photography in ames

Lighting is a very crucial element in photography and if you are going to take professional portrait photos or if you dream of being a big-time cinematographer for movies you’ll need to master it and make it second nature. There are a lot of different lighting set-ups such as the Rembrandt set-up and the 5-light set-up used for some modeling images but the most basic is the 3-light set-up. You’ll need to master this before you move on to any other type of lighting.

The Lights Involved
As the name suggests there are three light sources involved. You might want to add a diffuser to these lights so you can play around with their brightness and find the right strength of light as you position them around your subject.

-    Key light – this is your main light in the 3-light set-up. It is the strongest and brightest of the three. You will want this angled at the side of your camera so that when it strikes your subject it can properly illuminate him or her for the image to be clear. Adjust the light as needed so the image does not appear washed out.
-    Fill light – the fill light is going to be placed at the other side of the camera and it should be about as half as bright as your key light, although that is not a standard since lighting adjustments may be required from time to time. The role of the fill light is to eliminate unnecessary shadows and to strengthen or deepen those that are needed for the mood of the photo you are taking. This is the light that really needs to have a diffuser at hand.
-    Hair light – also referred to as a back light, the hair light is placed behind the subject (slightly to the side) so that it can create some depth to separate the subject from the background. It achieves this by illuminating the subject’s hair, hence the name that it has acquired. Others will cast the hair light on the background instead of the subject’s back. Play around and see which setting is best for you.

A Little Variation
One variation is where you take out the fill light and replace it with a reflector. Doing so will let you play around with colors and the depth of shadows cast on your subject. When you use a reflector to bounce light off a colored object, some of that color will reflect on your subject and it can create some really beautiful effects. For some people, this is the preferred option when taking portrait photos because you can now tinker with the overall saturation and color balance of the photo before even taking the snapshot.

Conclusion
The 3-light setup is the most basic of all lighting setups but it is the core of every lighting setup you will encounter later on. These three lights will always remain and the only thing that will change in other setups is their position in regards to the subject and their level of brightness. If you want to master photography, you’ll need to master this lighting setup very early on.