Artificial Studio Strobe Photography Lighting

Explained

Let’s see if you can spot the difference…

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So which one of these photos above is 100% natural lighting and which one has 100% artificial studio strobe lighting?

If you’re looking for something that resembles a Hollywood film studio set, you’ll never see it! And that’s what great professional lighting is supposed to do - blend in without you ever knowing it’s there.

Here’s a diagram of what’s called a “5-Point Setup”

Simply put, a “5-Point Setup” is five lights arranged around a subject - like a person or a product.

If we’re just shooting a single person (like I was when I photographed Gretchen for her organic living blog) then a “3-Point Setup” is just fine.

Typically, 5-Point Setups are used when you have multiple subjects or a very specific “look” so you also need to custom-light the background. Additional lights give depth.

Here’s an example of “Flat Frontal” or “Product Lighting.” This is actually a RAW, completely untouched photo captured in a studio shoot I did for Mighty Audio.

I left this image RAW because I want you to see how the music player looks when it’s captured in-camera without any color rendering or post-production “mastering” done to it.

You may even notice there is a bit of a red hue in the shadow - that’s because the client wanted “warm” colors rather than “cold” colors so I shot this at 4800K rather than 5600K. But don’t worry, those "“red” shadows will be edited out for postings on their website and Amazon.com

I don’t want to get too geeky, but the reason why I dove straight into the “science” of lighting is because photons (sub-atomic light particulates) can be manipulated to curate hyper-specific looks.