50+ Stunning Portraits & Still Life Images Using One Light

David Appleyard on Sep 21st 2010 with 19 comments

This entry is part 9 of 19 in the In the Studio Session
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You’d be amazed at what it’s possible to achieve using only one light or strobe. Although many of us may envy a full studio setup complete with all lighting configurations imaginable, it’s often something of an unrealistic dream! Today’s post is designed to inspire you to shoot with the equipment you have, and make the most of your simple lighting setup!

One Light Only

Every photo below was taken with just a single external flash or strobe (and, in some cases, a reflector as well). There’s no fancy multi-light trickery – just a simple setup, and some creative photographic thinking. Enjoy the images, and feel free to share your own in the comments!

Lighting Resources for One-Light Photography

Here are a few links, websites, and resources for finding out more about lighting in general!

Strobist – A great blog, packed with lighting examples, tutorials, ideas and tips.
Using a Single Strobe – An interesting forum post, complete with loads more examples and explanations of this type of photography.
Quick Tip: Dramatic Portraits With Off Camera Flash – This quick tip article is all about getting your flash off the camera, and using it in creative ways to capture great, dramatic portraits. Whether you use a dusty old garage sale hot shoe speed light or the latest electronic strobe kit matters much less than how you place, and direct your light.
Single Strobe Photo – A slightly over-commercial site, but it contains plenty of examples of the type of kit you should be looking to purchase.

David Appleyard is davidappleyard on Themeforest

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By David Appleyard

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David Appleyard is a designer and writer based in the UK. He manages Tuts+, along with having founded several design websites including Design Shack and PixelsDaily.

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http://www.punkstation.net typemark
Heres another one:
a href=http://www.flickr.com/photos/cresk/3962313548/ title=Legacy by Gert van Duinen (no time as usual), on Flickr rel=nofollow/a
http://www.punkstation.net typemark
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cresk/3962313548/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/i-am-mclovin Ben
thankyou for choosing my photographs! (contactsheet emily Emily RAF)
its a privilege to have mine next to such amazing photographs!
Ben.
http://www.anasatzqui.net Rakitha Perera
Heres 2 that I shot couple of days ago : D
http://raonurcouch.tumblr.com/post/1154646150/back-in-black-i-make-it-look-easy
http://raonurcouch.tumblr.com/post/1154534625/back-in-black-shes-not-a-flight-risk-atleast-i
http://www.itsjustjake.com Jake Chapman
Basically ANY and ALL of my photography can get posted on this blog post..
love all of these and would of LOVED to been added to this list, maybe some day..
http://www.itsjustjake.com
http://www.flickr.com/illuminatecs
http://iapdesign.com anthony pillos
Love all this stunning portraits that you have i like the cowboy design of the image. haha.. that’s cool. ^_^
http://www.fortysixtyphoto.com Conor Keller
Thanks for adding a couple of my shots to this awesome list! Great work everyone!
Peter
two shots done with 2 lights sources
http://www.TheDCPhotographer.com The DC Photographer
This is a great collection of images. Thanks for posting!
Macota
You must not be very attentive if you think all of these were shot with only one light. At least 8 (by my count) are using more than one strobe…
http://www.kerstenbeck.com Erik Kerstenbeck
Hi
This is a great collection
I would like to add the ones here at Photography Office – they too were done with one light Softbox in Studio
http://tinyurl.com/4h69rhg (Photography Office Website)
Regards, Erik
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianhart/ Ian
Most of my images are taken with a single light source. Thanks to the great tips on this website as well as the ones shared in the lighting resources.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianhart/
Marcelo
That guy in the photo “Lost” has an astonishing likeliness to Michael C. Hall!
Great portraits, I’ve just loved them!
http://scotthaysphotography.com Scott Hays
It’s NOT about placing lights… it’s ALL about placing shadows.
http://www.christopherterry.co.uk Christopher Terry
these are just fantastic shots, some are really creative and show what can be done with some simple lighting and an imagination
face palm
… one light? face palm…. counting is so easy.
DADDY_206
OMG LIKE I TOTALLY LIKE ALL THISZ PICTUREESZ (^.^/) !!!
DADDY_206
LIKEE EVERYBODY TEXT MEEEE ;D
2065168911
Awesomeness
I am awesome