Portrait photography tip: Side lighting

Thursday 3 October 2024, 17:17 by Elja Trum | 2,575 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Besides the size of the light, its direction is also very important. If you have your light coming from the side, it creates shadows. Thanks to shadows, you can see depth, so they add depth to your portraits.

Sarah - f/10, 1/125s, ISO 100 @ 55mm
In the photo of Sarah above, I used one softbox from the side as the light source. The side without direct light is quite dark, but this makes shapes and depth more visible. At the same time, the direction adds atmosphere to the photo.

If you still want more light on the other side of your model, you can use a reflector or a second flash for this.

If you choose an extra flash, make sure that it gives off less powerful light. This fills in the shadows so they are less dark, while preserving the difference between both sides and therefore the depth created by the shadows.

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About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

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