Studio Photography

Light Fittings

In this post i will be discussing the use of different light fittings and the effects they have on photographs.

A snoot is a tube like object that fits onto a studio light and allows the photographer to control the direction and radius of the beam of light. They help by stopping 'light spill'.

Here is an example of a portrait using a snoot...

Using a snoot makes the images look moody and dark. Snoots are generally used in low key photography. 

A honeycomb is an attachment for studio flash that looks like a honeycomb mesh. It is used to obtain a hard lighting effect with distinct shadows.

Here is an example of a portrait taken using a honeycomb...

A softbox is an attachment that creates an even and diffused light by passing light through a diffusing material or bouncing light off a second surface to diffuse the light. 

Here is an example of a photograph taken using a softbox...

Barn doors are an accessory used on lights to control the direction of output and the width of the beam. Barn doors will stop light from spilling into unwanted areas. Barn doors are generally used in low key photography as it can be used to create harsh shadows and give the image a moody feel.

Here is an example of one of my own images taken using barn doors...

Reflectors are used for various different reasons, depending on the colour of them. here is an image of the five different types of reflectors...

The black reflector is used to create dark shadows to reflect upon a subject.

The gold reflector is use to cast a warm tone on the subject.

The white reflector is used to reflect light tones onto a subject and create extra highlights.

The silver reflector is used to bounce light up into the dark areas on a subject.

The last reflector in this image is used to further diffuse light when neccessary.

High key and Low key Photography

High key photography is usually used in images that are happy or up beat. A high key image usually has a pure white background and contains lots of light tones and highlights. High key photography is often used inn product photography and portraits like so...

As you can see, the portrait an the product are high key images as there is a lot of white an no dark shadows. To achieve this sort of image the photographer will have used to lights to light the background and two light the subject. This is what a histogram would look like for a high key image..

The histogram confirms that there are indeed many light tones and no dark tones. Here is an example of my own high key image...

Low key photography is usually used for images that are meant to make the subject look dark or moody. Low key photographs usually have black backgrounds and include a lot of dark tones. here is an example of a low key photograph..

As you can see, the image is low key as it is mostly pure black with a very little amount of light tones. To achieve this image the photographer would have placed the subject in front of a dark background with a light and modifier of their choice at a 45 degree angle to the subject. They may also have used a reflector to add some light toner onto the left side of her face. This is what a low key image histogram would look like..

The histogram shows that there are many dark tones and very little light ones. Here is an example of my own low key image...