Photography Lighting Equipment: The Essential Guide

A Post By: John McIntire

When you first dive into photography lighting equipment, you’re bound to feel massively overwhelmed. Studio lighting seems complex, it’s full of confusing jargon, and it certainly isn’t designed for the beginner.

But here’s the truth:

While photography lighting might seem complicated, it’s actually pretty easy to get started – assuming you have the right teacher. That’s where this article comes in handy; I aim to share all the photoshoot lighting basics, so that by the time you’re done, you’ll have a strong understanding of both studio lighting equipment and the accompanying vocabulary.

Let’s get started.

Types of light

In this section, I cover the main types of studio light. Note that each lighting type varies in terms of usefulness, portability, cost, and more.

Strobes

A studio strobe, sometimes referred to as a monobloc or monolight, is a dedicated flash unit. Strobes generally use cords, though more battery-powered offerings are brought to the market every day. Power output between models can vary greatly; cheaper strobes offer about as much power as cheap, third-party flashguns, while class-leading strobes are some of the strongest lights in the business. For this reason, strobes are the most common studio light used by professionals.

Continuous lights

Continuous lights serve the same function as strobes, but they don’t flash. Instead, they are high-powered, constant lamps that can (usually) be fitted with modifiers. While associated with video, continuous lights still have their place in stills photography. LED lights are currently flooding the continuous light market, and many of them are viable options for stills shooters.

Note that continuous lights are sometimes referred to as hotlights – because they tend to get very hot. Be careful with modifiers that sit close to the bulb, as they present a fire hazard. (This does not apply to LED lights.)

Flashgun/speedlight

Flashguns are small lights that mount on top of your camera. They are highly portable, and some come with reasonably high power outputs. Although flashgun versatility is ultimately limited by size and power output, they are still an extremely useful tool for any photographer interested in off-camera lighting. They’re also less expensive than dedicated studio strobes.

Light functions

In this section, I discuss lighting roles. In other words, what do different studio lights actually do? How many studio lights do you need? And where do you point them?

Key light

The key light is a main light; you use it to create the overall lighting effect. Generally, the key light is the brightest and most prominent light in your scene.

Fill light

A fill light is positioned in reaction to the key light. It reduces the intensity of shadows created by the key light, thereby decreasing the overall contrast in your scene.

Rim light/backlight

Rim light illuminates your subject from behind, generally with the goal of separating the subject from the background. Often, rim lights are positioned so that only a sliver of light is visible on the sides of your subject.

Background light

Background lights point away from the subject to light the background. Not all studio lighting includes background lights, but like rim light, it’s a nice way to create subject-background separation.

Hair light

Hair lights are used in portrait photography to add emphasis to your subject’s hair. They can also be used to help bring up the exposure of your subject’s head if it is blending into the background.

Ambient light

Ambient light refers to any light present before the addition of your studio lighting. It comes from lights in the room, daylight from a window, cracks above the door, etc.

Modifiers

Modifiers go between the light source and your subject, with the goal of changing the quality or intensity of the light. A modifier might harden the light, it might soften the light, it might reduce the light, or it might create unique lighting patterns.

Umbrellas

Umbrellas look like, well, umbrellas, except they’re not designed for rainy-day use. Instead, photography umbrellas come in silver or white and are attached to your light via a mount. By pointing a studio light into the umbrella (which reflects the light back to your subject, as displayed in the photo below), you create a much larger, softer light source. Umbrellas are technically directional, but they can have a lot of spill, and they certainly aren’t the easiest modifier to control.

Translucent umbrellas/shoot-through umbrellas

Translucent umbrellas don’t reflect light like the umbrellas discussed above; instead, they’re made of a diffusion material that softens the light. Simply point your light into the a translucent umbrella to get a beautiful, even result (though with practically zero directionality).

Softboxes

Softboxes come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Once mounted, a softbox shapes and softens the light to become more flattering. Softboxes also tend to be quite directional, they are easy to control, and they can even be adjusted with additional modifiers (such as grids). Softboxes are highly versatile, so they’re an ultra-popular studio accessory.

Strip boxes

Strip boxes are a special type of long, rectangular softbox. They produce a narrow beam of light, which is great for lighting a subject from behind for a rim lit effect.

Octaboxes

Octaboxes are special octagonal softboxes; the rounder result is useful for shaping portrait lighting. Octaboxes tend to be quite large, creating especially soft, flattering light that’s perfect for portrait photography.

Reflectors

Not to be confused with handheld reflectors (discussed below), reflective modifiers mount directly to a studio strobe. They channel the light in a specific angle for very directional light. Reflector light is very hard, and most reflectors are designed to take a variety of grids.

Snoots

Snoots are modifiers designed to focus your light in a very narrow beam. They make great hair and background lights.

Barn doors

Barn doors are fitted with two to four flaps; these allow you to block and shape the light to create different effects. For instance, barn door flaps can help you focus your light on a specific aspect of your subject (such as the hair), or they can be used to prevent (flag) the light from hitting a certain spot.

Beauty dishes

Beauty dishes are directional modifiers that sit somewhere between soft and hard light. They are great for beauty photography, fashion photography, and portraiture. They often come with grids and diffusion socks to give you extra options.

Grids/honeycombs

Grids are modifiers for your modifiers. You place them on a reflector, softbox, or beauty dish to further narrow the beam of light – to ensure the light is only falling on your subject (or on some other, desired location).

Gobo

A gobo goes in front of a light source and changes the shape of the light. A gobo might simply narrow the beam, or it might create complex patterns.

(Confused? Imagine a Venetian blind with light streaming through. Now imagine the pattern on the wall. The blind is acting as an effective gobo and shaping the light!)

Color Gels

Gels are colorful, translucent sheets that fit over your light. Thanks to gels, your lights can produce just about any color imaginable (for all sorts of creative effects!).

CTO Gels

These are color correction gels, used when you need to correct the color temperature of a given light. For example, if you have a gridded beauty dish that is on the warmer side and you want to use a second, cooler light as a hair light, you’d place a CTO gel over your hair light. That way, you can match and balance the color output of both lights.

Portable reflectors

Not to be confused with reflective modifiers (above), reflectors allow you to reflect light back onto your subject. They are a way to create fill light without a second dedicated light source. Reflectors come in many shapes and sizes, from the ubiquitous 5-in-1 reflectors to fancy tri-flectors sometimes used in beauty portraits.

Diffuser/scrim

A diffuser is a piece of translucent material that you place in front of a light source to alter the quality of the light or to reduce its intensity. Some diffusers do both.

Flags

Flags are used to block (or flag) light from falling on certain parts of the scene. You can use a flag to stop excess light falling on your background, or you can use a flag to reduce the exposure on specific parts of your subject. For example, I sometimes use flags to underexpose everything from the neck down in close portraits. This helps ensure that the face is the main focus of the image.

Studio accessories

In this section, I discuss accessories that can make for easy, efficient photo shoots.

Light stands

Light stands are designed to hold your light sources. Make sure your light stands can handle the weight of your heaviest light (note that a high-powered, dedicated strobe requires a lot more support than a speedlight!).

Dolly

Dollies are highly useful; they’re light stands, but equipped with wheels!

Boom arm

A boom arm is a light stand that you can position at any angle, from completely vertical to completely horizontal. Boom arms are a great way to get your lights up high and to place your lights at angles a traditional light stand can’t manage. You can mount different varieties of boom arms to other light stands, as well as permanent fixtures like walls.

Reflector stand

These are dedicated stands designed to hold a reflector in place (e.g., under your subject’s chin).

Background/backdrop

A backdrop is the surface behind your subject. Backdrops can range from paper and vinyl rolls to bare or decorated walls to pieces of painted canvas.

Background stand/support

Background stands are support systems designed to hold a backdrop in place. They can be free standing or wall mounted.

Clamps

Clamps and other fastening devices come in all shapes and sizes. You can (and should) use clamps liberally; backgrounds, flags, reflectors, gels, and many, many other things need to be held in place during photo shoots. For example, bulldog clips are indispensable for holding up canvas backdrops, while double-headed clamps can attach to a table and hold a flag or reflector (as pictured below):

Rails

In bigger studios, you might see lights fixed to fittings on the walls and ceiling. These rails allow you to move your lights around a space without the hassle of a light stand. They also keep cords out of the way of you and your subjects.

Other

Here are a few miscellaneous items of studio lighting equipment that it pays to own, along with a couple of key vocabulary terms:

Quality of light

Light quality refers to the physical characteristics of light (generally the shape, intensity, hardness, and color).

Lighting pattern

A lighting pattern refers to a particular lighting position designed for predictable and established results. Examples of lighting patterns include butterfly lighting, Rembrandt lighting, and split lighting.

PC sync socket/cable

The PC sync lets you connect your camera to a flash. You can use this in lieu of triggers.

Triggers

Triggers allow a camera to communicate with lights and ensure that flashes fire while the shutter is open. They range from very basic models with just one function to complex devices that allow for full control over the settings of multiple lights.

Slave mode

In slave mode, a flash will detect the light from another flash via a sensor, then fire off a burst. It’s perfect for situations when you have multiple lights but only one basic trigger.

Mount

Modifiers attach to a strobe via a mount. A lot of lighting manufacturers have their own proprietary mounts associated with their systems (Bowens, Profoto, Elinchrom, etc.), so you will need to ensure that any modifier you buy will fit the system that you own.

Modeling light

Many strobes come fitted with two bulbs: a powerful flashbulb, from which you get the strobe light, and a weaker modeling bulb, which is on whenever the strobe is not flashing. The modeling light helps you see what the light quality and direction are doing to your subject. As a bonus, if you’ve cut out all ambient light (as you should in a studio environment), modeling lights allow you to see!

Studio lighting equipment: final words

Well, there you go:

An introduction to studio lighting equipment, complete with plenty of vocabulary. Now that you’ve finished this article, you can confidently step into a studio and know exactly what is going on – and you can get started with some studio lighting of your own!

Now over to you:

Which of the studio equipment items mentioned above do you own? Which do you plan to buy? And which is your favorite? Share your thoughts in the comments below!