This is Why Lighting Height and Angle Matter in Portraits

How you light your subject is one of the key decisions you’ll need to make when shooting portraits. The Koldunov Brothers published this 9-minute tutorial showing the impact the height of a light source makes and some typical mistakes photographers make in placing and angling lights.

The video examines the problem areas on a face that are introduced when the primary light source is too high or too low.

While these issues may be less obvious when additional light sources are present, they’re still unappealing looks that are difficult to hide in the resulting photos.

The tutorial also provides various tips for how to avoid lighting pitfalls both indoors…

…and outdoors.

“We cover several topics that no one has ever talked about, or say very little,” the brothers tell PetaPixel. “For example, we show how a face may look turned inside out. The effect of tears. The problem of lighting the ears. The problem of eliminating lighting effects in Photoshop.”

Watch the full 9-minute video above for a great primer on lighting height and angle. You can also subscribe to the Koldunov Brothers YouTube channel to follow along with their videos.