Studio rental Guides

Studio lighting basics: one light, one window, one backdrop

A studio full of lights looks complicated. Most good portraits use one main light, something to soften the shadow side and a backdrop at the right distance. This guide starts with the window, moves to one strobe and stops there: enough for a first session.

1. Start with the window

The studio has a window wall. Daylight from a large window is the softest light you will get: the bigger the source compared with the person, the softer the shadows. Put the person about one metre from the window, turned slightly towards it, and look at the face: one side bright, the other side darker, with a smooth step between them.

Move the person, not the camera. Closer to the window: brighter and softer, with darker shadows. Further away: flatter and dimmer. Turn the face towards the window and the shadow side gets smaller; turn it away and the portrait gets more dramatic.

Use the blackout curtains to shape the window. Close them halfway and the light becomes a narrow strip; close them fully and the room goes dark, ready for flash.

2. One strobe, one modifier

Close the curtains and use one strobe with a large modifier: the 120 cm octabox is the easiest place to start. Set it at 45° to the side of the person and a little above eye level, pointing down at the face. That one light already gives a full portrait.

Settings to start from, in manual mode: ISO 100, shutter speed 1/160 s (fast enough for flash sync on most cameras), aperture f/8. Take a frame and look at it. Too bright: lower the strobe power or close the aperture. Too dark: the opposite. Change one thing at a time.

The distance matters more than the power. Move the octabox closer and the light gets softer and falls off faster behind the person; move it back and the light gets harder and more even across the room.

3. Fill the shadow side

Without fill, the shadow side can go too dark. Before you add a second light, add a reflector: the Sunbounce or a white V-flat on the side opposite the octabox. Move it closer for more fill, further for less. Most beginners add a second light too soon; a reflector is easier to control.

4. The backdrop

Pull the person 1.5–2 metres away from the paper. Two things happen: their shadow no longer lands on the backdrop, and the backdrop gets less light than the face, so you can make it lighter or darker by moving people, not lights.

• White paper close behind the person turns light grey. For pure white you need a separate light on the paper.
• Grey paper is the most forgiving colour for a first session: it goes lighter or darker with distance.
• Coloured paper (pink, aqua, red, orange) shows the light falling off across the roll, which is a good way to see what distance does.

5. Check on the big screen

Connect the camera to the monitor or the 65″ screen. On a big screen you see what the camera display hides: a shadow from the nose that is too long, a hot spot on the forehead, light spilling onto the backdrop. Fix it, shoot again, compare.

6. Common first mistakes

• The light too high: the eyes go dark. Lower it until you see a small bright reflection in each eye.
• The light straight from the front: the face looks flat. Move it to the side.
• Changing three settings at once: you cannot tell which one helped.
• Forgetting setup time: it counts as booked time. Plan 15 minutes to set up and 10 to put things back.

At the start of your booking we help you set up the light and the backdrop, free. If you want someone to move lights for the whole session, a light assistant is €40/h.

7. Learning with other people

Light is easier to learn when you see someone else solve the same problem in a different way. One session alone gets you started; regular practice with other photographers is what makes it stick.

If that sounds like you, learn studio lighting with Lux Photo Club: a community of photographers in Luxembourg with walks, meetings, workshops and courses.