Fashion photography lightning is the most important part of the picture making. In classical portraiture there are several fundamental principles of lighting that you should acknowledge and control during your photographing process, and to understand which one to use in order to convey right mood, the right character or the most flattering way to present the model on the portrait. It is also necessary to remember these rules in order to follow them without any hesitation, and most importantly — to know when and how they can be broken. Follow these rules — they will become your milestones on your way to a great portrait photo. And don’t forget that the best training is alternation of the theory with practice. So, what are the lighting modes in fashion photography lighting setup? We can say that this is a game of lights and shadows, which can change the perception of the model’s face and its shape. Speaking in simple terms, what the shadow type, how it will lie on a face of the person, depends on the method of lighting. High end portrait retouching cannot be achieved without the knowledge of at least the simplest of the existing ways to light the person and the setting.

There are several photography lighting techniques that each photographer is bound to know.

1. Frontal lighting. Place a person to let the light fall right on their face, while you’re standing with your back to the light source. It shall brightly illuminate your model and it will result in being well-lit, and the picture will acquire a magnificent glare.

2. Side lighting. Your modeling person should stand so the lightning would fall only on one shoulder, and the three fourth of the head should be turned to the light. Such light position will help smooth out the difference between shadows and highlights, and shall also help give more depth to the portrait, which is one very good piece of the photo lighting techniques. In case you sincerely want to make successes in this art our article “Photoshop makeup effects – amazing world of face art” should be a good help.

3. To create more original and artistic picture, place the subject back towards the sunset. If you learn to use the contrast light effectively, you will be able to create unusual portraits that attract the viewer with its mystery and sensitivity. Let's find out, what does the contrast light. Such type of lightning is used when your lightning point is situated behind the person or object you photograph. When taking pictures outdoors, this source is the sun as a biggest one. The sunset in the contrast light will emphasize, for instance, lush hair of the model or simply create a pretty outline of her or his face. A large share of the attractiveness of the picture with contrast light falls on a contour of the light shades around the model. The edges begin to glow with warm flow and create a magical aureole. It’s usually the hair and the grass that change their color and become less sharp. This is because all visible thin objects within the light flow become even more subtle (invisible) to our eyes and camera lens. If your camera is exactly opposite to the sun, and the is model between the sun and the camera, one can get a perfect and balanced glow around the edges of the object. This is some of the advanced photography lighting techniques.

4. While the sun was still up - you are free to take advantage of the light reflector. A golden one will do very well. It’ll enhance the sunset’s brightness of colors and vibrance. While you are photographing in motion, our article “How to shoot models in Motion – Fashion Photography Editing For Motion Pictures” will come in handy. There are also video tips like this one, that you might want to watch. 

5. At dusk the sun sets very quickly, the light becomes bluer. The shadows become thick, and all objects taken in such light may appear with a bluish tinge. Use the extra light to get a good balance between ambient light and flash light. For those cases you may use a portable external flash, wireless control and simple light modifiers. This video shall help you with the flash usage.

 Skin retouching online is also a basic knowledge, so while studying the light, do not forget about it.

6. As in the other types of photography, when you photograph sunsets you need to bring something unique into the picture. And such interesting detail may be a silhouette of a person. 

7. Here comes one more piece of information about the fashion photography lighting setup. A big problem for all photographers is that the bright sun in front of the camera lens makes it “blind”. The picture becomes with low contrast, undesirable glares appear, and the picture deteriorates in general. In this case it would be a good way to fix it to make the model close the sun, and it’s also necessary to use the lens hood (the larger the better) and change the photographing angle in relation to the sun. Different camera lenses "hold" contrast light in different ways and the picture is also different so you should try all the possible options with your optics.

8. When photographing against the sun there is the difficulty -  a proper choice of the exposure. Automatically, the cameras don’t love these conditions and can set the options significantly wrong. You often need to switch to the manual mode of exposure settings, but before that, take a few shots relying on the automatic camera settings. So it’ll be possible to estimate the approximate exposure of the shots in a given time and in a given place. Experiment with light, use different camera angles and you’re able to achieve interesting results. To say otherwise, the sun should not be avoided, we just have to learn how to profit from it correctly as a lightning source – memorize one of the many similar photography lighting tips.

Fashion photography lightning tips – some more of them

If you wish to call yourself a photographer and at the same time to occupy a steady area in the art of photography, fashion style is the best choice and here is why. Each shop has an online version, even the smallest ones, and there are shops that exist only on the Internet, and all of them need post processing to be put into the catalogues to attract more potential buyers. And when you photograph clothes or other products, and not people, the picture needs a different fashion photography lighting setup. So, what do we have?

We have natural lightning. This way of photographing is cheap, you are free to stay indoors while you make pictures. Of course you cannot do without a big window or a balcony to have more light for the work. If you make a specific focus on the clothes, you cannot let the window be too large or too small because it may ruin the setting and the accents. Too much or too little light is both ways destructive for the shot. Remember to ensure having a white background, in case you have to use a corner window. And of course keep your camera steady with a table or a tripod.

We have single light. Photography lighting tips, that let you have more control over the lightning, without great financial losses, are a must. Single light’s advantage is allowing you to pick the exact place and time of the process of the photographing and not to depend on your window type or the amount of daylight. You have to face your model directly with your camera with a light shining at a degree of 45. If you set your light high enough, this will help you avoid shadows and light all the angles slightly. Remember: too much light is bad for selling clothes as it makes it closer to the groundwork and does not let a person to focus on an object well. 

Take a look at the high end retouching before after with the double lights. Sometimes one source is just not enough. You repeat everything written above with the first light source and set the second one at the angle of 45 too, just closer to your model, which shall define the clothing contours. With the reflector lighting up one side of the clothes you might have a need to increase the first light’s power to counterbalance the effect. The proper lightning makes your portfolio more valuable and gives it more quality.

Photo lightning techniques which will simplify your work

When the light's too broad, the contrast becomes reduced and you might notice your textures suppressed. When your source of light is close your picture shall have softer lightning. Relatively to the object of photoshootings, you’re able to make it visually narrower or broader. Shadows lose their distinctness when clouds hide the sun, and you may add some fog, which with overcast skies will scatter the lightning in many directions. If the day is foggy it can automatically become a really broad light source. Broad light is usually used when taking portraits in high key. Such type of lighting extends slightly visually the face. It‘s better to use it for those who have a narrow oval face, thin pointed features. Simply put, the extensive coverage focuses mostly the whole face.

There are many photo lighting techniques, but this one is really simple and effective. You aim a narrow light source at a broad matte surface, for instance, a wall or even floor and it shall both reflect the lightning and diffuse it because it will be scattered over a wider zone. A shiny reflector should be of help to hold the light narrowly and alongside this on the bounce. Physics plays here a great role, so memorize, that when the source of light is too far away, it will make your subject dimmer. While moving your lightning twice further from the model or object you will notice then only one light quarter rests on them. So if you consider changing the light quality just make sure you’re aware that away from it everything becomes dimmer. And that by using the bouncing light you add some distance even if the light is directed by a shiny reflector.

You can make the subjects falloff look more pronounced when you place the light closer to them. And to make it brighter just place it further. The same comes up with side lightening. When your goal is to deemphasize texture then use front light, and vice versa, emphasize it by lightning from other points like from unusual positions: above\below\from the side. If you’re working on a portrait, then you may try to lessen wrinkles by keeping the light source closer to the lens’ axis. And for a landscape it will be good to use side light because the rocks’ and sand’s texture will be outstandingly emphasized. You usually reveal more texture when you make the angle of the light positioning greater. Give the picture some volume by using shadows. Demonstrate the three dimensions, and not a flat image. 

Then again, put a light source somewhere but in front of the picture and get longer shadows shapes. Angular light is commonly used for still life and landscapes because of it. There are many photography lighting techniques, just stick to them. The fashion photography may be pretty harsh if you are a new in the field and you do not know all the tricks, but we are here for you to help you with anything: from searching you an assistant or a photographer for a photoshooting to retouching on the deepest levels. We make sure that our photo retouching prices are available for as many people as we can lower it, but we, of course, cannot lower the price too much because this is our money. We make our livings because we know how to use any type of light and any kind of photos will be post processed thoroughly whether it is a property advertisement or a model posing with some new makeup product or something else.