Nanlite FC-500C RGB LED Light Review - The Goldilocks Light

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My guess is that lighting engineers get their nomenclature from the same store as astronomers, and although the FC500C and SAO 113271 both produce an awful lot of light, only one of them is a truly excellent addition to the studio.

No, the Nanlite FC-500-C isn’t quite as bright as the Betelgeuse star off the shoulder of Orion, but its 500w (520w, to be precise) does mark a turning point in LED lighting. Why? Well, for one, this is an extremely well-priced light for its power and quality. Yes, there are many brighter LEDs out there on film sets today, but they are also extremely expensive. The same thing was true 5 years ago too. Back then, 500w LEDs were hitting film sets, but they were $5000 …. and they were only white light!

Fast-forward from the LEDs of Y2K to today, and the very feature-rich Nanlite FC-500-C is now less than a fifth of the price. I can get one here in the UK for a little under £800, and thanks to our economy being weaker than my love for black-and-white photography, it doesn’t cost much more than that in freedom bucks either.

So, the cost of a feature-rich studio head seems palatable to many of us, but why is this a turning point in lighting?

The Goldilocks Light

For me, and I think a lot of studio shooters, 500w is the sweet spot in terms of power. Sure, more power is always a good thing, but to get just one more stop of power from a 500w light, we’d need to get a 1000w light. Once we do that, prices start to get exorbitant. For that extra stop of power, which, as you know, is also the equivalent of switching from ISO 100 to ISO 200, you can end up paying nearly 5 times the amount. For example, many 1000W+ LEDs cost £3,000 and up, and the price difference was the same back in the flash days. If you want that extra stop of light, you gotta pay through the nose for it. The same is also true with lenses. The Canon 50mm f1.4 is around £400, but the Canon 50mm f1.2….. costs £1600! You want a little more light, it’s gonna cost you.

As I said, I believe the 500w is the sweet spot between sensible pricing and very usable power. Sure, you can make it work with a less powerful light thanks to higher ISO values, but a 500w gives you more options with modifiers and distances without you having to buy that f1.2 lens!

For reference, and to give you some perspective on the actual brightness of a 500w light, the Nanlite FC-500C positioned 2.5m (~8ft) from the background comes in at f5.6, ISO 100, and 1/125th.

For 20 years, I primarily used 500w strobes in the studio. Sure, I had a couple of 1000w heads, but I never used them. The 500w heads did everything I needed, and I’m very pleased to see that 500w full RGB LED heads, like this Nanlite FC-500C, are now very affordable for many of us. But what’s particularly impressive about this head is what you get for that price.

If you’re not sure about the specifics of the Nanlite FC-500C, here’s the TL;DR:

Full RGB and CCT LED Head (2700K-7500K)
Flash head and external power supply - can be powered via batteries if needed.
Takes Bowens mount (S-fit) modifiers

Preface: I am reviewing this light as a stills photographer not a videographer. I shoot zero video, so I am not approaching this light from the perspective of fan noise or hertz cycles for frame rates. If that’s what you’re after, you may like to seek another opinion.

Nanlite has sent me this light to review. I am not being paid, and they are not previewing or editing my review before I post it.

*NanGuang, founded in 1992, changed their name to Nanlite in 2019*

NanGuang Who?

Whenever I review a new product from a new company, I like to include a little lore on who we’re dealing with. This has become even more important now that many of us photographers are migrating from flash to LED, and some of these LED companies, although well established in their own right, are still new to many of us stills-shooters.

I find it incredible that Nanlite, a brand name so synonymous with lighting in today's market, was only introduced back in 2019! Nanlite is one of those brands that feels like it’s been around forever, and I guess in the very fast-paced evolution of LED lighting, it kinda has. But even though Nanlite's name has only been around since 2019, the company behind it, NanGuang, has been around since 1992 and they’ve been making lights for video and photography from the start.

The name change in 2019 makes smart business sense in a global market, but don’t be fooled if you think Nanlite has only been at this a few years, as they have well over 30 years of light-making experience to draw from. Plus, Nanlite is still one of the few lighting companies that still makes its own lights. That may sound odd, but in reality, most lighting companies farm out their lights to be made in other factories, whereas Nanlite still makes them in-house. This means far stricter quality control, and Nanlite is very well known for this quality and reliability. It’s actually this reputation that made me stop and look when I saw the price of this FC-500-C. In my mind, Nanlite is known for making excellent lights, but that quality often comes at a price. So, to see this full RGB 500w head from Nanlite at this price certainly made me stop and pay attention.

The FC-500C

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A post shared by Jake Hicks Photography (@jakehicksphotography)

First Impressions - The case

As soon as it arrived, I was pleasantly surprised. Many heads these days don’t come with a case or box, but the FC-500C, along with all the other Nanlite products I’ve seen, do. Their case style is clever; hence my bothering to mention it here. The light comes in a branded grey polystyrene box, and although this may sound cheap, the polystyrene is very sturdy and weighs almost nothing when empty. This is very useful when you have to move a ton of kit, and sturdy, not-soft cases that weigh very little is a big plus.

Parts and Setup

The head itself is not like our monoblocks of yore, which were all one unit; instead, the FC-500C, as with many powerful LED heads today, comes with the light itself as well as the power supply unit. Many brands seemingly ignore the fact that this is a very annoying, heavy box that has to be hung from your light, and I cannot stand that box clanging about and getting caught on anything and everything whenever you touch the light stand. Thankfully, Nanlite has this taken care of, and you can either attach the power supply via a very sturdy super-clamp bracket and quick-release V-lock, or you can simply hang it from the stand via a hidden coated-cable loop that sits snugly in the back of the box.

Nanlite has very efficient ways to deal with the external power supply

The power supply also has a hidden loop that can extended

The power supply box can be attached via a super-clamp and V-Lock

Simply use that loop to hang your power supply

Modes and Menus

Nanlite gets you right to the action immediately, so as soon as the light comes on, you have your power and Kelvin right there. All of the menus are navigated by two large knobs and two buttons, making this light adjustable from any angle, even if you can’t see the menu from where you are. Both of the knobs also double as buttons and can be pressed in to confirm your selections.

Your main screen shows the power (DIM) in percentages, and below that are your Kelvin and Green/Magenta tint.

Hitting the Mode button at any point will take you to the main lighting options and from here, you select…

CCT Mode
HSI Mode
RGBW Mode
Gel Mode
Effect Mode

Most of these modes are likely obvious to many of you, but I’ll briefly cover them in case some are new to you.

One important note here before we dive in further (and it’s important as most other LED lights don't have this functionality), is that the brightness of the light (DIM) can be adjusted via 0.1% increments. This is actually more useful than you might think, and I’ve already found myself falling between whole percents to fine-tune a light.

CCT Mode

Dim 0-100%
CCT (White Light) 2700K - 7500K
G/M (Green & Magenta) +/- 150

The Kelvin range isn’t the largest, but for the vast majority of users, this will be more than enough. The low 2700K is fairly standard and most LEDs go down that low, but the 7500K is fairly limiting in the top end, but again, there is only extremely niche cases where I’ve had to go above 10,000K.

HSI Mode (Hue Saturation Intensity)

Dim 0-100%
Hue 0 - 360
Sat (Saturation) 0-100

This is your standard full-colour mode that many of us are now used to on these RGB heads. The hue covers the entire spectrum, and you can manage the colours within it using saturation control.

RGBW Mode (Red Green Blue White)

Dim 0-100%
R (Red) 0-255
G (Green) 0-255
B (Blue) 0-255
W (White) 0-255

This mode is useful if you’re looking to copy a colour from a document like a Photoshop file and is especially useful for maintaining brand colours in product photography, for example. Simply copy the RGB values (and then struggle to translate the brightness 0-100 value into the W 0-255 value).

Gel Mode

Dim 0-100%

CCT 3200K/5600K

Gels Around 140+ popular gels to choose from

These gel modes are becoming increasingly comprehensive for those of us who are used to the gels of yesteryear. This version has a sizable library and although not the largest, at nearly 150 gels (I roughly counted as I couldn't find a number online), it certainly has more than enough of the main colours to keep us happy. As you may imagine, copying a gel number from a previous shoot and transferring it to the light makes life a lot easier. Plus, this is the only mode that actually shows us a visual representation of the pretty colours on the back of the light for us ‘visual learners’ out there. To that point, I’d prefer seeing a visual representation of hue from end to end in the HSI mode, but it’s in the app, and it’s a simple firmware update to add it, and I only say this as the ‘Gel Mode’ here is really the only indication that this is a full-colour screen on the light. I was just surprised they didnt use it more.

One other very important (for me) feature of this mode is the ability to display these gels in either 3200K or 5600K. This may not seem like much, but being able to simulate a tungsten light (3200K) or a flash (5600K) passing through a gel is extremely useful when mixing and matching lights on set, especially if you're trying to match light to a practical light on set, for example. This is the first light I’ve come across that enables this.

These are your core modes for controlling brightness and colour, but I want to discuss the last mode, the Effect Mode, a little more in-depth.

Effect Mode

Lastly, there’s the Effect Mode. This is typically a mode I rarely use, but this time around, I was encouraged to explore a couple of options that Nanlite has that I may be able to utilise in my photography. Before I get into it, let me explain what’s included in the Effect Mode. First, let me cover the ‘loop’ modes.

Hue Loop

Dim 0-100%
Hue 0-360
Sat 0-100
Speed 2 seconds - 30 seconds

CCT Loop

Dim 0-100%
CCT 2700K - 7500K
G/M 0-150
Speed 2 seconds - 30 seconds

INT (Intensity) Loop

Dim 0-100% - 0-100%
Colour HSI/CCT
CCT 2700K - 7500K
G/M 0-150
Speed 2 seconds - 30 seconds

These three loop modes allow you to program a transition of light. For example, in the Hue Loop, you can assign the light to play a 8-second loop and during that time, the light will transition from hue 25 to hue 125. You can also assign it a brightness to play the loop and a saturation to play the hue. The CCT Loop is the same for Kelvins, and the INT Loop allows you to loop through a designated brightness value, essentially pulsing the light in a loop.

The Effects Mode also has the standard disco effects that many other LED lights have, including Flash, Pulse, Storm Auto, Storm Manual, Police Car, TV, Paparazzi, Candle/Fire, Disco, Bad Bulb, Fireworks, Explosion Auto, Explosion Manual, and Welding.

To be fair to Nanlite, although these effects are a staple on all LED lights now, Nanlite has included a ton of adjustability and options within each of these, so you can get the perfect Dicso light just for you.

My indifference to the video effects aside, I was encouraged to test out the hue loops, and after a little inspiration from a fellow photographer, I set about looking into how I could use the hue loops as part of a long exposure setup. Here’s how I got on.

Setup 1 - Hue-Loops

First, let’s look at the shots I captured using this effect and then I’ll break down how I achieved them.

Click on any of the images below to see them full-screen

Featured Model: Esmeralda.gb

Camera Settings

Camera - Nikon D850
Lens - 24-70mm f2.8
Shutter Speed - 1.6 seconds
Aperture - f2.8
ISO - 31
Kelvin - 4700K
Focal Length - ~50mm

TL;DR/ADHD/Artist Setup Explanation

Place model in front of white backdrop
Point Nanlite FC-500-C at backdrop with assigned Hue Loop running
Position a flash close to model so as not to wash out background
Shoot with a 1 - 2 second exposure on your camera
Take image, and as soon as the shutter is depressed, move the camera around

Setup Explanation

The trick to this setup is to show various colours from the assigned hue-loop via a long exposure on my camera. I had my shutter set to 1.6 seconds, and the hue-loop speed was set to 2 seconds (its lowest value). During those 2 seconds, the hue-loop played a smooth transition of colours, and I played with several of them to get the different results you see above. During the 1.6 seconds where the camera was taking in light, I would move my camera around the model, intentionally revealing and covering sections of the white background. As I did this, the camera would see various colours from the hue-loop in different sections of the background that the model was effectively masking out during the exposure. Couple this with the fact that I have a flash at the start of the exposure to capture a crisp image of my model, and the whole image starts to come together.

Once we’re comfortable with the basics of the technique, we can then start implementing a little of our colour theory here to understand what’s happening in some of these shots. For example, the easiest one to understand is the image with a white background displayed above.

We’re seeing a white background because I am assigning the full hue-loop of the entire hue spectrum of colours to play during my exposure.

As we know, white light is made up of a rainbow of colours, or a full spectrum of light. If we play the entire spectrum of light during the exposure of my image, that rainbow background will now appear white, where all of the colours have been displayed. But, since I’m moving the camera around the model during that time, not all of the colours are shown to the camera, and that is why we see those coloured masks around the model. It’s worth noting that the hue-loop was 2 seconds and my shutter duration was only 1.6 seconds. This resulted in the camera not seeing the entire spectrum, hence the background not being fully white.

All that makes sense, right? Ready for the advanced hue-loop setup?

Setup 2 - Advanced Hue-Loops

Now that we’ve covered the basics, we can move on to a slightly more involved setup. - I am being slightly tongue-in-cheek when I refer to this as ‘basic’. I fully appreciate we’re now a long way from learning Rembrandt lighting, turning it black & white and calling it art. Long exposure photography is tricky to get your head around at the best of times; couple that with mixing coloured light during an exposure time where the viewfinder is completely black, and we’re now a long way from Kansas.

That said, take a look at this next setup, and hopefully, you can follow my slightly abstract vision for using hue-loops to create truly unique imagery.

Click on any of the images below to see them full-screen

Camera Settings

Camera - Nikon D850
Lens - 24-70mm f2.8
Shutter Speed - 1.6 seconds
Aperture - f2.8
ISO - 31
Kelvin - 4700K
Focal Length - ~50mm

*You can see the slit of light I created with the Projection Attachment here.*

TL;DR/ADHD/Artist Setup Explanation

Place model in front of white backdrop
Point Nanlite FC-500-C and attach Projection Attachment
Adjust the Projection mask blades to a horizontal slit of light
Place horizontal slit of light on the background, below model and out of shot
Assign relevant hue-loop
Position a flash close to model so as not to wash out background
Place large gelled soft box behind you - set to flash only
Shoot with a 1 - 2 second exposure on you camera
Take image, and as soon as the shutter is depressed, move the camera down

Setup Explanation

Look, normally the TL;DR version above is 3 steps, this setup does require a little setting up, but thankfully, with the groundwork from the previous setup, this shouldn't be too bad to explain.

Everything is basically the same as before, except this time, I've added another flash behind me in the form of a large softbox. This is going to be our fill light, and if you look at the images again, you’ll see a dark blue colour in many of the shadows in some of the shots.

The other major difference, of course, is the fact that I've now added a Protection Attachment to the FC-500C. I’ve then positioned the blades of the mask from the Projection Attachment to make a horizontal slit of light on the wall low and behind the model. It’s this slit of light that will play our hue-loop.

So how does this all work? As before, we depress the shutter and a crisp image of the model is captured from the flash. With the shutter open, I now drag the camera downwards and pass the camera over that hue-loop strip of light behind her. As the camera passes that stip, the hue-loop cycles its colours, and it’s through this process of us effectively scanning those varying colours that we get the visualisation of moving sheets of multi-coloured light in the final image. This setup can be a bit of a mind-bender to do at the time, and I was playing with varying hue-loops and camera movements to get a multitude of looks. Granted, I only had limited time before the model thought I’d completely lost my mind from waving the camera around the room and only occasionally pointing it at her.

*Here I have the Projector Attachment on the FC-500C and that enables me to mask the light into slits for this setup.*

Below are some examples of the hue-loops I created on the white wall whilst I was waiting for the model. These are created in exactly the same way as I explained above, it’s just that the model isn’t standing in place and being lit by the flash.

These are kinda wild, right? They look I just created these with the gradient tool in Photoshop, but I assure you, these are actual photos of hue-loops on the white wall.

Let’s wind it back in a little.

Granted, I went down a rabbit hole with the hue-loops, but I’m always fascinated by products and techniques that can produce something unique. That said, and as much as I absolutely love them, those Y2K portraits above won’t be to everyone’s taste. So now, let’s dial it back and look at what the FC-500C can do in a more traditional setup and with more standard modifiers.

FC-500C & 22” Beauty Dish

Camera Settings

Camera - Nikon D850
Lens - 85mm f1.4
Shutter Speed - 1/125th
Aperture - f1.4
ISO - 50
Kelvin - 4800K
Focal Length - 85mm

FC-500-C & Lantern

Camera Settings

Camera - Nikon D850
Lens - 24-70 f2.8
Shutter Speed - 1/125th
Aperture - f2.8
ISO - 200
Kelvin - 4800K
Focal Length - 62mm

FC-500C & Softbox

Camera Settings

Camera - Nikon D850
Lens - 85mm f1.4
Shutter Speed - 1/125th
Aperture - f1.4
ISO - 50
Kelvin - 4800K
Focal Length - 85mm

These images were all taken on a Nikon too, so the light must be doing something right!

*Nanlite’s very distinctive LED lens cover.*

Modifiers Conclusion

The results speak for themselves, and there were no surprises with whatever modifier I attached to the FC-500C. It is worth noting that the FC-500C and many of the Nanlite heads have that unique-looking ‘lens’ affixed to the front, right in front of the actual LED. Many brands will simply leave that exposed, and I’m sure you’ve all seen the bright yellow disc at the front of your COB (chip on board) lights.

Some brands, like Godox, will encase the chip in a diffusion dome, and this does have the benefit of taking the harshness of the light away, but it can also never be a super-hard light with the permanently affixed diffusion dome. Nanlite opted for the fly’s eyeball-like cover, and I’ve not heard from them what the reasoning for this is. My best guess is that all those mini lenses help push the light out evenly, almost like collimated light. This would have its benefits, but I was concerned that the light wouldn’t spread around the modifier. But those concerns were alleviated when I used the light, and you can see, especially in the BTS of the lantern modifier above, that the light is very evenly spread. I’ll have to try to get an engineer's response for the chip lens choice here though, as I am very intrigued.

Kelvin Range Test

This is a test I often do with the lights I get for review. Essentially, it involves me adjusting the light to the desired Kelvin and then matching that with my camera, for example, 3500K on the light and 3500K on the camera. It’s far from definitive, and there are several variables at work here, but it gives you a pretty good example of the quality of the light. For one, when setting the light to 2700K, they typically use very different LEDs to make that ‘white’ light compared to when you shift it to 7500K.

I’ve done this test with countless manufactures lights, and this is easily one of the cleanest and best I’ve seen. Sure, the whole range seems a touch on the magenta side, but its remarkably consistent throughout the entire Kelvin range whereas other brands shift all over the place.

Another very important point to mention here, is how consistent that exposure is thoughout the Kelvin range. Typically you’d see the light being darker at the extreme ends of 2700K and 7500K, but this is almost a perfectly even exposure throughout. Again, something that is not typical.

Nanlite App

This light review is extremely long already, so I won’t go into this in too much detail here, but I will say that the app Nanlite uses, called ‘Nanlink’, is excellent. Again, this is one of the best LED apps I’ve used in terms of consistency of connection. Sure, it may lack some extreme-nerd functionality of other apps, but this is one of the best apps in terms of stability. I’ve never once lost connection to the light and even with app and light both off and on several times, the app always comes right back on to that light you had. No need to reconnect. No need to restart. There was no need to readjust; everything was very fast and smooth.

You can also see me playing with the Nanlink app live on stream via the video below as I was using it to manage the Hue-Loops from earlier.

*The above video will open in YouTube at the correct start point….*

Closing Comments

This has been a monster review and I don’t doubt you skipped around a bit up there. So, let me add my final thoughts on Nanlite FC-500C.

Let’s put aside the fact that Nanlite gave up trying to name this product properly here for a moment. Their Foza lights and, of course, Nanlites’s iconic and industry-leading LED PavoTubes are good examples of how names are more memorable to humans than barcodes. So, assuming they aren’t preparing for some secret technological singularity where they only need to sell lights to bots, I hope they return to naming lights, not star clusters.

Now that we’ve addressed the negative aspects of this light, I guess I can tell you what I do like about the FC-500C.

*The Goldilocks light - An extremely well thought out and powerful product, and from a company that clearly listens to its customers.*

As I said four hours ago at the start of this article, I think this is a great example of a Goldilocks light. 500w is, in my opinion, the sweet spot for lighting in the studio. Couple that with this light being full RGB along with a few other bells and whistles like the Hue-Loops and more, and now, finally, all for a very affordable price.

Those are the important aspects of any LED light today. How bright is it? Is it RGB? Can I get one without having to sell a London parking space? But this light also has a considerable amount extra on top of that. I mentioned the now-renowned build quality of Nanlite, but there are a lot of tiny details that highlight the heritage of Nanlite products, and this simply shows they've been listening to their users over the years.

*I swear, if I ever have to use a light with a swinging power block ever again, imma lose it!*

Tiny details like….

The metal loop that allows the power block to hang from the stand
The thumb screw on the light stand tightening bolt is big and very easy to tighten
That thumbscrew also stops you from loosening it all the way so it doesn’t pop out and roll across the studio floor
Large buttons and dials that can be operated, even if you can’t see the back of the light
You can use gels in both tungsten and flash Kelvin modes
The top of the light and handle is flush, allowing you to put the head on the floor without it rolling around
The case is very sturdy but extremely lightweight. The simple fact that you even get a case is a plus!
Generous S-fit attachment that can even be operated with one hand.
The fan blows the hot air straight up instead of out to the side, or worse still, back into your face.

I’ve only used this light for a few hours, and these are the things that I’ve noticed already. I’m sure I’ll find more.

It bears repeating, but Nanlite has clearly been listening to its customers over the years. All of these seemingly small features don’t just happen overnight, and many very established lighting brands still overlook basic elements like the swinging power block. This FC-500C light is very well made, comes in at the perfect power, has millions of colours, allows you to use all your S-fit attachments you likely already own, and is a very competitive price. What’s not to like?

Nanlite FC-500C

Learn more about the FC-500C here on Nanlite’s website FC-500C Full RGB LED Light

Includes

FC-500C × 1
Power Supply × 1
Reflector × 1
Quick Release Clamp × 1
AC Power Cable 6M × 1
DC Connection Cable 3M × 1
User Manual × 1
Carry Case × 1

Thanks so much for reading guys, if you have any questions, let me know in the comments below. Catch you in the next one where I hope to be reviewing the Nanlite Projection Attachment you saw featured here.

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

JHP Livestreams…

I livestream every other Tuesday night via YouTube and there I answer your questions, critique your shots, take community images into Photoshop to work on them and discuss all manner of lighting tips and techniques. I look forward to seeing you and your work there real soon. Jake Hicks Photography - YouTube

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY ONLINE WORKSHOPS

PSA: How to Avoid the Adobe Price Increase

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

READ THIS BEFORE JANUARY 15TH 2025

Avoid the Adobe Price Increase

This is a very brief PSA so I won’t be talking about by Adobe is desperate for a quick injection, but if you’re someone who pays around $9.99 a month for the Adobe and Lightroom 20GB package, your price is about to go up on January 15th.

Here’s how to avoid that and below is how to keep that same price. The only downside is that you’ll have to pay for your year in advance and you won’t be able to pay monthly for that grandfathered-in price.

I just did this myself 2 minutes ago, I grabbed some screenshots of what’s involved so take a look below if you’re interested.

Step 1

Open up the Creative Cloud app on your system.

Typically, the symbol is found in the top right of your desktop on a Mac, and it is that cloud/infinity-shaped symbol.

Step 2

This will open up your Creative Cloud app pop-up. Next, you’ll need to click on the ‘Manage Account’ in the top right.

Step 3

This should automatically open up the Adobe Account in your browser. You’re looking for the Manage Plan button. Mine was on the bottom left.

Step 4

Next, you’ll want to find the ‘Update Subscription’. Remember that the only way to keep your current price is to pay annually so you're not actually looking to change your plan. *Others have mentioned that this button is also called ‘Manage Commitment’ in some regions. All have been the button alongside the notepad and pencil icon though.

Step 5

The text will change, giving you the option to pay annually. Double-check this, but it should be your current monthly price (currently $9.99), multiplied by 12 and as you see here, mine changes to $119.

Step 6

Lastly, it should pop up asking you to confirm payment, etc. *I just paid my £9.99 monthly fee earlier today, so that is why Adobe is refunding that after I upgraded to the annual price.

Hit ‘Agree and Subscribe’ at the bottom and your’re done.

That’s it

Once you you hit Agree, it takes a few seconds and you’re all confirmed.

Final Thoughts

My understanding is that the price changes take effect from January 15th 2025 and your next billable month after that date will reflect the new price increase. Ive seen conflicting reports, but the price for some plans is doubling so in my opinion, this annual lock in is worth doing if you can afford it.

Please look into this yourself, especially if your plan is different to the 20GB Photography Plan. I’ve just highlighted the process I went through here in the UK so this may vary from region to region. If you have any further advice or tips to add to this, please leave them in the comments below.

JHP Livestreams…

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY ONLINE WORKSHOPS

Lighting Setup: Still Life Portrait

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

If you’re looking for a tried-and-true lighting technique, then it doesn’t come much more stress-tested than this one. In fact, this is a lighting technique that I’ve been utilising in one form or another for over 25 years, and I learnt it way back in art college. The only difference between then and now is that this lighting was originally designed for still-life shots; now, I’ve scaled it up and use it on my portraits instead.

This ‘dark field illumination’ technique, as it’s often referred to, is a common technique in still-life shoots. It’s typically used to light dark, very shiny objects like wine bottles, for example.

*Back in art college when I was lazy and inexperienced - I shot black and white! We all gotta start somewhere.*

The technique's basic principle is to place a light behind the subject and then block off most of that light, except a slim bead of light at the edges. When shot with that bead of light cropped out in-camera, the light appears to wrap around the subject.

As you can see in this image here, the blue light is the light behind and it wraps around this lens beautifully.

As you may well imagine, this is a popular technique for several reasons, but chief among them is the fact that this complete ring of light around the object can be achieved with just a single light.

Scaling it Up

So what’s the best way to scale this up for a portrait? Let’s first look at the setup and then I’ll break it all down.

TL;DR/ADHD/Artist Setup Explanation

Place large softbox oriented vertically behind the subject
Attach large sheet of black of velvet in front of softbox leaving a gap above and on either side of softbox
Position large beauty dish in front and above subject
Bring in a small softbox as a fill-light and add a gel to it

Kit Used

3x lights - these can be flash or LED
1x large softbox - 100cm x 80cm
1x 21” beauty dish
1x small softbox - 60cm x 60cm
Coloured Gels (not optional)

Camera Settings

Camera - Nikon D850
Lens - 24-70mm f2.8
Shutter Speed - 1/125th
Aperture - f5.6
ISO - 100
Kelvin - 4400K
Focal Length - 70mm

The Results

Click to enlarge any of the shots below.

*Image with just softbox behind turned on*

*Image with softbox and beauty dish turned on (FYI there also looks to be a very small amount of coloured fill present here too)*

*Final shot with all 3 lights turned on*

Model: Kayt Webster-Brown

Breaking it Down

Black Velvet

Good news this week boys and girls as this is an easy setup! No need to trawl through pages of nerd-speak this week as the only real trick to this setup is the clever use of that black velvet behind the model.

Black velvet is a great material to use here as its very dense texture soaks up all the stray light resulting in a very dark background behind. The trick is to get the gap around the edge of the softbox right as that’s what dictates the faux edge and top light look.

As you can see in the images I’ve provided here, the gap is about 6 inches at the top and on both sides. No need to worry about the bottom as we won’t see that. I’m suspending the black velvet with simple small bulldog clips with a piece of clear catgut (that’s fishing line to those of you with a 2 at the start of their year of birth) suspending it. Granted, it’s not very technical, but it does allow for a lot of flexibility when adjusting it.

The Top and Edge Lights

Once you have the softbox set up, the other two lights are very simple additions. My advice though, set the softbox up first and get that dialled in. Get the very visible and clear bead of light around the subject before even turning on the other two lights. If you’re not sure what to look for, take another look at the initial shot I shared with only the big softbox on behind.

Here you can see there is no light falling on the front of the subject and that I have a very even spread of light all the way around the subject.

To achieve this even spread of light all the way around, you need to adjust the gap of light all the way around to be even. That means the gap needs to be the same size all the way around, but the model also needs to be in the middle. The other aspect to watch for is the top gap lighting the top of the head. Don’t be tempted to make that gap bigger or smaller, instead, try raising or lowering the height of the softbox behind until the top gap of light is the same distance away from the model as the sides.

The Other Lights

As I said, with that backlight sorted, the other two lights are very easy to manage. Simply bring in the beauty dish key light. Position it high and angled down and ensure that it casts a visible shadow under the chin and nose etc. It’s this shadow area that we can then fill in with, you guessed it, our fill light. I personally think a small softbox is fine here, but a small umbrella will also work. Lastly, add your coloured gel for that extra visual drama and you’re done.

Closing Comments

This is a quick and simple setup, but the final shot looks very impressive for just 3 lights. That backlight is quite literally doing the job of 3 lights alone as that bead of light around the subject is simulating 2 edge lights and a top hair light all on its own. The trick here is getting the black velvet sorted, but once you have that cut to the size of your softbox and the clips attached, it’s very quick to simply throw that back up there next time. I will just leave you with one final pro-tip and that’s to make sure you stingy buggers don’t scrimp on the velvet! Obviously, I would never make this mistake to save a few quid, but just be wary of the cheap black velvet that’s actually shiny! There’s tons of the cheap stuff about at this time of year as it’s a very economical black fabric to make Halloween costumes from, so just be sure to get the slightly more expensive kind. The crushed velvet is the bad one as it’s shiny and the other more expensive one is often referred to as ‘plush’ velvet. Tune in next week for more tips from ‘Haberdashery at Home with Hicks’!

BIG Studio Lighting in small Spaces

You may have noticed that this week’s setup is also a very compact setup. Not that you’d ever do it, but you could technically shoot this setup in an area as small as a corridor. This lighting technique is just one of the setups from my very popular BIG Studio Lighting in small Spaces workshop and the whole premise behind this course is showing you inventive ways to create very dramatic-looking lighting with minimal kit and very limited space. This setup mimics a 5-light setup with only 3 lights and it does it in a way that negates the need for a lot of width and height in your space. These space-saving setups are great if you’re shooting on location with limited resources, but they’re also perfect for those who are working in smaller home studios. Just because you don’t have a ton of room to shoot in, it doesn’t mean you can’t still be very creative with your lighting too.

To learn more and to see what setups are covered and explained in this workshop, follow the link below.

|| LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BIG STUDIO LIGHTING IN SMALL SPACES WORKSHOP ||

Super Simple 2 Light Still-Life Setup

If you were curious about the still-life lighting setup this was originally scaled up from, you can check out my previous article on it here….

Super Simple 2 Light Still-Life Setup

JHP Livestreams…

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

||

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY ONLINE WORKSHOPS

Impromptu Lightroom Preset Pack 2024

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

It’s time to thank your fellow togs! Why? Because I’m hurriedly putting together this free LR Preset pack for everyone in response to the incredible submissions to my recent Halloween Photo Competition!

Less than 24 hours ago I suggested an impromptu Halloween Photo Comp in place of my normal Monday -Share-a-Shoot- (ordinarily people submit images to my FB Page for feedback and critique). I simply thought it would be a nice change and a chance to see some fun and spooky photos given the time of year. ‘Themed’ submissions are often hit and miss as they can severely limit the pool of available images being shared, plus I gave no advance notice of this competition.

Boy was I wrong and I had no idea how seriously so many of you take Halloween as I quickly saw scores of incredible images being submitted!

I woke up this morning and knew there was no way I was going to be able to choose just one or two winners from all these great shots, so I decided to swiftly put together this free Lightroom Preset pack for everyone who entered…. and then I realised it would be more work to then try and get each every person the pack individually…. so now literally everyone is a winner! 🤣

So, huge thanks to those who submitted all of your incredible Halloween images and due to your incredible talent and my inherent laziness to reward you all separately, here is a free Lightroom Preset Pack for everyone!❤️

Scroll down to grab the free Presets, but on the way, check out just some of the incredible work that was shared.

Winner!

I did just say that everyone was a winner today, but some are winning more than others and if I had to pick my personal favourite shot from the 80+ (and still rising entrants) shots submitted, it’d have to be this incredible shot from Chris Juengel.

As many of you know, I love the cinematic look, striking colours… and shiny skin. So this shot immediately caught my eye. I will say that I know from experience how hard it is to play with very dark images like this. Keeping a lot of your image hidden in ‘clipped’ data is a daunting task for many of us and keeping a lot hidden whilst only giving away just enough is very tricky to do and Chris has nailed it here.

Couple all of that with some subtle light from below, incredible makeup and a pose that ties it all together and you have a very powerful image indeed! Great work Chris and a very well-earned +10 internet points to you my friend!

Honourable and Very Incredible Mentions

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to call out some of the other truly remarkable shots shared, so here are a few very honourable mentions…

Plus, arguably the most adorable Halloween shot I’ve ever seen goes to…

I’d also encourage you to take a look at all the other fabulously spooky (and often downright terrifying) images submitted by the community and thanks again to all who shared an image. JHP Halloween Photo Competition 2024

The Impromptu Lightroom Preset Pack 2024

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I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

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PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

JHP Livestreams…

All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online!

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All of my more advanced lighting classes are now available online! ||

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY ONLINE WORKSHOPS

Lighting Setup: Simple 2-Light Cinematic Setup

Donate & Support

I've always wanted my photography education on here to be free, so although there is no paywall to any of my -Technique Tuesdays-, any and all support is greatly appreciated. ❤️

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book.

||

PLUS: Donate any amount and I’ll send you a link to the hi-res print version of my studio lighting book. ||

Let’s be honest, ‘cinematic’ lighting is almost the new C-word in our industry at the moment. Many of my older readers may remember a time when clients would ask for their images to be more ‘edgy’ and now the ‘cinematic’ word is quickly becoming a similarly esoteric buzzword that is simply far too overused. But can we distil this all-encompassing trend into a simple and effective setup? Let’s take a look.

I’ll be upfront from the get-go here, this is an introductory lighting setup designed to whet your appetite into the world of cinematic studio lighting. If you like the look of this, please take a look at my now very popular ‘Cinematic Studio Lighting Workshop’. This new course takes things a great deal further beyond this simple setup as go over how photographers are sorely underutilising so many incredibly effective cinematography techniques. I’ll provide more details at the end of this article if you’re interested.

Obligatory self-promotion aside, let’s examine some core tenets of the ‘cinematic’ look and try to incorporate them into our simple yet engaging lighting setup.

Upstage Lighting

This is an interesting and foreign concept to us stills shooters, but I need you to remember that the subjects on screen NEVER look to the camera! In every film you’ve ever seen (4th wall-breaking art films aside), the subjects never look at the camera, and this means cinematographers light their subjects very differently from us. Where we use key-lights in front of our subjects, cinematographers will often use lights behind or ‘up-stage’ of their subject.

In the above images, you can see exactly what I mean. Nobody looks to camera so the light is often behind them and this is referred to as up-stage lighting. The style does mean that it only works when the subject looks away from camera so you need to keep this in mind for your interpretation of cinematic lighting. Do you want your subjects looking to camera? If so, you’ll need to adjust the light accordingly and for the setup I’ll demonstrate below, I opted to take the inspiration of the upstage light and have a strong light from behind, but I also wanted my subject to have the option to look to camera. With this in mind, I kept the light pushed back and more of a strong back light and off of the face.

This simple yet very important element that characters never look to camera in cinematic looks is a very powerful tool. Being cognisant of this decision will quickly and dramatically alter the way you light your subjects as many of us are so engrained to light our subjects with the ability to look to camera. I’ll be honest, as a fashion and portrait shooter of over 20 years, it’s extremely hard for me not to have my subjects look to camera, but I’d urge you to try it as a personal project at the very least.

Depth and Atmosphere

If you ever wanted to know the worst-kept secret of how to achieve the ‘cinematic’ look, it’s atmosphere and by atmosphere, I mean simulated depth.

For many of us studio shooters, depth is pretty simple; spend 2 grand on an f1.2 lens and call it a day (you know who you are). As studio shooters, we typically only have two planes of depth, the subject and the background…. that’s it. Why is depth so important? Ultimately it’s about managing that depth and determining what’s important in the scene. For us in the studio, it’s the subject and it’s extremely easy to make that subject a priority when there’s nothing else in the frame for the viewer to look at. But on far grander film sets, they have a lot of distracting elements that can potentially pull the viewer away from the importance of the character. Sure, a colossally wide aperture lens helps to throw the background out of focus, but sometimes that’s not always the answer.

I know, I know. It’s tantamount to heretical doctrine to even suggest that the widest possible aperture isn’t always the answer, but set down your pitchforks and hear me out.

Often in cinema, the scene or background is very important to the character and story, simply throwing it completely out of focus isn’t the answer. Instead, many scenes will employ smoke, haze and other techniques to subdue the background in the scene whilst still allowing it to be relevant and recognisable. There are a multitude of reasons for doing this, but ultimately it’s about separating the subject from the background so that we are immediately drawn to the subject in a subtle and believable way. You can’t just throw a spotlight on the subject, the subject needs to exist organically in the scene so instead of lighting them more dramatically than the background like us studio shooters would do, cinematographers often opt to subdue the background rather than simply highlight the subject.

For larger sets, haze is a very easy and very effective tool to add depth, but it’s not always practical. I will say that if you have time and are able to, haze does give you the best results and most believable depth, but if that’s not possible for the aforementioned reasons, a lens filter is a great substitute in a pinch and it’s actually what I used in this setup I’ll go over it in more detail below.

Colour Contrast

The idea of colour contrast is more stylised and highly dependent on the project of course, but the basic principle of drawing attention to the subject with contrast is always applicable, it’s just that we’ll be employing colour as a tool as well as the basic luminance contrast. For example, David Fincher is a master of luminance contrast in his films. Many of David Fincher’s movies have a darker more sinister plot and much of them are shot at night. Se7en is a great example of this as there is actually very little colour contrast in that, but the lighting is impeccable and every element is visible without being overly lit as he’s a master of the checkerboard style of light. Counter to this are lighter (in mood) movies and they will often use colour contrast in a scene that is more evenly lit. Wes Anderson is an obvious example of this and he’ll often forgo any attempt at ‘normal’ colourings in favour of what simply looks best visually.

I make the very real distinction between luminance contrast and colour contrast here because they both play a vital role in understanding how to manipulate light and mood in a scene. I spoke about David Fincher’s film Se7en earlier. That’s a movie about chasing a serial killer, you wouldn’t light that with soft washes of colour and light. Instead, he opted for strong contrast and edge light that leaves an area of darkness that instils unease and tension in the viewer. You need to know what you’re trying to say with your image or portrait and choose appropriate lighting.

In the above image, you can see some examples of colour contrast. The top left is the most obvious as I bathe the subject in a very subtle blue tone and then light the background with an orange glow. On the top right, I use colour contrast in the subject's outfit to make them stand off from the background, but I’m also using a very hard light on them to increase the colour contrast in the clothing. You may have missed it, but look at the razor-sharp chin shadow again. See how it’s a very hard light illuminating her, but it’s filled in with beautifully soft light as well. This is an extremely effective hard-light technique that isn’t plagued by heavy, visually distracting shadows.

Lastly, look at the bottom image and see how completely different the black-and-white version is. This is the very powerful difference between luminance contrast and colour contrast. The colour shot on the left draws us to the face and separates it from the somewhat dominant surroundings, whereas the black-and-white version loses all depth due to it all being of a similar luminance.

Learning how to drive visual direction with colour is crucial and you simply cannot rely on the basics of lighting ratios and light meters to direct attention in a scene. Having a firm grasp of visually dominant and recessive colours will quickly elevate your shots.

The Setup

I’ve covered a few of the basics above and upstage lighting, atmospheric depth and colour contrast are just a couple of the ‘cinematic’ triggers that you’ll often see in movies, but let’s now look at employing some of that knowledge in our simple 2-light setup.

First off, let’s look at the setup itself and then I’ll explain some of the finer details below to hopefully answer some of the questions you may have.

*The grid isn’t strictly necessary, but it was on and it isn’t hurting.*

*ZHIYUN G300 can be placed very close to the ceiling*

*Here you can see just how close that top light is to the model.*

*Note: Shutter speed too fast for the LED screen here*

*ZHIYUN X60 set to its warmest Kelvin of 2700K.*

*JHP Patent Pending Pile’o’Crap - AKA Shiny/Translucent Foreground Elements*

TL;DR/ADHD/Artist Setup Explanation

Setup curtain backdrop with folds to catch light
Position 90cm softbox directly above subject
Adjust this to be ‘cold’ AKA 6500K
Position smaller hard light back behind subject and up high angled down
Adjust this to be ‘warm’ AKA 2700K
Try to position this to light the model, hit the camera and also scrape across the backdrop
Include shiny/translucent foreground elements in front of camera lens

Kit Used

1x ZHIYUN Molus G300
1x ZHIYUN X60
1x 90cm Parabolic Softbox
1x Bare Reflector Dish
1x Large Brown/Grey Curtain
Foreground Elements
Lens Filters

Camera Settings

Camera - Nikon D850
Lens - DC-Nikkor 105mm f2
Shutter Speed - 1/125th
Aperture - f2
ISO - 100
Kelvin - 4600K
Focal Length - 105mm

The Results

Click to enlarge any of the shots below.

Model: Jaye Hicks

Breaking it Down

The good news is, it’ll be quick, after all, there are only 2 lights, so how complicated can it be? But as we tentatively navigate around complacency, there are still a few core creative elements that I’d like you to consider and adjust to your own taste.

Upstage Lighting

You’ll need to determine how much you want to lean into this style yourself but to stay true to the upstage look, you’ll need to think of that strong, hard light from behind as more of your key light. That means it won't often look great when the model looks to camera as it’ll awkwardly catch their nose or worse. I know I can’t help myself and I never do a shoot where the model doesn’t look to camera for some of the best shots. So I often opt to be inspired by the upstage look, but push the light further around behind so it won’t catch the nose. I’d urge you to experiment with the look though and see what works for you.

*Take a look at some of the Cinematic Lens Flare Filters I’ve used in the past.*

Depth & Atmosphere

Arguably, one of the best parts of the cinematic look is the atmosphere and visual refractions you can get away with. An easy trick for this cinematic haze is to use lens filters. I personally think actual haze is best for the true depth look, but if time or environmental limitations prevent that, a lens filter is a great substitute. I’ve tried scores of these filters over the years and you can see which ones I prefer here Cinematic Lens-Flare Filter Comparison. Ultimately, you’re after a lens filter that will add a little flare to the image and you can get ones that produce everything from blooms in the highlights, lowers contrast, simulates haze and even ones that fake the anamorphic horizontal flares.

Lens Filters

If you’re curious as to how much these filters are doing in a shoot like this, I shot with several filters both on and off in this shoot, so here are the examples if you missed them above.

*No lens filter attached - You can see no flare at all.*

These 3 images show a good range of looks and as you can see, lens filters can play a very significant role in how the final image looks.

The most popular choice is arguably the bloom-style filter and you can see that it creates large flares with light hitting it. If you look carefully you’ll also see it blooming off of bright highlights like the models cuff button too.

*Standard bloom-style filter - Very distinctive flaring and blooming*

*Anamorphic flare filters - a very distinctive, yet subjective look.*

Colour Contrast

A very well-established and popular technique used in many TV shows and movies today is the colour contrast seen between either end of the Kelvin scale. Yes, the orange and teal look is arguably overused today, but hey, I was doing it before it was cool so you’re just gonna have to live with it! Ego aside, the idea of mixing Kelvin contrast is essential to understand and it’s not too tricky, you simply have some lights far warmer than other lights that are far cooler.

In this setup I had the back, upstage light set to be very warm at 2700K and the light above at a cooler 6500K. The trick then is to set your camera Kelvin somewhere between the two so you get both blue and orange tones present in the shot and for this particular shoot, I was around 4600K.

Foreground Elements

Many cinematic sets and spaces are often fairly small, especially if you’re shooting on-site or in a home studio. One very strong element of a cinematic look is depth, but how do we create depth where there is none?

Depth in a scene is very important as it helps lead the viewer through it or into it and having foreground elements in the frame is an easy way to do that, so what do we do when these foreground elements simply aren’t there or more typically, aren’t in the right place? The simple solution is to fake them and you can do this in any number of ways, but I often prefer to grab random elements from the scene around me and place them in the foreground of the shot to attempt to make it a little more believable. As you can see in the above BTS shot, I really am grabbing any random object that will catch the light.

*In case you weren’t sure what I meant by ‘foreground elements’, it’s these very out-of-focus bokehs and distortions.*

There are a couple of tips I’ll share for this but the biggest one is that this foreground element effect really only works when we have a light behind the subject firing back into the lens. That light will catch on all of these objects and will in turn refract and flare into the lens.

We also want to find elements that will reflect or catch the light. Think anything silver or reflective and here I’m even using cutlery clamped into C-Stand knuckles to get the shine where I want it. One big tip is to use glasses of water. You can all but guarantee every location will have a glass and some water, but this combo works so well due to it refracting and distorting the light that enters it. You can even see the very clear distortions in the image shown above too.

Couple all of this with light pointing towards the camera, a fancy lens filter and a very wide open aperture and the foreground elements will be very visible.

Sure, you can slap a cool-looking Lightroom Preset on any image and it’ll look more ‘cinematic’, but there are a lot more elements we can incorporate into our setups to get the best from this popular style.

Final Tips & Points to Remember

As I stated at the start, the word ‘cinematic’ is, in my opinion, very often overused and nearly everything with a basic Lightroom Preset on Instagram gets called cinematic today. But the overuse is simply due to how popular the idea of the cinematic style is and if we can understand and utilise what made that style so popular to begin with in our own work, we will likely create some very engaging imagery.

With that in mind, let’s recap some of the core tenets of the cinematic style.

Upstage lighting - try to light your subjects with a strong light from behind. Couple this with a fill-light in front and as long as the subject looks away from camera, you’ll quickly develop a cinematic aesthetic with light alone.

Depth & Atmosphere - this is the easiest way to get that cinematic look and whether you’re simply adding smoke from a can at a wedding to get those ‘god-rays’ or you’re filling an entire studio with haze to get a dramatic sci-fi night shot, faking atmosphere is extremely powerful.

Colour Contrast - although orange and teal are often overused today, you cannot ignore the power of successfully using contrasting colours, especially ones on the Kelvin scale, to add drama and separation to your scene. Don’t just look at luminance contrast, pay very close attention to colour contrast as well.

Foreground Elements - this is easier to do than it first looks and yes if you have something on-site that you can shoot through or past then perfect, but don’t be afraid to get creative with foreground elements and positioning reflective and translucent objects in front of the lens is a powerful visual look to lead a viewer into a frame.

Compress the Scene - simply put, use a long lens. Although this isn’t a strict rule, much of cinema is shot on longer lenses as a lot of what makes a powerful scene, is a close shot of a subject with minimal distractions. Roughly translated to stills-photography, look to use an 85mm or 105mm lens to get the best results.

Blur the Background - you guessed it, shoot wide open! Many of you are already doing this, but shooting on a wide-open aperture is an easy way to reduce distracting elements in a scene. Blurring the background keeps the visual power on the subject and not the potentially distracting elements behind them.

Shoot Landscape Orientation - as portrait shooters, this is very hard for us to do, but yes, the obvious trait of cinematic-looking shots is of course to shoot in landscape orientation… but after 20+ years of portraits, I fail at this, so do what I say and not what I do!

Bonus Tip:

Add a little grain - this one is more subjective, but a lot of cinematic looks are reminiscent of film and by film I mean the analogue kind. Much of cinema is about nostalgia and with that comes the romantic memory of older movies and many of them have an organic look thanks to film grain. In all of the images here, I experimented with a new LR Preset from a friend of the community VMoldo. He sent over a new way of applying grain to images with masks for luminance values in each image and it produces a more natural and believable grain than simply applying it uniformly throughout the shot. If you’re interested, head over and take a look at his Filmic Tone Limiter

Good luck if you’re giving this setup a go, let me know how you get on and as always, if you have any questions, fire away in the comments below.

You’re just getting started…

The cinematic style is so popular for a reason as it’s extremely fun to play with lighting in a way that incorporates a subject into a scene over simply sticking them in the scene like many of us do with traditional studio lighting.

Light the scene in such a way that the subject exists within it effortlessly and you’ll go a long way in making your portraits less contrived and far more cinematic.

What I’ve covered here today is really only the basic bullet points of incorporating a cinematic look to your portraits and I’ve not even covered any specific cinematic lighting techniques that are used in nearly every film we see today. How do we light a small environment to look bigger than it is? How do we light a tight space and subject with beautifully soft light if we can’t use big lights or bring lights further away? How do we sculpt a subject in light to both flatter them and enhance elements like fabric and textures and do it in a way that minimises the post-pro required?

If you’re interested in learning all of this, plus a whole lot more about the cinematic style and how we as photographers can incorporate all of those skills into our own work, I have written a course specifically designed for photographers called ‘Cinematic Studio Lighting’.

|| LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CINEMATIC STUDIO LIGHTING WORKSHOP ||

Products Used

ZHIYUN

As I mentioned in previous articles ZHIYUN sent me these lights to review, but I am not being paid to share my thoughts. Below is a link to the lights and modifiers I used, supposedly if you use them, I will earn a very small amount of commission from them. It is minimal though and beer money at best so if you find a better deal elsewhere, please feel free to take it. All that said, they have provided me with a discount code for you to use on their official site. Use code ‘JakeHicks’ to earn 10% off anything on their site.