Portrait Photography: Ten Styles with One Light

Course details

Learn to control light so you can make a great portrait any time and any where. This course covers essential lighting principles and strategies, and shows how you can use just one light source to take dramatic portraits, business headshots, and family photos. Discover ten different styles that can be accomplished using only one light, and find out how to incorporate simple and inexpensive light-modification tools.

Learning objectives
Leveraging different types of light
Finding the right light for the right mood or effect
Taking portraits for business and family clients
Making the camera and light work together
Helping people look their best

Concepts

0. Introduction

01 - What you ll learn in this course
02 - What tools will be demonstrated

1. Principles of Portrait Lighting

03 - Judging the quality, direction, color, and contrast of light
04 - Hard vs. soft
05 - Choosing a flattering light direction
06 - Conquering color problems
07 - Controlling contrast - All about the shadows

2. Making Soft Light

08 - Go with a big light
09 - Closer is the same as bigger
10 - Shine through vs. reflect for softness
11 - White vs. silver vs. gold reflectors
12 - Find big lights

3. Five Lighting Patterns

13 - Front light
14 - Loop light
15 - Rembrandt light
16 - Split light
17 - Rim or back light
18 - Combine with reflector for even more options

4. Making and Finding Directional Light

19 - Making directional light
20 - Finding directional light

5. Ten Portraits with One Light

21 - Lighting and posting for what the portrait should say
22 - Clam shell headshot
23 - Loop or Rembrandt
24 - Dark background and deep contrast
25 - Full length or three quarters
26 - Split light, skipping, and intense
27 - Extreme angle
28 - Reflector as the front light
29 - Reflector as the back light
30 - Silhouette
31 - Second curtain sync

Conclusion

32 - Next steps