More low-key lighting work this past weekend. Low-key lighting is wonderful on so many levels. For starters, you don’t need much to make it happen. Just a single light source and possibly a black sheet for the background but you can even get away without that. This makes this sort of photography is a great place to start if you only have a single speedlight or strobe, a small work space, or just don’t want to deal with a bunch of lights.
Also, low-key lighting just involves one light, but what you learn about a single light source carries over to multi light set ups. What I mean is that if you practice low-key lighting for months on end and then suddenly add a second light, everything you’ve learned still carries over. And since you just have a single light, it’s easy to adjust the setup and try that light at different angles, which again only helps you understand light better.
Finally, and this is a secret I’m giving away here – if I get the impression I got a client or model who mistakenly believes they don’t look good in pictures then I start with a low-key lighting “test” (I tether my camera to my laptop so they can see what the pictures look like in real time). It’s just a dramatic, cool style that makes everyone look great. So, it’s a good confidence booster for a nervous client. Not to mention the photos consistently tend to look good whether they are in color or black and white.