The most important thing for good photographer– be able to use light correctly to create a beautiful image. It's good when shooting conditions allow you to limit yourself to natural light. But there are times when the best effect can be achieved with your own lighting equipment. Let's see how with minimal cost and maximum effect to assemble your own set of equipment for "studios away".

Don't think I'm now recommending you get studio monoblocks, softboxes, a power generator, and a roomy car to boot. Of course, you can work at this level, but it is unlikely that most of you will want to spend a lot of money on something that can be done much easier and cheaper without losing the result.

So, the optimal set of equipment for creating an outdoor "studio":

* One of the umbrellas for transmission can be replaced with an umbrella for reflection (usually plays the role of a main light)

3. Two flashes, one umbrella in the light. A flash with an umbrella in the light plays the role of drawing soft light (its power is greater). Flash without a nozzle ("naked") performs the function of hard.

Option 1. The flash with an umbrella is located at an angle in front of 45 degrees, the “naked” flash is opposite it, i.e. back at a 45 degree angle

The position of the flashes (the angle relative to the model) can be varied.

Option 2. Flash with an umbrella in the light is installed frontally or slightly above the model. Back flash is installed strictly behind the model.

* In this lighting scheme, when shooting at sunset (sunrise), sunset sunlight can act as a backlight source.

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Good pictures for you!

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Very often, people who have recently picked up a camera complain: “I would really like to start shooting portraits, but I don’t have not only a studio for this, but even decent, not to mention good, equipment ...”. They sincerely believe that portrait photography requires expensive lighting, tripods, multiple backgrounds, and more. And sometimes they don’t even have an external flash. But, nevertheless, it is impossible to refuse experiments in portrait photography, even in such mean conditions. There are many other, much simpler, ways to create good photo portraits, simple lighting options.

Most often, beginner amateur photographers have a camera with a so-called on-camera, or, in other words, a built-in flash. If your camera is equipped with a flash with a rotary head, this is very good. Such a flash will easily allow you to use the TTL (Through The Lens) system, that is, a way to measure exposure directly through the camera's shooting lens. And the swiveling flash head will give you the option to use bounced light when shooting.

In order to photograph a model with reflected light, you need to turn the flash head so that the light flux emitted by its pulse does not fall on the model itself, but on some surface that can “work” as a reflector. Simply put, a uniformly painted wall or ceiling. Such surfaces usually have a good reflective effect. Once on such a surface, the light flux from the flash will be reflected from it and already in a diffuse, even form will gently illuminate the person you are shooting. Such lighting is much more attractive than head-on lighting. The possibility of getting bad shots when photographing with reflected light is reduced to almost zero. For experience, you can photograph your model twice: with “head-on” flash lighting and with reflected light. And, as they say, "feel the difference."

Reflected light, falling on the person being portrayed not from the source itself, but from the reflective surface, greatly expands your possibilities. If instead of a wall or ceiling you use, for example, just a sheet of drawing paper, a piece of foam or something else like that, or even an ordinary newspaper, you can get even better results. The light from such a reflector can be directed as you like, as you need. You can even make several reflectors of various shapes and sizes yourself. Just paint them white or light gray.

With only one light source, it is not difficult to create the illusion in the picture that you were photographing a model with several lighting fixtures. How to do it? Very simple! The person being portrayed must be placed in the corner of the room in which you are shooting, and the light source, the flash, for example, should be directed to the side wall. And even better - at an angle to the ceiling. This angle must be chosen in such a way that the light reflected from the ceiling hits the hair of your model. At the same time, the light that is reflected in this case also from the wall will also give the effect of another light source. But when photographing under such a lighting scheme, you need to be very careful. Here you should pay special attention to the position of the face of the model. It should form a beautiful light-shadow pattern.

Professional photographers often use softboxes when shooting portraits. These are special devices that allow you to make the light flux from lighting fixtures much softer and direct it the way you need. Up to the point of illuminating only part of the person being portrayed, for example, the forehead or eyes. Softboxes can be purchased at specialized stores. There are various options on sale, even those that are designed by manufacturers specifically for on-camera flashes.

In portrait photography, it is good to use special reflective umbrellas. They are also sold in stores. Umbrellas provide soft and diffused lighting over a larger area than softboxes, almost the entire room. This is precisely the difficulty of working with them, and, moreover, not only in this, but also in the fact that when shooting with an umbrella it is difficult to control the direction of the light.

There is one more thing to remember here. From a school physics course, you must remember that the larger the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe light source, the softer the lighting that comes from it. Compare, for example, the light from a large window and the light from a small halogen lamp. Similarly, umbrellas and softboxes. For example, using a large softbox when shooting, you will get a wide beam of soft light that will envelop your model, as it were.

Now let's say a few words about working with a remote, external flash. There are practically no problems with them now. Both the flashes themselves and the SLR cameras today are so perfect that they allow you to work without any cables that get tangled under your feet. The remote control flash can be placed anywhere in the room you are working in. But we remind you again: be careful! The light from the flash is quite hard, and therefore you should not point it directly at the person being portrayed. We recommend softening this light with softboxes, umbrellas or reflectors.

When shooting with softboxes and remote flash, you need to experiment first, or rather, find such a position of the light source and its combination with a softbox so that the light-shadow pattern on the model’s face would be interesting and attractive. Unsuccessful, incorrect use of the softbox can only spoil the portrait, and the model will be very unhappy with your work. Alternatively, we can recommend placing the light source and softbox to the side and slightly above the model.

Softbox in our case acts as the main light source. This light can be modeling, and just work as a backlight, for example, hair or something else. The main thing, no matter how you use the softbox, you need to install it so that the face of the person being portrayed is well and beautifully lit.

If you are shooting a portrait outdoors, then natural sunlight can be combined with artificial, including softbox flash. A flash with a softbox can, for example, highlight the background. But in such cases, it is better to take pictures not in an open area where the sun shines very brightly, but somewhere in the shade. In this case, the softbox should be used in the same way as when shooting indoors - as artificial lighting, and natural light will highlight the model's hair.

When shooting indoors, one softbox can sometimes not provide enough light. Here an umbrella or a reflector will help you, which will act as a second source of light.

We remind you once again that before you start working with the person being portrayed, you need to carefully prepare for shooting, prepare the room, set up and check all the equipment. You can even practice putting a beautiful and correct light on one of your friends or family members. Try to move the light sources from place to place, plant the model in different parts of the room. For example, closer or further from a wall or from a window. You can turn the chandelier on or off, hang a tulle curtain on the window or remove it. Lots of options. Both a table lamp and an ordinary flashlight can be used as light sources ... You can make a good portrait without a flash ... Modern cameras today operate at high ISO values, and this allows you to shoot, including portraits, even only in the light of a candle flame.

I would like to think that everything that we have told you about today will allow you to draw some conclusions that good pictures are obtained not from those who can afford to purchase expensive and good photographic equipment, powerful and modern lighting devices, but from those who who knows how to approach any business creatively. Never forget that it is not the camera that takes the picture, but the photographer. We hope that this article will give you an incentive to improve your photography skills, an impetus to new creative finds. Good luck to you!

Publication date: 22.03.2017

Beginning photographers tend to dread studios like hell. Some find it difficult to work with studio equipment; others argue that shooting in the studio is boring. These are the two most common misconceptions.

Now in almost every city you can rent a studio for photography. Most of them are interior, which allows you to solve many problems. But I recommend starting to learn drawing with light in a studio where there are no other decorations than a black and white background. In this way, you will be focused solely on the model and will be able to see how the arrangement of lamps around it creates this or that black and white pattern.

NIKON D800 / 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 SETTINGS: ISO 125, F5, 1/200 s, 62.0 mm equiv.

Technique and settings

I shoot for Nikon camera D800, alternating between two lenses: a Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor zoom and a Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor prime. The zoom lens is suitable for those who shoot in the studio for the first time: it is possible to quickly change plans with it. A fixed lens will suit any photographer: it is inexpensive, but at the same time it gives a very sharp picture, especially at a covered aperture. And the open aperture in the studio is very rarely used.

You don't have to have expensive equipment to shoot in a studio. A camera of any level is suitable, from amateur to professional. For example, the Nikon D7200 and Nikon D5500 are great for studio shooting. The main condition for working with light is the presence of a connector for installing a synchronizer, or, as it is also called, a “hot shoe”. You also need the ability to control ISO, shutter speed and aperture manually. Don't let that scare you, because shutter speed doesn't really affect the amount of light that enters the camera lens. For studio shooting, it should be 1/125–1/200, while equal to the sync speed, usually in the range of 1/160–1/200, depending on the camera model. If the shutter speed is shorter than the sync values, then black stripes from the shutter curtains will appear on the pictures. The ISO value in the studio is always set to a minimum: ISO 100 or ISO 200, which is determined by the capabilities of your camera. That is, your only corrector when shooting will be aperture.

At the very beginning of shooting, take a few test shots and adjust all the necessary parameters. When choosing optics, remember that it is inconvenient to work with a long lens (above 85 mm), as there may simply not be enough space in the studio to shoot the model in full growth.

NIKON D800 / 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 SETTINGS: ISO 80, F3.2, 1/200 s, 24.0 mm equiv.

NIKON D800 / 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8 SETTINGS: ISO 80, F2.8, 1/200 s, 44.0 mm equiv.

Light schemes

Today I'm going to show you some simple lighting schemes that you can use to get guaranteed results.

When working with light sources, use a synchronizer. Attach it to the external flash connector on your camera to control lights with a trigger receiver that is connected to one of the lights. Make sure that this lamp is turned on when shooting, then the synchronization will work. When shooting for this article, I used attachments for lighting: octobox, softbox, reflector and stripbox. A reflector was also used.

Nozzles and their application

Pattern 1: Light background

Let's start with the simplest: using a single light source when shooting against a light background. Position it about 45 degrees from the model and ask the model to turn to face the source.

Thus, we get this picture:

NIKON D800 / 50.0 mm f/1.8 SETTINGS: ISO 200, F3.2, 1/200 s, 50.0 mm equiv.

A light source with a softbox attachment gives soft light and shadows. The nozzle was located on the left, the shadows were formed on the right.

Pattern 2: Light background

Now you can add the same source to the right, slightly behind the model. Practically softboxes should stand diagonally to each other.

It turns out this picture:

NIKON D800 / 50.0 mm f/1.8 SETTINGS: ISO 200, F3.2, 1/200 s, 50.0 mm equiv.

NIKON D800 / 50.0 mm f/1.8 SETTINGS: ISO 200, F3.2, 1/200 s, 50.0 mm equiv.

Note that there are highlights on the face, shoulder, and arm on the right, giving the photo more dimension.

Backlight is needed in order to separate the model from the background and create a light halo around it, as well as to get an illuminated outline of the figure thanks to highlights. The backlight source is always located behind the model and directed towards her. In terms of power, it is always weaker than the source that is in front of the model.

Pattern 3: Dark background

Now you can see how one source will draw in a dark background.

We place the source a little to the side and a little higher than the model.

As you can see, our model has merged with the black background. To separate it, we need another source with a reflector nozzle. Point it at the background only. The power of this source should be weaker than the power of what is directed to the model.

It is now clearly seen that the model is not in a black hole; there is space behind it.

NIKON D800 / 50.0 mm f/1.8 SETTINGS: ISO 200, F6.3, 1/200 s, 50.0 mm equiv.

Pattern 4: Dark background

Another simple scheme looks like this: on one side of the model you put a softbox, and diagonally, just behind the model, a stripbox with honeycombs. Honeycombs are nozzles in the form of a large lattice for obtaining a strictly directed light flux. Thanks to the honeycomb, the light does not diverge to the sides, but remains as soft as always when pouring from the softbox.

There is one drawback in this scheme: strong shadows will fall in the neck area. To avoid this, I add a reflector on the bottom.

Examples below: before adding a reflector and after.

NIKON D800 / 50.0 mm f/1.8 SETTINGS: ISO 200, F4.5, 1/200 s, 50.0 mm equiv.

NIKON D800 / 50.0 mm f/1.8 SETTINGS: ISO 200, F4.5, 1/200 s, 50.0 mm equiv.

Let's add light to the background to separate it from the model.

We get the result:

NIKON D800 / 50.0 mm f/1.8 SETTINGS: ISO 200, F5, 1/200 s, 50.0 mm equiv.

Pattern 5: White background

When shooting against a white background, you can use the following scheme. Place two lights (softboxes in this case) behind the model, aiming them at the background, and one in front of the model, illuminating her. The source should be slightly higher than the camera (I used a crane with an octobox).

Photographer Ken Koskela plunged into the world of portraiture in environment in 2014. Since then, he has not paid attention to other genres. In this article, Ken will share some tips for shooting wide-angle portraits with a single flash off camera.

Use lenses with a low focal length

In portrait photography, lens choice is critical. Most photographers work with a focal length of 85 or 105mm. These lenses give a good and realistic picture. Be that as it may, I ended up with portraits that have a certain surrealism and contain content that helps to tell the story. Also, wide angle lenses force you to get closer to the subject, which draws the viewer more into the scene.

So the first step is to put aside your 85mm or 105mm lens and grab a wide angle one. Most of the portraits posted here are shot with 24mm mounted on a full frame camera (for the same cropped view, you need to use 16mm). In my opinion, this focal length is ideal for blending reality and lens distortion. If you shoot wider, then elements that are closer to the lens, such as hands, will look significantly larger or excessively elongated. Also, wider lenses will lead to an increase in the influence of the background in the photo, which is also not desirable.

Find amazing models for portraits

Your model is the most important part of the frame. The Indonesian port worker is incredible! I spent 20 minutes taking pictures with him and then it took a very long time to choose the best picture. On the other hand, you can photograph me all day in the same docks, against the background of the same ships, and at the end of the working day you will have only garbage.

I'm looking for people who have life experience. The ideal person in the frame has some special quality that arouses interest. Something that makes him or her stand out from others. Whatever it was, my character also has a typical daily activity. It can cause certain difficulties to find such a character. Especially if you live on the outskirts of Chicago, like me. In my travels, I most often find subjects for photography in the countryside, somewhere abroad. Anyway, interesting people can be found everywhere.

Clothing is very important. If your 90-year-old villager is wearing a cap that says “I Love New York,” then you will most likely ask him to take off his hat, or turn the cap the other way. In other words: don't let things out of context ruin or weaken your photography.

Choose a sophisticated background

Your image is only as good as its weakest element. Most of the time it's the background. Photographer Jim Zuckerman puts it this way: “The world is compositional madness.” There are 2 important components that are needed for a good background:

Your background should not be distracting. It is also possible to separate your model from the background with a longer focal length. The influence of the background is the main point of contention when shooting on wide angle. Beginning or even experienced photographers may not pay attention to obvious distracting objects in the background. You have probably seen such elements in photography: trees that seem to grow out of the head of the model, similar to patches, elements of increased brightness, colored objects, straight lines and geometric shapes. It's definitely worth avoiding anything that will take the focus away from your subject in the photo.

The image of an Indonesian port worker does not put pressure on the eye and no more. He's literally standing in front of a shipping container and it's obvious that this picture won't win any awards for its background work. Whatever it is, it's all the same nice picture because of the powerful role of the protagonist.

The second property of the background is that it should complicate the picture by adding context to the key character.

I shot many images with simple, non-distracting backgrounds. But my favorite shots are taken with a background that tells a story about the subject. That's why I like to shoot in places like the countryside of China or Indonesia. There are a lot of ancient settlements in these countries, which are full of amazing backgrounds, such as in the picture below.

I like to leave all signs of modernity outside the background. I don't like all the plastic stuff in the frame. I do not include modern buildings or cars in the frame. Instead, I prefer the countryside with weather-beaten buildings. Of course, it depends on your goals. Important aspect- the background should complement the subject and not distract attention from it.

Shoot in the right lighting conditions

Given that most backgrounds are not exposed to flash light, many of the principles of location photography remain relevant, even when shooting with flash. Try to shoot in the early morning or late afternoon (when the sun is low in the sky) or when the weather is overcast. Personally, I prefer cloudy weather, but still in the morning or late afternoon.

Don't strain your model

I don't hire professional models, so some of my characters look good in the frame, and some don't. What you should definitely avoid is having your model stand right in front of the camera at attention and with a forced, unnatural smile.

To avoid this, the right thing to do is to start shooting with their interest and confidence. If you already have some similar images, then show them to him or her so that it becomes clear what exactly you want. This should immediately show that you do not want to just take a photo of a smiling stranger. It will also show that you are expecting some simple posing.

Posing and composition

Because I shoot a portrait with a wide-angle lens, then I have to work in close proximity to the subject, I warn about this even before the first frames. For me personally, the eyes are a critical element of the picture and they must be in focus and stay sharp. I focus on the eye closest to me and continually adjust focus as I move.

Most often I ask him or her to just look into the lens and not smile, but not always. Then I smoothly move to the left or right, while asking them to keep their head in the same position, just follow my camera slightly. Most of the time I shoot just below eye level. I ask them to stand or sit down and shoot at a certain angle. If the subject is standing, then I ask him to transfer his weight to the back leg.

I like it when the subject's hands are included in the frame. With a wide angle lens, their hands close to the camera will look too big. This can be avoided by placing the hands in the frame closer or farther to the camera, in relation to the body.

Equipment and settings

Your camera must be equipped with a trigger to control your flash off camera.

To create a high-quality portrait, I follow this order:

• For starters, do not turn on the flash or synchronizer
• Put your camera in manual mode
• If shooting on location, I try to set ISO 100, f/7.1 and shutter speed around 1/160. You can adjust shutter speed and aperture for the correct exposure and your creativity, but keep in mind that your camera will not run faster than the flash sync speed.
• Adjust the exposure so that the background is slightly underexposed by about 1/3, 2/3 stops. Most often, I adjust the shutter speed, but do not go below 1/60 and not faster than 1/160. If necessary, I will adjust the aperture to f / 5.6 maximum. And only after that I will start raising the ISO value.
• If you're shooting indoors, you'll have to start shooting at a higher ISO and then adjust your shutter speed and aperture in the same way.

Portrait: lighting

90% of the time I use only one flash, under an umbrella or softbox. The most important rule for using flash is "don't ruin the shot". Most often, the flash is set to excessive power. Instead, you need to get a precise balance between natural and artificial light. This should be done in such a way that the light from the flash remains invisible to the untrained eye, but makes your subject better lit than the background.

Now, enable flash and sync:

• Set the flash to manual
• Most often, I place the flash at a 45-degree angle to the subject, about half a meter above him. Above the head pointing down.
• Most often, I start at 1/16 power when shooting on location, and adjust the power from that position until the subject is separated from the background, but does not appear clearly illuminated by the flash.

Treatment

First of all, you need to achieve a good result immediately on the camera. But you will need to have some skills to process the frame as in the pictures in this article. I will reveal my processing techniques in future articles.

The article was translated specifically for Strobius.

Today we're going to talk about shooting high-quality, well-lit portraits with just one studio source or flash. Maybe your budget doesn't allow you to purchase multiple sources for portraits. Maybe you need to ride with lights and don't have room for two lights. Maybe you're just interested in solving a difficult problem. Be that as it may, you can implement many scenarios using a single source. I have included 10 examples in this lesson with clear descriptions so that you can use them in your own work.

To complete this tutorial, you need to match the following equipment:

• For starters, your camera and lens. All of these portraits were shot on the Nikon D700 using 24mm, 50mm or 85mm lenses.
• Standalone flash (meaning built-in flashes won't work) that can be adjusted manually.
• Something that will allow the flash to fire without attaching it to the camera. It can be a special cable or a wireless system. I use a "Cactus" radio flash trigger, which will work with almost any shoe mount flash.
• Transformable photo umbrella for some images. "Transformable" means that the inside of the umbrella is shiny, but the black coating on the outside can be removed.
• The reflective disk, although not used in this tutorial, can be a substitute in many situations.
• A pair of light stands to properly mount your flash and umbrella or reflector.

Outside or inside

In this lesson, two main techniques will be used. We'll be working outdoors, compensating for sunlight with flash light, and indoors, using flash only.

Although you can balance the "general" light in the room with the light from the flash, this was not used in any of these portraits. So let's start outside, where the sun will replace our second flare.

Example 1: A simple fill light

In this first example, we observe the evening sun shining on the model from the left. As you can see in the example below, half of her face is in shadow and the light is very flat. The background is overloaded and diverts attention from the model. This overview shot shows both the subject in natural light and the stand with the flash attached to it. There are no modifiers on the flash and it is pointed directly at the model.

Finished portrait

In order to use the flash correctly, I adjusted the exposure to ambient (natural) light. Then I lowered it one stop and adjusted the flash accordingly. This separated the subject from the background, darkening it. The fence is also illuminated. Because the flash is relatively far from the subject, its light covers a wide area.

Due to the fact that the light from the sun is still on the model and the flash is directed more towards the shadowed side of the face, the light appears very even. This technique is good for clear, easily identifiable images. Viewers will be able to recognize the object even on a photo card to carry in a wallet.

Example 2: Simple edge highlighting

You'll notice in the photo below that I've rearranged the flash so it's behind the model. The sun in this image will act as the main light, and the flash will act as the highlight at the edges. This type of lighting accentuates the edges of the subject, and is usually brighter than the main light (in this case, the sun). Unlike the last portrait, I didn't lower the exposure for the ambient light. In fact, I raised the exposure settings for the flash to create overexposure.

Finished portrait

Pay special attention to the shirt and the model's hair. The far right edge (from the viewer's point of view) of both is almost white. Since the flash is behind the model, but not exactly behind, the light "flows" over the edge. You can also see this effect on the fence in the foreground, and quite a bit on the model's face.

Example 3: Rembrandt Diffused Lighting

Rembrandt illumination is when the light is placed at 45 degrees to the side of the subject and 45 degrees above the subject. Many of Rembrandt's pictorial portraits use just such lighting.

For this image, I also added an umbrella. The flash is aimed at the center of the umbrella, resulting in a softer light covering a larger area, but also less powerful for this reason, so the flash is much closer to the subject than in previous photographs. You can see that the ambient light barely hits the model's face.

Finished portrait

As you can see, the right side of the model's face and body (from our point of view) is still lit by the sun, but it is no longer our only light source. The flash filled in all the shadows and evened out the exposure on the wood around her.

The sun does wonders for a model's hair and warms up her legs, but doesn't do much for her face. Speaking about the exposure of this shot, I exposed it to the light areas on the model so that the leg and arm were flooded with the sun, and everything else fell into the shadow. I then rotated the flash until I reached the desired exposure.

Example 4. Highlighting hair

We have already discussed that when using the sun as the main light source, the flash can act as a fill or edge light. It can also serve to highlight the hair. As you can see in the example below, the sun is shining directly on the model's face. It's so bright it makes her squint. Her complexion is lighter than her hair color, so in order to smooth out the difference in exposure between her hair and face, I fired the flash on her hair.

Finished portrait

To get the lighting I was looking for, I decided to remove the cover from my convertible umbrella. So instead of sending the light into the umbrella, which then reflects and hits the model, I direct the light through the white coating, and it scatters differently.

You can see how the light from the flash hits her hair and creates a nice sheen in the finished portrait below:

Example 5. Sunglasses indoors

Now let's move inside. In the remaining examples, all the light in the image will come from the flash. Although I use window lighting to take pictures of the equipment in use, the windows do not affect the final image in any way.

The flash is exponentially brighter than the light coming from the window and completely overwhelms it. In the image below, you can see that I asked the model to put on her sunglasses and look directly at the same light setup that I used to highlight the hair earlier.

Finished portrait

The result is very similar to the famous portrait of a rock star. I think it was Slash, but I can't verify it. If anyone knows which portrait in question, please leave a link in the comments!

Anyway, the reflection of the umbrella creates an interesting picture in the glasses, and under this lighting, the colors look really bright.

Example 6: Flash at the back, reflector at the front

Let me clarify, the umbrella in this image is empty. I just use it as a reflector. In fact, a reflective disc or even a large piece of white cardboard would work better in this situation.

The light from the flash passes over the subject's head, bounces off the umbrella, and illuminates the face. The idea of ​​this mechanism is to create highlights at the edges of the background and use reflected light as the main source of illumination.

Finished portrait

As you can see in the final image below, her face is softly lit by the reflected light and her hair is backlit by the directional light from the flash behind her. For my taste, the hair came out too bright. If I could shoot this shot again, I would ask the model to turn her head differently to reduce overexposure at the top of her head.

Another option is to move the flash lower behind her head so that not as much light comes from above. Learn from my mistakes and pay close attention to the light output of your flash.

Example 7: Dramatic lighting from above

This is a more specialized technique. I wouldn't recommend using it often because it can be a bit banal. It can help isolate the subject or give a religious edge to your shots. It can also be used to completely darken the background.

You can see in the example that the flash is located almost directly above the model's face, and slightly in front of it. In almost all cases, the model must look up, otherwise the eyes will be in shadow and an unpleasant shadow will appear under the nose.

Finished portrait

As you can see, the background of the portrait is very dark. And this creates a "flying head" effect because the neck is completely in shadow. I decided to leave the neck in the frame so that the model's necklace can be seen. But when using this technique, it is very easy to compose the frame in such a way that only the face is visible.

Example 8. In the style of American Apparel

If you've seen ads for a clothing store called "American Apparel" or noticed certain trends in other fashion commercials, then you've seen footage using this technique. In the example below, you will see that the model is standing very close to the wall. Flash in an umbrella and I used a wide angle lens. I was standing right under the umbrella. For this shot, I set my flash to between low and medium because it was very close to the subject.

Finished portrait

The final effect in this image is hard to describe. Notice the vignetting around the edges of the frame. You can also see that the light source (large umbrella) is larger than the subject and very close, resulting in a frame with almost no shadows. General impression, which produces a frame - this is something between a police shooting for the archive and pictures on a "soap box".

Example 9. Everything is nearby

This technique is similar to the “flash behind, reflector in front” arrangement, but in this case the flash is directly behind the subject. As in that technique, the umbrella is empty and can be easily replaced with a reflector.

The umbrella is mounted directly in front of the model and on top, instead of positioned on the side. And this technique uses the close proximity of the flash and the umbrella, as in the technique above. I was also close to the model with the 50mm lens.

Finished portrait

The light in this image is very soft. The high angle and proximity of the umbrella allows you to illuminate the face and at the same time the hair. A flash placed behind the model's head creates a glow around the edge of the hair.

This setting gives the opposite effect of "dramatic overhead lighting" when placed right next to a wall. The background in this case is completely white. You will also notice in the final image that the light on her arm is too bright.

This problem can be solved in two ways. The first is to turn her hand a little differently. The second is to move your hand further away from the light source.

Example 10. Against the wall

Let's say you don't have a reflector or an umbrella. A white or light-colored wall can be used to create a dramatic portrait with just one light source. You will notice that the flash is again uncovered and moved further. The wall acts as a reflector; the versatility and simplicity of this technique make it so valuable.

Finished portrait

Conclusion

Fantastic studio sources with softboxes and umbrellas and seamless backgrounds are beautiful. But if you don't have the money, the room, or the strong back to haul all the gear, just remember that you can create impressive portraits with just one light source and some clever tricks.

Thanks for attention. And search Google for what this portrait of a famous rock star is!