Lighting portraits is indeed an art that almost every photographer needs to master. It can be with natural light or strobes, but no matter your choice of light, lighting your subject is just one piece of a well crafted portrait. A lot of times, I see portraits where the subject is perfectly lit, but the background elements are not well lit, if lit at all. Trust me when I say I’m guilty of this as well. While I love one light portraits, there is something to be said for taking the time to light the other elements in the frame. I believe to take your portraits to the next level, you need to know how to light the whole scene, not just your main subject.

[REWIND: DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE UMBRELLA | ANDREA BELLUSO]

In the Profoto sponsored video below, Andrea Belluso shows you how he lights not only his subject, but an aircraft correctly in one frame with strip softboxes to create a dynamic portrait. Hold on until near the end of the video where Andrea really breaks down his thoughts on the final image and the lighting.

Lighting Set Up

Final Image

Thoughts

I loved this video because it really hammers home my thoughts that you need to think about lighting the whole frame. In fact, Andrea states he is creating two different portraits, but ultimately, they are in the same frame: the plane and his subject. His use of two strip soft boxes work perfectly in lighting, shaping, and defining the plane in the background and I love the use of a third strip softbox to light the portrait of the pilot. Due to the shape of the plane, you almost have to use a strip softbox due the long lines on the plane. All in all, I think it’s a great portrait and great example of taking the time to light the whole scene correctly to take your portrait work the next level.

Via: Profoto Youtube page

Images captured via screen grab.