How to Light a Photography Set

Are you the next Anne Liebowitz? If you have aspirations of becoming a professional photographer, especially one that does portraits or still life, it's imperative to know how to properly light a photography set to bring your photos to life. Professional photography lighting need not be expensive or complicated. Just three components are necessary to light your set properly and adequately. Read on to learn how to light a photography set.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Three bright light sources

1. First, situate a main light. This light draws shape and illustrates the basis of the photo. Also called the "key light" the main light also establishes the primary shadows of the scene as well. This light is usually positioned to the side of and slightly above the subject.

2. Next, position the fill light. The purpose of the fill light is to light the shadow side (or the opposite side than the main light) of the subject. This light's position is variable and can be experimented with to achieve just the right effect.

3. Lastly, place the background light. The background light's purpose is to ease the drama of shadows. The darker and stronger the shadows, the more dramatic the photo. Business photography and portraits usually require light, softened shadows for lesser dramatic photographs.

Tips & Warnings

• Photography lighting in and of itself is an art form. Experiment with varying positions of lights, filters and colors to achieve the desired effect.
• Use tools such as Adobe Photoshop to tweak any unresolved studio lighting issues.