Portrait Lighting For Beginners: Introduction
If you’re just getting started with taking portraits, or would like to start taking portraits but don’t know where to start, this is the place to be. Even if you’ve been taking portraits already, you may just find something useful in this series.
In this series, I’m going to take you from an absolute beginners starting point, and take you through to a point where you’re taking consistently beautiful portraits. I hope to take the guesswork out of your learning process. When I was learning to take portraits, I had to scrape together bits and pieces of information on equipment and technique from all sorts of sources. There were many large open holes of information where I just couldn’t find the answers to my burning questions. I never did find them until I figured them out on my own. These gaps will hopefully be filled with this series.
We’ll start this series with a little bit of philosophy and concept which will make your picture taking so much easier. This way you’ll know why it is we’re doing what we’re doing during the course. Then we’ll talk about equipment and what you’ll need to get started. Next, we’ll cover the various basic lighting setups that are most common in portraiture. After that, we’ll break some of those rules and get a little funky, just to see what we get. Finally, I’ll send you off with a little advice on how you can apply the lessons you’ve learned in this series to all sorts of photography.
My intention is to have an installment of this series each week, as that’s about how long it will likely take me to whip up each post. In between posts in this series, I’ll continue to make regular photography related posts about other topics of interest. So check back regularly!
To make the most of this series, I hope you’ll get involved and start posting any questions and comments on the discussion thread I’ve started specifically for this series on the Sublime Light discussion forum. You can go directly to the thread here. Also, I want to see your work! As you go through the series and practice what you’re learning, I beg you to post your photos to the Sublime Light photo pool. Show your stuff off to me and the rest of the world. Don’t be shy!
After this series, I plan to do an intermediate series which will focus on taking portraits outdoors. Once you’ve mastered the concepts in this course, that one will be a breeze. Of course, this one will be a breeze too.
So get ready, because your photography is about to be taken to a new level. First up: the fundamentals of light and how it works. Don’t worry though, I won’t get all mathy on you, it’ll be easier than you think.
| Like this article? | |||
Bookmark it: |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 Email It To A Friend |
||
|
Subscribe to feed: 
|
|||
If you like reading Sublime Light, check out the Sublime Light Forums!
| |||
October 18th, 2007 at 8:52 am
[…] Learning to Light… October 18th, 2007 — photo220 I just learned of a great site for learning portrait lighting…Sublime Light […]
December 19th, 2007 at 6:52 am
I am glad to find this forum!
http://unikont.com
The Good lad an author! I much like site!
January 21st, 2008 at 6:53 am
These are some great articles perfect for any dSLR Dad on the principles of lighting and lighting setup. Great work Tim.
January 21st, 2008 at 6:56 am
[…] Solley over at Sublime Light has written a series of excellent articles for you dSLR Dads on Portrait Lighting. The series is […]
March 6th, 2008 at 4:37 am
[…] Portrait Lighting For Beginners: Introduction | Sublime Light […]
May 6th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
[…] http://www.sublime-light.com/index.php/2007/06/22/portrait-lighting-for-beginners-introduction/#cont…Nicholson, Benedict. Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light, Vol. I and II. Hew Haven: Yale University Press, 1968. Plates 45: A Girl Reading a Letter by Candlelight, with a Young Man Looking Over Her Shoulder, 1762. […]
July 25th, 2008 at 6:07 am
[…] - Sublime Light - A great blog also designed to address your off-camera lighting knowledge deficit. They also have a series on Portrait Lighting for Beginners. […]
January 6th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
[…] I just found a great series of articles on how even a total moron (e.g. yours truly) can properly light a portrait. The series walks you through everything from the basic theories of light, to equipment, and on to how to properly light and shoot arbitrary portraits. Good stuff. […]
January 7th, 2009 at 11:32 am
[…] web site might be helpful: PortraitLighting.net Portrait Lighting Basics Portrait Lighting For Beginners Photography lighting tutorials by Strobist - Learn the […]
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 am
[…] StudioLighting - Studio Lighting Setups Strobist Lighting Essentials - Studio Lighting Home Studio & Lighting Studio Lighting - Lighting Diagrams, Planning and Explaining Studio Lighting - A Beginners Guide To Lighting Studio Photography Studio Lighting On A Budget Portrait Lighting For Beginners […]
March 1st, 2009 at 12:07 pm
[…] To Lighting Studio Photography Studio Lighting - Lighting Diagrams, Planning and Explaining Portrait Lighting For Beginners Learning to Light Better LIGHTING ESSENTIALS - Studio Lighting Explained Lighting […]
March 6th, 2009 at 8:45 am
[…] type portrait work you might even want to consider going the strobist route or even studio lights. Portrait Lighting For Beginners: Introduction Portrait Lighting Portrait Lighting 101 Studio Lighting and Posing […]
March 17th, 2009 at 8:16 am
[…] web sites that offer good information about lighting. Strobist is one. Here are a few others… Portrait Lighting For Beginners Photoflex Lighting School Lighting Resource Center Lighting Essentials For Photographers Studio […]
April 25th, 2009 at 9:10 am
[…] close to you. See this page for more info: Strobist: Lighting 102 - Position / Distance Strobist Portrait Lighting For Beginners: Introduction MPEX: Strobist Gear Flash […]
June 16th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
[…] To Start A Home-Based Photo Studio Strobist: Lighting 101 Strobist: Lighting 102 Portrait Lighting For Beginners MidWest Photo Exchange __________________ Gear List / My […]