Photography Lighting

Portrait lighting can sometimes take complex multi-light setups, but you would be surprised at what you can accomplish with just a single light — even only a speedlight. In fact, you can even create professional images with one, and it is a great place from which to start as a beginner to artificial light.

When it comes to sports portraits and action photography, employing a bit of artificial light can make a huge difference by giving you the ability to shape the look of the frame and add a lot of drama to the image.

The Godox AD200 has been around for a few years now, and in 2019, Godox released the "Pro" version of the AD200. Is this small, lightweight, powerful flash the right choice for you in 2023? Why do so many photographers think so highly of this pocket flash?

Lighting modifiers aren’t quite as expensive as they used to be. However, some of the quality and flexibility has gotten lost along the way. 

Tutorials on using a 1-light setup for portrait photography are commonplace, and rightly so. There are several ways that a single light source can be positioned to create flattering lighting on a subject. You might think that switching to a 2-light setup would be twice as complicated. This isn’t the case. There are several 2-light arrangements that are easy to understand and quick to set up.

Hobolite has recently entered the market with what could possibly be the most aesthetically pleasing LED lights created by any company within the past decade. In this article, we will be looking at the new Hobolite Avant, a mid-tier 100-watt LED light. 

When it comes to studio lighting, you might think that you need powerful monolights or pack and head systems, but you can accomplish quite a bit with speedlights. This great video tutorial will show you how to do just that using affordable and easy-to-use speedlights.  

Working with flash intimidates a lot of photographers, but it is well worth taking the time to learn it, as it will make you a vastly more versatile photographer and enable new creative opportunities that simply would not be possible with only natural light.

A lot of portrait photographers are scared of working with artificial lighting, but it is a skill that is well worth learning, as it will make you a more capable and versatile photographer and better enable you to realize all your creative visions (and those of your clients).

Though we normally think of Photoshop as the place for complex edits, in recent iterations, Lightroom has become a tremendously capable and surprisingly intricate program. As such, there are some features and capabilities you might not be aware of.

Photography is quite literally painting with light. As such, it’s important for a photographer to be able to see and shape light. 

As a landscape and seascape photographer who also shoots surfing, I'm not too embarrassed to say that my understanding of indoor lighting setups is not where I want it to be. This video here is extremely helpful, especially if you'd love to get those gorgeously mysterious rim light shots. 

There are myriad ways you can light your subject in portraiture, and whether you're jaded by your go-to setup, or overwhelmed as to where to start, this video can help you add some more styles to your arsenal. 

Lighting a group of people can be particularly tricky for new photographers, but it does not have to be, nor does it take a lot of expensive gear. In fact, it can be done with just a speedlight and a bit of know-how. This excellent video tutorial features an experienced photographer showing you how to pose and light a group portrait using just a single speedlight.  

You can spend a lot of money on lights and modifiers for portrait photography, and while there are certainly reasons why professionals invest in expensive equipment, you can absolutely create professional-level portraits with the most affordable gear — even a shoot-through umbrella and speedlight. This fantastic video tutorial will show you everything you need to know.  

Miguel Quiles is a studio portrait photographer specializing in creating beautifully lit portraits with lots of emotion. In this video, he walks through the setup and settings for this sci-fi-inspired image. 

When you think of portraiture, you might think of large, diffused light. However, there are lots of applications of hard light in portraiture, with beauty being just one genre. In this video, watch as Lindsay Adler creates stunning portraits with harsh lighting. 

There has been a lot of advancement in lighting technology for LED lights for photography recently, but are they the way to go? Check out this video for a comparison of the pros and cons of each. 

Learning flash can be a scary thing, but it does not have to be. Once you understand how flash works, it will unlock a multitude of creative opportunities that simply would not be possible when working with only natural light. This great video tutorial will show you one of the most important skills you will need: how to properly set your camera when working with strobes.  

No sun? No problem! Fake natural light in the studio. 

As a portrait photographer, learning how to work with artificial light will enable far more creative exploration and free you from needing to rely on certain times of day, locations, and conditions. The best place to start is with a single light.

Elinchrom has long been known for their amazing lights and modifiers. But does their newest release, the Elinchrom FIVE, live up to the hype?  

A fundamental lesson in photography is the exposure triangle. Learning about ISO, shutter speed, and aperture is something all photographers should do. 

Sunset portraits are a timeless look that will always be appreciated by a lot of clients, and adding a bit of artificial light can help both to balance the exposure and to add a bit of creative flair that can really take the image to the next level.

The beach and a good sunset make for a fantastic combination and a timeless look. There are several ways to approach such a shot, and it takes some careful technique to deal with some often tricky issues, such as large dynamic range.

Though it fell out of use for a while, the Fresnel lens has regained popularity for portraiture work, where it can provide a sharp and impactful light quality that is still flattering on the subject's facial features.

Constant lighting has dropped dramatically in price, with companies like SmallRig making excellent products — along with accessories — that are refreshingly accessible. How good is the SmallRig RC120B, a bicolor packing a decent amount of power and coming in at just $259? 

While many professionals employ the use of complex setups consisting of multiple lights, even just a single source can create vivid and compelling images when in the right hands. This excellent video tutorial will take you behind the scenes to show you how a photographer shot a striking series of full-body portraits using just one light.  

When it comes to learning lighting, we often focus on how to light the subject in a flattering way, but of course, the backdrop deserves attention too. It is about more than just getting the exposure on the background right, however. With a bit of know-how, you can drastically alter the appearance of the background just by how you place your subject and source relative to it.

One of the challenges of wedding photography is that you are on a tight timeline, and if conditions are not flattering or conducive to portraiture, you have no choice but to power through them and still create the best images you can. So, what can you do when the big day presents with harsh, hard light?

If you look at the work of top photographers, you might be fooled into thinking that the only way to create professional images is through the use of complex setups with several lights.

Here are some helpful tips on camera settings that you should use to capture crisp movement in the studio. I made a detailed video, but here is a breakdown of the settings you need to understand to keep your images sharp. 

Along with the umbrella, the softbox is one of the most affordable, versatile, and important light modifiers. Thus, every photographer who is learning to work with artificial light should spend some working with softboxes and learning how to use them to their full potential.

In this video, Lindsay Adler walks through her pre-planning, shooting, and post-processing of a themed photo shoot and explains from start to finish how to recreate this image.

When it comes to creating compelling, professional-level portraits, it can be easy to think that you need a complex, multi-light setup in order to get worthwhile results. And while two or three lights can certainly give you more versatility, you can absolutely create compelling results with just one light.

While every portrait photographer should learn how to work with artificial light, available light is still a fantastic tool for a lot of applications and can be the better choice in a range of situations. Available light can be more versatile than you might suspect, and this excellent video tutorial five different scenarios that make for fantastic portraits.  

Lighting is everything to photographers, but how much thought have you put into the place where you work? Whether you shoot in that space, record videos and vlogs, or just are in there a lot, you can use your professional lighting to improve the space. 

I am going to walk you through how these dramatic food shots were created using only one flash and simple light shapers to imitate light coming through a window frame. 

When starting out with off-camera flash, especially in portraiture, we don't always have access to a lot of high-tech or expensive strobes and modifiers. Here's a simple setup that will help you create stunning low-key rim lit images with very little equipment required. 

Photographers who are new to working with artificial light often think that strobes always look distinctly different from natural light. And while it is true that you can shoot creative, highly stylized images that would not be possible with just sunlight, you can use strobes to emulate natural light to make subtle, natural looks.

When it comes to portrait photography, you might think that you need complex multi-light setups in order to create professional images, and while these certainly have their place, you might be surprised by how much you can accomplish with just a single light. This excellent video tutorial will show you three creative and effective one-light setups for portrait photography.  

When you are new to photography, it can feel like professionals know exactly what they want and how to achieve it, but that is how social media can be quite misleading. The truth is that professionals make mistakes all the time; in fact, they embrace them.

Of course, it would all be great if every portrait photographer could afford their own studio, but that simply is not feasible for most of us. That being said, you would be surprised how little space you need to make creative, compelling, and professional portraits. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to light and shoot portraits in a small hallway. 

The clean, white background portrait style is a classic look that will always be in demand for a wide range of clients and applications. However, it takes a bit of lighting savvy to create a pure white background while retaining crisp contrast and defining shadows on your subject.

Do you think you know how to take good portrait photos? Here, a highly credentialed professional portrait photographer gives his top five tips for improving portrait images. How many of them do you use? 

Strobes have long been the choice of artificial lighting for photographers, but in recent years, there have been major advancements in the power and capabilities of constant lights, and some photographers have begun to use them for their work. This excellent video tutorial discusses the pros and cons of each to help you choose the right option for your work.  

Just in time for holiday photos, Skylum has a new extension for Luminar Neo. It's the seventh extension offered this year, and it's called Magic LightAI. The release is scheduled for December 15. 

This tool allows photographers to adjust light sources in their photos by adding shining, glowing beams of light for an enhanced image.