Lighting is one of the key aspects you will need to learn to be good at boudoir photography. From mastering natural light to learning how to replicate the lighting from photos you want to recreate, you will need a firm understanding of how to make light work for you. In this post I will cover the following topics:
Light Source
Hard vs Soft
Light Intensity
Lighting Directions
Light Modifiers
Light Source
Where your light is coming from makes a difference in how your photos turn out. It affects your white balance and it can completely change the mood of your photo.
Natural Light: Sun light from either standing outside or streaming through a window.
Ambient: Light not coming from the sun is ambient light. Also called available light.
On-Camera: Either a built in flash or a flash that is mounted to the top of the camera.
Off-Camera: This is a flash or continuous light set up on a stand.
I suggest you focus on shooting with natural light first. After that you can practice with ambient lighting before moving to on-camera or off-camera lighting.
Hard vs Soft
Hard light, also called direct light, is light coming directly from your source without passing through a medium or being reflected off a surface. If you stand outside under direct sunlight you are experiencing hard light. Hard light creates deep shadows on your subject which you will usually want to avoid in boudoir as it can be unflattering. However, with experience there are instances where using deep shadows can add interest to your images.
Soft light is also called indirect or diffused light. With soft light you are taking light from your source and using a medium to spread it out over a broader area. Soft light is more flattering as it doesn’t create the deep shadows that hard light does. Using a diffuser you can modify hard light to create soft light.
Light Intensity
When using a light source, whether it be strobe, flash, continuous, or ambient, you can change the intensity of the lighting by moving either your source or your subject. If you want more illumination on your model yet can’t move the origin, such as a wall mounted lamp, move your subject closer to the window. Likewise, you can move lamps closer to your model if you can’t move her. Changing the intensity of the light can change the entire feeling of an image. In studio photography they use the terms high-key and low-key to describe this effect. In boudoir, dark and moody would be an example of low-key lighting, while a top down shot with white bed sheets and bright light is a high-key look.
Lighting Directions
Depending on the direction light is hitting your model you can get an entirely different photo. Your three best options are front, side, and back.
Front Lighting is the most flattering, especially for portraits. Soft front lighting is even better.
Side Lighting is where you get the dark and moody photos you see boudoir photographers posting all the time. This is because light and shadow create dramatic photos.
Back lighting is used to create silhouettes and to have strong rim lighting. You can see an example of rim lighting in the next picture where the light is strong on her hair and right arm. To evenly light the face with back-lighting you will usually need some type of reflected light. This can either come from a reflector or a white wall in the room.
Light Modifiers
At some point your will want to manipulate light to your will. This is where light modifiers come into play. The two most common are diffusers and reflectors.
Diffusers, sometimes called scrims, are for turning hard light into soft light. One of the easiest diffusers you can get is a set of white shear curtains with a tension rod. You will see quite a few professional photographers use these in their studios.
Reflectors are used to bounce light onto your subject. The most common reasons for using a reflector are to fill in shadows on the face or light the front of your subject when they are back lit. The color of your reflector plays a part in how your finally image will look. This is why you will see photographers using a reflector that is either silver, gold, or white.
Final Thoughts
Now that you have a better understanding of light, you will want to practice what you have learned. Try using direct light, indirect light, modifiers, and change lighting directions during a shoot. My suggestion would be to dedicate one shoot to learning each of the aspects I covered in this post. For the next Photography Basics article click the link below.
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