Studio Lighting for Photography: A Beginner’s Guide

If you’ve been taking pictures for a while, you probably heard that natural light is the best for photography. While this is true, you cannot control the sunlight to your whim and fancy.

On those days when the clouds cover the sun, you get even, diffused light. Other times, you mostly end up with bright, harsh light. If you want complete control over lighting, you should go for artificial lighting.

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This is especially important if you’re mainly doing studio-based work. But, the transition from natural to artificial lighting can be daunting. We’re here to help.

The Basics of Lighting

In photography, lighting is everything. Without good light, your photos will be flat and unappealing. So, before we delve deeper into the types of lighting, let’s learn some basics about lighting.

There are three primary types of lighting: key light, fill light, and backlight.

Key light is the main light with which you illuminate your subject. Say you’re photographing someone outdoors in natural light, the sun is your key light. The most powerful light you use will be your key light when you’re in a studio.

Fill light is the light you use to fill in the shadows cast by your subject. It is often placed opposite the key light and is usually less intense. Have you used a reflector to fill shadows when taking pictures in natural light? The reflector acts as a fill light in that case.

Backlight is the light you place behind your subject. The purpose of this light is to bring depth to your subject by better defining the outline. Read all about backlighting here. It essentially separates your subject from the background.

You must use these three lighting techniques to get evenly lit photos with depth and detail. Of course, once you master these, you can play around to create different lighting setups.

Hard vs. Soft Light

Before you use artificial lights, you should first know about the quality of light. Photographers define the quality of light by the type of shadows it produces.

For example, hard light makes shadows with hard edges. Imagine when you’re in the bright sunlight, you can see your shadow distinctly. On the other hand, soft light produces shadows that are gradual without any hard edges. The shadows are not as well-defined on a cloudy day.

Hard light is excellent for adding seriousness, edginess, and drama to your photos, while soft light makes your subject pleasant and friendly.

Types of Artificial Lighting

You can choose three types of lighting for your studio photography projects.

Continuous Lighting

This type of lighting is where you keep the light continuously on in the background while taking pictures. Your camera and the flash unit work separately on their own without the need to communicate with each other. You can choose a studio bulb or LED lights for your continuous lighting setup. Also, this is the one to use for videography.

Continuous lighting is simple—you switch on the lights, see how they light up your scene, decide the exposure settings, and start shooting. You can even use your camera’s auto mode with continuous lighting.

As you can see, continuous lighting is simple to master, and you can try this first if you’re a beginner. But, there are some downsides to it. You always need an external power supply to power up your lights. And the setup will quickly heat up because you’re keeping the lights on for a longer time. This can especially become bothersome in a small studio.

In mixed lighting scenarios involving different lights—say in a room with fluorescent or tungsten bulbs—you may want more powerful light like a speedlight or studio strobe to entirely overpower the mixed lighting.

Speedlights

Unlike continuous lighting, speedlights flash only when your camera snaps a picture. Speedlights are pretty powerful, yet they are lightweight, portable, and don’t take up much space in your camera bag.

They are powered by regular AA batteries, and you don’t have the hassle of finding a power supply when traveling to different locations for photo shoots.

Speedlights are also versatile because you can use them on your camera’s hot shoe as an on-camera flash. But, when you’re using them as an off-camera flash, you will need a trigger that will tell the flash to fire when your camera takes a photo. Expensive speedlights come with a built-in trigger.

With speedlights, you have some disadvantages too. Unless you have an advanced speedlight with high-speed sync, you’re limited to using 1/200 or 1/250 as your shutter speed. This can be a problem if you’re trying to freeze motion. They are also not as powerful as studio strobes.

When working with speedlights, you will not be able to see the outcome of your shot until you click some pictures and check them on your camera. So, you should be ready to play around with different settings and find the one that suits you.

Monolight and Flash Strobes

Monolights, also called studio strobes, are self-powered flash units capable of producing very intense light for a short duration of time. They are bigger and bulkier than speedlights but have a shorter recycling time between the shots. They are so powerful that you can even use them outdoors to overpower the sunlight.

Monolights have something called the modeling light, which will light up your scene so that you can exactly see how your photos will turn out.

The main disadvantage of studio strobes is that they are bulkier to carry. However, there is a newer type of flash called flash strobes that looks like a cross between a monolight and speedlight. Powered by batteries, they pack a punch. More power and less weight—you get the best of both worlds.

Don’t Forget the Light Modifiers

Light modifiers like softboxes, reflectors, umbrellas, grids, and beauty dishes are necessary accessories in your studio. They are critical to bringing your vision alive. So, explore different modifiers and learn how they impact your photos.

Choose the Right Type of Lighting for You

Using artificial lights can open up a new world for you. But, you may be reluctant to try it. Thankfully, artificial lighting is not that hard to master. All those new terms and different gadgets can scare you, but don’t let them stop you. Start with continuous lighting, practice regularly, and then graduate to more complex lighting.

The good news is that there are affordable options for lighting gear online. You can also buy them as kits with lights, light stands, softboxes, and other accessories. There is no reason to stop yourself from trying studio lighting. So, why not give it a go? Happy clicking!