Portrait Lighting in a Studio Setting - The Beginning

fill light - lighting used to reduce the contrast of a scene and record the same amount of detail seen by the eye in average lighting.

main light - main light that illuminates the subject

hair light - light used to light up the subject's hair; usually placed about 3 feet behind model and angled down and slightly forward to strike top of head and shoulders

background light - light source behind the subject to create a highlight that separates the subject from the background

shadowless lighting - lighting that results in almost no shadow on the subject

butterfly - lighting that casts a butterfly-shaped shadow below the subject's nose; produced by placing the light source about 25-70 degrees above the face in line with the direction the face is pointing.

loop - lighting that casts a loop-shaped shadow below the nose; produced by placing the light source 25-60 degrees above the face and 20-50 to the left or right of the direction of the face.

split - lighting where half the face is lit, and the other half is in shadow; produced by placing a light source 90-120 degrees to the right or left of the direction in which the subject is facing, with the lighting unit at or slightly above face level.

rembrandt - similar to loop lighting but with the light source moved higher and further left or right of the face; creates a strong pattern of a small triangle of light that appears under the eye on the shadow side of the face and a nose shadow that almost extends to the corner of the mouth.

gray card - flat object of a neutral gray color typically used with reflective light as a way to produce a consistent image exposure and/or color.

hard light vs soft light - soft light is diffused, meaning that shadows are absent or indistinct whereas hard light is more contrasting where shadows have harder edges and greater distinction.

strength (shutter speed and apertures appropriate to portraits) - it's best to set a wide aperture around f/2.8-f/5.6 to capture a shallow depth of field; as a general rule, make sure your shutter speed is higher than your effective focal length (ex: at 200mm use 1/250 sec or faster)

3:1 lighting ratio - occurs when the light discrepancy between two light sources is one and a half f-stops.

inverse square law of light - an object is twice the distance from a point source of light will receive a quarter of the illumination (ex: if you move your subject from 3 meters away to 6 meters away, you will need 4x the amount of light for the same exposure)

Suggestions/Tips on formal portrait posing

1. experiment with different angles of a head tilt to see what suits them best
2. tell them to avoid hunched up shoulders
3. avoid centering the subject; frame them slightly off to the side
4. have them stand at a slight angle; place all the weight on the leg furthest from the camera and the other leg bent or extended
5. tell them to straighten up, slouching isn't attractive

examples: