ideal for many portraits and will lift your work well above the standard of the "1 light at 45 degrees each side and 45 degrees up" practiced by shopping mall photographers and preached by too many photography magazines.
Of course, not every portrait should be lit with just a single light, it depends entirely on the effect you want to achieve.
And reflectors can be used with a single light to push some fill light into shadow areas. Silver reflectors are more efficient than plain white because they reflect more light, but they can produce very uneven reflections and can also cast their own shadows.
Softboxes, umbrellas and lighting scrims are basic tools that modify lights by making them larger. They allow us to get a variety of different lighting effects.
They work in different ways but they can produce similar results Larger light sources can produce softer, more diffused lighting because the shadows that they cast are larger and softer, in other words they don't throw harsh shadows.
It follows therefore that bigger is generally better, because the larger the light source, the more potential it has to diffuse the light and to 'wrap around' the subject.
But size is relative, not absolute. A large light source placed a long way from the subject is much smaller, in relative terms, than the same light source placed close to the subject, so if you move it further away the light will not be as diffused. And if you move it far enough away it will become a point source of light and will cast very hard shadows, just like the sun on a cloudless day.
In this example a single softbox was used and the model was placed right up against the wall, to prevent her shadow from being too harsh - but the softbox was placed several feet away, to produce deliberately hard lighting.
For highly reflective still life subjects where we need to get broad specular highlights, where the highlights are large and gentle and you can see 'through' them to the subject underneath, we normally use a softbox at least 3 times the size of the subject, and we use it so close to the subject that we can have problems getting it out of shot.
Human skin is not as reflective as some products, but the principles are the same and a similar approach is often needed, especially if the subject has oily skin, isn't wearing matt makeup or, even worse, is using 'clubbing' makeup which is deliberately shiny.
Softboxes are the tool of choice for many photographers, because all of the light goes towards the subject and the risk of flare (from unwanted light striking the lens) is reduced.
If you don't have any softboxes you will be able to get similar results with these alternatives:
1. Diffusion panel (also known as a lighting scrim) This is simply a sheet of diffusing material fixed to a simple frame, which you can make yourself out of 1" x 1" softwood or plastic plumbing tubes. An ideal diffusion material is plain white shower curtain material, available cheaply from retailers such as Wickes. The diffuser is placed at the required distance from your subject and the light is placed far enough away from it to produce the required result.
2. Shoot through umbrella Because the light passes through the umbrella it can be placed as close as you wish to your subject. Reflective umbrellas are far less suitable, because the light is reflected from them it is impossible to place them close to the subject and so they are incapable of producing a relatively large light source. The can however be useful where harsher lighting is required.
3. A reflective panel (also known as a studio flat). This is simply a large reflector, often made from polystyrene and the light is simply bounced off it on to your subject.
Probably the most useful size of softbox for portrait (and general studio use) is a medium, 48" x 36". Anything smaller than this is 'small' (although manufacturers sometimes describe even very small softboxes as 'large' or giant)!
Large softboxes start at 72" x 54"
Not all softboxes are the same. Most of the cheaper ones have silver interiors, which are efficient in terms of light produced, but some have matt white interiors, which gives less 'punch' but the light is softer. Some softboxes have only a single diffuser fitted at the front, others have a second or even a third diffuser inside.
And some softboxes can be used without any diffusion at all, giving an effect very similar to that of a beauty dish
In the example below, Lara, my model, was a good choice for this article because her skin is very oily and highly reflective. A single medium softbox, used only a few inches from her, coped with this.
The catchlights in the eyes show the placement of the light. These could be removed very easily on computer, but I've left them in for illustration.
This is a conventional way of using softboxes, but they (and other diffusion tools) can do far more than just provide soft lighting.
In my next example I've used 2 softboxes to produce a form of rim lighting.
The light on the right is a standard Chimera medium (4' x 3') softbox roughly in line with my model and pointing forward a bit. The light on the left is set to provide backlighting, but also to skim (slightly) across the back. It's also smaller (40" x 30") and set lower down, because I didn't want to illuminate the head with this light.
This type of shot stands or falls on the precise angle of the subject - move her very slightly and there will be either more or less of the back lit by the softbox on the left.
Perhaps the need for precise lighting with this kind of arrangement may help to explain why so many people use awful 'Shopping Mall Lighting' for their portraits.
Still life photographers (whose subjects keep still and don't answer back) find it easier to get very precise lighting effects and are perhaps more likely to experiment.
I used a black background here (actually an unlit cream background) because I felt it suited the subject and because this lighting didn't produce or need shadows on the background to add depth. .
The shot below shows the lighting setup used on Lara. I couldn't get the same angle with this example because my 'model' is very inflexible. Her 'skin' is also extremely reflective, but that's no bad thing really because it shows exactly what the softboxes are doing. .
And in this example, although part of the change is due to the lighter skin tone, most of the different effect is due to a slightly different lighting angle. The face has been blurred to preserve anonimity .
In theory at least, umbrellas could have been used for this shot - but the reality is that the light from umbrellas tends to go just about everywhere and can easily end up striking the camera lens, which causes flare. This can often be overcome using flags, simply sheets of card or board painted black and placed so that they prevent unwanted light from reaching the camera lens or a part of the subject where they are not wanted.
A single light is often used to produce 'Short Lighting' - a technique which produces very flattering results, especially for subjects who have round faces - but that's a subject for a separate article.
This article is short and to the point and obviously there is much more to portrait lighting than I've covered here, but I hope you find it helpful. Please click here for much more detailed info
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