Lighting 101
The Key is key
by Stephen Schleicher

In order to capture beautiful images, there first needs to be light in the scene to illuminate your subject. Without light you have no picture. While light is used to illuminate the scene, it is shadow that creates depth and the illusion that what the viewer is looking at has dimension. But what is the best way to illuminate a subject to get the proper amount of shadow? If you are doing an interview, you can follow the three point lighting setup.
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Lighting 101 -- Part 2: The Fill Light
Make sure your subject isn't lost in the hard shadows created by the Key light
by Stephen Schleicher

Welcome to the second installment of our on going series relating to lighting. The last installment discussed placement and purpose of the Key light. This time we’ll soften those really hard shadows with the Fill light.
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Lighting 101 Part 3: The Back Light
Separating the subject from the background
by Stephen Schleicher

Welcome to the latest installment of our Lighting 101 series. This week we come to the third light in our lighting setup, the Back light. We've previously talked about how to light the subject, but how do you keep them from blending in with the background?
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Lighting 101 -- Part 4: The Background Light
Put your subject in an interesting surrounding
by Stephen Schleicher

For the last several weeks, I have been discussing how to properly light a subject for an interview. Last time I wrapped up with the Back light, which completed the basic three point lighting setup. There really is another light that should be added to this setup - the Background light. Here’s why.
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Lighting 101 - Part 5: Bounce Cards
An alternative to using a fill light
by Stephen Schleicher

With an understanding of three-point lighting, you can break away from the "standard way" of lighting and reduce the number of lights in your scene for very dramatic looks. One way to reduce the number of lights in the scene is to get rid of one of the lights. One of the lights you can do away with is the fill light. However, just because you are removing the fill light from your scene, doesn’t mean your image will look good. You still need to soften and fill the shadows. The easiest way to do this is with a bounce card.
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Lighting 201: Reflections are Our Friends
Lighting Transparent and Semi-Transparent Objects
by Stephen Schleicher

Now that the new school year is about to start, time for you to move up in your lighting knowledge. From the previous lighting lessons, you should be very familiar and comfortable with lighting a person for an interview. In Lighting 201 we’ll move away from lighting the single person interview and look at ways to light objects and environments.
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October 9, 2003
Lighting 201 – Part 2: Negative Light
Using Natural Light on a Cloudy Day
by Stephen Schleicher

As luck would have it, every single day I have had a chance to go outside and shoot it has been a cloudy day. Previously I had said this lesson would cover lighting the subject outdoors. Without the Sun, what kind of lesson can we have? Put away those negative thoughts, because this is the perfect opportunity to discuss Negative Lights.
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October 16, 2003
Lighting 201 Part 3: Outdoor Lighting
Lighting a subject on a Sunny day
by Stephen Schleicher

In the third part of our ongoing lighting series, we take a look at one method to lighting a subject on a bright sunny day.
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