Portrait Photography: Ten Styles with One Light

Introduction

• What you’ll learn in this course
• What tools will be demonstrated

1. Principles of Portrait Lighting

• Judging the quality, direction, color, and contrast of light
• Hard vs. soft
• Choosing a flattering light direction
• Conquering color problems
• Controlling contrast: All about the shadows

2. Making Soft Light

• Go with a big light
• Closer is the same as bigger
• Shine through vs. reflect for softness
• White vs. silver vs. gold reflectors
• Find big lights

3. Five Lighting Patterns

• Front light
• Loop light
• Rembrandt light
• Split light
• Rim or back light
• Combine with reflector for even more options

4. Making and Finding Directional Light

• Making directional light
• Finding directional light

5. Ten Portraits with One Light

• Lighting and posting for what the portrait should say
• Clam shell headshot
• Loop or Rembrandt
• Dark background and deep contrast
• Full length or three quarters
• Split light, skipping, and intense
• Extreme angle
• Reflector as the front light
• Reflector as the back light
• Silhouette
• Second curtain sync

Conclusion

• Next steps