Studio Portrait Lighting- The Beginning

Fill light: used to reduce the contrast of an image to look more like it appears to the human eye
Main light: primary, strongest light

Hair light: used to provide hair texture and separate subject from background
Background light: used to illuminate the background, separates subject from background
Shadowless lighting: main light is directly in front of subject, removes almost all shadows
Butterfly: light source is directly behind the camera, creates shadow under nose
Loop: creates small shadow of nose on subjects cheek, lighting is slightly above eye level and 30-45 degrees from camera
Split: splits face into equal halves, light is 90 degrees to left or right of subject
Rembrandt: creates triangle of light on subject's cheek, subject is facing slightly away from light, light is above the top of subject's head
Grey Card: middle grey reference
Hard light versus soft light: Hard- smaller light source from farther away Soft- larger light source from close up
3:1 lighting ratio: 3 times as much light on one side of the face as the other
Inverse square law of light: an object twice the distance from the light source will get a quarter of the light


Posing Tips: 

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1. No slouching
2. Head tilt
3. Put weight on leg farthest from camera and slightly bend forward leg
4. Wear sleeves
5. Give the hands something to do if they can't relax