Ultra Soft Fashion Portrait Lighting

Fashion Photography  •  Lighting  •  Photography Tips  •  Portrait Photography

Making a model stand out in a picture is a challenge to every photographer. This holds especially true if the model has pure white skin. How would you make her stand out against a white backdrop? Joel Grimes shows how he made flawless model Lauren Amante pop out of the picture. Watch Joel as he demonstrates his beauty lighting technique (primary techniques start at 4:59):

For this lighting technique, Joel uses three Westcott octoboxes (2 octoboxes with a 7ft height and a 5ft) as his set-up. The 7 footer octoboxes were placed on each side while the smaller octobox was set up in front of the model. Joel experiments with this technique to envelop the model with light.

“The bigger the source of light in relationship to the subject, the softer the light.”

However, Joel admits that the large size of light source may cause flare and a foggy effect on the image. To minimize the flare, he suggests that one should use a fixed telephoto lens rather than a zoom lens. The photographer can also improve the image by adjusting contrast in Photoshop.

Though an octobox is expensive, Joel recommends its usage since it lasts longer. Nonetheless, an 84-inch umbrella can also serve as a good alternative to the 7-footer octobox.