Portrait Lighting

Portrait lighting is a subject that many photographers neglect to learn. There are many techniques and everyone needs to have their own style, but you need to learn good lighting skills too. I took this simple one light portrait of my brother and I think it is one of the best pictures I have of him. I used my Nikon D3 with a 24-85mm Nikon lens and a SB-900 Nikon speedlight. I used a technique I learned from Neil Van Niekirk using his invention BFT the black foamie thing. Basically you are blocking the light hitting your subject from your camera position while you are bouncing your flash off a nearby wall. This particular image utilizes a 3/4 lighting pattern know as Rembrandt lighting. It gives great modeling to the face and adds depth to your image. You can see more examples of this light here: The Portrait Gallery Niagara