Commercial Vs. Stylized Lighting And Post-Production For Both

In a departure from our typical style, we’re going to show you how lighting for commercial images can sometimes require less dramatic lighting, which goes against what you might expect for commercial photos.

The images in the top row (l-r) represent commercial edits vs. standard edits applied to the images in the bottom row (l-r). Both versions were post-produced using the same RAW files.

In the examples we cover, the shadows and highlights demonstrate less contrast than usual, especially when comparing the subjects and the background. This is because the purpose of the images in this situation is to highlight the venue.

Post-production for typical images will require crushing the shadows and deepening the blacks for a more for dramatic effect. The venue is still important, but not as important as it would be in a commercial shoot meant to highlight the location.

Ambient light was dialed in first before adding in lights to chisel out and highlight the subjects.