Learn These Three Lighting Setups for Headshot Photography

Explore in this lighting tutorial three ways of stepping up your headshot photography game.

There are many potential clients who can benefit in their respective field from a nice professional headshot to lead up their brand. With so many clients in the need, offering headshots can be a great way as a photographer to build business. One of the things I enjoy about the straightforward lighting examples on display in this video by photographer Tommy Reynolds is the realistic shooting scenario he offers. For many photographers, running a portrait-based business out of the available space in their homes is the reality. And while having lots of extra space in a large studio setting would of course be ideal, with headshot photography, it’s not completely necessary in order to pull off consistent and clean, repeatable looks. And as Reynolds shows us, with as little as one powered light source, a reflector, and an understanding of a few lighting techniques, you can certainly achieve professional lighting results for use in your images. Also shown in this lighting tutorial are the use of multiple lights and modifier types, all put into use with the goal of toning down shadows and smoothing out the light falloff on the subject.