3 Portrait Lighting Setups Utilizing 2 Lights

Tutorials on utilizing a 1-light setup for portrait pictures are commonplace, and rightly so. There are a number of ways in which a single mild supply will be positioned to create flattering lighting on a topic. You would possibly suppose that switching to a 2-light setup could be twice as difficult. This isn’t the case. There are a number of 2-light preparations which might be straightforward to know and fast to arrange. Utilizing 2 lights could make it straightforward so that you can transition between a clear headshot and a dramatic portrait. 

All pictures for this text had been created utilizing two LED panels from the Westcott Flex Cine Bi-Colour 3-Mild Equipment. Every panel measured 1’x2’ and was supported by a light-weight Matthews Extendable Reverse Stand.

Clamshell Lighting

Clamshell Lighting is a setup the place one mild is positioned above the topic’s head and one other mild is positioned beneath. The highest mild is near the face and angled at 45 levels to supply delicate mild on the brow, cheeks, and chin. As a result of this mild is positioned above the topic’s head, the shadow is created beneath the nostril, cheeks, and chin. The second mild, positioned beneath the topic’s face, is used to fill these shadows to no matter diploma appears to be like finest to you.

When arranging lights in a Clamshell orientation, your high mild is the important thing mild. Place this mild first. Angle the sunshine in order that it illuminates as a lot of the face as doable. Take note of the catchlight within the eyes and place this mild as little as doable in order that it’s just a few inches greater than the highest of the topic’s head. This may make sure that the sunshine on the face is as delicate as doable and that there’s mild within the eyes. You will need to keep away from the eyes wanting darkish or hole.

To find out the ability setting for this mild, first lock in your shutter velocity, and aperture settings. For those who do not what digicam settings to make use of, attempt 1/160 and f/5.6 at ISO 100 as a place to begin. Subsequent, flip in your key mild and start taking take a look at pictures with the sunshine at its lowest energy setting. Enhance the ability of the sunshine with every subsequent {photograph} till the publicity on the face appears to be like right to your eyes. You’ll discover shadows beneath your topic’s nostril, cheeks, and neck. Place the underside mild in order that it fills within the shadows. Repeat the method of incrementally growing the ability setting with every body that you just seize till you establish the right energy output for this mild. Chances are you’ll select to eradicate all shadow from the face with this 

Parallel Lighting

Parallel lighting is nice for headshots because it produces easy, even lighting. For this setup, we place 2 strip bins, or softboxes at 45-degree angles on all sides of the topic. The ability output ought to be the identical, or almost the identical for each of the lights. Our objective is to eradicate shadows beneath the nostril and cheeks. Relying on the size of your lights, you could possibly illuminate as a lot as 3/4 of the topic’s physique, making this setup good for each headshots and partial physique portraits. 

You will need to place the topic within the spot the place the sunshine from the two mild sources intersects. This is named the purpose of convergence. If the topic is simply too near the lights and digicam, she can be forward of convergence. This can be evident from the road of shadow that runs down the center of her face. If she is simply too far-off from the lights, the catchlights can be very small in her eyes and the lighting can be flat and uninteresting.

After getting decided the right publicity for one topic at a particular distance from the lights, you possibly can shoot a number of topics shortly. You could have to boost or decrease the peak of your lights to accommodate completely different folks, however the angle and distance of the lights to your topic is not going to want adjusting. Parallel lighting is simple to arrange and doesn’t require using a increase arm. As a result of the lights aren’t angled, you could possibly use a small, light-weight, mild stand with out concern of the sunshine stand tipping over.

Key and Kick

For this setup, we deliberately create shadows on the face. This setup works nice for somebody who’s younger and doesn’t have wrinkles on their face. A Key and Kick association is probably not flattering on an older individual except you’re deliberately attempting to create a dramatic portrait that calls consideration to the strains of the topic’s face.

For this setup, will place our key mild as near the topic as doable. This mild is positioned at a 45-degree angle so in order that one aspect of the face is in shadow except for a triangle of sunshine beneath the attention. A second mild is used as a kicker to spotlight the hair. This kicker should be organized in order that it doesn’t create any extra shadows on the face, or the picture might not make sense to the viewer’s eyes. The second mild may also be positioned behind the topic to separate the topic from the background. Subtlety is essential regarding the placement of this second mild. The ability shouldn’t be so excessive on this mild that we’ve got a pure white spotlight on the topic. We wish to outline the topic’s hair, shoulder, or face in a means that doesn’t give an excessive amount of visible mass to those parts. The secret is to create a portrait that makes use of shadow to outline the face, with out turning into a dramatic portrait.