Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

Photography lighting is a part of the learning curve that so many photographers struggle with even after years of experience. These articles take you behind the scenes in my studio and on location to help you demystify the art of lighting. Just like anything else, it will require some effort and serous practice to improve your photography lighting skills, but the reward will be understanding the power of light and how it can make or break your image.

The Importance of Catchlights for Portraits

If you are going to shoot portraits, don’t overlook the importance of catchlights. They’re a small detail that can easily make or break your shot. So what’s the big deal about catchlights? Catchlights play an important role in creating dimension and depth and in adding life to a portrait by…
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Your Best Shot Is a Mistake!?!

Sometimes your best shot presents itself as a mistake, and if you are not paying attention you will fix the mistake and wind up with a less creative, less exciting, less interesting photograph. I want to show you an example from a recent shoot where this happened to me and…
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Beauty Dish Lighting from an Umbrella

The irony of a beauty dish is that it makes harsh light that is not really that beautiful… unless, of course, you use it properly. I’ll break it down for you and even show you how to make your own very portable DIY Beauty dish for less than $7. Go…
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The Inverse Square Law for Photographers

The inverse square law is one of those phrases that strikes fear into the minds of new and even experienced photographers. Why? Because we are talking about physics, equations… You know…math! But don’t worry. I am going do my best to simplify this inverse-square law stuff for you. There are…
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Direct Flash Glamour Shots and Beauty Portraits

If you have tried using direct flash without any modifiers or, even worse yet, put a speed light on top of your camera and aimed it straight at your subject, or even if you haven’t, chances are you’ve heard that direct flash is not a good idea when you’re photographing…
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Bikini Glamour Photography Setup

A few years back, I did this bikini glamour shot for a model’s portfolio. My goal was to do a bikini glamour shot with some personality and energy. Keep in mind, though, that in a commercial modeling portfolio, you don’t want the photos to be too sexy. Mainstream advertisers are…
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EASY Portrait Lighting that can also be used for a Beauty Shot

A few years ago, I did a simple beauty shot with a three-light portrait lighting setup to help a young makeup artist build her portfolio as well as to help a young model add to her book. The Backstory I am frequently contacted by makeup artists and hair stylists as…
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Create an Awesome 1 Light Fashion Shot Using Two DIY Gobos

Here’s a one light fashion shot that I did that you can do with a few DIY gobos and a speedlight or a monolight. Plus, I’ll show you how to make this work in almost any sized space. Did I just hear a bunch of people ask what the heck…
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Gorgeous Backlit Glamour Lighting

I have a super simple two light fun and sexy glamour lighting setup that puts all the light behind the model. Yes – I said behind the model. I was a child of the 1960’s and one of my absolute favorite sets of photos is a group of black and…
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4 Light Portrait Lighting

Let’s walk through a very flattering and easy -to-work-with four light lighting arrangement that is great for portraits, headshots and beauty shots. I have said many, many times in my videos – Keep it simple stupid. When I am photographing a model or working on a portrait for a client,…
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Creative Shutter Drag Technique Combining Flash and Ambient Light

Shutter drag or dragging the shutter is a flash technique. You can do it with speedlights or monolights and it can be used in a studio or on location, depending on the circumstances and the results that you’re after. I’m going to show you some images that use this technique,…
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Direct Flash Glamour Lighting Tutorial

Somewhere in the learning curve of lighting and photographing beautiful women, photographers are taught that direct flash sucks and you should never use it. Yet, ironically, magazines like Maxim publish several covers a year shot with one light direct flash and the model or celebrity standing in front of a…
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White Background Lighting technique with a softbox or OctoDome

I love white backgrounds for portraits, headshots, and beauty shots. Here, I’ll be walking you through a simple and quick technique to get a pure white background for portraits or product shots. It requires minimal gear, it’s portable, and you can use it in tight space. Read on and I’ll even…
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Learn Portrait Lighting With set.a.light 3D Studio Lighting Software

Have you ever found yourself wanting to practice your portrait lighting techniques, but you don’t have a subject available? Do you get nervous when you are shooting someone, because you are afraid that if you run into a problem with your lighting, your subject will lose faith in you? You’re…
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One Light Portrait Lighting for Portraits & Headshots

Great lighting is not the result of owning lots of lights. Great light comes from learning to see light. I want to show you how you can create some awesome one-light portrait lighting for portraits and headshots! Every single day, I receive messages asking about lighting. So over a few…
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How To Shoot a Casual Portrait With One Light and One Modifier

The casual portrait is taken in a studio… Which is not exactly a casual setting… So what does it really mean? For me it starts with an attractive subject, photographed in simple casual clothing, in a relaxed posture with simple, flattering light. This is a shot that I would do…
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Photographing People With Glasses – How To Avoid Glare in Eyeglasses

One of the most common questions I receive: what’s the best lighting to use for photographing people with glasses, so that you don’t have reflections or glare on eyeglasses? The answer is easy… and I can use any kind of lighting arrangement I want to. I just set my lights,…
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Learn How to SEE Light. Remember the Egg!

When I started telling the egg story in my workshops many years ago, I got the sense that people were just humoring me as they sat there nodding their heads as if they understood the message. So I went ahead and recorded a video to show what I was talking…
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How To Use a Reflector the Right Way for Better Portraits

Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Seriously – PLEASE STOP using reflectors to create crappy unflattering light. TV shows, movies, and unfortunately even YouTube photographers seem to think it’s really cool to do that low angle gold reflector that blinds your subject, makes ridiculously bright catchlights in the bottom of…
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High Key Lighting With Three Studio Lights And A White Room

“High Key Lighting is a bright even light that is designed to eliminate most of the shadows in a photograph“ This set-up is a high key lighting arrangement that uses three studio strobes (You could also do it with Speedlight’s or hot lights) and it takes advantage of the studio…
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Dramatic Beauty Portrait – Shot With 2 Lights

Here is a recent dramatic beauty portrait lighting technique that I did at the end of a modeling portfolio shoot. I did the shot with just 2 flash heads and one of them; was BOUNCED onto the ceiling. The model is a young 16-year-old from Cleveland, Ohio who traveled here…
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Lighting Setup for the Sci-FI Geisha Girl Shoot

Sci-fi Geisha Girl! That’s the name that my makeup artist gave to her latest creation. Let’s take a peek behind the scenes at my lighting setup and I will show you how we did this beauty shot. Let me start out by saying that this is one of those pictures…
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Backlit Beauty Lighting Setup

Let’s take a look at how we can make a really cool portrait or beauty shot by putting ALL of the light BEHIND the subject. Wait! Did I say behind? Ok… we’ll make it work. If you have read any books or taken a class about studio lighting, you have…
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Backlit Glamour Photography Lighting

Beauty lighting behind the subject??? I know you are thinking the title is wrong. Even back in the film days the inside of the Kodak boxes had the Daylight Lighting Table that explained you should put the light behind the camera with the subject facing towards the light. If you…
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Who Says Bounce Flash Is Ugly?

“Never use bounce flash for portraits!” When I was a young photographer (back in the film era) I was taught that bounce flash for people pictures was not flattering and should only be used for event and news photography. Recently I did a Google search on the phrase “Bounce Flash”…
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Dramatic Fashion Portrait Lighting

My goal with this set of images was to be able to create lots of drama and make a bold statement while still keeping things pretty simple. As always I have included a lighting diagram and I am also going to show you some simple variations on this lighting setup.…
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Equipment and Lighting for Shooting the Female Nude

Planning KISS IT! = Keep It Super Simple Especially for your first few shoots… select a simple concept or lighting style and don’t try to over do it. The majority of my fine art nudes are shot with one or two lights. Even when I am not using the models…
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Create a Connection by Lighting for Mood With the Female Nude

I am a fan of the KISS IT (Keep It Super Simple) method of lighting and shooting. So with that in mind let’s jump right in and look at a few lighting set-ups that I routinely use to create lighting for mood when shooting fine art nudes. What does “Lighting…
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