Studio Lighting - Part Two

For the second part of the studio lighting workshop we used 3 lights in total. A main light, a fill light and a background light.

They all have there own jobs:

Main light - To illuminate the subject using the chosen lighting technique, often this is the most powerful flash

Fill light - Used in place of a reflector, it can add light to the opposite side to the main light or be used to highlight certain areas of a model. Often set to a lower power than the main light just to add small amounts of light to the photo.

Background light - Used between the model and background to achieve high key lighting (seamless white backdrop). It can also be used to illuminate the subject from behind to separate them from the backdrop.

Once we had our lights set up we began learning about common 3 light setups. The ones we tried were hair lighting, kicker lighting and rim lighting.

Hair Lighting

The main let is set to one side and a fill light is used from the opposite side on a lower power but similar height to create a shadow. Another light is then placed high next to the subject but pointing down to illuminate the hair. I found that the hair light was best on low power so when combined with the fill and main lights the image wasn't blown out. This works best on females and people with hair as it illuminates well and helps add depth to a portrait.

Kicker Lighting

Kicker lighting helps separate the subject from the background but placing a light behind them but offset to a side. When combined with a main and fill light you can get some nice shadows on one side the face but no shadows on the background. For this shot each light had a soft box so that the lighting was very complimentary and not harsh on the subject.

Rim Lighting

Rim lighting is good for subject with a lot of hair as a light is placed behind them you get a halo effect around there head. This is caused by the light being blocked by there head so it only comes through where the hair separates  This is also good for adding depth between the subject and background but should be used carefully and in conjunction with a main and fill light to avoid creating a silhouette. For this shot we had to use a lighting tripod to get the rim light low down as normal lighting stands where placing the light too high so light was leaking around the subject and into the camera.