Lighting Tips for your Photographs

Whether you're shooting portraits or Candids, present the subject matter in light of the "best" can really make a difference to your portfolio. Here are some basics of lighting for taking pictures at every opportunity:

When it comes to photo looks professional, there is much to be said about the lighting. Good lighting is one of the basic skills that every photographer should learn - whether they're shooting product and fashion models at a photo studio or photographed at an event.

The right lighting can help set the mood of your image and will help you arrange your composition. Playing with shadows will help you highlight certain parts of your image and help you direct the eye of the observer. Three point light - when it comes to portrait photography, professional all the talk about "three-point lighting." When illuminating your subject, you must consider three sources of light:

Understanding the environment - unless you're in controlled studio situations, you usually will have to account for and work with existing lighting of your environment. When shooting outdoors on a sunny day would be most effective as a key light, so try and face your subject towards the sun. If not, a cloudy or overcast day will provide enough light to fill shadow free and allows you to illuminate your subject from any direction.

Key light - this is the main light source that will be seen as the most visible source of light in the picture. - Fill light - the main purpose of a softer light is to reduce the severity of the shadows and give some more gradient variation. Fill lights are usually not more than half as bright as the key light. You can also use reflectors to try and direct light toward your lessons to minimize the appearance of shadows. - Rim light - also known as a rim light on the backlight and placed behind the subject. This helps to make the "highlight" effect around your subject to make it or stand out from the background.

Thinking back to flash - built in flash on your DSLR camera can be a useful tool, if you use it properly. Instead of using it as a source of lighting in a dark scenario (which can cause skin color washable) consider flash as "fill" feature that will help bring your subject in the lighting environment. Think of Flash as a means of highlighting. Meanwhile, an external flash will be a valuable addition to a collection of camera accessories.