Copyright Scott Bourne 2010 - All Rights Reserved

One light – can you really make it with just one light? Well of course you can. Last time I checked, we only have one Sun in our universe. That’s just one light – and it does a pretty good job. But what about in the studio?

With one Chimera Triolet mounted in a strip bank softbox, I was able to make this lovely portrait. One light is more than enough, whether you want a dramatic look like this or a simple flat light that evenly illuminates the subject.

The great Bambi Cantrel and I are working on a book all about shooting glamour using continuous lighting. We’re covering posing and light. In the first few chapters – which I’ll be working on this winter, we’re starting with just one light and all the various things you can do with it.

Bambi is a master at shaping and molding the subject with the light. While she doesn’t remember it, she taught me her approach to this almost two decades ago and it stuck with me. Now we’re working together and I have the honor of watching her “tune” the light thanks to the continuous lighting. What you see is what you get.

In this shot, we had a big huge softbox positioned right above the subject. We we’re originally using the strip bank to simply create some separation from the background with the large softbox in front as the main light. But then Bambi got the idea to turn off the main light, leaving us with the beautiful, soft, modeling and contouring of one simple light, placed slighly behind and to the right of the model. I feathered the light here, moving it PAST the model, not directly on her.

The results speak for themselves. Remember that light illuminates and shadows define. The shadows here are as much a part of the story as the highlights. As Bambi and I continue to do some test shooting for the book, I’ll post more of those shots here and show you what we’re working on.

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Need a Tripod? Scott Bourne Sold His Gitzo and Switched to Induro!