Studio & Location Lighting Secrets for Digital Photographers

Chapter 11. Student Studio Lighting Experiments

Over the years, I've had the honor of giving seminars at the Hallmark Institute of Photography (www.hallmark.edu) in Turner Falls, Massachusetts. The highlight for me is seeing the work of the students. Throughout this chapter, you'll get a glimpse of the creative artistry of just a few of the students in the class of 2009.

Shannon Bradley

To light this model, I used two softboxes and positioned them about a foot away from the subject—one on each side. I did this to create highlights that outline his arms and define his muscles.

The model stood very close to the softboxes. This created a short fall off of light that infused shadow on his body. To feather the light, I turned the face of the softboxes toward the camera slightly.

To fill in some detail on the model's face and to add catch light to his eyes, I added a beauty dish in front of the model. I love the symmetry in this image and was careful in placing lights to achieve it.

My vision for this photograph was to create a sense of power for the model and generate intensity in his eyes to connect him with the viewer.

Amy Dieker

I love to photograph movement.

When making this shot, I wanted to ...