Hey all,

I figure we’ll do a learning lesson here.

I was talking to a friend of mine, he said I’m a fool for worrying about the whole short/broad lighting thing. I tried to explain that it’s not something I’m overly concerned with, but it is something that I pay attention to when it comes to something other than nudes lol.

He doesn’t understand, or can see the difference, so I told him I’d post them using photo examples.

Broad lighting is when you use flat lighting, or put your light on the side of the face that’s closest to the camera lens. When shooting a diamond faced model, it doesn’t matter, but on most models it does. Over all, it creates a more defined look on the face, a more flattering look to the photos. Here’s a photo that was lit broadly:

When looking at the above photo, something looks off with it, her jaw looks weird. It’s because it’s lit improperly.

Short light is when the model is lit with the strobe or light source coming from the side of the face that’s furthest from the camera.

That looks far better. That light could have been adjusted a bit, but it’s good enough to illustrate my point.

Hope you got something out of it.