one light wonders – using a single light source in the studio
by AFS on Dec.16, 2008, under lighting & technique
While admiring photographers who can handle many lights very well, like Joshua Jordan, I usually like to keep things on my sets as simple as possible. Why? Because I find that I feel freer to work with the talent when I am not thinking too much about equipment. Also when the lighting is more simple, the models can move around more freely without messing the whole thing up 
Keeping it simple often that means using only daylight, or just one studio strobe – and maybe mix the one studio light with daylight. And often it means using a reflector or two. While it might sound limiting, it really isn’t. And if you are just starting to learn how to light things, or just like to travel light, it’s a good idea to explore all that can be done with one light source.
Using only the sun (daylight) is a good way to start. Everyone has taken photos using daylight, and everyone has seen some incredible images made using just the sun. The below gallery is all shot indoors with just daylight. Sometimes there was just one window, and in some cases there were multiple windows.
Seeing as you can do all these things with daylight inside, it should follow that one artificial light source in the studio could be just as be fruitful, no? Well, it can be. Soon I will post a few shots using single-source strobe lights (usually with large softboxes for diffusion.) I’ll do my best to describe exactly how I used them.
8 comments for this entry:
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December 17th, 2008 on 1:02 pm
great article, thanks
December 18th, 2008 on 8:35 am
Please continue with your blog. Like your work a lot.
December 21st, 2008 on 11:35 pm
Thanks for sharing.! Beautiful work. I was taught from the very beginning to keep things really simple. Avoid tripods, filters, etc. when at all possible and that will free up the creativity. I like your approach of simplicity. I’m new to studio lighting, your post has given some great ideas. Thanks, Robb
January 2nd, 2009 on 12:20 pm
I really very liked this post. Can I copy it to my site?
Thank you in advance.
Sincerely, Timur.
January 3rd, 2009 on 7:26 pm
No Timur, this all protected by copyright and may not be copied to another site. Thanks.
January 27th, 2009 on 7:44 pm
Great! Thank you!
I always wanted to write in my site something like that. Can I take part of your post to my site?
Of course, I will add backlink?
Regards, Reader
January 27th, 2009 on 10:18 pm
Timur, you may not copy my text to your site, but feel free to link to it. Glad you liked the article.
February 5th, 2009 on 6:45 pm
Hi. Your site displays incorrectly in Opera, but content excellent! Thank you for your wise words:)