Jeff Smith's Guide to Head and Shoulders Portrait Photography

creates an artistic look with strong, heavy shadows. One of my favorite ways to

use this light is simply to pose the subject leaning on a white wall with a single

grid spot illuminating the subject and background. Whether this shot is taken

as a full length or head and shoulders portrait, the look is striking and yet sim-

ple. It’s not for everyone, but it’s a consistent seller.

A spotlight points the viewer’s eye directly where you want it. I often use a

small spot to just light the basic mask of the face with a slight light falloff around

the “edges” of the face. With a spotlight, you have to test the amount of fill used

so that you soften the harshness of the look but do not void the effect of the

spot.

Lighting for Close-Ups.

The next two styles of lighting are the ones we use most often with our ex-

treme close-ups, which are our best-selling portraits. These two styles of light-

ing have more of a fashion look than a portrait look, but you have to ask

yourself: If you had to have your photograph taken, would you rather look like

the woman on the cover of a fashion magazine or the woman in the window of

the local photographer’s studio?

Butterfly Lighting.The most popular of the two close-up lighting styles is

butterfly lighting, named for the butterfly-shaped shadow that appears under

the subject’s nose (well, if you look closely and have a good imagination!).

To create butterfly lighting, the main light is placed above the camera with

a reflector or secondary accent light under the camera. The best ratio for the

lighting will depend on the facial structure of the person you are photograph-

ing and the desired look. At times, I have the lower light (or reflector) at almost

the same f-stop as the upper main light. For most of my portrait clients, I have

the upper main light about a stop more than the reflector/secondary floor light.

LIGHTING 51

BELOW AND FACING PAGE—Using a smaller
main-light source that has a grid or lou-
vers gives you complete control over where
your light will go and where it won’t. The
arms of this young lady should be covered,
but this smaller light allows us to keep the
light off the arms and make them less of a
distraction.

A spotlight points the

viewer’s eye directly

where you want it.