Using the sun as frontal lighting makes it difficult for your subject to look towards camera, because they’re looking into the sun and creates hard shadows. So using a diffuser to soften the light creates a more pleasing effect and is more comfortable for your subject’s eyes.

When you use flash off camera you can position the light higher and angled down towards the subject in a butterfly light position, which is flattering for portraits. This creates a distinctive butterfly shadow beneath the subject’s nose and chin, defining the jawline.

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Of these five, the first three light patterns are a type of side lighting and the other two are a form of front lighting.

The quality contrast or intensity contrast describes the contrast of pure colors to dull colors. The mixing of pure colors with gray tones makes them dull and murky. The quality of the purity is lost. In their effect, pure colors dominate over dull colors.

To soften flash light use a light modifier such as a shoot through or reflective umbrella or a softbox fitted to the flash.

In portrait photography, directional lighting creates depth, texture, and drama by skimming over and defining the subject’s features from a specific direction. Shadows on the subject’s face show the light direction used as they’ll extend away from the direction of the light. You can see this clearly in the photo below.

The challenge of lighting from above is that it can create unflattering shadows under your subject’s eyes and nose. So take care with light placement.

Lighting, and the direction of light, is one of the most important aspects of portrait photography. Directional lighting makes a huge difference to the final image, depending on how you use it. Put simply, directional light photography uses light coming from a specific direction, creating shadows and highlights to add depth and dimension to the subject.

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Artificial light for side lighting can be created with ambient light of a streetlight, for example, or continuous light such as LED lighting or off-camera flash.

I use top-down lighting mainly for full body portrait photography, particularly maternity and fitness portraits, because it’s great for emphasizing the shape the body. With this lighting technique you can create deep shadows, which are fantastic for mood and depth in portraits.

The effect of simultaneous contrast is caused by the perceptual processing of the eye: after looking at a color for a long time and then seeing a neutral grey, the eye forms a simultaneous contrast. Red leads to a greenish gray tone. This complementary interaction makes a gray surface appear reddish if it is next to a green surface. Colors thus change their effect through the influence of their adjacent colors.

Using directional lighting in photography adds depth, texture, and mood to your images. It creates shadows and highlights to emphasize the contours of your subject. By using directional lighting, you can create a more dynamic and interesting image that gets attention.

For soft light outdoors on sunny day place your subject in the open shade of a building with the light coming from the side. Or for hard lighting outdoors, use the direct light of the sun.

Front lighting for portrait photography is one of the most common directional lighting techniques used, because it’s the easiest and the first type of light direction we learn.

Quantity contrast refers to the size ratio of color areas to each other. A large color area with a small area of a contrasting color increases the color effect of the main area.

This contrast refers to the effect of pure colors in their highest possible intensity. The primary colors of yellow, red and blue create the greatest contrast. The color contrast becomes weaker with secondary or tertiary colors or with decreasing saturation.

Portrait photographers use directional light to flatter their subjects with small changes to the angle and position of the light source to create different lighting patterns.

Because with side lighting the light skims across the surface of your subject’s face, it highlights wrinkles and blemishes. So bear in mind your subject’s skin and age when using side lighting.

Directional lighting can be created with natural light or artificial light. So it’s not about the type of lighting used, but the actual light direction.

The difference between at least two color tones is called color contrast. Color contrast is elementary for visual perception. We can see objects by separating them from their surroundings. For this reason, color contrast should also be taken into account in lighting design for architecture. The contrast between body colors or light intensities can emphasize areas in (interior) design. On a white background, in addition to colored light, the light colors of different shades of white – ranging from a reddish warm white and neutral white to a bluish cool white – are a design tool in lighting design.

Create top-down lighting by placing the main light source above, and slightly forward of, the subject and pointing it downwards. Make sure you position the overhead light in the right place to get catchlights in your subject’s eyes.

Backlighting portraits can create strong highlights on the subject’s hair and shoulders, which adds glamour and sophistication to a portrait. However, be careful not to overexpose the highlights.

On-camera flash creates front lighting, but isn’t particularly interesting. This lighting technique involves using a flash mounted on the camera and pointed directly at the subject. Rather use a speedlight for off-camera flash for a more interesting and flattering light direction.

Contrast lightingphotography

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Contrast lightingin film

Side lighting in portrait photography creates shadows and highlights on the subject’s face that emphasize and shape the subject’s features.

Late afternoon and the golden hour are the best times to use natural light as front lighting, because of the soft quality of light at this time of day and the lower position of the sun in the sky.

It’s the most commonly used light direction for portraits, offering the most variety of looks, depending on the position of your subject in relation to the light.

Direct light is any light that lands directly on your subject. If direct light isn’t diffused or reflected it produces a hard light quality, because there’s nothing between the light source and the subject. Examples of direct light include:

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Because backlighting portraits, with the main light source behind the subject, creates a halo effect around the subject, it separates them from the background and adds depth to the image.

To soften shadows use a reflector for fill light, or any reflective surface, positioned below the subject’s chin to bounce the light back up.

Create directional light in photography with natural light or artificial lighting, such as a flash. The direction of the light can be from the front, back, side, or above your subject. Experiment with different angles to see what works best for your desired effect.

This play of light and shadow creates form, giving a more three-dimensional look to a two-dimensional surface. It also  affects the mood and emotion of an image, depending on how much shadow and how deep the shadows are on a subject’s face.

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To create dramatic effects in your photos, use directional lighting to create shadows and highlights to add mood to the image. For example, use backlighting to create a silhouette for drama and mystery. Side lighting creates shadows that add depth and texture to your subject, while top lighting can create dramatic images.

Backlighting is great for creating dramatic silhouettes in the golden hour and at sunset. However, you could also create a silhouette indoors by placing the subject in front of a window.

The three main types of lighting directions for photographers to consider are front lighting, side lighting, and backlighting. Front lighting is when the light source is in front of the subject, side lighting is when the light source is to the side of the subject, and backlighting is when the light source is behind the subject.

And that’s exactly why we don’t use it in portrait photography, except as a fill light with butterfly lighting. This creates a clamshell lighting pattern, which is flattering for portraits.

If you’ve ever sat around the campfire telling ghost stories while holding a flashlight shining upwards beneath your chin, you’ve used monster lighting.

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Directional lighting is used in portrait photography for different effects. For example, side lighting creates shadows that emphasize the contours of the face, while backlighting creates a halo effect around the subject. Overhead lighting can be dramatic, while front lighting can be soft and flattering.

The pairs of colors opposite each other in the color wheel form complementary contrast: blue and orange, red and green, and yellow and violet. Yellow and violet show the greatest light-dark contrast in the color wheel, whilst orange and blue show the greatest cool-warm contrast.

Another challenge of backlighting is lens flare, which occurs when light enters the lens and creates a hazy effect on the image. This is why I strongly recommend using a lens hood.

Indirect light produces a soft quality of light, because it lights your subject without light landing directly on them. This is often considered a better light for portrait photography. For example:

The complementary contrast between red and green causes an increase in the luminosity of colors to the point of achieving a flicker effect. This is why we also speak of a flicker contrast in such cases. The eye reacts to the colors and their radiation intensity at identical brightness.

Also, I love good news, so if my direction of light tips have helped you to understand portrait lighting, share that too.

Lighting that has no clear direction is flat lighting and is characterized by a lack of shadows and highlights. An every day example of flat light is what you see on heavily overcast days.

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The last type of light direction used in portrait photography is uplighting, or upward lighting. However, unlike with other directional lighting, you’d never use it as a single light source. Well, not unless you wanted to create “monster lighting”, as it’s jokingly called.

This might sound confusing, but stick with me… Directional lighting can be direct light or indirect light. It can also be hard or soft light in portraits, regardless of whether it’s direct or indirect.

Hi! I'm Jane Allan, professional portrait photographer and founder of The Lens Lounge - photography tutorials and online courses. Here to help you create the photos you dream of by sharing everything I've learned.

In the color wheel, the warm colors with red and yellow components are positioned opposite the cool, blue color tones. Green and magenta make up the neutral transitions. The effect of a predominant color can be increased when combined with an accent from the opposite color.

Direct light can also be soft, if it’s diffused light or from a large light source placed close to the subject. This applies to both natural light and artificial light, for example: