Ultimate Guide to Portrait Lighting - Beauty Dish, Softbox, Reflectors, and More

In this second portrait photography episode (moments taken from a workshop filmed for VisualEducation.com members) we focus on portrait lighting techniques using different modifiers and lights to create various effects, with an emphasis on controlling light and shadow for desired outcomes. (Watch Part 1 and Part 2 here: visualeducatio...)
Tutorial Highlights
🔦 White Broly used as a fill light for soft front fill.
💡 Adjusting distance for Rim Lighting to control shadow and light on subject.
📸 Experimenting with different lighting setups using softboxes and reflectors.
💡 Frontal lighting for Beauty portraits to create flattering illumination.
🌟 Using beauty dish and reflectors for soft, dramatic lighting effects.
📏 Using softbox for controlled lighting and adding hair light for edge lighting.
🎨 Emphasising the importance of visual perception and personal preference in setting exposure and lighting effects.
Episodes 1&2: visualeducatio...
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[@RalfWeyer]

„No one else is gonna tell me…“ 😂. That is just brilliant and definitely the right way to approach what YOU want 👍

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thanks! 😃

[@josephchan4198]

Good refresher course. May do update of some photos of myself and other stuff. Thanks for the class.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Go for it! :)

[@duanevaljalo9913]

Beautiful work as always, great explanations. A big thank you...

[@johnmcnaughton6808]

Thanks Karl you make it looks easy but doable for the less experienced photographer following your instruction’s

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Great to hear John!

[@josephchan4198]

Thanks for the product training, portrait, and Jewelry. Give me ideas. Thanks.

[@kennypringle4580]

Excellent lighting technique my friend👍

[@taongbahay6953]

Thank you so much! I'm enjoying to watch your tutorial and I learned a lot. always looking forward to your new video.👍

[@banasreekunal]

Thank you sir for your helpful tutorial

[@VisualEducationStudio]

You are most welcome

[@gospeluyi5896]

Much love sir

[@atogweoghieaga2205]

You are truly the master, you have proven time and again that knowledge trumps equipment, from another perspective, you can create magic with plethora of equipments and you also create outstanding images with minimal equipment. I salute sir !

[@VisualEducationStudio]

You are very welcome. Thank you for your comment, it really helps both myself and the team 🙏

[@iancarlson-w8m]

*Please do a video on the best way to shoot larger format 2D media like paintings with a heavy texture. I've done alot of experimentation but curious what you'd suggest for consistently good pics of glossy paintings with dimensions between 2'X3'-5'X4' just as baseline settings. I find I need the softboxes a decent distance to get even lighting. I'm trying to make it very systematic so I can shoot a piece when needed and know pretty much what the results will be. I'm using Godox e300 with diffuse soft box with full manual camera settings.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Hi that's all covered in depth on our website

[@turgayarc1606]

Hello, does your training set have Turkish subtitle support?

[@manoharmgr8235]

SUPER. SUPER , THE BEST VIDEOS , VERY NICE நன்றாக இருக்கிறது வாழ்த்துக்கள் ,CHENNAI-R.MANOHAR(MGR) INDIA,*

[@abwaraich]

What camera settings you using??

[@gameragout2693]

Hi master karl. Why use a box like softbox instead of parabolic softbox?any advantage

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Hi, see my two videos - one on actual parabolic lighting and one on the nonsense of parabolic softboxes.

[@WhoDis1959]

Nonshade..but i was a member but the classes/ videos were dated... has newer material been added?

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Hi, we add 2 to 3 new classes every month and new live workshops too. We have been producing some of the best educational content for 15 years and now have over 1000 classes covering, photography, lighting, filmmaking, CGI, Art, Makeup, Post Production and soon we're adding graphic design - hence our name 'visual education' as we focus soley on the visual arts. Always adding new classes, always adding the latest professional information and knowledge.

[@simongentry]

'you ain't got tha reflector mate!'

[@peeweebarney]

What are your camera settings?

[@MrJupton1]

Where is the reflector underneath her or the strip light?

[@ernestojr.herrera1633]

what is the size of your softbox

[@miguelurzua7230]

Awesome knowledge! Thank you for sharing this! Would you consider to make a video where you make up a scenario where you actually need a light meter? Thank you master 🙏🏼

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Hi there is no scenario where I need a light meter to take an image. If I'm doing something very technically specific like photographing art work and need to reproduce specific values then I will be taking all of my measurements in the tethered software which has a much higher degree of accuracy than a light meter anyway.

[@tommynikon2283]

Two words: Apple Box.

[@luizfreire7304]

Keep up the good work, K. PS every time you climb on that little chair my health insurance goes up...

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Hah ha yes I should really get some proper apple boxes

[@athosdiego3151]

The Master

[@baredesigns1]

Your videos are excellent with a whole bunch of information. Am sure your Visual Education courses will be more than sufficient for prospective Fashion/Advertising photographers. Thank you Karl.👌👏

[@VisualEducationStudio]

THanks for your comment- glad you enjoyed the video. Our platform certainly helps photographers achieve the results they're after

[@skydivejw]

"I'm telling you how I want that photo." Boom! Love it.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Exactly right Skydive! Thank you.

[@simonmaduxx6777]

that's a great point and it's not something that's specifically mentioned much in many videos. your goal is decided by what you or what the client wants the image to be. sometimes I see flash tutorials and the end image is not what I would consider done, especially when there's hard shadows on a woman's face for example. it's good to know when the photographer is making clear that that's what they were aiming for not just what the result was for the video. cheers!

[@adrianvanleeuwen]

Thanks for the video tutorial on lighting. I have to work on using my hair light and rim lights more to get the same results for the hair glow pop. I already use a main and fill from the front on left and right for Rembrandt lighting. Careful angles on lights get the results plus power settings. Great demo!

[@josephchan4198]

You have to watch the video over again to get the tips. I want to thank Karl and his team for great content.

[@petrnovoselov1373]

Спасибо, что делитесь информацией. Очень полезное видео. Всегда интересно смотреть как работает мастер. Из России Вас тоже смотрят.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

очень приятно за ваш комментарий, спасибо! :)

[@silvinaslatopolsky2121]

Thank you so much for this class.I do appreciate it. Will try to work on that!!

[@VisualEducationStudio]

You're welcome!

[@RS-Amsterdam]

After all the years I follow your YT channel as a subscriber, seen at least 95% of your videos, you are, BY FAR, my KING of lighting ! 👑 Thanks for all the good work over the years Karl.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Wow, thanks RS much appreciated.

[@nileshkumarghoghari6967]

amazing tutorial📸📸🙌

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thank you!

[@Richard_Bumblebee]

Beautiful pictures.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thank you! Cheers!