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How to create studio lighting setup for these futuristic neon portraits [mildly NSFW]

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When you start using artificial lighting, it’s like a door to a whole new world opens up in front of you. There are so many different looks that you can achieve by just playing with the lights and their color, position, and intensity.

If you’d like to add some color to your portrait, gels are your “weapon of choice.” Mexican photographer Edgar Salgado gladly uses them in his work, and he shared with us his setup for two-colored portraits that look like they come from a future… Or a synthwave album.

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How to take creative portraits with Plexiglas and a single light

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There are numerous setups you can create with just one light and take stunning portrait photos. Well, unless you’re in this unilluminable room. But if you add a sheet of Plexiglas and some water to the equation, the possibilities for creative portraits largely expand.

In this video from Adorama, Pye Jirsa shares a simple setup that will get you tons of creative studio portraits. With just one strobe, some Plexi, and a spray bottle, he builds up the set to show you how to take interesting foreground bokeh portraits.

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Create magic with this 3 light gelled portrait set-up

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Studio photography can be so creative. All you need is a subject and a light. But after you’ve mastered one light, the possibilities are endless. Ohio-based fashion photographer Ron Hautau created this striking series of coloured portraits using nothing more than a black background, 3 lights and some coloured gels. He explained to DIYP how he did it.

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Create striking portraits like these using a hat as a gobo

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If you didn’t already know, the term Gobo is an acronym that literally means ‘Goes Before Optics’. What does that mean then exactly? Well, it’s simply something that goes in front of a light source, casting a shadow or pattern. This ingenious portrait series by Spanish photographer Alfredo González uses a hat as a gobo. Here’s how he shot it.

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Lighting setup: Combining hard and soft light

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Trigger Warning: Yes these shots are of a young lady in her underwear and no that is certainly not necessary for this setup to work. Truth be told; we were working on a separate shoot and model, Grace kindly allowed me to quickly grab some of these shots to illustrate this article and lighting concept for you. The simple shots here are really only to show the lighting technique behind combining hard and soft light and what benefits it can have. Once you understand the reasoning and benefits of lighting in this way, you’ll quickly realise just how far you can take it and how versatile it can be.

Like I mentioned, this hard-&-soft-light-combined is a very simplistic concept at its core and once you see it in practice, you’ll quickly see how you can develop it further with other modifiers and setups. So although I don’t use this particular method myself any more today, I used it a ton when I started to play with it many years ago for headshots and hair campaigns. To understand the benefits of lighting with hard and soft light combined, let’s first look at what isolated hard and soft light means to us as portrait photographers.

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Lighting setup: Classic editorial portrait lighting

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There will always be ‘classics’ in any industry. Sure these classics may not turn heads or make the headlines and they may even take a dip in popularity for a while, but these ‘classics’ will always be a timeless safe bet.

Fashion has its ‘little black dress’ and ‘tan trench coat’, cooking has its lasagne, burger, pizza, and many, many more. They’re always going to be winners in most peoples eyes and they’re as popular today as they were years ago, plus they will undoubtedly be popular for many years to come.

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Have you tried this unusual way of using a beauty dish?

One of my favorite things to do is using gear, props, or arts & crafts materials in unconventional ways. It often gives unexpectedly good results and you come up with some great new techniques. This is what Miguel Quiles does in his latest video. He uses a beauty dish in a way most of us probably wouldn’t, and he ends up with fantastic results.

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Build this portrait studio at home for under $20

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Whether we’re in lockdown or not, it’s always great to have the option of shooting high-quality photos at home. And it’s even better if we can do it on the cheap. In this video, Pye Jirsa teams up with Adorama to show you how to create a portrait studio at your own home for under $20.

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These are the best and the worst ways to use a single-light setup

Although a single light doesn’t seem like much, there’s a lot you can do with it. From some more traditional setups to unusual horror setups, a single light can really be extremely versatile. In this video, Manny Ortiz will show you the best, but also the worst ways for using a single-light setup in only three minutes.

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Lighting setup: bounced top light

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Studio lighting can be tricky, but in reality shooting, in a big open studio space with all the fancy modifiers and stands is a damn sight easier than shooting in a small, cramped on-location space.

“But Jake, surely all professional photographers get to shoot in nice big, bright, airy studios all the time right?”

Wrong. In fact part of the job is having the ability to shoot almost anywhere and for those of us who end up shooting fashion and editorial style work, we need to shoot in some very awkward spaces. From underground nightclubs, fancy bathrooms, or even smaller European homes, all of these small spaces present a multitude of problems and if the client wants to shoot there, it’s your job to make it happen.

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