Most portrait photography requires led serial lights factory - the main, the fill and a separation/background light. Here is how to use a separation light in your portraits.

In our series of daily portrait photography photo tips, we've recently been covering portrait photography lighting patterns - and the shadows they create. Today we will cover the "background light" also known as a "separation light".

Deciding on the lighting pattern we want will determine where we place our main (key) light. Or where we place our subject in relation to a fixed light - like the sun.

Then our second light, the fill light is how we determine the depth of the shadows we created with our key light. This is where we start to insert our creativity into a portrait.

Most portrait photography requires three lights and today's photo tip will cover the third light - but first here is a side note about the fill light...

Be careful that your fill light does not create its own shadows! If you start getting shadows going both ways, it will ruin your portraits.

In most portrait photography, we use a three light setup. We've discussed the first two, now for the third light - the "background light".

The background light is also known as a separation light. It is designed to separate the subject from the background.

Not using the separation light is a common mistake that I see everywhere.

Suppose you have a subject with dark hair and you are using a dark background. No matter how perfectly you light the face with your main and fill lights, you are going to visually lose the top and sides of the head.

Put the subject in dark clothing and you end up with nothing but a floating face! If you are going for a spooky horror film effect, that may be perfect. If you want good portrait photography, you need to separate your subject from the background.

Posted by: dotlightsv at 01:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 334 words, total size 2 kb.