From the course: Learning Headshot Photography
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Positioning your lights
- Positioning your lights for a headshot is really a very important part of making headshots. Generally speaking, you want to have a nice soft light on the front and if you can do it, a rim light from behind, and those should be opposite each other. This could be the sun, I often use the sun as my backlight shining in this way, or window light and you'll be able to see a rim of light shining forward on somebody's face. And that's really nice. You want to take care that it's not too bright, and it should always be opposite your front light. If you do it on the same side, it just feels a little bit unbalanced, and you may completely lose that rim effect. So having the front light opposite the rim light, is a really good way to go. As far as positioning the front light, you want to make sure that you get catch lights in both eyes and a catch light just means the reflection of this light shining in both eyes. It makes a vitreous quality to the eyes, it helps them look like they're alive…
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