Studio photography is becoming more and more popular every year. No wonder, since any conditions for a good photo can be recreated in a photo studio. There are also no external negative factors that can spoil the picture. But it is not easy to create a quality photo in a photo studio either. There are a lot of nuances that must necessarily be taken into account.
Even novice photographers know how important the right lighting for the photo studio plays when creating a photo. It can both accentuate the best in the photo and make a masterpiece photo, and finally ruin the look of a seemingly perfect model. Proper lighting practically secures and guarantees a quality photo.
Types of lighting in a photo studio
There are several types of lighting in a photo studio. The main ones are:
- Hard lighting. Characterized by deep shadows, makes a photo brighter and more saturated.
- Soft lighting. Characterized by a lack of pronounced shadows, evenly distributed throughout the photo.
There are also two types of studio lighting:
- Light and shade. With this type of lighting the texture and shape of the object in the picture stands out well. This option is better suited for shooting inanimate objects. Reflectors (read about them here) and tubes are used for this effect.
- Tonal. It doesn’t create any hard shadows, it is created with the help of photo umbrellas and soft boxes. It is often used for portraits.
In terms of its function, light in the studio may be used for painting, filling, background, and backlighting, as well as modeling.
Drawing light
Drawing light is the main and fundamental light in the studio. As a rule it is the brightest of all sources. It is excellent for accentuating features and details in the photo. Drawing light can be either hard or soft. It is usually placed in front of the subject and on the side.
Filling light
Filling light. This light makes your shadows look a little softer, gives less saturation and contrast, and adds warmth and tenderness. The fill light is placed behind the main camera or next to it. This light is created with the help of soft boxes or reflectors.
Background
Background. The main use of this light would be to separate the background from the foreground, to create some kind of space between the two. The background light gives the image more depth and the desired volume.
Control light
Control light. This light exists specifically to create accents on desired details or objects. Thanks to the control light, it is possible to emphasize the right thing in the photo. It is often used in advertising shoots. Its location changes depending on what the photographer wants to emphasize.
Modeling light
Modeling light. Such light illuminates certain parts of the photo, creates the necessary highlights. Main sources of light The lighting in the studio is created by many types of lighting equipment. The main sources are divided into impulsive and constant light sources. Impulsive light These are short-term flashes, used only in photography. This source creates a very powerful pulse of light during a shoot. Basically, pulsed light is created with two bulbs: one is a regular halogen bulb that is not bright, and the other is a pulsed light that brightly illuminates the subject in the photo. Note that the use of halogen bulbs is only possible with a step-down transformer, which you can read about here.
How to Evaluate the Proper Lighting Exposure
To get quality photos, you need to build a proper light exposure. To assess the placement of lighting use the following instruments:
- Spotmeter – shows the properties of aperture and shutter speed in pulsed flashes, not relevant with the transition to digital technology.
- Flash meter – shows the matching strength of the master and fill flashes, works with pulsed lighting.
- Brightness histogram – a graph of brightness divided into halftones. You can use it to determine how you can improve your photo.
- Overexposed areas – helps you identify areas that have too much light and from this data you can adjust the power of the light sources to get better pictures.
How to Expose Light in a Photo Studio
Many professional photographers believe that they have not yet come up with the perfect lighting scheme for a photo studio. To date, there are thousands of different ones. Based on the basic schemes, the photographer himself should adjust the level of lighting. But still, there are a few classic, time-tested options on how to set the light in the photo studio.
Hollywood The most common way to set up light in the studio for portraits. It is pretty simple, comfortable, and often used for years without changing anything. It is also suitable as a base for beginner photographers, because it requires a small amount of equipment and does not require much time. Great for standard, no-frills photos.