Fashion Lighting Techniques

There are many techniques for creating beautiful fashion photography, but it begins with getting the right lighting. Light is the tool you'll use to sculpt your photograph. How you use the light you work with will typically be the deciding factor between a photograph that is truly worth a thousand words and one that can be tossed in the trash. Here are some lighting tips you can use to turn your images into something memorable.

Soft Lighting

Soft lighting is almost always the way to go in a fashion shoot. Soft lighting helps hide blemishes. Harsh light not only brings out flaws, it can create the illusion of flaws that aren't actually present. Fluorescent lighting is a particularly off limits. Soft yellow or amber-based lighting works well, but it's best to use natural lighting whenever possible.

Avoid Built-In Flash

Built-in flash is too weak to properly light a subject more than 13 feet away. Also, built-in flash almost always produces red eye when the subject looks directly into the camera. Use speed lighting or strobes when you want flash to light your subject. If you find yourself in a situation where you have no option other than built-in flash, have your subject turn slightly away from the camera or bring up the ambient light in the room.

Creative Lighting

To bring out the best in your model, you will want to apply a few creative lighting techniques. Some of these include using strobes on both sides of your model to create shadows that will add depth to your shot. Another effective lighting technique is to backlight your model. Backlighting involves lighting your subject from behind, as the name implies, which helps minimize the background and bring out the contour of your subject.

Natural Light Effects

If you want warmer tones using natural light, do your photo shoots in the morning or in the evening, during the magic hours, which are the first and last hours of the day. In photography, these times are also called the golden hour. Schedule shoots for these times when you can. Shooting at midday, when the sun is above you, creates a blue overcast and harsh shadows. This may be useful to obtain a specific look, but it typically doesn't work well for fashion shoots.

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