Photography Lighting Techniques - Not what You Think!

We see a stunning portrait...maybe hanging on a wall somewhere, and we think "WOW my work doesn't look like THAT!" Then we run out and spend thousands of dollars buying the latest equipment - books on photography lighting techniques and so on. But it STILL doesn't work! Here's why...The best pros and amateurs alike all understand something about photography lighting techniques that many of us never really "get!"What makes a portrait look amazingly real and pop off the page isn't just the light...it's the shadows. One key fact to always keep in mind isShadows Define Form!One area of photo lighting education that is sorely overlooked and under studied is the shadow. Most of us tend to over light our photographs and thereby get rid of the shadows.True we can see the face, but it tends to be flat and lifeless. It's not until we introduce shadow, that our photo takes on a 3D feeling and looks like a real person getting ready to step off the page.Here is how to QUICKLY master this vital area of photography lighting techniques.First: Get yourself a subject. Use a friend, relative or just hire the kid next door.Second: Sit them on a chair in a room that can be darkened. With all the lights on, look at them. Study their face. See how it looks? Now turn off the lights and make it completely dark.Third: Take a flashlight (an actual flashlight, not some studio light) and have someone hold it at about 45 degrees to the side and above your subject. See how the light let's us see our model's face? (At least we can see one side of it, but it's really the shadow that defines the shape!)Fourth: Now use a reflector of some sort - it could be a piece of white paper or cloth - and have someone hold it on the opposite side of the face from the light.Move it closer and further away. See how the shadow changes? Study it, take notes. It is here - in the way we record the shadows - that separates the pros from the wannabes.Really do this. In 15 or 20 minutes you will learn more about photography lighting techniques and how to put pizzazz in your photos than you would ever imagine. Try it; your photos will be forever changed.