This week our Creative Team member, Rachel Durik of Savor Photography, continues her photography series of lighting tips with this tutorial on how to get five different looks with just one off-camera light. You can read her first tutorial here:
Getting just the right look for a headshot or even a portrait using one light is easier than you might think. Armed with just one light and a bare wall, here’s how you can create different looks.
First, you’ll need a flash that you can set up off camera. (For information about how to set up the flash, or for information on what equipment you need, check out this video.)
If you use the pop-up flash on your camera or if you set the flash directly in front of the subject, it’s not the most flattering light. You’ll get some harsh shadows, like this.
Angle and Bounce
By simply moving the flash to a 45 degree angle, you’ll get something much more pleasing. You can see I’m working with a bare beige wall (nothing fancy!) and the light is at a 45 degree angle, bounced off an umbrella.
1/200, f/4.0, ISO 125, Alien Bees 800 at 1/16th power
Shoot Through an Umbrella
In this next shot, the light is still coming from the side at a 45 degree angle, but the light is now shot through the umbrella instead of bounced.
1/200, f/2.0, ISO 100, Alien Bees 800 at 1/16th power
Backlight
In the next shot, I took the umbrella off and placed it behind her, like this.
Which results in an image like this:
1/200, f/2.5, ISO 800, Alien Bees 800 at 1/16th power (I had to bring the ISO up to compensate for lack of light in the foreground.)
The same lighting was used for the next shot also.
1/200, f/4.0, ISO 125, Alien Bees 800 at 1/16th power
Aim for the Ceiling
Finally, in this last shot, I just pointed the flash upwards which gave a lot of light in every direction. You’ll notice the wall looks much more brown in this image.
1/200, f/2.5, ISO 320, Alien Bees 800 at 1/16th power
To finish off, I processed in Lightroom using VSCO Film 01 presets.
It’s amazing how easy it is to achieve such different looks so easily. Go give it a try!
Rachel Durik is a photographer located in Southwest Florida. You can learn more by visiting her photography site, Savor Photography, Naples Wedding Photographer, blog, or the Savor Facebook page.
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Great article. I want to buy some lights and it is fantastic to know what a great job just one light can do! I am also curious as to what other light sources were available…was it just overhead lighting or was there a bright window? I’m really new to studio lighting and I’m just starting to educate myself as to how this all works
Great tips, thank you!
Awesome! I’m curious what other light was available though. Was the one light the only light source? I see catch lights in her eyes in the ones where the light is behind her?
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Of course, if you’re going to shoot through the same umbrella you used in the previous shot, you’ll need to remove the black backing. Since you showed a BTS image of your set up for the previous shot, you might have mentioned this fact for the newbies that might be reading. Imagine the questions you would get otherwise. . .
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