Using One Light Source

I was back in the studio on Tuesday, taking some more shots for TheStudentBoutique, which was a pleasure as usual. After doing the standard product shots we had some time to experiment a little. We took away the background and shot against the wall of the room and in the corner. The bottom half of the wall was painted black and the top half white.

What I really wanted to talk about was the lighting and the effectiveness of using only one light source. After using multiple light sources, fitted with various modifiers (soft boxes, umbrellas) to shoot the product shots, we stripped everything away and used only one flash head fitted with the standard reflector. As can be seen in both the shots below, this was a simple yet effective light source. With the flash head positioned centre and above the model, it created a harsh yet pleasing fall off. I'll let you decide whether one light is all you need.

Thanks to our model Hannah and MUA Jodie Dean.

Please let me know what you think of the photos.

One of the earlier shots taken for TheStudentBoutique (using more than one light source).