Using Light: Studio Lighting

NOTE: This class is for both photographers that have studio setups, as well as those considering getting into the genre.  The student needs a DSLR camera and either a gray card (~$20) OR an incident light meter capable of reading flash (~$300).  The triggering system for setting off the lights will be provided in class.

This class combines in-class exercises and homework assignments, not just done by the teacher but also by each of the students, to set up not only lighting positions but also light and camera exposures, from scratch.  The student will find themselves in the position of setting up the entire lighting setup, troubleshooting the positions, and setting the light powers and camera exposure.

The homework component to this course will require the student to use a studio to practice the concepts discussed in class.  If the student does not have a studio they have access to, the studio where the class takes place will be available for rent.

The CPLC’s ethos of hands-on exercises and experience in all of its courses applies especially well to studio lighting, which has an air of mystique around it to new studio photographers, and is often presented to be far more difficult than it needs to be.

This class begins with setting up each of the major studio lighting styles with a key light, namely short, broad, butterfly, loop, rembrandt, and split lighting.  The students will move the key light themselves to the proper angle and height to achieve these styles, as well as adjust power levels and camera exposure settings to adjust the fill light in the shadowed side of the face.

Class will then look systematically at where to position background lights, in angle and position, so that the hot spots are removed and even lighting is achieved.  Students will then see and demonstrate in class where and at what settings to position their fill, hair, and kicker lights.

Homework will include taking studio portrait shots of full setups as well as demonstrating the principles of individual light contributions.  The studio is available for rent if the student does not have their own.  The homework is then reviewed in class and new exercises are built to ensure the concept is understood by the students based on their homework.  This hands-on approach is meant to ensure the student doesn’t come in and watch lights being moved around, but rather that they move the lights themselves, understanding why and refining their knowledge over exercises to solidify the concepts.

We will also discuss in class the somewhat esoteric language of studio lighting, which often speaks of setting brightness and exposure settings in aperture-exclusive terms, a language that outside studio photography is limited in use and thus foreign to students coming from a non-studio background.

When you have finished this course, you will be knowledgeable and experienced in the methodology of determining the position for each light you are using in a studio setting, and how they relate to each other.  You will have experience moving lights and adjusting their power output to the proper settings, as well as setting your camera for the proper exposure given these settings.  Finally, you will also be able to ‘speak the language’ of studio lighting exposures, so that reading and hearing great studio photographers discuss their setups will no longer be above your head.