Photographic images are created by light.  The average and below people who use cameras use whatever light is there and shoot away.  Those snapshots are then left in the drawers or placed in albums that are shown to guests they are trying to get rid of.  The photographs that hang on walls, are rarely taken by chance.  Light has either been manipulated to create a pleasing portrait, or it  happened to be just right for the subject to stand out.  In order to make pleasing photographs one must look at the light. 

When you look at the portrait and still life paintings made by the old master painters one of the things that is apparent is that they saw and used light to enhance the dimensional aspects of the subject.  In most cases, one can see that early morning or late afternoon light was displayed.  Many artists liked the warm tones and softer shadows found during that time of day. Some artists prefer the shadowless light found from large north facing windows and skylights.  Very few, if any seem to like the glaring noon day sun.  If we apply these ideas to our photography, we end up with better photographs.  Most tourists and amateur photographers shoot during the "bad light" time of day.  To stand out we have to think about when to shoot or control our lighting.

Light for most still life or portraits rarely looks good if it is coming straight down from the top.  Think of taking a photo of your loved ones in front of the Grand Canyon at noon, nothing is going to look good in the shot but it is done all the time.   The same shot taken near sunrise or sunset with a little fill flash comes out looking fantastic.  Angled lighting looks good to us.  Thus we should angle the lights we use in the studio. 

Light without shadow is boring.  To put a bit of life into the still life, be sure that at least one of your light sources is stronger than the rest.  To further add mystery, one can even use unconventional lighting (from below the subject).  If you are doing photography, light is the key element you are working with and as such, play with it. 

In general, I like using diffuse lighting at about 30 degrees above and to the left of camera (angle as measured off a line from subject to camera lens) for shooting most still life projects.  This provides good modeling and requires less fill than other arrangements.  It is also the starting point for most of my portrait work.  For more of my portrait tips you should visit my portrait tips page.

Lighting Terms 

Broad lighting - The difference between the key and fill light is less than 1 1/2 stops for this style of lighting.

Diffuse lighting is light that casts few spurious reflections. You can diffuse light by using shoot through umbrellas, or soft boxes or just about any translucent substance.

Feathered light is light off the rim of the soft box. It is softer than the light that is straight out of the soft box.

Fill light - Light used to decrease the appearance of shadows.

Gobo - Any object placed between a light source and the subject to create a shadowed area or limit the amount of light falling on the subject

Hair light - A light used to emphasize the hair and create the illusion of depth in the photograph.

Key light - The principle or main light used for creating the shadows used for modeling the subject.

Short lighting - Having only about half of a subject lit fully There is usually 2 1/2 to 3 stops difference between the key light and the fill light for this lighting.

Soft Box - A light source with a large diffusion panel designed to make the light source appear larger and cast feathered shadows