Portrait Using Sidelight

Portrait Using Sidelight

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Best Light Location?

Not every portrait needs to be lit from the front. If you’re looking for drama and inspiration in your new portrait, placing your main light off to either side will add drama and feeling to your image.

In this case Christina agreed to add this image to her session and was a welcome addition to the traditional headshots we made earlier. She is a naturally attractive woman and looks great in most any lighting setup. In this case through the highlights coming in from the left side added an angelical feeling.

The Photo Light Setup

The difficulty in this light setup though is not about the highlights. Rather, it’s about the shadow side of the face. I originally used only one light and a reflector on the dark side to “open” the shadow side of the face. But, the shadows were too dark leaving image with no detail on the right side. So, I dialed in a tiny bit of fill flash that was subtle enough to show detail but still preserved the desired shadow effect.