Two Light Studio Portrait

It doesn’t take a lot of lights to create a portrait. The portrait above was created with two studio lights. This is how the photo was created.

The main, or “key” light was up and to camera right and positioned so her eyelashes would cast shadows on her lower eyelids.  The light was also placed so the shadow of the nose would fall underneath the nose and line up with the natural crease that runs from the wing (“ala”) of the nose toward the corner of the mouth. The main light created a catch light that you can see in her pupils.

The “fill” light (bounced out of an umbrella to soften the light) was placed to camera left to fill in the shadows on the right side of the face. The intensity of the fill light was dialed down so it would would be darker than the main light by about 1 1/2 stops.

A short telephoto focal length (82mm) was chosen to provide a pleasing perspective to the face without distorting the size relationships of the facial features.

Most people look best when the camera is a little above the subject’s face and angled slightly down, but there are exceptions to every rule and this photo is one of them. The camera is below the subject’s face and looking up at a slight angle.

More information about lighting and portraits can be found in my highly praised photography book, Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies.

Data: Canon 5D, Canon EF 24-105mm lens at 82mm. f/8, 1/125 second, ISO 100. Two Alien Bees studio lights, one bounced out of an umbrella.