Proper Studio Lighting

When I went about completing my final task of proper studio lighting, it took me a second. I thought what really is proper studio lighting? I didn't know that there was really a "proper" way to go about studio lighting.


I further learned that the main component to proper studio lighting is the positioning of light. I learned you can place it behind for an almost halo light appearance, place it to the side for a half lit face, or put it below for a scary appearance. You can also use multiple lights for different effects.

For my project I decided to use the techniques of backlighting, scary lighting, and bottom spot lighting. I also wanted to capture different expressions, such as relaxed, content and unhappy. This is how it turned out:

Nikon D3000, 1/15th, f/5.6

Nikon D3000, 1/15th, f/4.5

Nikon D3000, 1/13th, f/6.3

Experimenting with Light.

When experimenting with light there are endless ways of going about it. Some mix fluorescent and tungsten, moonlight and flash, and many more! In my case I chose to mix tungsten outdoor lights in the background, as well as natural moonlight, since this was shot at night. To make the ghostly figures appear I used my third type of light, being a flash. Here is what it turned out like:

To accomplish this affect I set my aperture to f/6.3 with a shutter speed of 30 seconds. The long exposure allowed me to pop a flash about every three seconds, while my subject moved across the picture.

Overall I was able to accomplish everything I was looking to, with a lit background and ghostly figures. This has definitely been my favourite so far!