Things You'll Need:
- Two or three strobe lights
- A camera
- A light meter
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Step 1
A high key photo taken with just one light.Understand that determining exactly how many lights you need is really not that important. You can use from one to four lights or more. The question would be, where do you put them? Ask 10 photographers and you are likely to get 12 answers. Too close and the shadows created will be very harsh but too far away they will not be strong enough.
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Step 2
Your key light should be 45 degrees from your subject and placed about thirty to forty-five degrees above your subject, 4 to 5 feet away.
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Step 3
The fill light should be in front of your subject and as close to being level with the subject's eyes as possible. This is the light that you see reflecting in your subject's eyes.
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Step 4
The hair light should be above and behind your subject and is usually used with barn doors. If your subject has dark hair, you should place the hair light directly over head. The lighter the hair, the further back the light should be.
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Step 5
You will need to meter your light before taking a photo. The usual lighting ratio for a portrait is 3:1, although you can have any ratio you or your subject thinks is appropriate. A 3:1 ratio means that your key light is one and two thirds f-stop stronger than your fill light.
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Step 6
Now you need to meter your lights to make sure you have the proper setting. Just because you have them located properly doesn't mean that they'll work correctly. To meter your lights, turn all lights off but your key light. Put the light meter where your focal point is and fire your strobes. Write that reading down. Do this with the other lights as well, turning off all other lights, so the only light turned on is the light being tested.
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Step 7
The meter for your key light should be three f-stops higher than the others. In other words, if your key light gives f8, then your fill light should be between f4.5 and f5.6.
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Step 8
You can use a tape measure instead of a meter. To do this, put your key light eight feet away from your subject. The distance will be measured from the light bulb to the umbrella and then to the subject, which should total 8 feet. Next, measure the fill light, and make it three stops, or feet, closer to your subject measured in the same way. This will give you a 3:1 ratio, suitable for portraiture.
