Light Science and Magic, 3rd Edition

8

An Arsenal of Lights

Good lighting is the key to good portraiture. Posing, location, rapport, camera angle (the list can go on) are all important. However, that said, the lighting matters even more. We can do everything else beautifully, but if our lighting is bad, our portrait will be bad. It is that simple. Now, with that sermon in mind, let us look at what it takes to light a portrait properly.

We will start by explaining the simplest of all portrait lighting using a single light source. The light that provides most of the illumination for ...