Flash and studio lights

This high key shot demonstrates perfect control over exposure and light direction. The white ‘feathers’ contain soft shadows that form a texture through the image as it fills the frame. It would be very easy to over-light this and clip the highlights. The photographer has used an aperture of f/4 with the flash sync speed of 1/250 sec to allow for a relatively shallow depth of field and full flash sync simultaneously.

The subject’s face is filled with character, his expression and top hat also wreak eccentricity. This expression has been excellently captured with a flash, shot through an octagon softbox camera-right to provide strong but soft directional light, accentuating texture on the face and hand. A fill light camera-left stops the subject and background from falling into complete darkness.

The photographer has used direct flash subtly here to side-light the models face. The netting in front is also half lit, with the shadow from the subject’s head cast over to the right to create a dark, empty negative space, drawing the eye back to the face.

Taking on the technical challenge of lighting this shot is admirable. Not only has the timing of the shot got to be perfected, but care has to be taken to retain detail in the fine powder – both in terms of lighting and moving the powder through the frame.

This shot uses both good timing and perfect exposure to highlight the model and bag. The harsh midday sun is complemented with a key light camera-left and rim light camera-right. The added sun flare behind the bag draws attention to the product, and yellow on both sides of the frame gives the shot balance.

Using a classic two-light setup, this perky pooch shot shows off a happy, excitable dog whose personality is reflected in the vibrant yellow background. The eyes are pin sharp – hard to achieve when photographing pets, and the central composition draws the eye into the middle of the frame.

The combination of hard light and soft light here is a good mix. With a speedlight in a softbox camera-left the subject is lit with flatteringly diffuse light that cascades across the body and face. The bare speedlight camera-right shines the smoke and accentuates the side of the head and shoulder to add form to the subject.

Contemporary food photograph is often done with window light, so it’s great to see window light being mimicked with a strobe. With artificial lighting the photographer has tricked our eyes into thinking that it’s early morning as the fresh tea is being poured at the breakfast table.